Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we're delving into the realm
of unused characters, elusive figures that were mentioned by Rowling but never made an
appearance in any officially released material- whether it be books or films.
While we have been enthralled by the likes of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, there exists
a treasure trove of characters lying dormant in the scribblings, unpublished drafts and
words spoken by J.K. Rowling during interviews.
Some were scrapped in the editing process, others lost to the ever-advancing plot, and
the rest just weren’t quite Harry Potter material.
Today we’ll be delving into the sketches, interviews, and whispered rumors to uncover
these intriguing, yet unused, characters. Discussing their origins, powers, and the
roles they may have played if given the chance. From a lost Weasley family member, to a Hogwarts
TOAD ghost, to a professor named Pettigrew, this list has it all.
I’ve managed to piece together 30 characters in total, which does already seem like quite
a lot, but if I’ve missed any PLEASE let me know in the comments and I’ll address
it in a future video.
For organizations sake, I’m going to be listing them in alphabetical order.
Anyway, I won’t ‘babble’ any longer, let’s dive in.
Bathsheda Babbling: Professor Bathsheda Babbling was a witch and a professor of the Study of
Ancient Runes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was never mentioned in any
officially released material, and has only ever been mentioned on a draft release on
JK Rowling’s website.
The Black Knight was an unused ghost of Hogwarts. While not much info has been disclosed about
the Black Knight, it would appear that Rowling had already introduced enough ghosts and simply
didn’t have any use for him. He is mentioned in the Pottermore article entitled ‘Hogwarts
Ghosts’.
Elsie Bones was a character and intended Order of the Phoenix member who was kidnapped in
an early draft of the Harry Potter books entitled ‘The Red Eyed Dwarf’. Given her surname,
she is a possible relation of Amelia Bones, celebrated Head of the Department of Magical
Law Enforcement, Susan Bones, Hogwarts student, and Edgar Bones- brother of Amelia and fellow
Order of the Phoenix member.
After Voldemort was defeated during the Battle of Hogwarts, she was said to have been returned.
She is mentioned on page 176 of ‘A History of Magic’.
Stephen Cornfoot, one of the ‘original 40’ was a pure-blood wizard in Harry’s year
at Hogwarts.
The Original 40, which is mentioned a reasonable amount in this video, is best described in
Rowling’s own words:
“Two of my most prized possessions are a pair of small notebooks, which contain my
very first scribblings about Harry Potter. Much of what is written in them was never
used in the series, although it is startling to come across the odd line of dialogue that
subsequently made it, verbatim, to publication.
In one of the books is a list of forty names of students in Harry’s year (including Harry,
Ron and Hermione), all allocated houses, with small symbols beside each name depicting each
boy or girl’s parentage.”
There isn’t much info available on Stephen, but we do know that he was either in Hufflepuff
or Ravenclaw. His existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website where she shares
some of her original Harry Potter scribblings.
Kevin Entwhistle, another of the ‘original 40’ was a student in Ravenclaw house at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Harry's year. There was also an Annabel
Entwhistle in one of the video games. Although he never appeared in any of the books or movies,
his existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website where she shares some of her
original Harry Potter scribblings.
In very early drafts of the books our beloved Hermione Granger actually had a muggle Sister
that we only know as ‘Miss Granger’. The reasoning for this was unclear, and because
she didn’t really have any relevance to the plot JK decided to remove her. Rowling
first mentioned ‘Miss Granger’ in an interview.
“Does Hermione have any brothers or sisters?”
"No, she doesn’t. When I first made up Hermione I gave her a younger sister, but she was very
hard to work in. The younger sister was not supposed to go to Hogwarts. She was supposed
to remain a Muggle. It was a sideline that didn’t work very well and it did not have
a big place in the story.”
Edmund Grubb was another unused ghost of Hogwarts school. He lived in the Victorian era, and
died in the doorway of the Great Hall at Hogwarts Castle after ingesting poisonous berries.
After his death, he returned as a ghost to haunt the Castle, sometimes stopping people
from getting into the Great Hall out of spite. JK Rowling has expressed that she ‘rather’
regrets leaving Grubb out of the books. He is mentioned in the Pottermore article entitled
‘Hogwarts Ghosts’.
Megan Jones, another of the original 40, was a Hufflepuff student in the same year as Harry
at Hogwarts. It’s possible that she is related to other members of the Jones family, Gwenog
Jones, Hestia Jones, Peter Jones and Stuart Jones. If that’s the case, then we can reasonably
infer that Megan was a half-blood. Her existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website
where she shares some of her original Harry Potter scribblings.
Oakden Hernshaw also Oakden Hobday was a character that J. K. Rowling considered making the Defence
Against the Dark Arts professor in Harry Potter's fifth year. Instead, we got Dolores Umbridge
as the DADA professor. His existence was revealed on JK Rowling’s website in one of her early
drafts,
Wayne Hopkins, another of the original 40, was a Hufflepuff student in the same year
as Harry at Hogwarts. It’s possible that he is related to Carl Hopkins, which would
make him a Half-Blood. His existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website where she shares
some of her original Harry Potter scribblings.
Sue Li, another of the original 40, was a Ravenclaw student in the same year as Harry
at Hogwarts. Her existence was first revealed in ‘Harry Potter and Me’ - a Christmas
television special by BBC broadcast on the 28th of December 2001.
Malfalda was a long lost Weasley family member and the daughter of the 'second cousin who's
a stockbroker' mentioned in 'Philosopher's Stone'. There’s actually a LOT of info on
her.
“Mafalda was the daughter of the 'second cousin who's a stockbroker' mentioned in 'Philosopher's
Stone'. This stockbroker had been very rude to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the past, but now
he and his (Muggle) wife had inconveniently produced a witch, they came back to the Weasleys
asking for their help in introducing her to wizarding society before she starts at Hogwarts.
The Weasleys agreed to taking her for part of the Summer, including the Quidditch World
Cup, but regretted this almost immediately. Mrs. Weasley suspected that Mafalda's parents
simply wanted to get rid of her for a while, because she turns out to be the most unpleasant
child Mrs. Weasley has ever met.”
Unfortunately, however, Mafalda had to be removed due to a lack of planning on Rowling’s
behalf:
“The first three books, my plan never failed me. But I should have put that plot under
a microscope. I wrote what I thought was half the book, and “Ack!” – huge gaping hole
in the middle of the plot. I missed my deadline by two months. And the whole profile of the
books got so much higher since the third book; there was an edge of external pressure.”
“And what exactly was that gaping hole all about?”
“I had to pull a character. There you go: “the phantom character of Harry Potter.”
As it turns out, Mafalda was the ‘original’ Rita Skeeter, or at least, another Rita Skeeter
‘type’. She also was very intelligent, a rival to Hermione.
“She served the same function that Rita Skeeter now serves. Rita was always going
to be in the book, but I built her up, because I needed a kind of conduit for information
outside the school. Originally, this girl fulfilled this purpose.”
“Mafalda was supposed to convey certain information about the Death Eaters to Harry,
Ron and Hermione, because as a nosy, eavesdropping Slytherin who likes to impress, she does not
keep her mouth shut when she overhears their sons and daughters talking. Unfortunately,
however bright I made her, there were obvious limitations to what an eleven year old closeted
at school could discover, whereas Rita Skeeter, whom I subsequently built up to fulfil Mafalda's
function, was much more flexible.”
Her existence was revealed by JK Rowling in an interview.
Roger Malone, another of the original 40, was either a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff student
in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. His existence was first revealed in ‘Harry Potter
and Me’ - a Christmas television special by BBC broadcast on the 28th of December 2001.
Angus and Eslpeth Mckinnon were Order of the Phoenix members that were captured in a very
early and unused chapter entitled ‘The Red Eyed Dwarf’. Both he and Elspeth appear
to have been merged into the character of Marlene McKinnon. They are mentioned on page
176 of ‘A History of Magic’.
Mildred was a muggle woman who was supposedly engaged to Jacob Kowalski. She left him and
handed him back her ring after hearing that he didn’t get a loan for his bakery.
Lily Moon, another of the original 40, was a student in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts.
It’s possible that Lily may have been an early version of Luna Lovegood’s character.
Her existence was first revealed in ‘Harry Potter and Me’.
Mopsus was originally intended to be one of the Divination professors at Hogwarts. Mopsus
was the name of a famous seer in Greek Mythology, which seems fitting. He has only ever been
mentioned on a draft released on Rowling’s website.
Mopsy the Dog Lover was a highly- eccentric, dog-loving old witch who lived on the edge
of Hogsmeade. During 4th year she looked after Sirius whilst he was in his dog form, thinking
he was a stray. She was cut because she added nothing to the plot
Although never explicitly stated, it’s highly likely that Mopsy the dog lover and Mopsy
Fleabert, the author of ‘Animal Ghosts of Britain’ are the same individual.
