Obscurial



An Obscurial was a wizard or witch which developed a dark, parasitical magical force, known as an Obscurus, as a result of their magic being suppressed through physical and/or psychological means.

Description
When an Obscurial loses control, the Obscurus force appears as a flying, incorporeal, and amorphous entity with the appearance of a black, almost fluid-like cloud or violent torrent with a reddish core. The size and the might of an Obscurus depends of the innate power of its host; the more powerful an Obscurial, the more powerful their Obscurus. When an Obscurial reaches their emotional and mental breaking point, they may lose control completely and physically transform into an Obscurus. In this state, they are enormously destructive to their surroundings. However, they may be calmed down by someone they trust, causing them to revert to their corporeal state, though being emotionally conflicted can cause the Obscurial to transform back and forth between their normal and Obscurus form.

Usually, children possessed by an Obscurus dies by their 10th birthday, but as exemplified by Credence Barebone, a wizard with tremendous latent powers can survive longer. When the child dies, the Obscurus vanishes along with them, though Newton Scamander successfully kept one alive when its host died by encasing it in a magical field.

History
More common during the ancient times when wizards were hunted by Muggles, Obscurials were believed to have completely disappeared from the United States of America by 1926 according to Seraphina Picquery.

Known Obscurials

 * Sudanese girl — A young girl who was persecuted by her village because she exhibited magical abilities. She died when she was eight years old, with Scamander preserving her Obscurus before her death.
 * Credence Barebone — Regularly beaten and psychologically abused by his adoptive mother who hated magic, he was eventually consumed by his Obscurus and went on a rampage which destroyed large parts of New York.

Behind the scenes

 * Obscurus Books was a wizarding publisher based in Diagon Alley that published Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
 * While still unconfirmed, Ariana Dumbledore was potentially an Obscurial too, as the description of her "illness" given by her brother Aberforth fit the description of an Obscurial; "It destroyed her, what they did: she was never right again. She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it; it turned her inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless". Furthermore, if she was indeed an Obscurial, her interactions with a young Grindelwald, could also explain why the Dark Wizard was later so interested by the power of Obscurus. Ariana also lived longer than the average Obscurial, having died at the age of 14, but not due to her Obscurus, but instead being killed.

Notes and references
Обскур Obscurus