Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be diving in to the history of AURORS.
How do you stop a Dark Wizard?
Especially when you don’t have the likes of Harry Potter and his friends to help you
out.
Well, for much of wizarding history, the defense of the magical world fell to a small handful
of powerful ministry workers tasked with one simple goal: the enforcement of wizarding
laws.
Those responsible were known as Aurors… or dark wizard hunters…, and even though
you’ve probably heard about them plenty of times, you’ve likely never heard their
full history.
And that’s the tale we’ll tell today.
ORIGINS
While the ancient history of Quidditch takes up more than a few bookshelves at the local
shop in Diagon Alley, you might be surprised by the utter lack of texts regarding Aurors.
And that’s a bit strange, isn’t it?
After all, knowing the exact date for the first appearance of a golden snitch, or the
specific legislation that limited games around medieval muggle villages, isn’t really that
important…
At least, not when compared to the life and death consequences of anti-dark arts police
work.
But the history of Aurors is shrouded in mystery.
They first appeared in text in the 18th century.
The British Minister for Magic at the time, a wizard named Eldritch Diggory, was the first
person to officially create an Aurors office.
So, at a glance, you might be tempted to guess that the Ministry of magic didn’t have Aurors
at all until that point.
And you wouldn’t be wrong to think that.
But the duty of an Auror… the apprehension of dark wizards and other criminals…
was likely just grouped into the role of other ministry officials.
That meant other members of the official wizarding government, especially those within the Department
of Magical Law Enforcement, fulfilled the day to day tasks that Aurors would eventually
do.
But thanks to the work of Minister Eldritch Diggory, the jobs of wizards and witches at
the Ministry of Magic became more specialized.
And instead of bullying your average office worker into enforcing magical laws, Diggory
created a brand new office of Aurors.
And ever since that fateful day, in the early 18th century, the Aurors have gone on to become
one of the most feared, and beloved, aspects of the Ministry of Magic.
HISTORY
Now, you obviously know that the Aurors did much more than fight against dark wizards.
But that can be a bit hard to remember.
Especially when the most famous Auror of the 21st century, Harry Potter, had achieved so
much in his campaigns against the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort.
But in the decades, and centuries, that followed the creation of the Aurors office, that small
sector of Magical Law Enforcement officials took on a whole boatload of different crimes.
From quelling goblin rebellions, to investigating the illegal trade of magical creatures, the
Aurors were both the wizarding world’s police force, and the closest thing to a standing
army that the Ministry would ever mobilize.
Only decades after the Auror’s office was created, one of their very own was elected
to lead the entire Ministry of Magic.
This talented wizard, a cunning duelist known as Hesphaestus Gore, came into power at a
particularly tumultuous time.
The British magical community was still quite wary of the Ministry of Magic.
After all, not even 50 years had passed since the Wizengamot had evolved into the Ministry.
And far fewer years since the Ministry started to patrol the wizarding world, and strictly
enforce laws on magical beings.
In centuries prior, the Wizengamot hadn’t exactly been eager in prosecuting cases against
criminals.
Just like courts in the muggle world, the Wizengamot seemed to be driven by public pressure,
and was always happy to look the other direction when petty crime was involved.
But the new Ministry of Magic was different.
Its binding agreements with international wizarding governments, like the International
Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, forced the Aurors' hand.
In order to honor their deals with foreign nations… and also to keep the peace… the
Aurors went on the hunt for crime..
And that meant it was only a matter of time before magical beings around Britain decided
that they didn’t like the idea of the Ministry, and its Aurors, suddenly telling them what
was right and wrong.
And Hesphaestus Gore was caught in the middle of it.
When he was elected to power, the Goblins revolted, and sensing an opportunity to overthrow
the wizard-elitist government, the werewolves joined in as well.
But Hesphaestus Gore wasn’t a pushover.
He was one of the earliest Aurors in the entire Magical Law Enforcement department.
With specialized knowledge on the psychology and weaknesses of every magical being in Britain,
Gore managed to lead the Ministry to victory, and started a century of peace in the British
wizarding community.
From the ashes of that fateful rebellion, the Ministry’s influence over the British
wizarding world strengthened.
Its laws, and its law enforcement, became the bogey man for every magic user in its
domain.
Which… was most definitely a good thing.
It’s easy to look back at the years before the Aurors, and feel a pang of nostalgia,
as we think about all the twisted tales of dark wizards, and forests infested with evil
vampires.
The world before the Aurors department certainly seemed like a more adventurous place.
But for the average wizard and witch, who just wanted to raise their family in a safe
environment, the choice between a world with Aurors, and one without, was a no brainer.
To them, the stronger the Aurors, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, became…
the better.
After Minister Gore successfully quelled that rebellion, until Grindelwald's Global Wizarding
War in the early to mid 20th Century, the Aurors department stayed relatively quiet.
They patrolled the alleys and villages of the British wizarding world, killed a few
werewolves, and banished countless criminals to Azkaban.
But it wasn’t all as peaceful as it seemed.
At least, that was true for any non-wizard or witch.
If you asked any Goblin, house-elf, or centaur what they thought of the Ministry, and their
Aurors, you might be surprised by what you’d hear.
Because, to them, there was no difference between a dark wizard and a collar-striped
Auror.
Both represented wizard-elitism, and both oppressed non-wizard kind.
When the Dark Wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, decided to hunt down the Deathly Hallows,
and then later, tried to take over the wizarding world, the British Ministry’s Aurors were
sent into battle.
This Global Wizarding War, which lasted from the 1920’s until the early 1940’s, saw
Britain's Aurors transform into a paramilitary force.
They took their defense against the dark arts skills, along with their dueling expertise,
and used it to pursue Grindelwald from continent to continent.
In the end, it was Albus Dumbledore, the future headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry, who ended the war, by defeating Grindelwald.
And for the next three decades, the Ministry’s Aurors returned to Britain, where they continued
to patrol the cobblestone roads of Diagon Alley, and keep an eye on the Dark Wizards
and Witches.
But it wouldn’t be long until another Dark Wizard, this time… a native of Britain…
would rise to threaten the Ministry.
In the 1970’s, Tom Riddle recruited an army of followers.
This group, which he called Death Eaters, terrorized the British wizarding community.
And the Aurors, desperate to stop them, did something which had been unthinkable up to
that point… they started to use the Unforgivable Curses- Avada Kedavra, Crucio, and Imperio.
When Lord Voldemort was defeated, on Halloween Night, in 1981, the Aurors managed to gain
the upperhand.
They rounded up the surviving Death Eaters, and brought them before the wizarding courts.
By that point, the major conflict of this First Wizarding War had concluded, and the
Aurors disbanded their wartime structure, and returned to regular magical law enforcement
work.
But when Voldemort returned, in the 1990’s, he attacked the Aurors with a cunning strike.
The Dark Lord wisely decided to infiltrate the Ministry with Death Eaters, or by using
the Imperius curse on unsuspecting ministry workers.
This allowed him to get rid of the Aurors almost entirely.
And with Britain’s dark wizard hunters out of the picture, Voldemort only had one obstacle:
Harry Potter.
As we all know, Voldemort’s plan didn’t exactly work out.
Harry Potter defeated him, and the Death Eaters once again were rounded up and dispatched
to Azkaban.
In the aftermath of the final battle of that Second Wizarding War, those who fought against
Voldemort were offered roles in the newly opened Aurors department.
And many of Hogwarts defenders, including Harry Potter, gladly accepted.
It wouldn’t take long for Harry to climb through the ranks at the Ministry, either.
Which, honestly, was a welcome change.
For so much of Harry Potter’s life, the wizarding world had treated him with mistrust.
Early on, the Ministry of Magic was wary of what Harry represented…
a lingering question… was the Voldemort threat truly over?
And even after the Dark Lord regained his physical form, and attacked Harry Potter,
the Ministry refused to acknowledge that another war could possibly begin.
And all of their lies, and gaslighting, led Harry into one of the darkest periods of his
life.
But after Voldmort’s death, the Ministry became…
at least to Harry…
what it was always meant to be: a heroic defender of wizards across Britain.
And in less than a decade, Harry’s own heroic career as an Auror, brought him the biggest
promotion in the history of the ministry.
He became director of the Auror’s department at only 26 or 27 years of age.
LEGACY
Aurors are heroes.
At least, that’s what you’ll hear if you ask the wizards and witches who depend on
them.
Without Aurors, the magical world in Britain would be a far more dangerous place to navigate.
They successfully put down monstrous revolts, and they raised their wands against hordes
of dark wizards.
If you do some simple math, and calculate how many innocent lives the Aurors must have
saved, it's hard to see them as anything other than noble soldiers.
Perhaps, that’s the only way we should remember them.
But to others…
like the goblins who were tired of being treated like second class citizens… and the werewolves
who were simply victims of the horrible lycanthropy infection…
Aurors might not have been knights in shining armor.
To these magical beings, our favorite magical law enforcement might have been nothing more
than monsters.
And that’s it for this video.
Did you have any more questions about the history of Aurors?
Did I miss anything?
Leave a comment down below
As always, if you enjoy the content please LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel.
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live