Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be discussing a topic that has been bugging me for quite some time.
And that is- how on EARTH did a GIGANTIC Basilisk survive inside of the teeny tiny Chamber of
Secrets for 1000+ years?
Hogwarts is big, but not THAT big, and the Chamber (though extraordinary) doesn’t seem
nearly big enough to accommodate a 50 foot long serpent.
We’re first introduced to the Basilisk - which was the horrific creation of Hogwarts founder
Salazar Slytherin, in the Chamber of Secrets.
Basilisks are enormous serpentine creatures, the existence of which can be attributed to
their original twisted creator, a dark wizard by the name of Herpo the Foul.
A common misconception is that SLYTHERIN created the first basilisk, where in reality he merely
created his own- the same one that resides within Hogwarts’ secret chamber.
"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious
or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents.
This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from
a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad.
Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs,
the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall
suffer instant death.
Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees
only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."
The Basilisk was initially placed inside of a secret chamber in the school because Salazar
disagreed with the other founders and their philosophy that muggle-borns should be allowed
to attend the school.
Salazar was a strong advocate of blood-purity, and felt that only pure-blood witches and
wizards were worthy of attending the school.
Unable to influence the way that the other founders felt, Salazar created the basilisk
in a last-ditch effort to effectively rid the school of muggle borns.
Knowing that he wouldn’t live forever, Salazar also put magic in place to ensure that whoever
was his rightful heir would be able to control the creature- queue Voldemort.
Because of this enchantment, any descendant of Salazars would be able to communicate with
the giant creature via parseltongue - the language of snakes.
Those who are able to speak parseltongue are known as parselmouths, and Voldemort was widely
known to possess this ability.
As Harry Potter had a piece of Voldemort’s soul fragment inside of him, he also possessed
this ability, which is why he was able to understand the basilisk speaking.
However, just because Harry was a parselmouth- it did not mean that he was able to control
the basilisk in any capacity- that responsibility was left with the rightful heir of Slytherin
alone - Tom Riddle.
When Harry first enters the chamber of secrets, he’s awestruck at what appears in front
of him.
In stature and just overall presence- the Basilisk of Salazar Slytherin is (at this
point in the story) the most intimidating challenge that Harry will need to overcome.
Ok- on to the tricky stuff.
Presumably, Salazar created the basilisk either during the birth of Hogwarts OR shortly before
departing from Hogwarts.
Whichever way you want to spin it, the Basilisk was around 1000 years old when Harry encounters
it in the Chamber of Secrets.
Which begs the question- how on earth did such an ENORMOUS creature - up to 50 feet
in length according to magizoologist Newt Scamander- survive within the depths of the
Chamber of Secrets for 1000 years?
Don’t they eat?
According to Newt Scamander (an expert on the topic), a Basilisk’s lifespan can be
considerable SO LONG as they have a ‘sufficient’ food source.
The basilisk of Herpo the Foul, for example, lived to be over 900 years old.
He also goes on to add that Basilisks will eat all mammals and birds as well as most
reptiles.
The basilisk ‘eating’ is alluded to in chapter 16 of the Chamber of Secrets, when
Ron steps on a rat’s skull:
“But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard
was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat’s skull.
Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal
bones.”
What this passage suggests is that the Basilisk eats a lot of small animals.
However, I’m certainly not convinced that a diet of rats would be nearly enough to sustain
such an enormous creature.
Differences in physiologies aside for a second,I weigh 185 pounds and need to eat 3000 calories
a day just to maintain my weight, so I can’t even begin to imagine how many calories a
herculean serpent would need.
Furthermore, insatiable hunger and caloric needs of the Basilisk would need to be met
day in and day out for it to survive.
Stretch that out to 1000 years and that’s going to equate to more than just a few small
animal bones.
As for a canon answer- I think that the animal bones are the best that we’re going to get.
However, I’ve got a few theories of my own.
Theory #1
Because the Basilisk is actually just a giant ‘snake’ - this is reinforced in the text
in the Chamber of Secrets - then it’d be fairly safe to assume that the Basilisk shares
the typical digestive traits of a snake.
And, as it turns out, snakes are able to lower their metabolic rates by up to 70%, which
allows them to survive for prolonged periods without food.
This might account for how the basilisk was able to get by on so very little.
But if the basilisk is only eating a tiny amount of food, then how did it end up growing
to such a gargantuan size?
Well, according to various studies on snakes, their unique genetic predisposition to continue
‘growing’ has nothing to do with nourishment.
You see, according to these studies snakes will continue to grow even with a lack of
food- as they possess a strong selective advantage which pushes them to grow longer.
Furthermore, because the basilisk is such a ‘specimen’ of a snake- magnified in
nearly every way- it’s not far-fetched to assume that these metabolic phenomena are
amplified.
Theory #2
The basilisk LEAVES the Chamber.
We all know that the only way in and out of the chamber is through speaking parseltongue.
But guess what, parseltongue- the language of snakes-is SPOKEN by the basilisk (a snake).
What this means is that the basilisk would have had plenty of opportunities to head in
and out of the chamber over the millennia that it was ‘trapped’ inside.
It’s also suggested (at least, according to Ron) that the Chamber of Secrets was actually
located ‘Under the lake, probably’ - an exact quote.
If this is the case, then I don’t see why the Basilisk would have had any issue leaving
the chamber, swimming in to the lake to grab dinner, and then swimming back.
Avoiding land would also probably explain why the Basilisk went undetected.
Yes that’s right, snake’s can swim.
This theory, that the Basilisk would come and ago, would also explain the location of
the animal bones- between the bathroom pipe entrance and the doors, which needed a password.
Theory #3
The Basilisk is MAGIC- therefore trying to apply ‘science’ to it is completely nonsensical.
It merely survives because it was magically enchanted to do so!
Which theory do you guys subscribe to?
Did YOU ever wonder how the basilisk survived within the Chamber of Secrets?
Did this question only bother me?
Leave a comment down below
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live