Fawkes
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- This article is about the Harry Potter character. For the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, see Guy Fawkes.
| Harry Potter character | |
 |
|
| Fawkes | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Phoenix |
| Owner | Albus Dumbledore |
| Special powers | Can carry immensely heavy loads; tears have healing powers; encouraging song; can regenerate by bursting into flames; can disappear and reappear elsewhere at will. Two of his tail feathers were used to make wands; one for Lord Voldemort and one for Harry Potter. |
| Actor | Completely created with CGI |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
In the fictional Harry Potter series of novels and films, Fawkes is Albus Dumbledore's pet phoenix. Fawkes is the antithesis of Lord Voldemort's pet snake Nagini.
Fawkes is coloured red and gold, the traditional colours of Gryffindor House. This may or may not be a coincidence, and has spawned a number of rumours; Rowling has refuted speculation that Fawkes was Godric Gryffindor's phoenix in an interview, professing that Fawkes was never owned by anyone except Dumbledore.
Fawkes is an intensely magical creature, possessing a number of magical abilities, the precise extent of which are unknown. Phoenix tail feathers are suitable for inclusion in some wands; Fawkes himself provided the feathers for both Lord Voldemort's and Harry Potter's wands. Tame phoenixes are very rare and he serves as proof of Albus Dumbledore's abilities and character. Fawkes is a herbivore.
Whenever Fawkes dies, whether it be by violence or old age, he bursts into flame and is promptly reborn out of the ashes as a baby phoenix. As an adult he's about swan-sized and quite beautiful, but his infant stage Fawkes has the appearance of a newborn chicken and in his geriatric stages he has dull, limp plumage.
[edit] Roles
Fawkes plays a special role in Chamber of Secrets: he helps Harry get rid of Salazar Slytherin's basilisk, the monstrous serpent that lives in Hogwarts and is controlled by Tom Riddle's diary through Ginny Weasley. Fawkes gouges the Basilisk's eyes out, blinding it and rendering its power of being able to kill with its gaze useless. Harry is later bitten by the basilisk and nearly dies from the venom, but Fawkes heals the wound with his tears. He then transports Harry, Ginny, Ron and Gilderoy Lockhart back to the castle.
In Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore sends a silvery shape "like a ghostly bird" to summon Hagrid when Viktor Krum is found Stunned. This is his Patronus, a phoenix as confirmed by J.K. Rowling.[citation needed]
In Order of the Phoenix, Fawkes is a special part of the Order, a phoenix himself. After Harry saw Arthur Weasley being bitten by Voldemort's snake, Nagini, Dumbledore asks Fawkes to warn him if Umbridge leaves her office. Fawkes does this by making one of his feathers appear with a bang in the office. Later in the book, Dumbledore escapes Ministry officials in Hogwarts by using Fawkes to teleport away, even though normal Apparition is impossible within Hogwarts (house elves also share this ability to apparate despite magical restriction).
During the confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic towards the fifth book's end, Fawkes saves Dumbledore's life by "swallowing" an Avada Kedavra curse from Voldemort. Fawkes then bursts into flame and is reborn as a chick from the ashes.
After Albus Dumbledore's death in Half-Blood Prince, Fawkes is heard singing a lament for him. When the singing stops, Harry knows that Fawkes has left Hogwarts forever. It is not known where Fawkes has gone, or if he will appear in the final book.
