Movies - Rubeus Hagrid

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Rubeus Hagrid

	Movies - Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid (born December 6, c. 1928) is a character in the Harry Potter series of books. He is almost always addressed by his last name. Hagrid is the groundskeeper and Care Of Magical Creatures teacher for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hagrid is twice as tall as the average man. He loves animals and magical creatures, particularly those that are unusual or dangerous. J. K. Rowling has said that Hagrid has little interest in tame magical creatures because of the lack of a challenge, although he has a cowardly boarhound called Fang.

He is one of the first characters to imply that the idea of thinking of wizards as "purebloods" and "half-bloods" is a dated concept. Hagrid is known for his thick West country accent.

In the movies based on the Harry Potter novels, Hagrid is played by Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, and, in some shots where Hagrid's height needs to be emphasised, former England rugby player Martin Bayfield. J.K Rowling has said that when writing the first Harry Potter novel, she imagined Coltrane in the role.

His name, Rubeus, has two meanings in Latin, one meaning "red" or "reddish," and the other meaning "of the bramble." Both could serve as descriptions of Hagrid, who has a reddish face and a brambly beard. "Hagrid", according to JK Rowling in an interview with the Boston Globe, comes from an old English word "hagridden," meaning to have a nightmarish night, particularly when hungover, which Hagrid is a great deal. (see hag)

Positions held

Member, Order of the Phoenix
Groundskeeper, Hogwarts
Professor of Care of Magical Creatures

Background and role

It is revealed, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, that Hagrid is of mixed human and giant parentage, his mother having been the giantess Fridwulfa, who left his human father when Hagrid was a baby. Since giants have a reputation for being horribly brutal, and were once allies of Lord Voldemort, Hagrid keeps his parentage secret and allows people to imagine other reasons for his great size. The fact that people who know of his heritage misjudge him as dangerous may contribute to Hagrid's steadfast inability to recognize the truly dangerous nature of dragons, acromantulas, and the like, all of whom are feared much like giants are; by (in his own mind, at least) "proving" that these creatures are not as bad as people think, he is subconsciously declaring the same thing of himself.

"Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety,' said Hagrid. "Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'"

Hagrid was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort). Presumably Hagrid's first year would be 1939, as this would place him at the correct starting age, 11. Rowling has stated in an interview that Hagrid was in the Gryffindor house. He was expelled during his third year after he was accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets, for which Voldemort was actually responsible.

Following his expulsion, the Ministry of Magic broke Hagrid's oak wand and forbade him from performing magic . Hagrid keeps the pieces of his wand in an umbrella, and performs small spells from time to time; however, he is technically forbidden to do magic, and perhaps because he only got three years practice at it before his expulsion, he seems to be somewhat deficient in it as compared to other adult wizards.

Persuaded by Albus Dumbledore (who at the time was Transfiguration teacher), Headmaster Armando Dippet allowed Hagrid to stay at Hogwarts as groundskeeper.

Hagrid's love of dangerous magical creatures is central to the plot of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: a hooded person (Professor Quirrell in disguise) gives him a dragon egg to elicit details about Fluffy, the three-headed dog Hagrid has lent to Dumbledore to help guard the philosopher's stone. Hagrid again lets slip, to Harry, Ron and Hermione, about how to get past Fluffy (by playing music), which allows them to pursue the potential thief. The three also assist Hagrid after the dragon egg hatches, by helping to remove the baby dragon Norbert, who is taken to live with other dragons by friends of Charlie Weasley.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rubeus Hagrid ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Rubeus Hagrid; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay