Gilderoy Lockhart

"Let me introduce you to your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher... me!"

- Gilderoy Lockhart

Gilderoy Lockhart was a famous Wizarding celebrity who authored many books on dark creatures and his encounters with them. He was Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the 1992-1993 school year. He has received many prestigious awards, such as Order of Merlin, Third Class; Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League; and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. He never actually did any of the heroic acts he talked about, but instead used his considerable talent in Memory Charms to force the actual people who had done them into forgetting what they did.

Early Life
Little is known of Lockhart's early life, and considering his dishonesty, everything he says must be taken with a grain of salt. He claimed that he was once a nobody and, apparently, tried to get himself noticed as a child, but failed, although he developed a precocious talent for Memory Charms. Lockhart also claimed that he was once a Seeker, suggesting that he played Quidditch and offered to give Harry Potter private Quidditch lessons. He also claimed that he had been asked to try out for the National Squad but turned the offer down to dedicate his life to, in his words, "eradicating dark forces".



Career
Gilderoy Lockhart became an accomplished author. His books were very popular and he reserved a special quill of peacock feather just for book signings. As a publicity stunt, Lockhart gifted Harry Potter with a brand-new set of all his books, which were on the required list for Hogwarts students. Harry gave them to Ginny Weasley, both because he could afford his own set and also because he didn't particularly cherish his interaction with Lockhart. Nine of Lockhart's books about eradicating dark forces (one of them about household pest control) were published before his stint as a Hogwarts professor. The tenth book was published after he left the position there.

Published Works

 * Break with a Banshee
 * Gadding with Ghouls
 * Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests (household guide)
 * Holidays with Hags
 * Magical Me (autobiography)
 * Travels with Trolls
 * Voyages with Vampires
 * Wanderings with Werewolves
 * Who Am I?
 * Year with the Yeti

Hogwarts Professor
Gilderoy Lockhart became Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the 1992-1993 school year. His classroom and office at Hogwarts were decorated with pictures and portraits of himself which moved and smiled. He also decorated the office with copies of his publications.

For his first lesson, he gave his second-year class a test which had nothing to do with Defence, but instead concerned his autobiography, Magical Me and the parts of his books just referring to him. He then proceed to release a cage full of Cornish Pixies into the classroom, causing a large amount of pandemonium. He was not popular among his fellow Hogwarts staff members, and constantly gave them unsolicited pointers on their specialties. They found him extremely obnoxious and could not take him seriously as a professor. Even Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper, who usually refrains from criticizing teachers, shows public disdain for Lockhart.

After the pixie chaos, Lockhart didn't bring any more live creatures into class, but instead read from his books and re-enacted several portions of his "achievements", sometimes dragging Harry to help him with it. As such, the class didn't learn anything about true Defence, and Ron claimed that he only learned not to set pixies loose.

For the majority of the year, Lockhart kept hounding on Harry, trying to use him to boost his own fame, much to Harry's humiliation and irritation. Lockhart made it look as though Harry was trying to use his fame of defeating Voldemort to make a name in the wizarding world, that the Flying Ford Anglia he rode on to school was a publicity stunt, and that he was enjoying his companionship with Lockhart, and ignored much of Harry's attempted contradictions to these ridiculous hypothesis.

After a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, in which the Gryffindor seeker Harry Potter had his arm broken by a rogue bludger, Lockhart offered to help repair his arm, but ended up removing all the bones in Harry's arm. Lockhart founded a short-lived dueling club for students. He made a fool of himself at the very first meeting by firstly being disarmed by Severus Snape and then claiming that he allowed Snape to do so.

When the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Lockhart made false claims about that he knew where the Chamber was, and what the monster of Slytherin is all along. He even claimed that he knew Rubeus Hagrid was guilty all along when the Minister for Magic arrested the former. While the other teachers were serious and tense from all the attacks, Lockhart was the only one who remained relaxed and uncaring about these security.

After Ginny Weasley's abduction into the Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart simply beamed while he approached the meeting about the situation, much to the teachers' hatred (which he remained ignorant to). When the other teachers repeat his claims of knowing all along where the Chamber is, as well as what the monster is, and that they would stand aside while he tackles the Heir of Slytherin all by himself, he tried to pretend they misunderstood, but failed as they disregarded his excuses. Lockhart tried to flee from the school after lying about he would be preparing for combat, only to be confronted by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. He exposed himself to be a fraud and revealed that he had not actually performed any of the amazing feats described in his books. Rather, he had been stealing stories and experiences from accomplished wizards and placing Memory Charms on them to take credit for their accomplishments. He tried to modify the students' memories to take credit for braving the Chamber of Secrets (though his plan included allowing Ginny Weasley to perish inside and for the two boys to "go mad") but the spell backfired when he tried to use Ron's broken wand. Consequently, Gilderoy damaged his own memory beyond repair, and was admitted to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries as a permanent resident.

Later Life


On Christmas, 1995, Harry Potter saw Lockhart at St. Mungo's. He had regained his memory to the extent that he could write with joined-up letters. Ron felt sorry for his malfunctioning wand was responsible for damaging Lockhart's memories, but Harry felt less sympathy for it was Lockhart's attempt to remove their memories in the first place. Harry thought Lockhart hasn't changed much.

The Healer who looked after Lockhart stated he never got visitors, suggesting that his family was either dead or didn't care for him, or consists of only Muggles. However, Lockhart still gets fan mail, though he has no idea why.

Though his memories were recovering at a slow but steady rate, he never fully recovered.

Physical Description and Traits
"To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award."

- Lockhart's 'Get Well' card to Hermione Granger

Gilderoy Lockhart is a male wizard with wavy blonde hair and particularly straight and shiny teeth. He is known for wearing flamboyant and flashy robes in a wide assortment of colors. Housewives such as Molly Weasley and teenage girls such as Hermione Granger and Susan Bones found him especially attractive. He also reserved a special peacock quill for book signing, which is a symbol to his vanity. This quill was kept with him even after his incarceration into St. Mungo's, though it was battered.

Gilderoy is extremely vain and highly self-obsessed. He claimed to have done many great deeds, though in actuality he was a fraud and merely took credit for what other wizards had done. He also makes claims and suggestions, whether about other people's profession or in times of danger, in order to make himself look more important and powerful than he truly is. His attempts to earn himself more fame has also made him use spells without understanding a clue of what he is really doing (such as removing Harry's bones instead of mending them, and launching a snake into the air instead of vanishing it). It is also speculated that he invented some incantations and names for spells that doesn't even exist (or at least, exaggerate on their effects), such as Peskipiksi Pesternomi, the Transmogrifian Torture, and the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowsrm]].

Lockhart's narcissism and insensitive suggestions tend to get on the nerve of many people who are not his fans. His unprofessional actions have earned him dislike from the Hogwarts professors, as well as many students. Professor Snape, in particular, disliked Lockhart for not only taking the teaching post he coveted so much, but also making him look inferior through suggestions, despite physically otherwise. Also, Harry Potter despises Lockhart for constantly embarrassing him with false claims about earning fame and dragging him into the spotlight against his will.

He also seem to be somewhat ignorant to the reactions of other people, or misinterpret them easily. When Ron look revolted at his peacock quill, Lockhart thought Ron liked it. When the teachers gave Lockhart a look of hatred for his ignorance, he didn't seem to notice it at the very least.

When faced in true danger that may lead to his death, Gilderoy show his true cowardice. He attempted to flee from Hogwarts when the other teachers pressured him into the Chamber of Secrets after Ginny Weasley's abduction.

Despite his lack of skills, Lockhart was skilled in Memory Charms, and was conniving enough to deceive other wizards and witches to reveal their work to him before erasing their memories and claim the credits for himself.

Behind the scenes

 * J. K. Rowling has made it known that Gilderoy Lockhart is the only character in the series to be based upon a real person, and claims that she "barely exaggerated" the personality. She has refused, however, to specify who that is.
 * A rumor circulated that the character of Gilderoy Lockhart was based on J. K. Rowling's ex-husband, but this was roundly refuted on her website. She termed the rumor "toxic", "hurtful," and "damaging."
 * Hugh Grant was going to play the part of Professor Lockhart at first, but due to scheduling problems he was replaced by Kenneth Branagh
 * Lockhart was in an early draft of the Order of the Phoenix film, but written out in the final version. Had he remained, it would have been the first time Kenneth Branagh and ex-wife Emma Thompson were in the same film together since their divorce in 1995.

Etymology
Gilderoy is defined as a highwayman known for being handsome. May also come from the word "gilded," which is defined as having a "pleasing, showy appearance, which covers something of little worth." This is very fitting considering Gilderoy's supposed good looks covered up the truth about his inability to function as a powerful wizard. The name "Roy" is Old French for "regal one" or "king."

J.K. Rowling stated in a radio interview with BBC 4 that she found the name Lockhart on a war memorial. Lockhart is a world renowned psychologist whose particular interest is in the study of memory and levels of processing. She did a lot of research in this area in the late 1970s. Lockhart is also a town in Australia near Wagga Wagga, which could be a reference to him having supposedly defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf in his book Wanderings with Werewolves. 'Lockhart' could also be possible play on words as he seems to have so many women's "heart locked" on him.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince