Basilisk

Basilisk
Species information
Eye colour	Yellow
Skin colour	Green
Feather colour	Scarlet plume on the head (if male)
Related to	Snake Chicken Toad
Native to	Originally Greece, now found worldwide
Alternative names	King of Serpents
Length of average adult	50 ft.
Mortality	Mortal
Distinction	Deadly gaze, capable of petrification Venomous fangs, which are extremely poisonous
Affiliation	Dark Arts
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast XXXXX
Status	Extant

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."

— Most Macabre Monstrosities

The Basilisk is a giant serpent, also known as the King of Serpents. It is a magical beast that is bred by Dark Wizards. Herpo the Foul was the first to breed a Basilisk; he accomplished this by hatching a chicken egg beneath a toad which resulted in the creature known as a Basilisk. Basilisk breeding was banned in Medieval times. The practise can be hidden when the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures comes to check by simply removing the egg from the toad.

Looking a Basilisk directly in the eye will immediately kill the victim, but indirect contact will merely render them Petrified. It is also the mortal enemy of spiders, who can intuitively sense them and flee whenever they do.

The Basilisk has a classification as an XXXXX creature, meaning it is a known wizard-killer that cannot be domesticated due to its immense powers. Since the Basilisk is still a serpent, a Parselmouth may place a Basilisk under his or her control. This depends on the relationship between the Basilisk and the Parselmouth. Tom Riddle was the only one who could command Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, while Harry Potter had no control over it.

Nature

Physical appearance

"The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least."

— Description of the snake skin

The immense size of the Basilisk

The Basilisk can grow up to fifty feet in length, and is a dark green colour with large yellow eyes. These eyes have the power to instantly kill anyone who looks into them. Basilisk skin is armoured like that of a dragon's, which deflects spells cast upon it. The Basilisk sheds its skin at intervals, like all other snakes, when it grows.

Ecology

Basilisks can live a natural life of at least nine hundred years, though Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lived for approximately a thousand years. This is accomplished by using Parseltongue to put the creature into a deep sleep that prevents it from ageing, similar to suspended animation. Their mortal weakness is the crowing of a rooster. Basilisks feed off vertebrate animals, it is unknown how much they eat at one time. The Serpent of Slytherin survived on rats. The male can be distinguished from the female by a single scarlet plume on its head.

A basilisk egg is the egg of said creature. They are chicken eggs hatched beneath a toad, thus creating the deadly King of Serpents.

Abilities

Instant death gaze

Instant death to the living who look directly into the basilisk's yellow eyes

When a live victim looks directly into the Basilisk's eyes, it results in instant death. Although looking at the eyes through camera lens or a ghost's transparent body would dampen the lethal effects, looking through a pair of glasses does not offer the same protection, because glasses still allow one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes. Myrtle Warren was such an unfortunate person, as her wearing glasses did not save her from death when she looked directly at the Serpent of Slytherin's eyes.

If the victim is a ghost, then they can look directly into the serpent's eyes without suffering death, as the dead cannot die again; however, they would suffer petrification. Should a camera be reflected onto the serpent's eyes, the lens and film will be melted. A phoenix is immune to the basilisk's gaze, whether directly or not, as the bird is immortal.

If the basilisk's eyes are damaged (thus rendering it blind), it takes away the lethal ability as well.

Petrification

"Dark Magic of the most advanced kind."

— Albus Dumbledore regarding petrification

Petrified victims in hospital

When a victim looks indirectly at the Basilisk's eyes, such as its reflection, they will merely become petrified, similar to the stare of a Gorgon. This was the case with Hermione Granger, Penelope Clearwater, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Colin Creevey, Nearly-Headless-Nick and Filch's cat, Mrs Norris. Myrtle Warren (commonly known as Moaning Myrtle) was not so fortunate and looked directly into the Basilisk's eyes, which resulted in her immediate death.

