Chimaera

Chimaera
Species information
Eye colour	White
Hair colour	Golden
Native to	Greece
Height of average adult	Large
Mortality	Mortal
Distinction	Head of a lion Body of a goat Tail of a dragon Extremely violent and dangerous
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast XXXXX
Status	Extant (rare)

"He kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study Knarls than Chimaeras."

— Hermione Granger on Rubeus Hagrid's love of these beasts

The Chimaera was a type of hybrid animal and a violent magical beast native to Greece. It had a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. Chimaeras were known for their vicious and bloodthirsty behaviour.

History

An aggressive Chimaera

Because of their ferocity, Chimaeras were classified by the Ministry of Magic as XXXXX (extremely dangerous and lethal), and their eggs were classified as Class A Non-Tradeable Materials. There was only one recorded instance of a wizard killing a Chimaera, although the victor died shortly afterward from collapsing off his winged horse from exhaustion.

Dai Llewellyn, the famous Caerphilly Catapults player, was killed by a Chimaera while on holiday in Mykonos, Greece.

1980s-1990s

Jacob's sibling met a Chimaera at the Magical Creatures Reserve before or during the 1986–1987 school year. They would bond with and feed this Chimaera, and later even Mrs Norris bonded with it. Professor Silvanus Kettleburn owned a Chimaera during the 1980s. In the 1988–1989 school year, Professor Kettleburn taught his fifth-year Care of Magical Creatures students about how to handle these beasts.

Some time before or during 1988, Durmstrang students, the Wellnelly twins, domesticated a Chimaera named Chimmy, whom they harboured in a forest near the school. They regarded Chimmy as more of a third sibling than a pet.

During the 1990–1991 school year, a young temperamental Chimaera called Nina bit an unidentified dragonologist, who had to seek medical treatment in St Mungo's. She had raised Nina since birth.

In 1995, Rubeus Hagrid stated to Hermione Granger that it was difficult to get a Chimaera egg, causing Hermione to speculate that he had tried to get one, and wanted to use it as part of a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, while Hermione advised Hagrid better not to bring dangerous beasts to teach to the Hogwarts students, due to Dolores Umbridge's inspections. During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, when Vincent Crabbe cast Fiendfyre (cursed fire), flaming Chimaeras appeared out of it.

The Calamity

During the Calamity in the late 2010s or early 2020s, a Magizoologist member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force attended a talk on the anatomy and traits of Chimaeras which ended with a hands-on demonstration that quickly turned painful. However, the incident increased the damage they could withstand in combat. Gethsemane Prickle later asked a Calamity Investigator working for the task force to help relocate a Chimaera threatening a village in Zagoria, Greece. Although the investigator nearly lost their arm in the process, they learned how to better strategically assess and target an enemy's weakness in combat.

Behind the scenes

• In classical Greek mythology the Chimaera was the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, her siblings included the Neamean Lion and the Lernean Hydra. The Chimaera was hunted and slain by the hero Bellerophon, son of Poseidon, with the aid of his winged steed Pegasus. The statement in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that the only known killing of a Chimaera resulted in the wizard falling off his winged horse is a direct homage to this tale, as Bellerophon was said to have fallen from Pegasus' back although that happened a long time later when Zeus sent a gadfly after him.
• A chimaera is literally a "hodge-podge" of several creatures. They are usually described as having three heads in Greek mythology: a lion's head on its front, a goat's head emerging from the back of the lion's head, and a tail tipped with a serpent's head. In the original myth, it was said to have also breathed fire (some sources say all three heads did so, while others say only the goat did).
  • In more recent fantasy settings, such as the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the third (or fourth, if the snake tail is counted) head of a dragon and draconic wings are often added as well.
• While the classical Chimaera is part lion, goat, and dragon, a true Chimaera is simply any two or more of anything including humans which leads to the medical diagnosis known as "Chimaerism" which happens when multiple genetic patterns merge in a single organism (often due to two or more fertilised eggs combining into a single embryo).
• Professor Kettleburn's female Chimaera had a mane; female lions having manes was considered unusual (it was unknown if the same rules apply for magical ones, however).

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (First appearance)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Wizarding World (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film) (Cut from the film)
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (Mentioned in History of Magic classes)
• Hogwarts Legacy (Mentioned only)

External links

• Chimaera on Wikipedia
• Pottermore - "8 fantastic beasts to be scared of this Hallowe’en"