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Warning!
At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. |
- "The Bowtruckle, which eats insects, is a peaceable and intensely shy creature but if the tree in which it lives is threatened, it has been known to leap down upon the woodcutter or tree-surgeon attempting to harm its home and gouge at their eyes with its long, sharp fingers. An offering of woodlice will placate the Bowtruckle long enough to let a witch or wizard remove wand-wood from its tree."
- — Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them[src]
The Bowtruckle was a hand-sized, insect-eating, tree dwelling magical beast with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced stick figure made of bark and twigs, which served well as camouflage in its natural habitat.[2] They were immensely difficult to spot.
Contents
Description

A tree branch of Bowtruckles
The Bowtruckle could be found in western England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. A Bowtruckle served as a tree guardian for its home tree, which was usually a tree whose wood was of wand quality[3][4] (such as a Wiggentree).[5] The twig-like fingers were well adapted for digging out wood lice in trees and could also be used as a weapon against a foe when aimed at the eyes.[2]
A group of Bowtruckles was called a branch.[6]
It was generally a peaceful creature, but it could attempt to gouge out an attacker's eyes if anything threatened its tree or itself, and was adept at dodging most types of charms.[7] In order to take leaves or wood from a Bowtruckle's tree, a wizard or witch had to offer it woodlice[2] or fairy eggs[3] as a distraction.
History

A Bowtruckle in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson during the 1987–1988 school year
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had a Bowtruckle Island at the Great Lake. Newton Scamander used to go to it when he attended Hogwarts, and gained the trust of the Bowtruckles. In between February and June 1913, he took Leta Lestrange in an effort to cheer her up.[8]
Newt Scamander kept a branch of Bowtruckles in his suitcase by December 1926.[9]
During the 1987–1988 school year, Bowtruckles were studied by fourth-year Care of Magical Creatures students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, taught by Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, who described them to be slipperier than Frog Spawn Soap.[10] One of Kettleburn's personal Bowtruckles was named by Jacob's sibling, and was named either Jacob, Barnaby Junior or Newt, after a person of the same name.[11]
Bowtruckles were studied by fifth-year Care of Magical Creatures students at Hogwarts during 1995–1996 school year, taught by substitute Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank.[3]
In the 21st century, a branch of bowtruckles was unleashed as a Confoundable by the Calamity and had to be dealt with by the Statute of Secrecy Task Force and returned to the Black Forest in Germany.[12]
Etymology
The word "bow" was an old Scottish dialect means "dwelling", and "truckle" means "limb of tree" in old English dialect. This means "to take a subordinate position".
Behind the scenes
- It is unknown why Bowtruckles are classified as harmless given their aggression when their home tree or themselves are threatened.
- The Bowtruckle's use in lock-picking may be inspired by the rashnovik plant, a magical herb in Slavic mythology said to be able to unlock or uncover anything that is locked or closed regardless of size, material, or key. They were notoriously difficult or even impossible to find and identify, and could only be found by chthonic animals like snakes, tortoises, or hedgehogs.
Bowtruckle, as seen in the PC version of the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- In the PC version of Chamber of Secrets, Bowtruckles appear as enemies, whose offensive consists of throwing pieces of wood. Harry can cast Diffindo at them to defeat them, which earns him a piece of Wiggentree bark, one of the two ingredients in the Wiggenweld Potion. Unfortunately, due to the absence of enemies dropping Flobberworm Mucus upon defeat, this does tend to offset the player's balance of ingredients rather heavily.
- The pieces of wood thrown by them to hurt the player is actually Wiggentree bark.
- They are also much larger and evil-looking in this appearance.
- In the GBA version of Goblet of Fire, they appear as enemies. When a player goes near a tree they live in, they can throw pieces of wood at him or her. To defeat them, the player has to cast the Confundus Charm at them.
- In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Bowtruckles help build wooden ladders in the Forbidden Forest.
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Rubeus Hagrid commented to Harry Potter that "I brought you here sixteen years ago when you were no bigger than a bowtruckle."
- At Comic-Con 2016, Eddie Redmayne chose a Bowtruckle Newt Scamander calls "Pickett" as his favourite beast in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.[13]
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (GBC and PC versions only)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (GBA version only)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only) (Exploding Snap Famous Wizards Card)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Mentioned only)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- The Archive of Magic: The Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (First appearance)
- The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Mentioned only)
- Pottermore
- Wizarding World
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Dimensions
- Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
- Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
Notes and references
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 13 (Detention with Dolores)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World - Case 3: Out of the Woods
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Extended Featurette - Behind the Magic
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay, Scene 70
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 4, Chapter 3 (All About Bowtruckles) - Care of Magical Creatures Lesson "Bowtruckle"
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 4, Chapter 4 (Curse-Breakers)
- ↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
- ↑ Facebook live chat
Care of Magical Creatures | |
---|---|
Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts | |
Hagrid's Hut · Forbidden Forest · Care of Magical Creatures classroom · Magical Creatures (club) · The Paddock | |
Professors | Silvanus Kettleburn · Rubeus Hagrid · Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank (substitute teacher) |
Textbooks | The Monster Book of Monsters · Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them |
Creatures studied at Hogwarts | |
Blast-Ended Skrewt · Bowtruckle · Chimaera · Crup · Demiguise · Diricawl · Doxy · Fairy · Fire Crab · Fire Dwelling Salamander · Flobberworm · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Gnome · Golden Snidget · Griffin · Hippogriff · Imp · Jackalope · Knarl · Kneazle · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Occamy · Porlock · Quintaped · Streeler · Thestral · Unicorn |
Magical creatures by classification | |
---|---|
X | Flobberworm · Horklump |
XX | Augurey · Bowtruckle · Chizpurfle · Clabbert · Diricawl · Fairy · Ghoul · Gnome · Grindylow · Imp · Jobberknoll · Mooncalf · Porlock · Puffskein · Ramora · Winged horse |
XXX | Ashwinder · Billywig · Bundimun · Crup · Doxy · Dugbog · Fire crab · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Hippocampus · Hippogriff · Hodag · Jarvey · Knarl · Kneazle · Leprechaun · Lobalug · Mackled Malaclaw · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Nogtail · Pixie · Plimpy · Pogrebin · Red Cap · Salamander · Sea serpent · Shrake · Streeler · Winged horse |
XXXX | Centaur · Demiguise · Erkling · Erumpent · Golden Snidget · Graphorn · Griffin · Hidebehind · Kappa · Kelpie · Merpeople · Occamy · Phoenix · Re'em · Runespoor · Snallygaster · Sphinx · Tebo · Thestral · Thunderbird · Troll · Unicorn · Winged horse · Yeti |
XXXXX | Acromantula · Basilisk · Chimaera · Dragon · Horned Serpent · Lethifold · Manticore · Nundu · Quintaped · Wampus cat · Werewolf |