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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened & Hogwarts Legacy.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

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"A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual."
— Ronald Weasley's basic description of a Squib[src]

A Squib, also known as a wizard-born,[1] was a non-magical person who was born to at least one magical parent.[2] Squibs were, in essence, "wizard-born Muggles". They were rare and were looked upon with a degree of disdain by some witches and wizards, particularly pure-bloods.

Muggle-born witches and wizards were believed to be descended from Squibs who married Muggles, introducing the potential for magical ability into the bloodline, thus a few generations later a wizard would be born to two Muggles.[3]

Quick Answers

What is the definition of a Squib in the Harry Potter universe? toggle section
In the Harry Potter universe, a Squib is a person who was born into a wizarding family but does not possess any magical powers. This is quite unusual and is considered the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, who are born to non-magical families but have magical abilities. Despite their lack of magic, Squibs are still part of the wizarding world and have knowledge of it, unlike Muggles.
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How are Squibs viewed by pure-blood witches and wizards in Harry Potter? toggle section
In the Harry Potter series, Squibs, or non-magical people born to at least one magical parent, are often viewed with a degree of disdain by some witches and wizards, particularly those of pure-blood. This is due to the fact that Squibs are essentially 'wizard-born Muggles', and their existence challenges the notion of pure-blood supremacy. Despite being born into magical families, Squibs are unable to perform magic themselves, which can lead to embarrassment and disappointment within their families. As a result, Squibs are often encouraged to integrate with the Muggle community, where they are less likely to be treated as second-class citizens.
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What is the difference between a Squib and a Muggle in the Harry Potter series? toggle section
In the Harry Potter series, a Squib and a Muggle are both non-magical, but they come from different backgrounds. A Muggle is a person who is born into a non-magical family and has no magical abilities. On the other hand, a Squib is someone who is born into a wizarding family but does not possess any magical powers. This makes Squibs quite unusual and sometimes they are even mistaken for wizards due to a magical aura that can surround them after birth. Despite their wizarding lineage, Squibs cannot use magic, which often leads them to integrate into the Muggle community.
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How does a Muggle-born witch or wizard relate to a Squib in the Harry Potter universe? toggle section
In the Harry Potter universe, a Squib is a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent. This is different from a Muggle-born witch or wizard, who are magical individuals born to non-magical parents. Interestingly, Muggle-born witches or wizards are more likely to produce Squib children. It's also believed that Muggle-born witches and wizards could be descendants of Squibs who married Muggles, introducing the potential for magical ability into the bloodline. So, a few generations later, a wizard could be born to two Muggles.
Provided by: Fandom
How rare are Squibs in the Harry Potter universe? toggle section
Squibs are quite rare in the Harry Potter universe. They are non-magical people who are born to at least one magical parent. Despite their wizarding lineage, Squibs do not possess any magical powers. This makes them a unique and uncommon occurrence within the wizarding world.
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Overview

A Squib was a human who had at least one magical parent, but did not inherit magic from said parent. A wizard or witch child would typically show signs of magical abilities by seven years old; any child who did not was very likely a Squib, though they were possibly late-bloomers.

Squibs were rare, even just one being born into a family was unusual. This is why the case of Thaddeus Thurkell's seven Squib sons was particularly noteworthy.[4]

Squibs were incapable of practising magic in any way, as Argus Filch found out when he attempted to use the supplementary course Kwikspell, which was designed to help adult wizards improve inadequate magical skills. His efforts had no effect as he had no magical skills to improve upon.[5]

History

"Angus Buchanan became world-famous among wizards whilst also being celebrated among Muggles, a hitherto unknown achievement. Wizards of many nationalities began turning up to watch him play sport."
— Squib Angus Buchanan' achievement in Muggle sport[src]

In the 1600s, Isolt Sayre, the famous founder of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, gave birth to a daughter whom she named Martha. Martha was named after her paternal grandmother and while her twin sister Rionach was magical, Martha was not. Martha was the only one in the family to be born a Squib, and because of that she considered her upbringing at Ilvermorny to be painful. Martha went on to marry and lived her life as a No-Maj.[6]

My-life-as-a-squib-lrg

My Life as a Squib by Angus Buchanan

In 1858, Angus Buchanan never received a Hogwarts acceptance letter, but got as far as the Sorting Hat before he was exposed as a Squib. In sheer desperation after managing to get into Hogwarts, he threw himself ahead of a girl whose name had been called and placed the Hat upon his head.

The horror of the moment when the Hat announced kindly that the boy beneath it was a good-hearted chap, but no wizard, would never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Angus took off the hat and left the hall with tears streaming down his face. This had never happened before and it never happened since. Angus being a Squib caused him to become estranged from his family.[7]

By the 1890s an elderly Squib lived in a small cottage in Hogsmeade Valley. He was content to farm his lands non-magically and provide the local hamlets with fresh produce.[8]

In 1900, Angus wrote an inspirational book, titled My Life as a Squib. His book helped break the taboos of Squib culture in wizarding society. Angus ended up becoming a star in the Muggle sport of rugby, and his sporting talents became so well known that wizardkind fell in love with his inspirational story, not to mention developing an odd interest in the Scottish rugby team.[7]

While Eugenia Jenkins was Minister for Magic from 1968 to 1975, Squib Rights marches began to surface. However, these marches were in vain, and only attracted pure-blood riots.[9]

Difference from Muggles

Cornelius Fudge: "Incidentally, can Squibs see Dementors?"
Arabella Figg: "Yes, we can!"
— Mrs Figg claims that a Squib can see Dementors[src]

Squibs were considered different than the Muggle relatives of witches and wizards, who were ordinary people who happened to have some knowledge of the wizarding world, as Squibs did have magical blood, just no magical power.

Filch secrecy sensor HBP concept 01

Filch scanning students with a Secrecy Sensor

Muggles, for example, could not see ghosts, but there are also no known instances of Squibs interacting explicitly with ghosts. Argus Filch acted as if he clearly recognised the poltergeist Peeves, but poltergeists were a different spirit from ghosts, and it is unclear whether Muggles could see poltergeists. When he followed the muddy footprints to the side of Harry Potter and Sir Nicholas, he ignored or was unaware of the latter's presence, speaking only to the former.

Arabella Figg testified at the Wizengamot that she had seen Dementors, but this was not true[10] and she was only able to determine on the basis of her knowledge that the distinctive cold air she felt at the time originated from Dementors. It is unclear whether this simply meant that she arrived at the scene too late or that she did not have ability to see Dementors.

The most prominent difference between them was that Muggles were kept away from magical objects and creatures by the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and Squibs were not. During the 1996–1997 school year, Argus Filch scanned students with a Secrecy Sensor as part of the school's enhanced security measures,[11] and Arabella Figg made a living breeding cats that had been cross bred with Kneazles. Both of these individuals also formed wizarding-like relationships with their cats.[12]

Squibs and Muggles usually had a stronger affinity with each other than with wizards. Due to the prejudices in wizarding society, it was generally considered kinder to send them to Muggle schools and encourage them to integrate into Muggle society. Some voluntarily chose to cut themselves off from the wizarding world altogether; for example, Isolt Sayre's Squib daughter Martha chose to distance herself from magic entirely. Others lived as allies to wizardkind and others, living somewhere in the middle, chose to work with wizards but were not very neighbourly to them.

Squib persecution

"You disgusting little Squib, you filthy little blood traitor!"
— Marvolo Gaunt to his daughter, whom he angrily accused to be a Squib[src]
Filch-GOF

Argus Filch

The Ministry of Magic did not keep records of Squib births,[13] a sign of wizard society's general disregard for them. They could, however, check if a person was a Squib using their parents' names, as demonstrated in 1995 during the disciplinary hearing of Harry Potter.

The common practice with Squibs was to send them off to Muggle schools as children and encourage them to integrate with the Muggle community, which was much kinder than the other practice which involved letting them live in the magical world where they would always be treated as second-class citizens, but not as bad as Muggle-borns.[14] Some, however, chose to remain in the wizarding world regardless.

