| Warning!
At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. |
- "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 is a hand-sized, insect-eating tree dweller 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 serves well as camouflage in its natural habitat.[1] They are immensely difficult to spot.
Description
The Bowtruckle can be found in western England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. A Bowtruckle serves as a tree guardian for its home tree, which is usually a tree whose wood is of wand quality[2] (such as a Wiggentree.[3]) The twig-like fingers are well adapted for digging out wood lice in trees and can also be used as a weapon against a foe when aimed at the eyes. It is generally a peaceful creature, but it may attempt to gouge out an attacker's eyes if anything threatens its tree or itself, and is adept at dodging most types of charms.[4] In order to take leaves or wood from a Bowtruckle's tree one would have to offer it wood lice or fairy eggs as a distraction.[1]
A group of Bowtruckles is called a branch.[5]
History
A bowtruckle in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson during the 1987–1988 school year
Newt Scamander kept a branch of Bowtruckles in his suitcase by December 1926.
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.[6]
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.[2]
In the 21st century, a branch of bowtruckles was unleashed as a Confundable by the Calamity and had to be dealt with by the Statute of Secrecy Task Force and returned to the Black Forest in Germany.[7]
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 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- 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 choose a Bowtruckle Newt Scamander calls "Pickett" as his favourite beast in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.[8]
Appearances
Bowtruckle Card
- 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 (First appearance)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald[9]
- Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
- The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Dimensions
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- The Archive of Magic: The Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 13 (Detention with Dolores)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World - Case 3: Out of the Woods
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Extended Featurette - Behind the Magic
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 4, Chapter 3 (All About Bowtruckles) - Care of Magical Creatures Lesson "Bowtruckle"
- ↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
- ↑ Facebook live chat
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts star reveals which creatures return in sequel on EW.com
| Care of Magical Creatures | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts | |
| Hagrid's Hut · Forbidden Forest · Care of Magical Creatures classroom · Magical Creatures (club) | |
| 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 · Crup · Fire Crab · Flobberworm · Hippogriff · Knarl · Kneazle · Murtlap · Niffler · Porlock · Fire Dwelling Salamander · 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 |
