Hogwarts ghosts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The article is about the ghosts which inhabit Hogwarts in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. Moaning Myrtle, also a ghost, has her own article and Peeves the Poltergeist, often considered a ghost, has his own page as well. Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher, is listed on the Minor Hogwarts teachers page. Though the books mention a number of ghosts residing at Hogwarts, only the following are named:
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[edit] Nearly Headless Nick
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. |
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| Nearly Headless Nick | |
| Gender | Male |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| Actor | John Cleese |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Nearly Headless Nick (died October 31, 1492) is the nickname of the Gryffindor House ghost (actually named Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington) whose neck was almost completely severed in life (45 swings to the neck with a blunt axe), but not enough to join in the games of the Headless Hunt, a society of ghosts who had been decapitated on earth (a source of annual vexation to the ghost). Harry Potter becomes friends with Sir Nicholas when he attends his "deathday" party (the 500th anniversary of the event) in a Hogwarts dungeon. Sir Nicholas' death date has the distinction of being the basis for the entire timeline of dates in the Harry Potter series.
Sir Nicholas has a fairly small role in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, where he is merely introduced as Gryffindor's house ghost. In Chamber of Secrets, he is a victim of the Basilisk that Ginny Weasley unleashes, under the influence of Tom Riddle. The stare of the Basilisk is supposed to be lethal to anyone who looks it directly in the eye. While the living students all had some barrier between them and the eye- and are therefore merely petrified- Nicholas does look it directly in the eye. He too is petrified, saved from death by the fact that he is already dead.
Sir Nicholas appears again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when he explains to Harry the nature of death, and what it means when a ghost is left behind. Harry had been looking for some comfort, but Nick's explanation dashes Harry's hope of communicating with the recently deceased Sirius Black. Nick makes clear that this is not possible.
The word mimsy is borrowed from Jabberwocky, where it is explained by Humpty Dumpty to be a portmanteau of flimsy and miserable (which quite fits with the character). Porpington is likely a portmanteau of Orpington and Perpignan.
In the movie versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Sir Nicholas is played by John Cleese.
Rowling originally intended to include in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets a ballad by Nick, in which he recounts his death. It was cut on the advice of her editor.
- "It was a mistake any wizard could make/Who was tired and caught on the hop
- One piffling error, and then, to my terror,/I found myself facing the chop.
- Alas for the eve when I met Lady Grieve/A-strolling the park in the dusk!
- She was of the belief I could straighten her teeth/Next moment she'd sprouted a tusk.
- I cried through the night that I'd soon put her right/But the process of justice was lax;
- They'd brought out the block, though they'd mislaid the rock/Where they usually sharpened the axe.
- Next morning at dawn, with a face most forlorn,/The priest said to try not to cry,
- "You can come just like that, no, you won't need a hat,"/And I knew that my end must be nigh.
- The man in the mask who would have the sad task/Of cleaving my head from my neck,
- Said "Nick, if you please, will you get to your knees,"/And I turned to a gibbering wreck.
- "This may sting a bit" said the cack-handed twit/As he swung the axe up in the air,
- But oh the blunt blade! No difference it made,/My head was still definitely there.
- The axeman he hacked and he whacked and he thwacked,/"Won't be too long", he assured me,
- But quick it was not, and the bone-headed clot/Took forty-five goes 'til he floored me.
- And so I was dead, but my faithful old head/It never saw fit to desert me,
- It still lingers on, that's the end of my song,/And now, please applaud, or you'll hurt me."
[edit] The Bloody Baron
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Terence Bayler as the Bloody Baron in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
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| The Bloody Baron | |
| Gender | Male |
| House | Slytherin |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| Actor | Terence Bayler |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
The Bloody Baron is one of the ghosts that haunts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the Slytherin House ghost. He is the only person besides Dumbledore who can exert any control over the Poltergeist Peeves: Peeves is terrified of him for some unknown reason, referring to him as "Your Bloodiness" and "Mr Baron".
The Baron is covered with silvery blood stains, which has never been explained in the books but theorised by some fans to have been Unicorn's blood, which is likewise silvery in colour; however, given how all ghosts of Hogwarts have a silvery hue this may be a coincidence.
In contrast to a very solemn and quite frightening ghost in the books, in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Bloody Baron is represented as being quite mirthful.
[edit] The Fat Friar
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Simon Fisher-Becker as the Fat Friar in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. |
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| The Fat Friar | |
| Gender | Male |
| House | Hufflepuff |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| Actor | Simon Fisher-Becker |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
The Fat Friar is the Hufflepuff House ghost. He is a jolly man and very forgiving. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when the first years are waiting for McGonagall to return and the ghosts pass overhead the Fat Friar is pleading on behalf of Peeves the Poltergeist to allow him to come to the welcome feast despite his past wrongdoings.
[edit] The Grey Lady
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 Nina Young as the Grey Lady in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. |
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| The Grey Lady | |
| Gender | Female |
| House | Ravenclaw |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| Actor | Nina Young |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
The Grey Lady is the Ravenclaw House ghost.
JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has stated that The Grey Lady appeared very briefly in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It is of common agreement that the Grey Lady is the ghost that Harry and Ron encounter on their way to visit the Mirror of Erised, as referenced in this passage: "[Harry and Ron] passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else." Fans have found no other unexplained mention of a ghost in the book, so it is assumed this is The Grey Lady. She may also be "the ghost of a long haired woman" that floats past Harry and Hagrid when they are talking about a conversation between Dumbledore and Snape in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
According to a letter written by JK Rowling to Nina Young, the actress who played the Grey Lady in the first film, she is "a highly intellectual young lady …. She never found true love as she never found a man up to her standards." [1]. The Grey Lady makes a more notable appearance in the deleted scenes portion of the Chamber of Secrets DVD (when Harry is finding the secret of Tom Riddle's diary, he asks her for privacy). It seems rather strange that the Ravenclaw ghost is allowed in Gryffindor Tower, though the movies often contradict the books.
There are a number of Grey Lady ghost stories of Great Britain — for example, the benevolent Grey Lady of Glamis — and it is thought that they might have been an inspiration for this character.