Some pure-blood families, such as the Blacks, disowned any Squib members and removed them from their family trees, as they removed Marius Black.[15] Even Orford Umbridge, an unenthusiastic wizard who was tolerant enough to marry a Muggle woman, would come to despise his son for being a Squib.[16] John Buchanan, proud of his wizarding ancestry, came to loathe his son for being a Squib and violently disowned him, even forbidding his other ten children from seeing him again.[7]

However, certain families that were tolerant of Muggles and Muggle-borns seemed to regard Squibs poorly. The strongly Muggle-supporting Weasley family didn't talk about Molly Weasley's second cousin, who worked in a financial career and was implied to be a Squib. Ron Weasley seemed embarrassed to even mention him to Harry Potter, when Harry asked if all of Ron's family were wizards.[17] However, their attitude may be influenced by this cousin's rude personality.[18]

Neville Longbottom

Neville Longbottom's family feared he was a Squib

For this reason, many wizarding families were anxious to see early signs of magical ability and were upset by the prospect that a member might have been a Squib. Neville Longbottom was thought to be a Squib by his relatives, leading his great-uncle Algie to put him in various potentially dangerous situations hoping to "force out some magic" from him. In fact Neville had displayed very early signs of ability that his relative missed, until Algie accidently dropped him out of a window and, fortunately, Neville finally displayed his magic by bouncing into the garden unharmed.

Marvolo Gaunt constantly called his daughter Merope a Squib as a slur, due to her poor magical abilities, which were inhibited by her fear of her father and brother.[19] Similarly, Karl Jenkins rudely called Albus Potter the "Slytherin Squib" due to his poor magical skills in his first year at Hogwarts.[20]

Some magical families would blame any Muggle parents for a Squib's birth. For example, Orford Umbridge and his witch daughter would blame his Muggle wife, Ellen Cracknell, for her son being born a Squib.[16]

However, the wizarding world did set up at least one organisation to support Squibs, called the Society for the Support of Squibs.

It was unclear as to Lord Voldemort's attitude towards Squibs. He had personally noted throughout his life that he aimed to purge Muggle-born wizards and witches for "stealing" magic. However, as Argus Filch was allowed to remain in Hogwarts, it is likely that he was ambivalent to Squibs, since they were not considered "thieves of magic".

Because of their low status in the magical community, some Squibs who chose to remain in the Wizarding world developed a bitter personality towards witches and wizards. Argus Filch, in particular, was rather unpleasant with most students and would be rather harsh on them; Ron Weasley believed that Filch's Squib status may have been the cause of this attitude.[5] Martha Steward (II) found it so painful to live among magical folks that she eventually severed ties with the community to assimilate into Muggle society.[6]

Squibs, at times, tried to fight for their rights, as they marched for equality in around 1968 or 1969. However, pure-blood extremists would absolutely refuse to give anything respectful towards Squibs, and even launched an attack against the marchers that led to riots.[21] Even in the 1990s, many years after the protests, the Ministry refused to keep track of Squib births, showing a disregard for Squibs' attempt to earn their rights.[13]

Known Squibs

"If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much. He's bitter."
— Ron Weasley's explanation of Filch's grouchy personality[src]
Squib(s) Notes
Lysandra Blackwood Was the daughter of wizard supremacists Artemisia and Eunon Blackwood. She denounced her mother to witch-hunters, and Artemisia was burned at the stake.
Martha Steward (II) She was the elder twin daughter of Isolt Sayre and James Steward, who were the founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[6]
Thurkell brothers Were the seven sons of Thaddeus Thurkell. As they all turned out to be Squibs, this made their father so angry that he transfigured them into hedgehogs.[4]
Angus Buchanan Angus was a Scottish Squib born to the pure-blood Buchanan family. He became famous in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Later in his life, he published My Life as a Squib, a groundbreaking worldwide bestseller that brought the plight of Squibs to the wizarding world's attention.
Suchrita She was the sister of Satyavati Shah, being the first Squib in many generations of her family.
Gwenlyn Assistant to Skender, the ringmaster of the Circus Arcanus.[22]
Marius Black Was the third child of Cygnus Black (II) and Violetta Bulstrode. Marius was disowned and removed from the Black family tree tapestry.
Arabella Figg A dealer of cross-bred cats and kneazles and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.[13]
Argus Filch The caretaker of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[5]
Dolores Umbridge's brother Son of wizard Orford Umbridge and Muggle Ellen Cracknell. His parents separated and he would return to the Muggle world with his mother.[16]
Gilderoy Lockhart's sisters The two older sisters of Gilderoy Lockhart.[23]
Wally Wimbles Cleaner at Zonko's Joke Shop.[24]
Nyle Golding Son of Glenna Golding and puppeteer.[25]
Reggie Page Children of Kaleena Page and a Muggle.[26]
Esme Page
Constance Pickering's brother The brother of Constance Pickering was a Squib to whom the family Crup acted aggressively towards due to this.[27]

Believed Squibs

Harry Potter: "Are all your family wizards?"
Ron Weasley: "Er — yes, I think so. I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
— Ron Weasley mentioning Molly's cousin who is believed to be a Squib[src]
Person(s) Notes
Ariana Dumbledore Unable to control her magic after being traumatised by an attack by Muggle boys and kept hidden by her family. Neighbours believed Kendra Dumbledore to be ashamed of her daughter and spread rumours that Ariana was locked in the cellar due to her being a Squib when in fact it was her powers that had gone awry.[14]
Aurelius Dumbledore Believed to have been a Squib by Gellert Grindelwald, but turned out to have actually been an Obscurial (a wizard with suppressed magical abilities).[28]
Merope Riddle Believed to be a Squib because of her magical abilities was severely dampened in fear of her father and brother. Called a Squib by her abusive father more as a slur than actually being one.[19]
Molly Weasley's second cousin Assumed to be a Squib due to working as an accountant in the Muggle world.[29]
Neville Longbottom Discovered to not be a Squib when his Uncle Algie 'accidentally' dropped him out of a window and he bounced down the road.[29]
Kelly Brown Suspected, among wizarding circles, of actually being a talented Squib smuggled into the Scottish rugby team by the WSSRU, in violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
Stuart Hogg Suspected, among wizarding circles, of actually being a talented Squib smuggled into the Scottish rugby team by the WSSRU, in violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. He was, in fact, a wizard.[30]
Jim Hamilton Suspected, among wizarding circles, of actually being a talented Squib smuggled into the Scottish rugby team by the WSSRU, in violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

Behind the scenes

  • The term likely comes from the English expression "a damp squib" (dud firecracker), an expected delight that disappoints.
  • The word squib also refers to an incomplete or insufficient discharge of a firearm.
  • Similarly to the previous instances, "squib" is used for a small explosive, generally used theatrically for pyrotechnic effects, such as simulated bullet hits in films.
  • The word could also be a pun on "skip", referring to the fact that the person was "skipped" by magic. In fact, at least one book series (Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth) used the word in a meaning analogous to Squib in several books.
  • The Star Wars series also uses the term Squib as the name of an alien species.
  • Two Squibs (both are minor characters) seen in the series are Arabella Figg and Argus Filch. Both seem to love cats and have the same initials.
  • It is unknown what the term would be for the non-magical offspring of a Squib and a Muggle.
  • Mafalda, a deleted character, was set to be the child of a possible Squib and a Muggle. However since the character was cut this information has yet to be confirmed.[31]
  • Although Muggle-borns are descended from Squibs, there is not a single known case of a Squib having children.
  • Squibs may be related to, or the same as, the Underbeings described in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Underbeings are individuals who were human or part-human who descended from magical ancestry, but possessed no powers themselves.

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Twitter account of J.K. Rowling
  2. ↑ "Squibs" at J. K. Rowling's official site
  3. ↑ J.K. Rowling and the Live Chat, Bloomsbury.com, 30 July, 2007
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Harry Potter (website)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Scottish Rugby" at Harry Potter (website)
  8. ↑ Hogwarts Legacy (Wizard's Field Guide Page)
  9. ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ministers for Magic" at Harry Potter (website)
  10. ↑ "Extra Stuff: SQUIBS" from J. K. Rowling's official site (via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
  11. ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 11 (Hermione's Helping Hand)
  12. ↑ Squibs Fact File at Pottermore
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  15. ↑ Black family tree
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge" at Harry Potter (website)
  17. ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 (The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters)
  18. ↑ Mafalda and her family (Internet Archive of J. K. Rowling's official site)
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  20. ↑ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Act One, Scene Four
  21. ↑ J. K. Rowling's official site
  22. ↑ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (see this webpage)
  23. ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Gilderoy Lockhart" at Harry Potter (website)
  24. ↑ Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World, Case 11: I'll Fly if I Want to
  25. ↑ Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, Season 10: A Home in Hogsmeade, Chapter I: Found Family
  26. ↑ Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
  27. ↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
  28. ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
  30. ↑ J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) on Twitter: "That thing where I said Stuart Hogg might be a Squib? He's a wizard."
  31. ↑ "Mafalda (Goblet of Fire)" at J.K. Rowling Official Site (archived here via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine)

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