Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Ghost

Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic
Ghost
Type	Disembodied spirit
Features	Intelligence, immortality, incorporeality
First Appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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.

Extended Description

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, distraught over his godfather Sirius Black' death, corners ghost Nearly Headless Nick, hoping to learn what happened to Sirius after he died. Nick tells him, "Wizards can leave their imprint on the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once trod," but it takes special preparation, and it is a half existence, neither living nor dead. Nick chose that route because he feared death, but he believes that Sirius would not have done so.

Analysis

Throughout the books, ghosts are rather an 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."

Ghosts are unusual magical creatures. In some ways, they are not creatures at all, but rather characters just like all the other living people in the books. But they are not quite the same, of course. Physically, they are semi-transparent, non-corporeal beings. Mentally, they enter a state somewhere between living and dead.

Ghosts can pass through solid objects: for instance, Professor Binns passes through the blackboard to enter his classroom. Ghosts interact with the living as well, just as Professor Binns interacts with his students. It seems that a ghost's sensibilities are somewhat altered after death, such as their perception of music — an orchestra of thirty musical saws — that is bizarre and dreadful to the living. Professor Binns never seems able to sense his students' presence or emotions. Also, ghosts seem to remain tied to a place, some more than others. Professor Binns may be tied to the classroom where he taught while living, as Myrtle seems tied to the girls' bathroom she was killed in.

While ghosts as a rule have no affect on the physical world — people walk right through them, for example — there are some exceptions. Professor Binns can use materials in his classroom to teach, and Moaning Myrtle seems able to turn on all the bathroom faucets when she is particularly upset.

Of all the ghosts at Hogwarts, by far the largest role is played by Moaning Myrtle. She is instrumental in Harry discovering 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 also becomes a confidante to Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when he seeks solace over having to perform a deadly task.

Nearly Headless Nick's role is largely instructional, explaining many aspects about the school and its history to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He spends 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 after 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.

Shades

In several books, these "spirits" are conjured forth by one means or another. As these have no permanent existence, reverting 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 belonging to Cedric Diggory, the muggle Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's mother and father that were retained within Voldemort's wand; 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 has not suggested a term for them, we use "shades" to refer to these recalled essences or souls of the departed.

Horcrux

A "ghostly" figure appears 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. This Tom Riddle, however, explains that he is a "memory" which has been given being and life by Ginny Weasley, whose life force is being fatally drained to resurrect the memory into a living form. More detail is learned about this appearance later in the series, first when Professor Slughorn, in his memories, is seen to describe Horcruxes to Riddle, and later when Hermione tells Harry what she has learned about Horcruxes from the books she extracted from Dumbledore's study.

Waystation

A third place where those who have died are seen, this one appearing in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, appears to Harry as a waystation that is a surprisingly clean and empty simulacrum of King's Cross Station. Here, he meets what might be Dumbledore's shade, who tells Harry many things that were previously unknown to us and to Harry. Dumbledore closes this meeting by saying how it had all happened in Harry's mind, but that did not make it any the less real. We have reason to believe that this is Dumbledore's true spirit, as it reveals information that only the living Dumbledore would have known; it also knows about events occurring 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 was able to divine these aspects of life after death; perhaps his having studied the Elder Wand gave him some insight.

Unlike ghosts, people in the Waystation are apparently solid; for instance, Harry finds that he can touch Dumbledore.