Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today,
we’ll be discussing the history of the infamous wizarding dynasty—the Gaunt family.
This prominent pureblood magical family is sometimes also referred to as the House of
Gaunt. You may remember hearing the name here or there over the course of the Harry Potter series,
but if you’re having trouble putting your finger on why the name sounds so familiar,
allow me to remind you. This once proud and powerful dynasty
is the ancestral family of the Dark Lord himself, Voldemort.
Let’s start from the beginning…
The early history of the Gaunt family With a long and dark history, known details
of the Gaunt family can be traced back as far as the 1600s. The most notable member of the family
at this time was a witch named Gormlaith Gaunt. Intent on preserving the family’s pureblooded
lineage, it is said that she murdered multiple members of her family in order to accomplish this.
From there, the Gaunt’s family history doesn’t get much brighter. Throughout the centuries,
the House of Gaunt was largely involved in keeping the Chamber of Secrets protected from
discovery within the walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You may have found
yourself wondering how such an ancient chamber had been kept hidden for so many centuries. Well,
the Gaunt family is the answer. In fact, one Corvinus Gaunt—a student at Hogwarts during
the 1700s—was given credit for keeping the Chamber concealed during his time as a pupil,
while a new plumbing system was installed within the castle.
The next couple of minutes of the video contain loose spoilers pertaining to Hogwarts Legacy.
Specifically, these spoilers address characters Noctua and Ominis Gaunt- notable ‘Gaunt’ family
members in the game. Nothing major, but I thought I’d give you guys a heads up. I’ll
put a timestamp in the pinned comment for if you want to skip this section and move on to the rest.
In the 1800s, there were a few members of the family who could’ve offered the House
of Gaunt a redemptive narrative. Alas, it was not to be so. Noctua Gaunt was one of the few members
of the family dynasty to oppose the Gaunt's excessive use of the Dark Arts. As it were,
she wanted to learn more about Salazar Slytherin’s legacy, in order to uncover his true views on the
wizarding world. In her search for answers, Noctua discovered a secret entrance within
Hogwarts to Slytherin’s Scriptorium, a small study containing Salazar Slytherin’s personal property,
including his own spell book and his diary. It is said that this diary contained an entry that
described Slytherin’s disagreement with fellow founding member of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor,
regarding the acceptance of Muggle-borns to the school. The diary also apparently mentioned the
Chamber of Secrets, the Serpent of Slytherin, and Salazar’s pureblood supremacist views. All
of this, however, was hidden behind several layers of complex puzzles, which included a
door that required Parseltongue to open. One of the final doors is said to have only opened if
the witch or wizard who desired access used the Cruciatus Curse—which would only work if they had
someone to perform the curse on. Being a Gaunt, Noctua was able to speak Parseltongue to enter
the Scriptorium but—as she entered it alone, and did not have anyone to perform the Cruciatus Curse
on at the final door—she was trapped inside, never to be seen alive or heard from again.
By the end of the 19th century, the Gaunts were still obsessed with maintaining a pureblood
family lineage, believing that Mudbloods and Muggles were beneath them. In fact,
many—if not all—members of the Gaunt family would routinely perform the Cruciatus Curse
on unsuspecting Muggles just for fun. It was around this time, in the late 1880s,
that an Ominis Gaunt attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ominis had a reputation
within his family for refusing to perform the Cruciatus Curse “for sport”, as so many of his
relatives did. Sadly, his refusal to join in on “the fun” resulted in Ominis’ own torture,
which was performed by his immediate family—his mother and father included. The magical torture
bestowed upon Ominis Gaunt by his family is rumoured to have made him blind and, as you
may have suspected, resulted in him breaking all ties with the House of Gaunt. And yet, when he
attended Hogwarts, Ominis, alongside a few of his friends, followed in his aunt, Noctua’s footsteps,
and entered Slytherin’s Scriptorium—arguably to find answers about his ancestors. Tragically,
all he found here were Noctua’s remains. It is believed that he only narrowly escaped himself due
to his companions performing the Cruciatus Curse on each other in order to open the final door.
Notable members of the House of Gaunt’s family tree
The Gaunts were known descendants of both Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.
Salazar Slytherin was, of course, one of the four founding members of Hogwarts. Cadmus Perverell,
on the other hand, was one of the three fabled brothers to have received gifts from Death in the
wizarding fairy tale The Tale of Three Brothers, found in the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Cadmus was the brother rumoured to have been gifted the Resurrection Stone, a stone that
could bring loved ones back from the dead, and was referred to as one of three Deathly Hallows.
With famous ancestors like these, the Gaunts were so intent on keeping their
bloodline pure that they often married their own cousins. This,
of course, makes the House of Gaunt’s family tree a little…complicated.
The following witches and wizards, however, are some of the most notable within the family.
Gormlaith Gaunt lived in the 1600s and is said to be possibly the most evil
witch to have ever lived. At one point in her life, she possessed Salazar Slytherin’s wand.
Rionach Gaunt was Gormlaith’s sister and mother to Isolt Sayre who co-founded the
American Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Corvinus Gaunt lived in the 1700s and, as mentioned earlier,
helped conceal the Chamber of Secrets while he was a student at Hogwarts.
Noctua and Ominis Gaunt were alive in the 1800s. Both rebuked the views of their
family and entered the secret Slytherin’s Scriptorium while attending Hogwarts.
Marvolo Gaunt lived in the 1900s and was the maternal grandfather of Tom Riddle—who,
of course, later became Lord Voldemort. Marvolo possessed a signet ring, which unbeknownst to him,
had the Resurrection Stone set inside, as it had once belonged to Cadmus Peverell. Evidently, Tom
Riddle was also unaware of the ring’s true nature, as he used it as one of his many Horcruxes.
Merope Gaunt, daughter of Marvolo and mother of Tom Riddle, was an incredibly mistreated witch
who is said to have seduced an unsuspecting Muggle into a romantic relationship—the result being her
unwanted son, Tom. While pregnant with Tom, Merope stole the Gaunt family heirloom Slytherin’s Locket
and sold it to support herself. Years later, Tom used the locket as another one of his Horcruxes.
Morfin Gaunt was the son of Marvolo and brother of Merope. He was also the last
of the House of Gaunt lineage and when he died, so did their family’s dynasty.
House of Gaunt family traits Being a member of the House of
Gaunt pretty much guaranteed that the witch or wizard would possess certain traits or
qualities. The most prominent of which was the family’s ability to speak Parseltongue—the rare
talent of communicating with serpents and snakes. It is said that the preservation of
this unique trait was one of the reasons that the dynasty encouraged inbreeding.
Many of the family members were also completely pureblood until
the 20th century. Attempts to keep their lineage pure is another reason
for the many instances of inbreeding within the House of Gaunt. Sadly,
this practice led to some substantial mental instability in later generations of the family.
The Gaunt family legacy As the last known descendants of
Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunts were proud members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight—the
“Pure-Blood Directory” of the wizarding world’s supposed most pure-blooded magical families.
It’s fairly safe to say that the legacy that the House of Gaunt
wished to preserve for themselves was a powerful pureblood wizarding dynasty. Most
members had similar hateful views of those wizarding families with non-magical blood,
and they were more than cruel in their treatment of Muggles.
Throughout the centuries, the family primarily resided in their ancestral
home in northern England, just outside of Little Hangleton. At one point in time,
the Gaunt family is said to have had much gold, but as they enjoyed living quite extravagantly,
they were eventually left penniless. In what became an incredibly run-down shack,
Morfin Gaunt, the last of the Gaunt lineage, lived—and died—in squalor and destitution.
This is supported by a passage describing Morfin’s father Marvolo Gaunt in The Half-blood Prince:
"He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper,
a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he
treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter."
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video! What did you think? Did I miss any notable
moments in the House of Gaunt’s family history? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to the channel!
Until next time…remember
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." – Albus Dumbledore