The Harry Potter novels feature a complex wizarding world with magical creatures, plants, and objects. The treatment of sentient creatures is a major theme, promoting tolerance and respect. Notable creatures include Fawkes the phoenix, dragons, and hippogriffs. Many creatures have fleeting appearances, while others play brief but important roles.
In the lush imaginary world of the Harry Potter fantasy novels, JK Rowling has included a number of creatures, plants and objects with magical powers. An exhaustive list is provided in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a book Rowling wrote for the benefit of a British charity. A comprehensive list of magical creatures would encompass a multitude of wiseGEEK articles, but it might be helpful to know some extraordinary animals in the Harry Potter novels. These animals are distinguished by the roles they play and the powers they have.
The Harry Potter novels create a world for the readers where a wizarding world exists alongside the normal or Muggle world. This wizarding world is immensely complex and includes a number of witches, wizards, magical creatures, enchanted items, powerful plants, and other magical creatures that aren’t technically creatures, because they are sentient. Examples of the latter category include house elves, goblins, and centaurs. The treatment of these individuals is a major theme in the Harry Potter novels, which advocate tolerance and respect for all creatures, not just humans.
Many of the magical creatures in the Harry Potter novels are recognizable to people not immersed in the Harry Potter universe. These animals are widely accepted as mythical beasts, and Rowling has incorporated much of the common lore about them into her novels. Others, such as thestrals, magical horses closely associated with death and bad omens, seem to have sprung entirely from the creative mind of JK Rowling.
Some of the more notable magical creatures are Fawkes the phoenix, an assortment of dragons and hippogriffs. Fawkes plays an important role in the Harry Potter novels and may have some sentience, as well as loyalty and healing powers. Dragons are also recurring characters in the novels, beginning with Norbert in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), the first book in the series. Potter also battles a dragon in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and dragons appear frequently in the other books as well.
Hippogriffs also frequently appear as magical creatures in the Harry Potter novels. A hippogriff is a cross between a griffin and a horse, with the body of a horse, the head of an eagle, and a powerful set of wings. Magical creatures first appear in the third novel, along with more mundane magical creatures such as flobberworms.
Many of the magical creatures in the Harry Potter novels have fleeting appearances and less-than-remarkable roles, such as knarls, kappas, unicorns, Cornish pixies, wands, doxies, firecrabs, puffskeins, and curled-horned snorkacks. Others, like Aragog the acromantula, a giant spider, play brief but very important roles. Owls, cats and toads also frequent the Harry Potter novels, and while these animals aren’t technically magical, they are important.
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