Nature
Distribution
Quintapeds were only found of the Isle of Drear, which lied off the northernmost tip of Scotland. The isle had been made Unplottable to minimise the danger posed by these creatures.[1]
Interaction with humans
The quintaped was carnivorous, with a particular taste for humans and as such were extremely hostile towards them.[1]
Uses
Runic number five
The five club footed legs of the Quintaped were used to represent the number five, in the runic alphabet.[2]
History
According to legend, Isle of Drear was populated by two Scottish wizard families, the MacBoon clan and the McClivert clan, who were apparently rivals. The family heads, Dugald McClivert and Quintius MacBoon, got drunk and engaged in a wizard's duel, which resulted in Dugald's death. In retaliation, the McCliverts snuck up on the MacBoons while they slept, turning them all into monstrous five-legged beasts. However, the MacBoons were notoriously inept wizards, and the McCliverts realised too late that they had made the MacBoons infinitely more deadly. Resisting desperate McClivert attempts to untransfigure them, the MacBoons killed all the resident McCliverts.[1]
Illustration of Quintaped in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Whether the legend is true or not is unclear. There are no surviving McCliverts or MacBoons today that can relay the fate of their ancestors. For their part, the Quintapeds have resisted all attempts by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to Untransfigure them, and they are unable to communicate with the Quintaped. It can only be assumed that, if they are indeed Transfigured MacBoons, then they are happy to live the rest of their lives as Quintapeds.[1]It is also possible that, due to this not having been a proper Animagus transformation, the MacBoons lost their intelligence in the process.
Etymology
The prefix quint- means "five", while -ped refers to legs. Hence, "quintaped" refers to something having five legs (maybe saying Fivelegs); this leads to a mystery about a relation to the similar creature 5 Legger. The Quint-part of the name could possibly be taken from the legend-told Quintius MacBoon whose first name starts with Quint and was transformed to a Quintaped.
Behind the scenes
Quintaped Trading Card
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when Harry is hiding his Potions textbook in the Room of Requirement, he sees a cage containing the skeleton of a creature with five legs. This has been confirmed to be a Quintaped by J.K. Rowling on Twitter, although concept-art for the creature in the films showed it to be quite different from a Quintaped.
- In the 2018 illustrated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quintapeds were mistakenly given a new classification of XX, though their description remained completely unchanged.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Harry Potter Trading Card Game (First appearance)
Notes and references
| | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Professor: Bathsheda Babbling | |||||
| Textbooks: Advanced Rune Translation · Ancient Runes Made Easy · Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms · Rune Dictionary · Spellman's Syllabary | |||||
| Known Runes: Acromantula · Demiguise · Ehwaz · Eihwaz · Fwooper · Graphorn · Hydra · Quintaped · Runespoor · Salamander · Unicorn · Unknown · Mark of Merlin | |||||
| 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 |
