Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Ghost
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic | |
| Ghost | |
|---|---|
| Type | Disembodied spirit |
| Features | Intelligence, immortality, incorporeality |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Ghosts are the disembodied souls of wizards and witches who have died (as described by Professor Snape, a ghost "is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth"). There are a large number of them in Hogwarts; they are able to speak with the living, but being incorporeal are unable to have any effect on matter.
Six ghosts are specifically named in the books: the four House ghosts (Nearly Headless Nick of Gryffindor House, the Fat Friar of Hufflepuff House, the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw House, the Bloody Baron of Slytherin House); Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher; and Moaning Myrtle. Peeves the poltergeist is not a ghost, but a Spirit of Chaos, who has never been alive, according to the author.
[edit] Extended Description
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, distraught at the death of his godfather Sirius Black, corners the ghost Nearly Headless Nick in the hopes of finding out what happened to Sirius. Nick tells him, "Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves on the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once trod," but it takes special preparation, and is a sort of half existence, neither alive nor dead. Nick chose that route because he was afraid of death, but he believes that Sirius would not have done so.
[edit] Analysis
Throughout the books, ghosts are a sort of aloof presence, intimating that death is not final; as Professor Dumbledore says in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, to one who has lived a full life, "death is but the next great adventure."
Of all the ghosts at Hogwarts, by far the largest role is played by Moaning Myrtle. She is instrumental in Harry's discovery of the Chamber of Secrets in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and assists Harry with the second task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She is also something of a confidante to Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Nearly Headless Nick's role is largely instructional, explaining aspects of the school and its history to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He does spend some time discussing the nature of death with Harry, as mentioned above. The author has said in an interview that the series became rather more centered around the mystery of death when her mother passed away; it is possible that some of Nick's speech here may echo the author's internal thoughts on the subject.
The Grey Lady assists Harry in locating the final Horcrux in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
[edit] Shades
In several places in the book, "ghosts" of those who have passed away are conjured up by one means or another. As these do not have any permanent existence, but revert when the spell recalling them is ended, they are not properly ghosts at all. It is perplexing that there is no term for these appearances. It is certainly true that their appearance is always due to extremely rare magic: the Priori Incantatem effect, at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which shows us the shades of Cedric Diggory, the muggle Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's mother and father; and, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone, which summons the shades of James and Lily Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. In the Muggles' Guide, as the author does not seem to suggest a term for them, we use "shades" to refer to these recalled essences or souls of the departed.
[edit] Horcrux
One other place where a "ghost" appears in the books is in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Again, this is not properly a ghost, as the associated human, Tom Riddle, is nominally still alive. The ghost of Riddle says that he is a "memory" which has been given being and life by Ginny, who will die in the process of bringing the memory back to life. We learn about this appearance in much more detail later in the series, first when Professor Slughorn, in his memories, is seen to describe Horcruxes to Riddle, and later when Hermione is telling Harry what she has learned about Horcruxes from the books she extracted from Dumbledore's study.
[edit] Waystation
A third place where we see those who have died, this one appearing in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, seems to be what Harry thinks of as a waystation. To him, this appears as a surprisingly clean and empty simulacrum of King's Cross Station. Here, he meets with what might be the shade of Dumbledore, who tells Harry a number of things that had been previously unknown to us and to Harry. Dumbledore closes this meeting by saying how it had all happened in Harry's mind, but that didn't make it any the less real. We have reason to believe that this is the true spirit of Dumbledore, as it knows things that had been previously unknown to anyone other than Dumbledore; it also knows of things that had occurred since Dumbledore's death. We have learned that people can leave fragments of themselves behind, as in the Wizarding Portraits, which continue to react as their models had, and are apparently able to have original thoughts; and of course, ghosts are similarly constituted though without needing a portrait behind them. While it was possible that Dumbledore left a fragment of himself behind to educate Harry, given his dislike for breaking souls apart, it is more likely that he simply chose to have his soul remain in the waystation and await Harry's arrival. The series remains mute on how Dumbledore would have been able to divine these aspects of life after death; perhaps his study of the Elder Wand had given him some insight.
