Andromeda Tonks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
| Andromeda Tonks | |
| Gender | Female |
| House | Slytherin |
| Parentage | Pure-blood |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
Andromeda Tonks (née Black) is a fictional character from the Harry Potter series of novels. She is the mother of Nymphadora Tonks. Born Andromeda Black, she is a pure-blood witch, daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black née Rosier and sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. The middle sister, she was burned off the family tapestry in 12 Grimmauld Place by her aunt Walburga and banned from the family because she married Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born wizard. Walburga and Alphard Black are her aunt and uncle on her father's side, and Sirius and Regulus Black her cousins. Evan Rosier may be a relative on her mother's side. Orion Black is her uncle by marriage, as well as her second cousin once removed. She was Sirius Black's favourite cousin, but he never met her (post-marriage) family before his imprisonment in Azkaban. Little has been revealed so far about her character, except that she has a talent for cleanliness that her husband and child do not share, and that she is responsible for giving her daughter the name "Nymphadora" (which Nymphadora hates, preferring to be known simply as "Tonks"), a name containing elements typical to Andromeda's family. Tonks speaks of her mother in the present tense, implying that she is still alive. Until the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it was thought by many that Andromeda would likely have been the oldest of her siblings: since Nymphadora is a minimum of 22 years old at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, barring a school-age pregnancy, Andromeda would have been at least 41 years old. Subsequently, it was revealed that her sister Bellatrix is the eldest Black (also confirmed by the Black family tapestry), which has been responsible for a large-scale shift in the fan-projected birth year of Sirius Black, Severus Snape and their year-group from 1958/59 to 1957/58.
There was, and still is some speculation that Andromeda might have been in a House other than Slytherin, but a statement by Horace Slughorn in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince strongly suggests that the Blacks were, almost without exception, members of Slytherin, meaning that Andromeda would also have been part of this House. Andromeda may be a further example of a "good Slytherin".
[edit] Name etymology
In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of the king and queen of Ethiopia who is chained to a rock to be sacrificed to a sea monster sent by the god Poseidon. She is rescued by Perseus, who weds her despite her being already betrothed to Phineus.
In Astronomy, Andromeda is the name of a constellation (named after the mythological character) and also of a galaxy within that constellation. The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest that is of comparable size to our own Milky Way; the pair are the two largest galaxies of the Local Group.
