Ranrok

Ranrok
Biographical information
Died	1891 Keepers' Caverns, below Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Great Britain
Physical information
Species	Goblin
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Grey
Eye colour	Red
Skin colour	Light
Relationship information
Family members	Lodgok (younger brother) † Bragbor the Boastful (ancestor) † Family
Magical characteristics
Wand	Unknown length, wood, and core
Affiliation
Loyalty	Family

Ranrok (d. 1891) was a goblin and the founder of Ranrok's Loyalists. In the late 19th century, he and his Loyalists led a goblin rebellion against wizardkind, hoping to supplant them with goblins as the dominant race of the magical world. To achieve this goal, he sought out the powers of ancient magic by learning more about Isidora Morganach's interactions with his ancestor, Bragbor the Boastful, the constructor of the final repository. His Loyalists were allied to a faction of Dark wizards led by Victor Rookwood.

Ranrok's quest for power was rivalled by that of a late-blooming Hogwarts student with the rare power to inherently wield ancient magic, who was helped by Eleazar Fig, the husband of one of Ranrok's victims. With the new student being given trials by the Keepers to hone their ancient magical abilities throughout the 1890–1891 school year, it so happened that the two were in a race for the final repository.

By the end of the school year, Ranrok managed to excavate beneath Hogwarts Castle by drilling into the Keepers' Caverns. He burst open the final repository with a stolen wand, absorbing the ancient magic within. He was finally defeated by the fifth-year student.

Biography

Early life

"Ranrok stumbled upon an illegal dragon camp. [...] After weeks of sly surveillance, he finally summoned the courage to speak to the wizard in charge. Ranrok wanted to join them — and the creatures. The wizard happened to drop his wand: Ranrok saw an opportunity! He picked it up, went to hand it back as a means of introducing himself. The sight of a goblin with a wand sent the wizard into an instant rage. He beat Ranrok nearly to death. Ever since, Ranrok has despised wizardkind — sees us all as cruel."

— Rowland Oakes telling the new fifth-year student what he overheard at Korrow Ruins

In Ranrok's youth, he stumbled upon a wizard's illegal dragon breeding camp, and became fascinated by the creatures. Mustering the courage to speak to the man in charge after weeks of discreet observation, Ranrok noticed he had dropped his wand; he picked it up and approached the man to give it back to him as a pretext for an introduction. The wizard, however, was enraged at the sight of a goblin handling a wand (the right to carry a wand having long been denied to all non-human creatures as per the Wand Ban, clause three of the Code of Wand Use, 1631), and assaulted Ranrok nearly to death. This left the goblin with a loathing for wizards and a thirst for revenge.

Ranrok's goblin rebellion

Formation

At some point, Ranrok discovered the powers of Isidora Morganach and sought to learn more. According to goblin beliefs of ownership, he believed he was owed her ancient magic because his ancestor, Bragbor the Boastful, built her ancient magic repositories. The goblin eventually learned how to harness a corrupted form of ancient magic and would grant his Loyalists some of his power.

The Daily Prophet on Ranrok's rebellion

Ranrok led his Loyalists into open conflict with the wizarding world at some point in the 1880s until 1890, with the earliest known battle being a raid on Feldcroft. He began to look into the locations of the other Keeper repositories and begrudgingly allied with the Rookwood Gang. This was a tumultuous relationship that relied solely on Victor Rookwood's knowledge of his Keeper ancestor, Charles Rookwood, and Ranrok's ability to harness ancient magic. The alliance is made even more fragile due to Ranrok's genocidal intentions toward wizardkind and Rookwood being an espoused wizarding supremacist.

Lodgok, Ranrok's younger brother, was banished from the Loyalists after showing sympathy towards the witch, Miriam Fig, at Rookwood Castle in search of Bragbor's last journal. Ranrok killed the witch himself and stole her wand after failing to find the location of the journal.

Skirmish in Vault 12

Ranrok's arrival in Vault 12

Rookwood tipped Ranrok off about the key to Vault 12 in Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Meanwhile, a new fifth-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the power to wield ancient magic was travelling to the Sorting Ceremony of the 1890–1891 school year, along with Eleazar Fig and George Osric.

Ranrok sent a corrupted dragon to intercept the carriage holding the student, but only managed to lose the key and kill Osric. He encountered the student and Professor Fig after arriving at Gringotts to deal with the two himself. Ranrok grew impatient with the banker telling him all the rules of the vault, and killed him, labelling him a traitor. He threatened to take the container from the student after Fig refused to hand it over to the goblin. The professor immediately fired a bolt at Ranrok, who caught it and fired a burst of ancient magic at the two, incapacitating both of them. A sentinel awakened, which allowed the pair to escape while the Loyalists were distracted by the guardian.

Troll attack on Hogsmeade

Ranrok and Victor Rookwood meeting in Hogsmeade

Ranrok attempted to abduct the student again with the help of Rookwood and Theophilus Harlow. He sent two corrupted Trolls to provide a distraction so the two Dark wizards could take the child. This plan ultimately failed, and the conspirators later met to discuss this failure. Ranrok chastised the pair of criminals for failing in their part of the scheme. Rookwood ridiculed the goblin's attempt to distract the people of Hogsmeade so he could capture a child. He asked him who this child was and what Ranrok was hiding from him. The goblin assured if he could not get the child, then he had no value to him. The conversation ended with Ranrok noticing the student and a friend (either Natsai Onai or Sebastian Sallow) eavesdropping on their conversation.

Looting Rookwood Castle

While looting Rookwood Castle, Ranrok and Rookwood had another argument about their alliance. The Dark wizard angrily ranted about the Loyalist tunnelling under half the country. Ranrok retorted that he wouldn't have needed to tunnel excessively if he had just brought him the student. Rookwood stated that they would have the student much sooner if the rebel hadn't sent a dragon to retrieve the container he spent months and countless Ministry favours tracking.

Ranrok explained how he ran out of options once the student reached Hogwarts, blaming Rookwood for letting the student board the carriage. The Dark wizard stated that Ranrok had surely acquired enough power that he did not need to tunnel underneath his family home. Ranrok interrupted Rookwood, reprimanding him for saying he allowed Ranrok to excavate underneath the castle. The rebel leader reiterated that Rookwood was an ally solely because he was a descendant of Charles Rookwood, one of the four Keepers, and may prove useful eventually. Ranrok reminded the crime lord of their agreement: that the goblin would share the power he discovered with Rookwood if he found the stores of ancient magic yet to be found. The two parted ways after Ranrok threatened to provide Rookwood with another "demonstration" of his power unless he brought him the child.

Murdering Lodgok

"You are a traitor to our kind!"

— Ranrok to Lodgok

Lodgok handing Bragbor's last journal to his older brother

Ranrok encountered the student when they entered a Loyalist mine at Lodgok's behest to collect Bragbor's last journal. The student destroyed one of his drills and then acted nonchalant, explaining to them that he could build another. Rookwood arrived with Lodgok as his captive, the latter claiming that he had come to put a stop to his brother's plans. He reluctantly handed Ranrok their ancestor's journal, which shocked him, as he had believed Lodgok to have never been in possession of it. He rebuked his brother for keeping this secret and assaulted him with a burst of corrupt ancient magic.

Ranrok then unleashed a prejudiced tirade against wizardkind, insulting Miriam Fig's kindness towards Lodgok and proclaiming young witches and wizards to be particularly deceitful. Victor Rookwood remarked how it is a wonder their ancestors had ever trusted each other. Ranrok comes to a sudden realisation that he didn't need the fifth-year, Lodgok, or even Rookwood to find the final repository. He declared his brother a traitor to the goblin race and killed him with a large burst of corrupted ancient magic that threw him into the mine's support beams. With the cavern collapsing and chaos ensuing, Rookwood cast the Killing Curse at the goblin but he quickly dodged the spell. Ranrok then fired another blast at the student but missed, allowing the child to escape.

Battle for the final repository

Ranrok and his Loyalists excavated beneath Hogwarts into the Keepers' Caverns, arriving at the final repository, but were met with opposition from the fifth-year student and Professors Eleazar Fig, Matilda Weasley, Mudiwa Onai, Aesop Sharp, Abraham Ronen, and Dinah Hecat. The student and Fig battled their way through the Loyalist horde and arrived at the repository's chamber, where they encountered Ranrok. The rebel leader proclaimed that the repository belonged to goblins since they built it, before brandishing the wand he had stolen from Fig's wife, and declared that this conflict could have been avoided if Miriam had just given him the container. He then insulted her, and redirected the spell cast by Fig in retaliation. He noted the couple's similarities and destroyed the repository, emitting vast amounts of ancient magic.

Ranrok's dragon form

Ranrok absorbed the magic and disappeared. He appeared behind them as a transfigured dragon and attacked Fig and the student. Ranrok slammed on top of Fig, which caused the student to fall to the ground below. The two then engaged in a fight which resulted in the fifth-year defeating the corrupted dragon, causing it to explode in a burst of ancient magic. Ranrok lay dead on the ground in his original goblin form.

It was possible that Fig and the student repaired the final repository, or that the student consumed the magic themselves. Either way, Fig succumbed to his injuries, becoming Ranrok's final victim in his quest for goblin supremacy. A memorial ceremony was held in Fig's honour in the Great Hall at the end of the year, and in the End-of-Term Feast, Professor Matilda Weasley venerated the fifth-year student for their heroism in the battle.

Personality and traits

Ranrok depicted with an evil glare by the Daily Prophet

Ranrok was a very greedy individual who sought to claim the power of ancient magic solely for the purpose of goblin supremacy. His worldview was skewed by his hatred for all wizards and witches, whom he tarred with the same brush simply because he met one bad one. He sought to destroy wizardkind entirely and refused to let anything stand in his way, as proven when he even killed a member of his own kind, as well as his own brother, for being, at least in Ranrok's eyes, "traitors", showing that even goblins that stood against him in any way were not safe from his wrath. Despite his intense hatred for wizardkind, Ranrok had formed a tenuous alliance with a faction of Dark wizards led by Victor Rookwood.

Magical abilities and skills

• Goblin magic: Ranrok was very skilled with goblin magic, to the point that he could contend with wand-wielding witches and wizards in magical confrontation.
• Ancient magic: At some point, Ranrok learned to control the arcane form of ancient magic that had been wielded by Isidora Morganach, Percival Rackham, and the new fifth-year student.

Behind the scenes

• Ranrok is voiced by Matthew Waterson in Hogwarts Legacy.
• Ranrok shares various similarities with Lord Voldemort, in that he seeks for his own species to dominate, has red eyes because of his tampering with the Dark Arts (for Voldemort, he acquired red eyes from his Horcruxes), is willing to murder to further his own goals, and seeks to kill a young Hogwarts student.

Appearances

• Hogwarts Legacy (First appearance)
• The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy