Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Durmstrang Institute
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Place | |
| Durmstrang Institute | |
|---|---|
| Location | probably western Russia |
| Permanent Residents | Unknown |
| First Appearance | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
Contents |
[edit] General Overview
Durmstrang Institute is a wizarding academy, similar to Hogwarts School, believed to be located somewhere in Bulgaria. When we first hear of it, it is run by headmaster Professor Karkaroff and is traditionally a competitor in the Triwizard Tournament against Hogwarts and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.
[edit] Extended Description
Karkaroff is a former Death Eater who avoided spending time in Azkaban by selling out his fellow Death Eaters to the Ministry. As such, when Voldemort returns, Karkaroff flees, and nothing is heard of him for slightly over a year. We do not know who becomes headmaster in his absence.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Draco Malfoy, on the Hogwarts Express, mentions that he could have gone to Durmstrang, and that they actually teach Dark magic there (although use of Dark Magic outside classes is forbidden). Apparently he had been discussing the Triwizard Tournament with his cronies, but we don't find out about the Tournament until a short while later.
The Durmstrang contingent arrive for the Triwizard Tournament in a ship that surfaces in the middle of the lake at Hogwarts. Their headmaster hustles them inside the castle because "Viktor" has a cold. Ron is astounded to discover that "Viktor" is the famous Quidditch Seeker, Viktor Krum.
With Karkaroff having fled, Ron worries that, at the end of the school year, the Durmstrang group may be stuck at Hogwarts with nobody to sail their ship back home. Viktor reassures him that there will be no problem; the Headmaster had stayed in his cabin for almost the entire outward trip, leaving the ship handling to the students, so they were well prepared to handle the voyage.
We learn in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that Gellert Grindelwald was educated at Durmstrang. Viktor Krum, when he had been a student there, was disturbed because Grindelwald's symbol, a line within a circle within a triangle, was a fairly frequent piece of graffiti, and because many students claimed to harbour Grindelwald's beliefs about the inherent superiority of Wizards over Muggles.
[edit] Analysis
Sturm und Drang (German for storm and stress) is probably where the name Durmstrang was brought from.
