Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today we’re going to be discussing the DARK WIZARDS of times past.
Now, when most people hear the term ‘dark wizard’ their mind likely jumps to 1 of
2 figures, Voldemort or Grindelwald.
But what if I told you that, over the course of history, there were quite a few OTHER dark
figures responsible for conducting dark magic and/or terrorizing the greater wizarding world.
Today, we’re going to dive in and take a look at some of these lesser-known wizards,
starting with the oldest.
Given that for many of these wizards we only have approximate dates, I’ll do my best
to get the order right.
Let’s get in to it.
Raczidian
Raczidian was a dark wizard who is said to have existed during an unknown period in time-
it’s only referred to as ancient.
He was a very talented dark wizard who was fully immersed in the dark arts- able to produce
all sorts of evil concoctions and cast all sorts of sinister spells.
But one thing that he always had trouble with was what we now know to be the Patronus charm.
According to Harry Potter lore- Raczidian, who was massively magically talented, was
simply not able to produce the patronus charm properly because he was not pure of heart.
Where a normal witch or wizard could expect to be introduced to their spirit animal when
casting the spell for the first time, Raczidian was met with maggots.
Not only that, but they were maggots that devoured him, ‘engulfing’ his body.
This is a testament to just how evil Raczidian was- he wasn’t just ‘not pure of heart’-
Raczidian’s heart was black: he was pure evil.
Herpo the Foul
Herpo the Foul was an ancient dark wizard that hailed from Greece.
It’s entirely unknown when Herpo walked the earth, but we do know that it was a long
long time ago, as he is commonly referred to as one of the earliest known dark wizards.
During his existence Herpo devoted his life to producing and creating some of the worst
kinds of magic imaginable- producing the first ever basilisk.
Some speculate that Herpo is the distant ancestor of Salazar Slytherin, since he too could speak
Parseltongue.
Herpo was eventually immortalized on a chocolate frog card.
Ekrizdis
Ekrizdis isn’t particularly well-known, but he marked his place in wizarding history
as a practitioner of the worst kinds of dark arts imaginable.
The types of magic that he performed and experimented with made Voldemort’s horcrux creation look
fairly commonplace.
Ekrizdis was alive during the 15th century and he is the original inhabitant of the island
fortress of Azkaban.
While travelling one day, Ekrizdis stumbled upon the island- which at the time had no
infrastructure to speak of.
When he first arrived, it was just a regular island, but he soon turned it in to his own
little dark arts experiment.
After placing concealment charms on the island, Ekrizdis began his dark arts experiments by
luring muggle sailors to the island, then torturing and eventually murdering them.
Before ever stepping foot on the island, Ekrizdis was mad, but after spending some time there,
he became totally insane as he had completely lost touch with reality.
He became so wrapped up and enthralled in his experimentation with dark magic, that
he had lost his mind, and the poor sailors that he brought to the island witnessed it
first hand.
In his madness, it has been speculated that Ekrizdis either unwittingly or perhaps intentionally
created what we now know to be Dementors- which are the most evil creatures in the wizarding
world.
Merwyn the Malicious
Next up we have Merwyn the Malicious- an evil pure-blood wizard that existed in the medieval
period, sometime between the 5th and 15th centuries.
During his lifetime, Merwyn was a dedicated practitioner of the dark arts, and would conduct
all sorts of twisted magical experiments using his uniquely hooked wand.
He had dark grey scabby looking-skin which sort of resembled lifeless human skin, and
would often sport a long dark-green cloak.
He was a scary looking guy, and I have no doubt that the experiments he would conduct
had a lasting effect on his physical appearance, as we know how dark magic can effect you in
that way.
Merwyn was single handedly responsible for creating a lot of the dark spells,jinxes and
hexes that sprang up out of the medieval era- and after his death made it on to a chocolate
frog card.
Salazar Slytherin
Salazar Slytherin, whose name you should probably recognize, was a pure blood wizard that was
born sometime before 976 AD.
Famously, or rather, infamously- he founded Slytherin house at Hogwarts.
Slytherin is also infamous for his disliking of muggle-born students- and was a strong
proponent of having only pure-blood students at Hogwarts.
This philosophy was ultimately passed on to other Slytherins.
His response to muggle-born students attending the school was to build the chamber of secrets
which concealed a basilisk that was intended to purge the school of these students.
Emeric the Evil
The first official KNOWN historical owner of the elder wand is a wizard who went by
the name of ‘Emeric the Evil’.
Though the wand may have been in the hands of other wizards before Emeric and after Antioch-
Emeric is the first wizard on RECORD to have possessed it.
Emeric has been described as a ‘short-lived but exceptionally aggressive wizard’ that
terrorized the south of England in the early Middle ages.
Godelot
Godelot was one of the named and known owners of the Elder Wand before it came in to the
possession of the likes of Gregorovitch, Grindelwald, Dumbledore etc.
If his name sounds doubly familiar to you, it may be because Godelet wrote the famous
dark magic textbook ‘Magicke Moste Evile’- a book containing information on Dark magic
(including a passing reference to Horcruxes in its introduction).
Godelot used the Elder Wand to push the boundaries of magic- and considered it to be his ‘teacher’-
allowing the wand to help him write the book.
Leveraging the powerful wand and using it in accordance with his dark mindset, Godelot
ultimately created a lot of dark spells and curses.
Godelot was eventually killed by his own son who locked him in the cellar in order to gain
ownership of the Elder Wand.
Morgana Le Fay
Morgana Le Fay is actually a pseudo-historical figure, and in many versions of folklore she
is the nemesis of the powerful wizard Merlin (though, not all of them).
Morgana, however, also exists in Harry Potter Folklore, where she is portrayed as an extremely
EVIL witch, and again, the nemesis of Merlin (who went to Hogwarts).
Morgana is considered by many to be the most POWERFUL witch of all time, and someone that
truly hated every aspect of ‘goodness’ in the world- doing everything she could do
to fight against it.
Gormlaith Gaunt
Gormlaith Gaunt was an Irish pure-blood Dark witch and the aunt of Isolt Sayre who founded
Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Gormlaith, who attended Hogwarts herself (and was sorted in to, you guessed it- Slytherin),
strongly believed in pure-blood supremacy and had an intense hatred for anyone that
went against these extreme views.
Her hatred went so deep that she murdered her own sister and brother-in-law.
She also shared something in common with Voldemort- she had an inability to feel love.
Gormlaith may have not caused widespread turmoil in the wizarding world, but she certainly
terrorized her family.
Barnabas Deverill
Another previous owner of the elder wand, Barnabas Deverill was a wizard from the early
eighteenth century, who earned quite the reputation as a fearsome warlock.
To put things plainly: Deverill certainly didn’t use the wand for good, and for many
years he leveraged the powerful wand to tyrannize the wizarding world.
However, eventually, his reign of terror ended when he was defeated by a rival wizard.
Loxias
And here we have yet another previous owner of the elder wand.
Loxias is the man who famously gave the elder wand the name ‘the deathstick’- and ruthlessly
murdered copious amounts of people while using it.
Loxias was a truly evil dark wizard that many wanted dead, and according to Dumbledore-
many claimed to have been the one to finish him off- even his own mother.
And that’s it for this video!
If you want more info on these evil wizards then please leave a comment down below.
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live