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"Marvolo, his son, Morfin, and his daughter, Merope, were the last of the Gaunts, a very ancient wizarding family noted for a vein of instability and violence that flourished through the generations due to their habit of marrying their own cousins."
— Description of the Gaunts[src]

The House of Gaunt was a pure-blood family, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They had a tendency of marrying their cousins to keep their blood pure and to retain the traits of their ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, most notably the ability to speak Parseltongue.[1]

The Gaunts had branches in Britain and Ireland, although it is not known exactly where they originated. The last known members of the family lived just outside of Little Hangleton, a small village in northern England. They were very wealthy and prominent once, having descended from many powerful witches and wizards, most notably Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.

However, their liking for grandeur in tandem with little sensibility when it came to indulgences meant the family gold was squandered long before the last of the lineage was born.[1]

History[]

Early history[]

"Lack of sense coupled with a great liking for grandeur meant that the family gold was squandered several generations before Marvolo was born. He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper, a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter."
— Mindset of the Gaunt family[src]

The House of Gaunt was once a prominent, wealthy family in the wizarding world, and originated, whether in Great Britain or Ireland, from many powerfully magical wizards and witches, including Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Cadmus Peverell, the middle of the Peverell brothers and one of the original masters of the Deathly Hallows; Cadmus possessing the Resurrection Stone.[1]

Gormlaith Gaunt's plot[]

Gormlaith Gaunt takes in Isolt Sayre

Isolt is kidnapped by Gormlaith Gaunt after the latter burns down her parents' cottage

In the 1600s, Gormlaith Gaunt slew her sister Rionach and her husband William Sayre for betraying the family's belief in Pure-blood supremacy and lending aid to neighbouring muggles. She did this by setting their cottage on fire. Gormlaith then took their child, her niece Isolt Sayre and imprisoned her for twelve years, in the hope that she could raise her in the family pure-blood traditions. Isolt ultimately fled to the new world and helped found Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with her muggle husband James Steward.[2]

Gormlaith Gaunt casts a curse

Gormlaith arrives at Ilvermorny to exact her revenge against Isolt and her family

Around 1634, Gormlaith found out a headteacher at a new school of magic in the New World was nicknamed "Morrigan". She remembered her niece was named this by her father because of their lineage to Morrigan herself. When she also heard the school was named Ilvermorny, she knew it was Isolt because it was the name of the same cottage Isolt was born in and Gormlaith set fire to. She was also upset to hear Isolt had married a Muggle and opened the school up to anyone with magic and not a select few of pure-bloods.

She concocted a plan and set out to the New World in order to exact revenge on her niece. Her plans were going well, as she had managed to back the Steward family into room and was preparing to murder James and steal the couple's daughters, when Isolt screamed the name William. A friend of Isolt's, a pukwudgie (by the name of William), appeared behind Gormlaith and shot her through the heart with an arrow, killing her instantly.[2]

Of Isolt and James's biological twin daughters, Martha and Rionach Steward, the first was a Squib who married into the Pocomtuc tribe while the latter chose to have no children as she desired the extinction of her infamous bloodline.[2]

18th century[]

B2C16M3 Chamber of Secrets revealed

The Chamber of Secrets

The Gaunts, being direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin, also knew about the Chamber of Secrets, and Corvinus Gaunt was instrumental in keeping the entrance to the Chamber a secret. In the 1700s, there was a proposal to install an elaborate plumbing system at Hogwarts Castle. This, of course, threatened the secrecy around the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, which, at the time, still had its original appearance — a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels — and which was located on the site where a girls' bathroom would be set up.[3]

B2C9M2 Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom

The second floor girls bathroom services as the entrance to the Chamber

Corvinus Gaunt was, at the time, a student at Hogwarts and knew where the entrance to the Chamber was and how to open it. Corvinus was responsible for secretly protecting the entrance, having concealed it behind plumbing fixtures and a sink (which today are part of Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom), so that those who knew how could still access the Chamber.[3]

19th century[]

Ominis Gaunt HL

Ominis Gaunt during his time at Hogwarts

During the 19th century, Noctua Gaunt opposed and attempted to change the family's use of the Dark Arts and wished to uncover more about Salazar Slytherin's legacy. While attending Hogwarts, she heard about and discovered the secret entrance to Slytherin's Scriptorium, and this was the last time that both her brother and anybody else in the wizarding world heard from her. Noctua embarked on a journey through the Scriptorium's convoluted puzzles but died in front of the final door that required the use of the Cruciatus Curse to advance, as she had nobody to use the curse on.[5]

Near the end of the century, Noctua's brother and his family were still known for their pure-blood supremacist views and regularly performed the Cruciatus Curse on unsuspecting Muggles "for sport". When Ominis Gaunt, as a child, refused to perform the curse, he was tortured by his own older siblings and parents until he relented, prompting him to later cut ties with them. Using his wand to see around, the blind Ominis attended Hogwarts in the late 1880s alongside Sebastian Sallow, going to his friend's house in Feldcroft during the holidays.[4]

Ominis was a Slytherin student like all the Gaunts, though he felt ashamed by his legacy, and like Noctua, did not share his family's views on blood purity and was repulsed by the Dark Arts. However during his fifth year, a reluctant Ominis was convinced by Sebastian Sallow and another student to open Slytherin's Scriptorium once again. After he opened the door using Parseltongue and going through all the puzzles, the students at last found the trapped remains of Ominis' aunt. Still traumatised by his childhood, Ominis refused to perform the forbidden curse, forcing his friends to cast it on each other to escape and access the Scriptorium.[4]

20th century[]

The last Gaunts[]

"He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper, a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter."
— The Gaunt's poverty and Marvolo's nature[src]
Hbp scho deluxe

The Gaunt shack seen through Bob Ogden's memory

By the early twentieth century, the Gaunts had been reduced to poverty, possessing only a few old heirlooms and living in a small, run-down shack. Additionally, generations of inbreeding had made them violent and unstable. Marvolo Gaunt was often abusive toward his daughter Merope, whose emotional trauma made it difficult for her to use magic, making others believe she was a Squib.

Merope's brother Morfin spoke in Parseltongue more than English and frequently terrorised Muggles, eventually leading to his imprisonment in Azkaban.[1]

Birth of Tom Riddle[]

"New Year's Eve and bitter cold, snowing, you know. Nasty night. And this girl, not much older than I was myself at the time, came staggering up the front steps. Well, she wasn't the first. We took her in, and she had the baby within the hour. And she was dead in another hour."
— Merope's death in childbirth[src]
Gaunt riddle

Merope staring longingly at Tom Riddle

Merope secretly fell in love with Tom Riddle, an exceptionally handsome and wealthy Muggle, and the only child of Thomas and Mary Riddle, who lived nearby. Her father was livid when Morfin revealed this to him in the summer of 1925, and attacked her physically, but was restrained by Ministry official Bob Ogden. Ogden arrested both Marvolo and Morfin, who had cursed Riddle because his sister found him attractive. With her family gone, Merope manipulated Riddle into marrying her. She left the shack with a farewell note revealing her marriage to Riddle, and her existence was never again mentioned by Marvolo.[1]

Marvolo Gaunt in Azkaban

Marvolo Gaunt in Azkaban, where he eventually died

After a year of marriage, Merope Gaunt soon became pregnant and decided to release Riddle from his mental enslavement, having grown tired of living a lie. Dumbledore thought that she did this hoping either that her husband would have truly fallen in love with her by that point, or that he would at least stay for the sake of their unborn child. Unfortunately for her, Riddle did nothing of the kind. Riddle awoke into a nightmare and fled back to his family's home, believing himself to have been bewitched, although according to Albus Dumbledore, he probably did not say that exactly, for fear of being thought insane. Instead, the villagers were told at most that he had been "taken in", which they interpreted as that Merope lied to Tom about being pregnant with his child.[6]

Tom Riddle at Wool's Orphanage HBPF

Tom Riddle, the most dangerous dark wizard of all time

She gave birth to their only child, who would become the notorious Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort. Marvolo, returning from a six-month term in Azkaban, died due to either shock at Merope's betrayal or never learning to feed himself, while never again mentioning his daughter's existence. Morfin, returning from his three-year sentence, then succeeded Marvolo as the patriarch of the family.[1][7]

Morfin lived, as the last male heir to the Gaunt name, in solitude for the next thirteen years, with very poor care of his hygiene and household, causing both his appearance and the shack to deteriorate drastically. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban when his nephew, Voldemort, came to visit to learn about his heritage, who then used Morfin as a scapegoat for the murder of the Riddle family. With an implanted memory, Morfin easily confessed to a crime he did not commit, and was incarcerated until his death. By the time evidence of his innocence arose, his health already weakened to the point that he died before the Ministry could release him, and his body was buried at the Azkaban burial ground.[7]

Death of Lord Voldemort[]

"Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell."
— Harry Potter's final defeat of Lord Voldemort in 1998[src]
Voldemort vanquished

Lord Voldemort, the alleged last of the Gaunt line, falls at the hands of Harry Potter

Upon the death of Morfin Gaunt (heir to the House of Gaunt) the male line of the Gaunt family ended. The last name Gaunt became extinct and died out. The female line (along with the Slytherin family and Riddle family) continued under Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would later be known as Voldemort.[1] However, the name Slytherin was not used by Tom Riddle.

Although, to the wizarding world at large, it seemed that these three families ended with the death of Voldemort, in truth they continue with his secret daughter, Delphini. Delphini, whom he sired with Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. Delphini was later sent to Azkaban for her crimes of murder and attempting to illegally alter timelines.[8] It was unknown what Delphini last name was, if she went by the surname Riddle, Gaunt, or Slytherin.

Family traits[]

"The man standing before them had thick hair so matted with dirt it could have been any colour. Several of his teeth were missing. His eyes were small and dark and stared in opposite directions."
— A negative impression of Morfin Gaunt[src]
Gaunt

A snake nailed to the door of Gaunt Shack, as they spoke Parseltongue

Up until the 20th century, every single member of the Gaunt family was pure-blood.[1] They were also the last known descendants of Salazar Slytherin, as well as descendants of the Peverells, famed ancestors in whom they took great pride.

The Gaunts inherited their ancestor's ability to speak Parseltongue. Like other pure-blood families of the time, they were supreme advocates of blood purity and were often inbred in order to maintain "purity." However, by the 20th century, mentally unstable members of the family had squandered the family's fortune and cost them much of their prestige among elite pure-blood circles. Despite this, their habit of keeping themselves pure allowed them to become one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.[1]

Family tree[]

 
 
 
 
Peverell family
 
Slytherin family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Morrigan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cadmus Peverell
(fl. 1214)
 
Salazar Slytherin
(fl. 993)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(many generations)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
House of Gaunt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(many generations)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sayre
family
 
Steward family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Corvinus Gaunt
(fl. 1700s)
 
 
Gormlaith Gaunt
(d. c. 1634)
 
Rionach Gaunt
(d. 1608)
 
William
Sayre

(d. 1608)
 
Martha Steward
(d. c. 1632)
 
 
 
 
 
 
(many generations)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Noctua Gaunt
(d. c. 1890)
 
Mr Gaunt
(fl. 1890s)
 
Mrs Gaunt
(fl. 1890s)
 
Isolt Sayre
(c. 1603—c.1703)
 
James Steward
(c. 1603—c.1703)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Riddle family
 
Children
(fl. 1890s)
 
 
Ominis Gaunt
(b. 1874/1875)
 
Chadwick Boot
(b. c. 1618)
 
Webster Boot
(b. c. 1620)
 
Martha Steward
(b. c. 1634)
 
Rionach Steward
(b. c. 1634)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(unclear relationship)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Calderon-Boot family
 
Boot family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas Riddle
(18801943)
 
Mary Riddle
(18831943)
 
Marvolo Gaunt
(d. late 1920s)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tom Riddle
(19051943)
 
Merope Gaunt
(c.19071926)
 
Morfin Gaunt
(fl.1925—fl.1943)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
House of Black
 
Lestrange family
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tom M. Riddle
(19261998)
 
Bellatrix Black
(19511998)
 
Rodolphus Lestrange
(b. c. 1953)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Delphini
(b. c. 1998)
 


Heirlooms[]

Once a very wealthy family, the Gaunt family had squandered much of their gold early due to the Gaunt family's love for grandeur and mental instability, leaving them with very little inheritances for the later generations.[1]

Slytherin's wand[]

"...the wand of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, and that it contained a fragment of a magical snake's horn: in this case, a Basilisk. The wand had been taught by its creator to 'sleep' when so instructed, and this secret had been handed down through the centuries to each member of Slytherin's family who possessed it."
— Description[src]
Isolt Sayre's wand

Salazar Slytherin's wand

Salazar Slytherin owned a wand of his own making, made of snakewood and containing a fragment of a magical snake’s horn: in this case, a Basilisk horn. The wand had the distinction of being able to 'sleep' when so instructed, an ability taught to it by Slytherin himself. After his death, the wand was handed down the family: by the early 1600s it was in the possession of the Gaunt family.[2]

Gormlaith Gaunt possessed Salazar Slytherin's wand and used it to torture muggles and entrap her niece Isolt Sayre. Isolt stole the wand when she fled to the New World in 1620. It was deactivated by a spell from Gormlaith when she hunted down her niece around 1634 and was eventually buried at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where it grew into a unique Snakewood tree whose leaves had magical properties.[2]

Gaunt ring[]

Main article: Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
"See this? See this? Know what it is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family, that's how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way! Know how much I've been offered for this, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?"
— Marvolo Gaunt brandishing his ring at Bob Ogden[src]
Marvolo Gaunt's Ring1

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring

Marvolo Gaunt was in possession of a signet ring passed on from his Peverell ancestors. It was a gold ring inset with a black stone, engraved with what Marvolo Gaunt called the Peverell coat of arms. It had come into the Gaunt line from an heiress of the Peverells, not the Slytherin family. The ring passed through the male Gaunts (generation to generation),[1] until it was stolen from Morfin Gaunt by Tom Riddle. The ring was stolen when Tom Jnr framed Morfin for the murders of the Riddle family.[7]

This ring was eventually turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort and destroyed by Dumbledore with the Sword of Gryffindor.[9] It also contained the Resurrection Stone, one of the legendary Deathly Hallows, something Voldemort had no knowledge of. The Stone itself was lost in the Forbidden Forest when Harry Potter dropped it as he went to confront Voldemort.[10]

Slytherin's locket[]

Main article: Slytherin's Locket
"He looked at the serpentine S, inlaid with glittering, green stones: It was easy to visualise it as a minuscule snake... concentrating on the letter S, imagining a serpent, while the contents of the locket rattled like a trapped cockroach. It would have been easy to pity it, except that the cut around Harry's neck still burned... The golden doors of the locket swung wide with a little click."
— Description of the locket before it is destroyed[src]
Slytherin Locket HBP

Slytherin's Locket

The Gaunts also held onto Salazar Slytherin's locket for many generations.[1] It was a piece of jewellery originally owned by Salazar Slytherin that became an heirloom of his family. It was a locket of heavy gold with a serpentine S in glittering green stone inlay on the front. After descending down from Slytherin, it came into the possession of the Gaunt family. Marvolo Gaunt treasured this heirloom of this pure-blood heritage along with his ring heirloom.

However, Merope later sold it to Borgin and Burkes in order to support herself while she was pregnant. It later came into the possession of Hepzibah Smith, whom a teenage Tom Marvolo Riddle killed and stole the locket from (or, in Riddle's opinion, retrieved what was rightfully his).[11] He also turned this heirloom of his mother's family into a Horcrux.[9] Much later, it was stolen from its hiding place by Regulus Black and later destroyed by Ron Weasley with the Sword of Gryffindor.[12]

Etymology[]

The word gaunt is defined as "haggard, drawn and emaciated" and "bleak, desolate."[13]

John of Gaunt was a fourteenth-century English noble. Gaunt, in his case, was a phonetic corruption of his birthplace, the city that would become Ghent, Belgium.

Roman.de.renart

Fox (left) versus wolf (right), in a miniature (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, MS fr. 1581f. 6v) from Renart le Nouvel by Giélée (1290/1300 A.D.)

Earlier designations "of Ghent" had been seen as early as 1148-1149 A.D., with the Flemish author and poet Nivardus of Ghent / "Gaunt" (also known as "Baldwin / Bernard the Blind"), who is largely attributed as the writer of "the first great beast epic poem" and "one of the most cynical, mocking, and grim satires ever written", Ysengrimus. Its chief character is Isengrin ("Ysengrimus") the Wolf, and it describes how his various schemes are overcome by the cunning, deceptive trickster figure Reynard ("Reinardus") the Fox. Nivardus's work became so popular that the word renard became the French word for "fox".

Ysengrimus, as penned by Nivardus, is usually held to be an allegory for the corrupt monks of the Roman Catholic Church. Ysengrimus's greed is what typically causes him to be led astray, and he comes to a grisly end in the ending of the poem. Reinardus the Trickster, by contrast, represents the poor and the lowly; he triumphs over the "greedy and corrupt" Ysengrimus by his wits, and glorifies the power and value of cunning and ambition. GauntFamily.jpeg

John of Gaunt was a son of King Edward III of England, but as he was only the third son, he and his descendants were not expected to ascend to the throne, which they ultimately did. First, through his legitimate male descendants the Lancasters, and then through his debatably illegitimate descendants, by his long time mistress and then third wife Katherine Swynford, the Beauforts. Henry Tudor (later Henry VII)'s mother was a Beaufort, and his claim to the throne derived from her. Therefore, John of Gaunt is an ancestor of the House of Tudor.

Gaunt's heir deposed a king and usurped the throne, possibly alluding to the Gaunts' descendant Voldemort's attempts to overthrow wizarding Britain's government and rule it himself. Also, Gaunt's great-grandson, Henry VI, was notorious for his mental instability, which was earlier pointed out as a characteristic of the House of Gaunt, but in Henry VI's case it probably derived from his grandfather, Charles VI of France.

Epona

Epona and her horses, from Köngen, Germany, about 200 AD.

Gaunt may also derive from an ancient Celtic goddess, Gontia ("Guntia" in Latin), whose name, according to some historians, was adopted for the city of Ghent, said to be "her patron village". "Gontia" is also thought to relate to the Welsh word canda ("shining white"), from depictions of her riding a white horse, and the Celtic condate ("confluence").

Gontia was the patron goddess of horses; the moon; rivers / water; fate or destiny; and luck / fortune. Offerings were made to her in order to ensure success, and "good luck", for favourable outcomes.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in Bob Ogden's memory, Merope Gaunt is shown as pining for Tom Riddle Senior, who rides his horse, sometimes alongside Cecilia, past the Gaunt Shack every day.

Horse Patronus

Ginny Weasley's corporeal horse Patronus

Likewise, Ginny Weasley, who is possessed by Gaunt descendant Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has a Patronus of a "silvery-white" horse, and her wand is of the same wood, yew, as Tom Riddle's wand.

Etymology-wise, Gaunt may once have meant, "of Gontia". The goddess was the tutelary deity of the river Günz, near Günzburg in Germany. She is known from an inscription on a Roman-era altar at Günzburg, where a visiting Roman centurion wrote of making an offering to Gontia.

Gontia was also thought to have been equated with the goddesses Candida (Germany, "Candida the Queen" - Deae Candidae Reginae in Latin), Fortuna (Roman), Epona (Gaulish / French, designated as Epona Regina - "Queen Epona"), and Rhiannon (Anglo-Welsh, from Brittanic Rigantona, from rigan, "the Queen"). She is also known in the modern day as "Lady Fortune" or "Lady Luck", and associated with divination, magic, enchantment, astrology, and Prophecy.

Some accounts of her as Epona also depict her as "the leader of the soul to the afterlife"; the yew was also associated with death, rebirth, and "life beyond death". Likewise, yew was seen as appropriate for decorating for Yule, as the winter solstice represents the cusp between the season of life and the season of death. Most notably, Gaunt descendant Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) was born on "the last day of the year", in winter - December 31 - signifying "the cusp between the dying old year, and the birth of the new year".

Charlotte Guest Rhiannon

Rhiannon riding in Arberth. From The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest, 1877

As Rhiannon, she first appears in a medieval Welsh story collection. She is a strong-minded "Otherworld" (magical) woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (west Wales), as her consort, in preference to another man to whom she has already been betrothed. She is depicted as beautiful, intelligent, politically strategic, cunning, ambitious, and famed for her wealth and generosity. With Pwyll, she has a son, the hero Pryderi, who later inherits the lordship / throne of Dyfed.

As a widow after Pwyell's death, she remarries Manawydan of the British royal family, son of the Welsh god Llŷr, and has further adventures involving enchantments with him. Manawydan - also associated with magic and spells - has been depicted in lore as both a Knight of the Round Table in the court of King Arthur, and linked to the sorcerers Merlin and Morgan le Fay. He also served as an advisor to, and ambassador for, Brân the Blessed, another "King of Briton". Brân was also said to be Manawydan's older brother, and Llŷr's firstborn.

Allegory of Fortune mg 0010

Fortuna lightly balances the orb of sovereignty between thumb and finger in a Dutch painting, ca 1530 A.D. (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)

As linked to Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate and luck, she was also reputed to be "fickle", "two-faced", and linked to chaos and instability, as well as good fortune for those she favoured. Medieval representations of "Fortune" emphasise her duality, transience, and instability, such as two faces side by side; one face smiling, and the other frowning; half the face white, the other black. She may be blindfolded, but without scales, blind to justice.

"Lady Fortune" appears in chapter 25 of Machiavelli's The Prince, in which he says Fortune "only rules one half of men's fate, the other half being of their own will". Machiavelli reminds the reader that Fortune is a woman, and that "she favours a strong, or even violent hand, and that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder". This, too, seems to mirror the rise of the Gaunt descendant Tom Marvolo Riddle, or Lord Voldemort, as a "bold young man", even in spite of the efforts of Albus Dumbledore, a "timid elder"...and the Prophecy involving Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

Even William Shakespeare, whose work heavily inspired J. K. Rowling's writing of Harry Potter, was no stranger to "Lady Fortune", notably lamenting his "disgrace with Lady Fortune" in Sonnet 29.

In mythological lore, she claimed the life of Lucius, a prospective heir to the Roman empire, and was linked to virtue, or virtus (morals / strength of character). It was believed that those with ill-morals, or "lacking virtue", displeased the goddess, and invited "bad fortune" upon themselves. Lucius Malfoy, one of Lord Voldemort's followers and Death Eaters, seems to take his name from the Roman figure; and, he, too, "suffered Voldemort's wrath".

Behind the scenes[]

  • The Gaunt family was largely omitted from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore only makes reference to the Horcrux ring as having belonged to Voldemort's mother.
  • According to Voldemort's diary, he and Harry Potter are the only two Parselmouths to enter Hogwarts since Salazar Slytherin himself.[14] This implies that the Gaunt family members (all of whom were Parselmouths) never attended Hogwarts, despite obtaining wands and knowing how to cast spells. However, Corvinus Gaunt, Voldemort's maternal ancestor and a presumed Parselmouth attended Hogwarts and protected the concealed entrance to the Chamber of Secrets during the installation of a plumbing system. Gormlaith Gaunt, also a Parselmouth, attended Hogwarts, which is revealed by J. K. Rowling on Pottermore. Given that Tom Riddle struggled to find information on his parents and came upon his relation to Marvolo Gaunt perchance his study of old wizarding families, it seems likely he would have been unaware of any of his maternal ancestors being fellow Hogwarts alumni.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

Death Eaters
Dark Mark Pottermore
Leader: Lord Voldemort
Death Eaters

Avery II · Alecto Carrow · Amycus Carrow · Crabbe · Bartemius Crouch Junior † · Antonin Dolohov · Gibbon † · Goyle · Gareth Greengrass's brother · Jugson · Barnaby Lee's father · Barnaby Lee's mother · Bellatrix Lestrange † · Rabastan Lestrange · Rodolphus Lestrange · Walden Macnair · Mulciber I · Mulciber II · Nott · Pyrites (possibly) · Augustus Rookwood · Rosier · Evan Rosier † · Thorfinn Rowle · Selwyn · Merula Snyde's father · Merula Snyde's mother · Travers · Wilkes † · Corban Yaxley · Unidentified Death Eaters

Death Eater defectors

Regulus Black † · Igor Karkaroff † · Draco Malfoy · Lucius Malfoy · Peter Pettigrew † · Severus Snape

Death Eater allies

Borgin · Vincent Crabbe · John Dawlish · Delphini · Golgomath · Gregory Goyle · Fenrir Greyback · Mafalda Hopkirk · Narcissa Malfoy (defected) · Ismelda Murk (unofficially, supposedly) · Nagini · Mr Padgett · Mrs Padgett · Pansy Parkinson · Quirinus Quirrell · Albert Runcorn · Stanley Shunpike (Imperiused) · Scabior · Serpent of Slytherin · Pius Thicknesse (Imperiused) · Dolores Umbridge

Other affiliations

British Ministry of Magic (under Voldemort's control) · Daily Prophet (under Voldemort's control) · Dementors · Draco Malfoy's gang · Kreacher (formerly) · Tom Riddle's gang · Gang of Slytherins · Giants (Golgomath's control) · Inferi · Charmed skeletons · Muggle-Born Registration Commission · Theodore Nott (possibly) · Snatchers · Werewolf army · The Unforgivable

Death Eater establishments

Abandoned nuclear power plant · Borgin and Burkes · British Ministry of Magic Headquarters (under Voldemort's control) · The Cave · Chamber of Secrets · Forbidden Forest · Gaunt Shack · Lee family house · Lestrange Vault · Little Hangleton graveyard · Malfoy Manor · Misty Dell · Riddle House · Snatcher Camp · Spinner's End (Severus Snape's house) · The Abandoned Substation · The Ruins · The Quarry

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwartscrest
Head Boys and Girls
Dinah Hecat · Albus Dumbledore · Minerva McGonagall · Tom Riddle · Peregrine · James Potter · Lily Evans · Unidentified Head Boy · Unidentified Head Girl · William Weasley · Jacob's sibling · Corey Hayden · Percy Weasley · Edward Lupin
Prefects
Albus Dumbledore · Minerva McGonagall · Tom Riddle · Lucius Malfoy · Remus Lupin · Hannah Abbott · Penelope Clearwater · Angelica Cole · Chester Davies · Felix Rosier · Jane Court · William Weasley · Charles Weasley · Cedric Diggory · Gemma Farley · Jake Flinton · Anthony Goldstein · Hermione Granger · Nicolas Grimmett · Robert Hawking · Robert Hilliard · Ernie Macmillan · Draco Malfoy · Cyril Meakin · Eric Murley · Annalena Murk · Pansy Parkinson · Padma Patil · Damian Perriss · Edmund Spiers · Jonathan Spratt · Kevin Sterndale · Terry Strickland · Marcus Turner · Gabriel Truman · Percy Weasley · Ron Weasley · Ryan Westrup · Mervyn Wynch · Unidentified Gryffindor Prefect (I) · Unidentified Gryffindor Prefect (II) · Unidentified Ravenclaw Prefect (I) · Unidentified Ravenclaw Prefect (II) · Unidentified Slytherin Prefect (I) · Unidentified Slytherin Prefect (II) · Unidentified Slytherin Prefect (III)
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