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Hag

Warning!

At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

"The hag is a child-eating creature of human appearance, though likely to have more warts than the average witch."
— Quentin Trimble, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection[src]

A hag was a savage being that looked like an ugly, old witch but had more warts.[3] They had four toes on each foot, had a taste for the flesh of human children, and possessed rudimentary magic, similar to that of a troll.[4] Many Muggles tended to think that hags were what witches looked like, and were therefore popular in Muggle literature.[7]

Description

The British Ministry of Magic classified hags as beings, a fact that causes similar humanoid beings such as centaurs and merpeople to desire the classification of beast.[6] This was because they did not want to be considered to be on the same level as such savage creatures. Hags could occasionally be encountered in Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, as well as Hogsmeade;[8] however, some hags like Annis Black lived in caves.[9]

Hags were said to eat children[3][1] and raw livers,[8] although it was possible that those were false descriptions to defame them.[9] They were strictly not vegetarian.[10] Hags were what Muggles recognised as "fairy tale witches"; the Muggle child Bethany Harrison drew Winifred Whittle as a green-skinned hag in black, despite the latter being a human witch and not a hag.[7]

History

In the 14th century, hags were "gliding about in search of children to eat" at Burdock Muldoon's failed meeting of the Wizards' Council welcoming any two-legged creatures as beings.[6] Sometime during the 17th or 18th century, the witch Honoria Nutcombe founded the "Society for the Reformation of Hags", presumably a charitable organisation to help hags integrate into wizarding society.[11] Its headquarters were in Diagon Alley, London.[12]

HolidaysWithHags

Quirinus Quirrell supposedly had a "nasty bit o' trouble" with a hag sometime in 1990-1991 during his Grand Tour.[13] Sometime in or before 1992, Gilderoy Lockhart published a book called Holidays with Hags;[14] whether the book was one of Lockhart's fictions, in which case it would be useless, or one of the stories he stole from other, Memory Charmed wizards and witches, is unknown.[15] This book, along with six other of his collected works, was set as a compulsory Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook during the 1992–1993 school year.[16] Harry Potter thought Slytherin student Millicent Bulstrode resembled a hag he had seen in that book.[17] In August 1993, Harry Potter thought he saw a hag ordering a plate of raw liver from behind a thick balaclava in the Leaky Cauldron.[8]

A hag called Annis Black sent in "A Word in Support of Hags" to the Daily Prophet, offering babysitting services.[9] The wizard professor Regulus Moonshine successfully developed a potion to suppress the human flesh-eating apetites of hags, with him losing several chunks of his own flesh whilst conducting clinical trials with hag volunteers.[18]

Hags were amongst the various magical creatures who posed threats to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy across the Wizarding world, during the Calamity in the 2010s. Hags were trapped in huge blocks of ice, which volunteer wizards and witches had to liberate using the Fire-Making Spell to melt the ice and free the Foundable hags.[2]

Known hags

Behind the scenes

  • Since hags have not appeared directly in the series and almost all known information about them comes from wizarding sources, especially unreliable ones like the Daily Prophet, it is possible that some particularly shocking facts about them are exaggerated or false, reflecting the wizarding prejudice against other sentient creatures. The only possible direct appearance of a hag is in Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry sees what "looked suspiciously like a hag" ordering a raw liver in the Leaky Cauldron.
  • In real life, the hag is a creature from English folklore. Originally used a way to explain the then-unknown condition of sleep paralysis, the "Old Hag" was a spirit that sat on a person's chest while they slept and gave them nightmares. The concept later evolved to be used for any malevolent and ugly old woman.

Appearances

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Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Pottermore - The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 J. K. Rowling's official site - W.O.M.B.A.T. test
  5. ↑ If Quirrell really did have a run-in with one, it must have some sentience, and must be partially part of the magical community.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - What is a Beast?
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World, Case 3: Out of the Woods, Act 1
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 4 (The Leaky Cauldron)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Daily Prophet Newsletters, Issue 1
  10. ↑ The Queen's Handbag
  11. ↑ J. K. Rowling's official site
  12. ↑ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  13. ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
  14. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 4 (At Flourish and Blotts)
  15. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 16 (The Chamber of Secrets)
  16. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3 (The Burrow)
  17. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 11 (The Duelling Club)
  18. ↑ Daily Prophet Newsletters, Issue 4
Defence Against the Dark Arts (D.A.D.A.)
D.A.D.A. at Hogwarts
Classroom 3C · Classroom 3C backrooms · Temporary Classroom · Hogwarts Turris Magnus · Teacher's Office · Storeroom · Staircase · Storage room · Lesson Cup · Race Cup · Duelling Club · Dumbledore's Army
Professors
Isidora Morganach · Dinah Hecat · Arsenius Jigger · Albus Dumbledore · Galatea Merrythought · 1984–1985 professor · 1985–1986 professor · 1986–1987 professor · 1987–1988 professor · Patricia Rakepick · 1989–1990 professor · First 1990–1991 professor · Olivia Green · Quirinus Quirrell · Gilderoy Lockhart · Remus Lupin · Bartemius Crouch Junior (as Alastor Moody) · Dolores Umbridge · Severus Snape · Amycus Carrow (as Dark Arts teacher) · Unidentified professor · Brindlemore
Textbooks
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection · Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts · Break with a Banshee · Gadding with Ghouls · Holidays with Hags · Travels with Trolls · Voyages with Vampires · Wanderings with Werewolves · Year with the Yeti · The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts · Defensive Magical Theory · Dark Arts Defence – Basics for Beginners · Confronting the Faceless · Defence Against the Dark Arts
Spells studied at Hogwarts under D.A.D.A.
Aqua Eructo · Boggart-Banishing Spell (Riddikulus) · Bombarda Maxima · Cave inimicum · Concealment Charms · Counter-curses · Counter-jinxes · Cruciatus Curse (Crucio) · Curse of the Bogies (Mucus ad Nauseam) · Cursed barrier spell · Densaugeo · Deprimo Spell (Deprimo) · Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) · Ear-Shrivelling Curse · Everte Statum · Freezing Spell (Glacius) · Full Body-Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus) · Fumos Duo · Green Sparks · Hex-Breaker· Hex-deflection · Hex Zapper · Homorphus Charm · Human-presence-revealing Spell (Homenum Revelio) · Impediment Jinx (Impedimenta) · Imperius Curse (Imperio) · Imperturbable Charm · Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) · Knockback Jinx (Flipendo) · Lacarnum Inflamari · Langlock · Levitation Spell (Levioso) · Limbo Mist anticharm · Nonverbal spells · Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) · Pimple Jinx (Furnunculus) · Protective enchantments · Red Sparks (Vermillious) · Reductor Curse (Reducto) · Salvio hexia · Sea Urchin Jinx · Seize and pull charm (Carpe Retractum) · Shield Charm (Protego) · Smokescreen Spell (Fumos) · Snake-Vanishing Spell (Vipera Evanesca) · Softening Charm (Spongify) · Stretching Jinx · Tickling Charm (Rictusempra) · Tongue-Tying Curse (Mimblewimble) · Trip Jinx · Twitchy-Ears Hex · Verdimillious Charm (Verdimillious) · Verdimillious Duo Spell (Verdimillious) · Verdimillious Tria · Vermillious Duo · Vermillious Tria · Wand-Extinguishing Charm (Nox) · Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos)
Creatures studied at Hogwarts under D.A.D.A.
Banshee · Boggart · Chameleon Ghoul · Charmed skeleton · Cornish Pixie · Dementor · Dugbog · Erkling · Flesh-Eating Slug · Ghost · Ghoul · Gnome · Grindylow · Gytrash · Hag · Hinkypunk · Iguana · Imp · Inferius · Kappa · Manticore · Nocturnal beasts · Nogtail · Poltergeist · Red Cap · Snake · Troll · Vampire · Vampire bat · Werewolf · Yeti · Zombie