A way of surviving a Basilisk's gaze is by seeing it through another object. An example mentioned above was when Colin Creevey saw it through his camera, resulting in his petrification and his camera lens becoming melted. Justin Finch-Fletchley saw the Basilisk through the translucent ghost Nearly-Headless-Nick, and was petrified. The already deceased Sir Nicholas became petrified as well, although he did look at the beast's eyes directly. Hermione Granger was petrified, while gathering information on the basilisk. She discovered it was the monster in the Chamber of Secrets and that the serpent travelled through the pipes in the school. Hermione was petrified after seeing the basilisks' eyes in a hand mirror.

Petrification seems quite powerful, as the the legendary Albus Dumbledore concluded that the only way to reverse the effect was through the use of the Mandrake Restorative Draught. Spiders are terrified of the Basilisk, described as their enemy and they flee before it. Spiders (such as the Acromantula Aragog) also refuse to even speak of it or mention its name. Rubeus Hagrid asked Aragog "many times" to name the monster, but Aragog refused to speak of it.

Basilisk's venom

Hermione Granger: "It doesn’t have to be a basilisk fang. It has to be something so destructive that the Horcrux can’t repair itself. Basilisk venom only has one antidote, and it’s incredibly rare —"

Harry Potter: "— phoenix tears."

— Disscussion on how to destroy Horcruxes using Basilisk venom

Effects after Harry Potter is injured by a baskilisk fang

Basilisk venom is an extremely poisonous substance that only has one known antidote: phoenix tears. Basilisk venom is so powerful that it can kill a person within minutes, making the person drowsy and blurry-visioned before they die. It has a very long lasting effect which still remains potent even up to five years or more after the snake has died. It can also damage inanimate objects so thoroughly that they are impossible to restore, and thus it is one of the few substances powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux.

When Harry Potter slew the Serpent of Slytherin with the Sword of Gryffindor in 1992, the sword became imbued with the basilisk's venom, giving it the ability to destroy a Horcrux. However, the venom is not poisonous simply by touching it. When Ron Weasley extracted a basilisk fang with his bare hands in the Chamber, he did not die.

Basilisks in the Wizarding World

"The first recorded Basilisk was bred by Herpo the Foul, a Greek Dark wizard and Parselmouth, who discovered after much experimentation that a chicken egg hatched beneath a toad would produce a gigantic serpent possessed of extraordinarily dangerous powers."

— Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Dark wizard Herpo the Foul, while in Ancient Greece was the first to breed a Basilisk. He accomplished this by hatching a chicken egg beneath a toad which resulted in the creature known as a Basilisk. Herpo was able to control Basilisks due to the fact that he was a Parselmouth and thereby could speak snake language.

Basilisk breeding was banned in Medieval times. The British Ministry of Magic has said that all chicken coops in the Wizarding world are subject to police inspection in order to thwart Basilisk breeding. However, the ban is quite easy to evade, by simply removing the egg from underneath the toad whenever the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures comes to check. A more natural and effective limit on breeding is the simple fact that the creatures are uncontrollable except by Parselmouths, and therefore every bit as dangerous to Dark Wizards as to other wizards and Muggles. For this reason, the serpents remain mercifully rare; in fact, until the incident in 1943 described below, there had been no confirmed reports of Basilisks in Britain since the 16th century.

Salazar Slytherin was responsible for the construction of the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts dungeons. It was specifically created for the purpose of purging the school of all Muggle-born students. The Chamber contained a Basilisk, which could be controlled only by his own 'true heir', and use it to rid the school of all those he considered unworthy to study magic. In 1943, when heir Tom Marvolo Riddle opened the Chamber he used the Basilisk to attack Muggle-borns.

Salazar Slytherin's basilisk fighting with Fawkes

The Basilisk actually killed one girl by the name of Myrtle Warren. In 1993 Riddle opened the Chamber again, through the use of one of his seven Horcruxes. Using the bit of his soul encompassed by the diary he possessed Ginny Weasley and forced her to do his bidding. During this second opening of the Chamber numerous Muggle-borns were petrified, due to catching a glimpse of the Basilisk's reflection. While he still attacked Muggle-born students, his ultimate goal was to lure Harry Potter into the Chamber and kill him. Harry Potter ultimately slayed Slytherin's Basilisk by stabbing it with the Sword of Gryffindor.

According to Igor Karkaroff, Alastor Moody has smashed apart a birthday present that he thought in paranoia was a cleverly disguised basilisk egg before finding out it was a mere carriage clock.

The skeleton of Slytherin's Basilisk lays within the Chamber today and is over 20 feet long. During the opening stages of the Battle of Hogwarts Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley went down into the Chamber to fetch Basilisk fangs in order to be rid of Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. They had to resort to the fangs after losing their earlier means of destroying Horcruxes.

Etymology

The Ancient Greek basil(eus) means "king", with the suffix -iskos being a diminutive, the whole having the sense of "princeling" or the like, purportedly for the crown-like white spot on its head.

See also

• Serpent of Slytherin
• Chamber of Secrets
• Salazar Slytherin
• Herpo the Foul
• Herpo the Foul's basilisk
• Basilisk venom
• Basilisk egg
• Tom Riddle
• Parseltongue
• Dark Arts
• Petrification

Behind the scenes

• The basilisk is often confused with the cockatrice, but the basilisk is born from a chicken’s egg hatched beneath a toad, while the cockatrice is hatched by a chicken's egg incubated by a serpent. The cockatrice is also usually depicted with wings, while the basilisk is not. Due to this, it can be assumed that J.K. Rowling either had the two confused, or decided to combine the two. A cockatrice is the product of an egg laid by a cock (a male chicken) and incubated by a toad or a snake, can kill by looking at a person, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them, and was slain instantly by a rooster's crow.
• Although an average basilisk is said to have an average lifespan of 900 years Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lived for approximately 1000 years, being there since Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets around that time.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, the basilisk is male because it has a red plume on its head.
• Newt Scamander stated in the fifty-second edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that there have been no recorded sightings of Basilisks in Britain for the last 400 years. Harry Potter wrote in his copy of the book "that's what you think".
• Wearing glasses will not protect a person from the fatal effect of the basilisk's stare, because glasses still allow one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes, unlike looking in a mirror or through a camera.
• It has been theorised that spiders fear basilisks because arachnids can see nearly 360-degrees around them and cannot shut their eyes, leaving them extremely vulnerable to the monster's killing gaze. However, this theory does not explain why other species, such as frogs and dragonflies, are not similarly described as fearing the basilisk, since their vision also nears 360-degrees.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry watches the basilisk by its shadow on the floor.
• It is unknown why there are male and female basilisks, as they are produced by a chicken's egg hatched by a toad. However, it's possible that basilisks are capable of reproduction as Moody had a present that "he thought was a well-disguised basilisk egg", suggesting that basilisks can lay eggs.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Basilisk is shown to hear Harry Potter, something that Tom Riddle's memory also points out. However, snakes lack ears and can only 'hear' things approaching by feeling vibrations. Though it is possible that Basilisks, being magical creatures, indeed have the ability to hear. In the book, Riddle instead only tells the Basilisk to smell Harry Potter.
• Despite written physical descriptions and imagery, it appears basilisks can grow horns (like its distant American relative the horned serpent; but seems to have shared a trait with European horned serpents of mythology, i.e. Cernunnos).
• Quite ironically, the way of hatching a basilisk - in the nest of a chicken - is also fatal to a Basilisk if there is a rooster around, which there would be if the chickens are used for breeding.
• As described by Pliny the Elder, basilisks don't get very large: only the length of "twelve fingers." However, in nature, snakes don't stop growing until they die, so it could explain why a basilisk, which can live over 900 years, would get so huge.
• In addition to a rooster's crow, the smell of a weasel is also unbearable and practically fatal to a basilisk in mythology.
• In mythology, it's said that a basilisk can actually kill itself by looking at its own reflection.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned) (Appears in flashback in Disc 2)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (As a corpse)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Creator: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter for Kinect
• Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite