The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (7 page)

The creatures in this section have a classical pedigree: they all emanate from the mythologies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, ancient Greece, or ancient Rome. A few creatures simultaneously originated in other areas of the world as well, but they’re listed in this section because their influence on classical mythology was significant.

According to legend (from which Rowling clearly drew inspiration), a basilisk is a frightening snakelike creature; the name comes from the Greek word
basilískos,
meaning “little king,” because a white spot on this creature’s head looked like a small crown. One breath or look from this mythical reptile (born, oddly enough, from a cock’s egg) means instant death. A basilisk is very similar in description to a mythical cockatrice, which can be killed only by the sound of a crowing cock.

The wizarding world’s Basilisk has a few variations from its Greek counterpart in that it is born from a chicken’s egg, and that egg must be kept under a toad until it hatches. It, too, has a deadly look that leads to instant death and it, too, can be killed by a rooster’s crow, although it will live for hundreds of years if it doesn’t hear that sound. (Clearly, Basilisks are city dwellers.) The wizard version of a Basilisk also has poisonous fangs, which seem unnecessary, given that one look instantly kills an approaching enemy.

Creatures dating back to Greek mythology, centaurs have the upper bodies of men and the lower bodies of horses, and were thought to be wild, hard-drinking, and cruel.

Conversely, in the wizarding world, centaurs are wise fortunetellers who understand the art of divination much better than most humans do. They are, however, aggressive and fiercely protective of their freedom, a result of having watched humans domesticate horses and fearing the same will be in store for them. Like horses, they vary greatly in size, color, and markings.

From the Greek
chímaira,
meaning young female goat, in Greek mythology, a creature named Chimaera is part lion (her front parts), part goat (her middle), and part fire-breathing dragon (her hindquarters, plus her fire-breathing ability). Wizards do not dispute this mythological tradition.

In the wizarding world, a giant looks vaguely human, but is built in gigantic proportions (20- to 25-feet high) with a very small head, no neck, thick skin, ugly features, and little ability to think, communicate, or get along with others. Arguments amongst themselves, in fact, are quickly leading to their extinction. This may be positive, in a sense, because, if influenced by Dark Wizards, giants could pose an enormous threat to both wizards and Muggles. But because they are so taken with their own internal bickering, they cannot be ruled by others. Giants live far from humans, usually in mountainous areas (where they frequently cause avalanches), because they were banished to those places by wizards. Like chickens in a pen, however, they now live in quarters too close to be comfortable—when giants live farther apart, they argue (and, therefore, kill each other) far less frequently.

Mythologically, giants are considered enormous, savage brutes, born of Gaea. In Greek tradition, giants were involved in a series of clashes (known as the Gigantomachy) with many gods, who eventually succeeded in ridding the world of giants. In more recent tradition, Gog and Magog were two giants who were captured by the founder of Britain. Literature’s most famous giant, in
Jack and the Beanstalk,
fits the folkloric pattern of a dimwitted, brutish creature.

Although Biblical references to giants are rare, giants are represented much differently in the Bible than in the wizarding world and in mythology. In the Old Testament books of Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, ancient giants are depicted as god-like men who were highly skilled warriors. That their size diminished their intelligence or reasoning skills is not part of these Biblical depictions.

The griffin (or, more commonly, gryphon, from the Latin
grypus
and the Grek
gryps
) is hugely popular in mythology. Part eagle (upper body, wings, and head) and part lion (the rest of its body and tail), the griffin is revered and thought of as a protector of people, doing battle with one-eyed giants or men on Apollo’s behalf. Although little else is known of the cultural importance of griffins, drawings and carvings of the creature abound in ancient caves and other dwelling places. In the wizarding world, griffins are sometimes used as guards.

From the Greek
hippos
(meaning horse) and
kampos
(meaning sea monster), this ancient mythological creature has the body of a horse and the tail of a fish or dolphin and is mentioned only briefly in the wizarding world.

A Hippogriff has the body, hind legs, and tail of a horse, but it has the head, wings, and front legs of a giant eagle, thus enabling it to fly. In the wizarding world, Hippogriffs are difficult to tame and ride, but if you approach them with respect, bowing and maintaining eye contact, the animal will bow back and allow you to come close, pet it, and even fasten a rope over its eagle neck to use as reins. They eat dead rats by the packful.

Hippogriffs originated in Greek mythology, but were first named by Ludovico Ariosto in
Orlando furioso.
Ariosto had long heard legends of a griffin—a mythological creature with the body, legs, and tail of a lion, and the head, wings, and claws of an eagle—being crossed with a horse. The word is Greek in origin (
hippos
means horse;
griff
is from the Greek
grypos,
or “hooked one”). A Hippogriff, therefore, takes the eagle portion of a griffon and crosses it with a horse.

From the Greek
mantichoras,
which was derived from an Iranian word for man-eater (
martiya
+
xvar
), this demonic mythological creature has the head of a man, albeit with horns, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon. Ouch.

In the wizarding world, the manticore adds insult to injury by singing a little song as it eats its human prey.

From the French
mer,
meaning “the sea,” Rowling uses the politically correct “merpeople” over the more common “mermaid” and the lesser-known “merman” (found in Tennyson’s “The Merman”). Wizard merpeople are not especially attractive, as they are quite fish-like, with green hair, yellow eyes and teeth, and silvery-gray skin.

Mermaids, on the other hand, which date back to Mesopotamian legend, are fairies/elves of the sea, with magical powers that include, according to some legends, the sirenlike power to call men to their deaths underwater. (See also the “Veela” section for more on sirenlike creatures.)

Sirens were mythological sea nymphs—part bird, part woman—who sang seductive songs in order to lure sailors toward rocky areas, where the sailors would then crash and die. Hmmm. Sounds like a good excuse for some sub-par sailing!

Fairy tales abound of men who fell in love with mermaids, some of whom gave up their fish halves and became fully human; others who remained in the sea without their human loves.

Owls and wizards have a long association. Because owls are nocturnal, they are associated with death, as was the case as far back as in ancient Aztec culture. Like the cry of an Augurey or banshee, an owl’s hoot was said to foretell death among the Aztecs, as well as in Roman times. In Roman folklore, just seeing an owl in daylight was said to cause bad luck. Owls were also included in the lists of unclean birds in the Old Testament books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Owls have also been messengers to and companions of mythological gods and goddesses, which is where they get their reputation for wisdom. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, had a companion owl, and this fact help elevate the status of owls from that point forward.

Wizarding owls function as messengers, although they are kept as pets and companions as well. See Chapter 4 for a brief look at how owls transport messages throughout the wizarding world.

Perhaps the most famous wizard owl is Merlin’s Archimedes, who teaches young Arthur how to view the world from an owl’s perspective in T.H. White’s
The Once and Future King.
In C.S. Lewis’s
The Silver Chair
(the fourth book in
The Chronicles of Narnia
), an owl, Glimfeather, hosts a parliament of owls to decide whether to allow the children to search for Prince Rilian. Finally, Patrice Kindl’s powerful novel
Owl in Love
gives insight into the life of a girl who shapeshifts into an owl at night.

The phoenix is steeped in legend, which usually suggests that only one phoenix lives at a time, for an unusually long life. When its life is ending, the phoenix sets itself on fire and, from the ashes, a new phoenix emerges. Alterations of this legend have the same bird renewing itself again and again, as is the case in the wizarding world. Either way, the phoenix is a bird of immortality that has its place among Egyptian, Chinese, Christian, and Islamic traditions.

Wizarding phoenixes are, like the phoenix of legend, brilliantly beautiful, immortal, and powerfully magical. But they can also carry heavy loads, and their tears can cure even a deep wound—two characteristics that end up being helpful plot devices for Rowling.

Salamanders—small four-footed reptiles—are useful as ingredients in potions; otherwise, there is little magical about them, except that they look like tiny dragons. Well, that and salamanders in Greek mythology live in fire, but only until the fire dies out—then they die as well.

This mythological creature, widely considered a symbol of wisdom, is said to have the body of a lion and the head of a woman. In order to pass by her and enter the town of Thebes, she demands an answer to a riddle; legend has it the riddle was answered correctly only by Oedipus.

From the Latin
unus
(one) and
cornu
(horn), this legendary animal may actually be based on sightings of a rhinoceros in about 400 B.C.E. However, unlike the rhino, the unicorn is a svelte creature, has the body and head of a horse, and may also have the tail of a lion and the hind legs of a stag. Always, however, a unicorn has a single, sharp, cone-shaped horn growing from its forehead.

The unicorn also has acquired a special place in the hearts of young girls, and it decorates pillows, notebooks, lunchboxes, and the like. This version of the unicorn is a silvery white horse with a horn. It’s oh-so-pretty and is the horse of choice for budding princesses. Unicorns, in nearly every culture, are extraordinary creatures to behold.

Likewise, wizarding unicorns are highly prized for their beauty and magical power. Although some parts of the unicorn are used in special magical potions (chiefly the horn and tail), unicorn blood is
verboten:
drinking the silvery blood will curse you for the rest of your life, although it will save you from death even if you’re seconds away. Wizard unicorns are fully grown at about seven years old; until that time, unicorn foals are gold in color.

The creatures in this section spring from a variety of other folkloric and mythological traditions, from Japan to Poland to the Middle East.

A boomslang (prounounced boo-um-slung in Africa; boom-slang everywhere else) is a large, fast-moving, highly poisonous African snake that’s also called the tree snake. Boomslang is a relatively unknown snake that came to prominence in Agatha Christie’s
Death in the Clouds
(1935), in which a passenger is killed on a plane trip with a dart poisoned with boomslang venom. The shredded skin is an ingredient in Polyjuice Potion (see Chapter 11).

Cats and magic have been linked for hundreds of years, in a variety of ways: