Hey everyone! Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video,
we’re going to be discussing the witches and wizards of times past. I am of course
referring to GHOSTS. I’m going to start with an introduction on what exactly our deceased
friends are- and shortly after I’m going to segue in to how exactly one becomes a ghost.
According to Pottermore:
In the world of Harry Potter, a ghost is the transparent, three-dimensional imprint of
a deceased witch or wizard, which continues to exist in the mortal world.
Throughout the Harry Potter books and films, ghosts are quite prevalent, particularly at
Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. In fact, we see them right at the beginning
of the series when they appear in the great hall- shocking first years who had never seen
a ghost before. For Harry- a boy that had only just learned about the wizarding world-
seeing ghosts was a real trip.
There are lots of ghosts in the wizarding world- but the main one’s we’re introduced
to in the series live at Hogwarts. Nearly Headless Nick, Moaning Myrtle, the Bloody
Baron, The Grey lady, the fat friar, professor binns and sir patrick delaney podmore all
inhabit the Hogwarts castle- each tied to the mortal world for their own unique reasons.
So there are ghosts ‘literally’ floating around- but, the question is - why? Sure,
they’re deceased witches and wizards- but what makes them so unique? Why do they remain
in the mortal world when so many others disappear altogether? After Sirius dies- Harry becomes
increasingly curious with regards to what exactly it is that causes souls to remain
in the land of living; venturing to find Nearly Headless Nick in search of answers.
"Oh, very well," he (Nick) said, looking resigned. "I can't pretend I haven't been expecting
it."
"Expecting what?" Harry asked.
"You to come and find me," said Nick. "It happens, sometimes ... when somebody has suffered
a ... loss."
"Well," said Harry, refusing to be deflected, "You were right, I've - I've come to find
you."
Nick said nothing.
"It's -" said Harry, who was finding this more awkward than he had anticipated, "it's
just - you're dead. But you're still here, aren't you?"
Nick sighed and continued to gaze out at the grounds.
"That's right, isn't it?" Harry urged him. "You died, but I'm talking to you ... You
can walk around Hogwarts and everything, can't you?"
"Yes," said Nearly Headless Nick quietly, "I can walk and talk, yes."
"So, you came back, didn't you?" said Harry urgently. "People can come back, right? As
ghosts. They don't have to disappear completely. Well?" he added impatiently, when Nick continued
to say nothing.
Nearly Headless Nick hesitated, then said, "Not everyone can come back as a ghost."
"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly.
"Only ... only wizards."
"Oh," said Harry, and he almost laughed with relief. "Well, that's okay then, the person
I'm asking about is a wizard. So he can come back, right?"
Nick turned away from the window and looked mournfully at Harry. "He won't come back.
"Who?"
"Sirius Black," said Nick.
"But you did! said Harry angrily. "You came back - you're dead and you didn't disappear
-"
"Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their
living selves once trod," said Nick miserably. "But very few wizards choose that path."
"Why not?" said Harry. "Anyway - it doesn't matter - Sirius won't care if it's unusual,
he'll come back, I know he will!"
"I was afraid of death," said Nick. "I chose to remain behind I sometimes wonder whether
I oughtn't to have ... Well, that is neither here nor there ... in fact, I am neither here
nor there ..."
What Nick explains to Harry here is that, in order to remain in the land of the living
as a ghost, you must either be a witch or wizard. That’s the primary piece of criteria-
however, he also explains that remaining as a ghost isn’t all that it appears to be.
In fact, in the above passage Nick himself questions his decision to remain in the land
of the living. Here’s the thing about remaining as a ghost- you are just a shell of your former
self- kind of similar to the shades produced by the resurrection stone. You aren’t alive
and you aren’t dead- which means that you can never truly ‘move on’- it’s a bit
of an empty existence. Nick knows that Sirius wouldn’t become a ghost because he trusts
that Sirius has enough common sense not to choose that sort of existence- even if it
means saying goodbye to his loved ones for good. Per Pottermore:
Muggles cannot come back as ghosts, and the wisest witches and wizards choose not to.
It is those with ‘unfinished business’, whether in the form of fear, guilt, regrets
or overt attachment to the material world who refuse to move on to the next dimension.
As explained above- those who decide to return to the mortal world as a ghost usually only
do so because they have ‘unfinished business’. Presumably, this outstanding business is important
enough to prevent them from moving on to the next dimension. Should a ghost choose to remain
in the land of the living, however, they should expect a very different existence than what
they had during their mortality. The existence of a ghost is rather shunted- as they are
no longer able to derive any kind of physical pleasure as well as incapable of learning
new things. Perhaps worse than any other aspect, however, it has been expressed that ghosts
harbour any sort of resentments that they had from their mortality for the remainder
of their existence-rendering them entirely incapable of moving past things. Doesn’t
sound like any kind of an existence to me.
Additionally, while they exist and do have a semblance of a physical form in the land
of the living, ghosts are mostly incapable of effecting objects beyond water, fire, and
air, in which they can create disturbances. When ghosts seamlessly pass through solid
objects, it causes the immediate vicinity around them to feel very cold. Witches and
wizards are also far more likely to pick up on the presence of a ghost than a muggle-
which makes sense since ghosts are magical people that have moved on.
According to Pottermore:
Muggles who insist that they see ghosts in perfect focus are either a) lying or b) wizards
showing off – and in flagrant breach of the International Statute of Secrecy.
In short- being a ghost basically sucks. You’re in this weird limbo state where you’ve chosen
to stay in the land of the living to resolve unfinished business- but you’re entirely
unable to get past things- which seems to contradict staying in the first place. It
also appears to be an entirely conscious decision, as both Myrtle and Nick highlighted that it
was their choice to stay. They were brought back to the world of the living voluntarily-
Nick said it himself- he was afraid of death.
For context- here are a few of the reasons that ghosts of Hogwarts stayed behind:
Nearly-headless-nick was a fifteenth-century nobleman that fell in love with ‘Lady Grieve’
who was a lady-in-waiting. However, when Nick attempted to fix her crooked teeth with a
spell his spell backfired and Grieve grew tusks instead. Nick was subsequently sentenced
to death. Given the premature nature of his demise- I can see why he would want to stick
around, or why he would have felt that his business was unresolved.
The Bloody Baron murdered Helena Ravenclaw after she refused his advances. After killing
her, he took his own life. The chains that the bloody baron has on him, were an ‘act
of penitence’ for the actions that he took with helena. I imagine he chose to remain
in the land of the living so that he could repent his actions for the rest of eternity.
Professors Binns- Hogwart’s history of magic professor, died but never even realized. He
fell asleep in front of the fire one night, and showed up to class the next morning, in
ghost form, as if nothing ever happened. Binns’ ‘unresolved business’ is clearly handing
out assignments to students.
The fat friar, who was a jolly man in life, was executed by his fellow churchman for showcasing
his magical abilities. He was able to cure pox and pull rabbits out of their communion
cup- and they didn’t take to this. A jolly man, I imagine he stuck around just to help
out the students of the school.
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content, please like the video and subscribe
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Until next time
Remember
It was a mistake any wizard could make, Who was tired and caught on the hop,
One piffling error, and then, to my terror, I found myself facing the chop.