Dictionary Definition
Fawkes n : English conspirator who was executed
for his role in a plot to blow up James I and the Houses of
Parliament (1570-1606) [syn: Guy
Fawkes]
Extensive Definition
Magical creatures comprise a colourful and
integral aspect of the wizarding
world in the Harry Potter
series by J. K.
Rowling. Throughout the seven books of the series, Harry
and his friends encounter many of these creatures on their
adventures, as well as in the
Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts. Rowling
has also written
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a guide to the magical
beasts found in the series. Many of these legendary
creatures are derived from folklore, primarily Greek
mythology, but also British
and Scandinavian
folklore. Many of the legends surrounding mythical creatures
are also incorporated in the books. "Children ... know that I
didn't invent unicorns, but I've had to explain frequently that I
didn't actually invent hippogriffs," Rowling told Stephen Fry
in an interview for BBC Radio
4. "When I do use a creature that I know is a mythological
entity, I like to find out as much as I can about it. I might not
use it, but to make it as consistent as I feel is good for my
plot."
Many pets
in the series are ordinary animals with magical properties.
Owls, for
example, deliver mail. Only creatures that exist exclusively in the
magical world are listed below.
Magizoology
Magizoology (a portmanteau of "magic" and "zoology") is the study of magical creatures in the Harry Potter series. A person who studies Magizoology is known as a magizoologist. There are magizoologists who work in the Ministry of Magic, particularly in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. One notable magizoologist is Newt Scamander, who in the universe of the series is the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a textbook on magical creatures that is popular in the wizarding world. Rowling used Newt Scamander as her pseudonym for the real-life Fantastic Beasts. Other characters who study magical creatures include Newt's grandson Rolf Scamander, as well as Luna Lovegood who eventually marries Rolf, although these two have only been referred to by Rowling as naturalists.Regulation and classification
The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures of the Ministry of Magic is responsible for overseeing and regulating magical creatures. It is divided into three divisions: the Beast Division, the Being Division, and the Spirit Division. A "being" is generally defined, according to Fantastic Beasts, as "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws." This includes humans, goblins, hags, and vampires. In accordance with this definition, fairies, pixies, gnomes, and most other creatures are classified as "beasts". Centaurs and merpeople are said to have rejected "being" status in favour of "beast" status, as have leprechauns. Werewolves and Animagi are notable because they are typically in human form — a werewolf transforms from human state only at the full moon, and an Animagus is a human who has learned to transform into an animal at will. Their classification is unclear, and offices responsible for werewolves exist in both the Beast and Being Divisions. A number of creatures, such as house-elves, giants, banshees, veelas, dwarfs and dementors, have never been described in the novels either as beings or as beasts, so their legal status is unclear. Affairs related to ghosts come under the auspices of the Spirit Division. Dementors, who are wraithlike creatures that guard Azkaban prison, are not mentioned in Fantastic Beasts.The Department for the Regulation and Control of
Magical Creatures classifies magical creatures on a scale from X to
XXXXX as follows (according to page xxii of Fantastic
Beasts):
- X: Boring
- XX: Harmless / may be domesticated
- XXX: Competent wizards should cope
- XXXX: Dangerous / requires specialist knowledge / skilled wizard may handle / must be respected
- XXXXX: Known wizard killer / impossible to train or domesticate. (Also said to be anything Hagrid likes.)
List of magical beasts
Below is the complete list of entries in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them listed under "An A – Z of Fantastic Beasts." The Ministry of Magic classification (see above) is also noted. Blood-Sucking Bugbears, Boggarts, banshees, hinkypunks and Dementors have been mentioned in the series but do not appear in Fantastic Beasts, and hence no Ministry of Magic classification is supplied. Nor is the Blast-Ended Skrewt (a hybrid of manticores and fire crabs) mentioned in Fantastic Beasts. Those creatures which Rowling took from myth and folklore have links to their mythological articles. The X labled next to them is classified in the section above.Dark creatures
Dark creatures are frequently mentioned in the Harry Potter books though the term is not easily defined. The Harry Potter Lexicon speculates in its essay on the subject that dark creatures, as opposed to normal magical animals, are those that use dark powers for more than mere survival. Many magical creatures, such as manticores and erklings, are very dangerous, but are not considered "dark creatures," since they are natural predators utilising their power in their quest for food, reproduction, and survival; having no consciences or malicious purposes, they may not necessarily be considered "evil." A dark creature, on the other hand, seeks to harm for the sake of harm, not for its own survival. Many such creatures are defined in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them It is possible (though this is not clear) that the term demon is an appropriate term for any Dark creature, since some such creatures, such as Red Caps and grindylows, are known to be both.Dark creatures do not necessarily reproduce and
may simply result from spontaneously
generating in places of strong ambient Dark Magic or where a
strongly emotive or suggestive act has been committed. Red caps, for
instance, appear on battlefields or other locations where human
blood has been spilled in
large amounts. Dementors "grow
like fungus," according to J. K. Rowling, in the foulest, darkest
places. Dementors are described as "breeding" in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though this may simply
mean that more are generating, rather than implying normal
reproduction. Most dark creatures are not, by human standards,
intelligent; vampires and werewolves, who are intelligent, are part
human.
Some possible Dark creatures:
† = part human
Characters
Below is a list of magical creatures that encountered Harry or have some significant role in the series.Crookshanks
Griphook is the most developed Goblin character in the series, who appears in the first and seventh books. He is a employee at Gringotts until the Second Wizarding War. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he was assigned to take Hagrid and Harry Potter to Harry's vault (to get gold to purchase supplies) and Vault 713 (which contained the Philosopher's Stone).He is not seen again until
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, imprisoned in the
Malfoy
Manor. When Hermione
Granger lied under torture to Bellatrix
Lestrange that the Sword of Gryffindor was a fake, Bellatrix
sent for Griphook for confirmation. Though he knew the sword was
real, he lied and told her it was a fake. He was saved, along with
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, by Dobby and
successfully escaped to Bill
Weasley's Shell
Cottage. Bellatrix killed Dobby for helping them escape.
Griphook's respect for Harry grew after watching him bury the elf,
because he dug the grave by hand without magic. Griphook considers
Harry Potter as a very strange wizard.
Because Harry needed to get the Horcrux out of
Bellatrix's vault, Harry asked Griphook to assist him breaking into
Gringotts. He reluctantly agreed in exchange for the sword of
Gryffindor. They broke in successfully but when escaping he
betrayed them to the other goblins and escaped with the sword.
However, at the end of the book the sword reappears when Neville
Longbottom pulls it from the Sorting Hat and slays Nagini.