Hogwarts Giant Squid

Hogwarts Giant Squid
Biographical information
Born	1890 or earlier
Physical information
Species	Giant Squid
Affiliation
Loyalty	Great Lake

This Giant Squid was a magical beast that lived in the Great Lake, on the grounds of Hogwarts Castle. Despite the generalised fear of it and a Chocolate Frog Card describing it as "the bane" of Hogwarts students, the Giant Squid was actually semi-domesticated.

Biography

It was very docile and helpful to the students of Hogwarts, such as when Dennis Creevey fell into the Lake, and he was immediately pushed safely back into the boat. The squid was also known to have played with students; for example, when Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Lee Jordan tickled its tentacles as it was lying part way out of the lake, it let them, and also accepted food from students, such as when it received toast from Harry Potter.

One of the Squid's tentacles lurking out of the Great Lake surface

Early on in his time at Hogwarts, Ronald Weasley thought Tom Riddle may have received his Special Award for Services to the School for saving a teacher from the squid, and in his fourth year, half-jokingly expressed his hope that there was some chance the squid would harm Viktor Krum, who was bathing in the lake. Needless to say, Riddle's award had nothing to do with Hogwarts' Giant Squid, and Viktor was unharmed, as the squid was demonstrably not a threat to anyone. Ron's joke was popular however, despite its factual inaccuracy.

Sometime around or after the 2010–2011 school year, Robyn Thistlethwaite attempted to perform the Bludger targeting charm on a Bludger while attempting to practise her evasion and broom handling. She accidentally caused the Bludger to fly into and erratically bounce around the Great Lake, causing the squid great agitation. As a result, the normally docile squid attacked a male student in Professor Brindlemore's Fifth year Defence Against the Dark Arts class unprovoked. The Hogwarts professors began investigating the cause of the squid's anger, with Rubeus Hagrid suspecting that something was annoying it. When Kevin Farrell informed Robyn and their friend about what was happening with the squid, Robyn realised that her rogue Bludger could be the cause of the squid's rage and explained the situation. Kevin suggested that Robyn and their friend should enter the Great Lake and stop the Bludger before the squid attacked another student, claiming that, if it did so again, regardless of the justification, Headmistress Minerva McGonagall would be forced to take action.

Robyn and her friend soon entered the lake and found the rogue Bludger annoying the squid. However, before they could do anything, they were confronted by a pair of merpeople from the Great Lake Selkie colony, who believed they were trying to hurt the squid further instead of help it. After Robyn failed to convince them of their good intentions using either English or broken Mermish, her friend was able to speak to them in Mermish enough to convince them they were trying to help. Now realising their mistake, the merpeople offered to distract the squid while the student and Robyn stopped the Bludger. Robyn and her friend managed to dodge the squid's tentacles, with her friend successfully casting the Slowing Charm on the Bludger, finally stopping it, and Robyn using the Summoning Charm to bring the Bludger to her. The squid started moving its tentacles toward Robyn, who was afraid that it had realised that she was responsible for the Bludger and that it wanted to attack her as revenge. However, the squid simply gently wrapped her in one of its tentacles briefly to thank her for her help. In the process, the Bludger disappeared, but the squid began to calm down and return to normal.

During the Calamity in the late 2010s and early 2020s, a Calamity Investigator working for the Statute of Secrecy Task Force discovered an artefact that allowed the user to communicate with marine life and successfully attempted to use it to communicate with the squid. However, the conversation didn't provide much useful information, as the squid was "obsessed with shrimp" and failed to talk about anything else.

Physical description

The Giant Squid looking from the water surface

The squid had been seen by different individuals as being either red or purple in colour. However since squid in the wild can change their colour using cells called chromatophores that lay just below the surface of the skin, it is entirely possible the Giant Squid was also able to change colours and even patterns at will and that both of these accounts were true. Like most squids, it had eight tentacles. Additionally, its two large eyes were uneven in size and turquoise in color.

Behind the scenes

• J. K. Rowling once joked that the Squid is Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. This would make it the world's largest Animagus. On the eleventh hour of every evening, the Squid would rise from the lake and transform into Gryffindor, who would wander the school grounds before returning at sunrise, she stated. She was unexpectedly taken seriously by many fans, before she was forced to clarify this was actually a joke.
• After the release of the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, fans speculated the Giant Squid may be the "dangerous creature" Newt Scamander released before being thrown out of Hogwarts. However, promotional material clarified that the creature in question was a Jarvey, shooting down the theory.
• The Giant Squid has not appeared in any of the Harry Potter films. However, it was originally set to make a brief appearance in Prisoner of Azkaban during the scene where Harry rides Buckbeak over Black Lake, as evidenced by an early script.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) (Cut from final film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) (Appears in artwork)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Mentioned only)
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac