Magical Magic Creature Spotlight: Ghoul

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Ghoul


MOM Classification: XX


It’s funny that the entry prefaces by saying that while a ghoul is ugly, it’s not dangerous. Because if it’s ugly, it must be dangerous, right? And nothing that’s beautiful could possibly be dangerous? That’s not how it works, you know, not even in this book!


Anyway, ghouls live in attics and barns, and eat moths and spiders. Note that this entry specifically indicates that ghouls seek out wizard attics and barns- I’m starting to think that magic really does smell different. Anyway, the worst that a ghoul will do is throw things around or growl at anyone who stumbles across it. For this reason, they often become pets of the wizard families they live with- though there is a magical task force to remove ghouls from houses that have passed into Muggle hands. Honestly, these wizards are just plain obsessed with keeping anything magical out of the way of Muggles (how many stories have you seen where a creature like this becomes the friend of ordinary children, again?). Remind me why they don’t know anything about how these magical creatures actually live (even when they do)?


The Weasleys have a ghoul in their attic, which is once used to pass off as Ron with dragon pox (or somesuch)- for no readily discernible reason as to why it would work. On Warner Brothers’ website when the movies were popular, there was a Harry Potter game that would involve trying to make more noise than the ghoul in the Weasleys’ attic.

Comments

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

So... one has to wonder, just how the hell did the ghoul get associated with the Arabic predatory/scavenging demon, and/or the grave-robbing ambiguously-undead thing it became in the West? (Also, how did the stories about what were originally Irish gods get associated with those insectoid creatures wizards call fairies)? Did the wizards just steal names from Muggles and stick them on whatever first caught their eye?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Rowling would have you believe that the wizards named these things first, and those silly Muggles, looking at them through their stupid little non-magical mindset, did the best they could (see "comical inexactitude" statement from the intro).

But that's true, this whole beastiary basically consists of Rowling either copying the Muggle legends to the letter yet insisting they're different because it's HER interpretation (see: Chimera) or else making up a completely different version just because she can and labeling it the proper one (see: Fairy). For odd entries, I could give her some credit for thinking outside the box (it is her world, after all)... if she wasn't so patronizing about the whole thing, and insisting that her legends make sense in the context of the real world!

[oryx_leucoryx]

Were I to believe Rowling to be much more intelligent and truly sneaky I'd think she did this in order to protect herself and her world from unintended implications based on Real World mythology and folklore. 'How can anyone believe the centaurs raped Umbridge and Hermione set it up on purpose? My world's fairies are nothing like the fairies of folklore, my ghouls are different, why assume my centaurs are the same?'

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

I think that the fact she is pretty much saying that all of the real world legends are totally wrong is pretty darn arrogant, even for her. I'm surprised that she hasn't been called on this more.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

---- Note that this entry specifically indicates that ghouls seek out wizard attics and barns- I’m starting to think that magic really does smell different.

I have a theory that some places are naturally more magical than others, such as the forbidden forest, and that these are the areas of the planet where magical creatures have long resided. Wizards like to live in these magical areas, and that's why they have to deal with magical "pests" in their homes.

It's not that magical pests are solely drawn to wizarding homes, it's that wizards have chosen to live in these creatures' natural habitats.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, the Weasleys live just outside a non-magical village and the Blacks live within a London neighborhood, yet they have magical pests/pets.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I think the area outside of the muggle part of Ottery St. Catchpole is one of these magical areas. Other wizarding families live nearby, such as the Diggorys and the Lovegoods.

But you're right that Gimmauld Place doesn't fit the theory all that well, unless the property is a small patch of magical land in the midst of the city, and that's why the Blacks had their home there. Perhaps at some point this area of magical land was larger, but it was somehow depleted over time, kind of like deforestation.

[sunnyskywalker]

Maybe it bubbles up like a spring and so sometimes could only be noticeable in a small area on the surface? (And some places might form "rivers" or "lakes" instead of just a bitty little spring and "creek.") I have no idea why it would work this way, but maybe it has something to do with ley lines. Or it could be that magical creatures, human or otherwise, living in an area for a while will "leak" a bit and gradually build up a concentration of magic. So sometimes wizards move to a place where a bunch of magical creatures have been living, and sometimes it's the other way around.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

This makes a lot of sense to me. Either way, I think the reason that muggles don't usually have to deal with magical pests is because most magical creatures require high levels of ambient magic in their environments, similar to how many real-life species can only survive in very specific habitats. And wizards have all sorts of ways of preventing muggles from venturing into magical areas.