Enid Pettigrew was the name of a possible Defence Against the Dark Arts or Divination
Professor that didn’t make the cut. She would have been installed as DADA professor
in Harry’s fourth, sixth or seventh year OR as Divination professor in Harry’s third
year. It’s likely that this character would have been related to Peter Pettigrew AKA Wormtail.
Her existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website where she shares some of her
original Harry Potter scribblings.
Pyrites was a servant of Voldemort's who was intended to meet Sirius Black in front of
the Potter's' house. He is mentioned in an interview by Rowling.
“Other drafts included a character by the name of 'Pyrites', whose name means 'fool's
gold'. He was a servant of Voldemort's and was meeting Sirius in front of the Potters'
house. Pyrites, too, had to be discarded, though I quite liked him as a character; he
was a dandy and wore white silk gloves, which I thought might stain artistically with blood
from time to time.”
Argo Pyrites was a Wizard, Alchemist and the Author of ‘Alchemy, Ancient Art and Science’.
He’s mentioned in an early draft of the Philosopher’s Stone.
“So this Flamel bloke found the stone “ said Ron.
“No- he made it, “said Harry, “He was an alchemist. Which means
“Someone who turns base metals into gold” said Hermione. She had
that old proving- I- know- more- than- everyone- else look on her face, the other two noticed,
“Of course. I read about this in Alchemy, Ancient Art and Science, by Argo Pyrites”.
“I missed that one myself,” muttered Ron.
Oliver Rivers, another of the original 40, was either a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw student
in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. His existence was first revealed in ‘Harry Potter
and Me’.
Sophie Roper, another of the original 40, was either a Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Slytherin
student in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. Her existence was first revealed in ‘Harry
Potter and Me’.
Runcorn was a Hogwarts student in Harry's year and possible relation to Albert Runcorn,
a Ministry worker that Harry impersonated. Runcorn's surname is visible on the small
portion of the second page of J. K. Rowling's student list shown on the BBC Christmas television
special ‘Harry Potter and Me’.
Mylor Silvanus was a potential Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in Harry’s fifth
year at Hogwarts. The name ‘Silvanus’ was later reappropriated as the given name
of Silvanus Kettleburn, professor of Care of Magical Creatures.
Sally Smith, another of the original 40, was either a Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Slytherin
student in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. On Pottermore, Rowling revealed that the character's
given name was originally "Georgina," but that this was crossed out and replaced with
‘Sally’.Her existence was first revealed in ‘Harry Potter and Me’.
Mr Thomas was a wizard and the biological father of Dean Thomas. During the First Wizarding
War, Mr Thomas abandoned his Muggle wife and young Dean in an effort to protect them from
the Death Eaters. He was soon after murdered by the Death Eaters when he refused to join
their cause. His existence was revealed by J.K. Rowling on her website where she shares
some of her original Harry Potter scribblings.
The Toad was an unused animal ghost of Hogwarts school who was known for leaving ectoplasm
all over the Hogwarts classrooms. The toad is mentioned in the Pottermore article entitled
‘Hogwarts Ghosts’.
Trocar was a Vampire Professor at Hogwarts that was cut by Rowling.
“Looking back through my earliest notebooks, however, I found that on my very earliest
list of staff, there was a subjectless vampire teacher I had forgotten, called 'Trocar'.
A Trocar is a sharply pointed shaft inserted into arteries or cavities to extract bodily
fluids, so I think it a rather good name for a vampire. Evidently I did not think much
of him as a character, though, because he disappears fairly early on in my notes.
For a long time there was a persistent fan rumour that Snape might be a vampire. While
it is true that he has an unhealthy pallor, and is sometimes described as looking like
a large bat in his long black cloak, he never actually turns into a bat, we meet him outside
the castle by daylight, and no corpses with puncture marks in their necks ever turn up
at Hogwarts. In short, Snape is not a re-vamped Trocar.”
He is first mentioned in an interview by Rowling.
As we reach the end of our journey through the depths of J.K. Rowling's early drafts,
interviews, and scribbles, I find myself absolutely intrigued by the sheer number of unused characters
that lay hidden beneath the surface of Harry Potter.
While the information about these characters may be limited, we’re always free to start
using our imaginations, and it’s fun to take what little we have and embark on our
own adventures, weaving tales and constructing vibrant backstories for some of these omitted
individuals.
As J.K. Rowling once said, "Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts
will always be there to welcome you home." And indeed, it is comforting to know that
the enchantment of the wizarding world extends far beyond what was officially released.
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live