Which Creature Doesn’t Know When to Say
Good-bye?
SOME MAGICAL CREATURES CAN BE MORE dangerous than
others. A boggart might seem dangerous at first, because, as J. K.
Rowling’s Hermione explains in Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban, it can “take the shape of whatever it
thinks will frighten us most.” But more than anything else,
boggarts are annoying.
These are the same creatures known as “bogeys”
or “bogeymen” in the United States, “bogle” in Scotland, and
“Boggelmann” or “Butzemann” in Germany. Sometimes said to be
mistreated spirits that have become malevolent, boggarts love
mischief and usually aren’t very harmful. They like to come out at
night, when they can be most convincing.
Often they are house spirits, and in those cases
the only way to get rid of them is to move. This is easier said
than done, as a
boggart will sometimes take the trouble to move with a household it
finds particularly entertaining. The more frustrated the family
becomes, the more fun the boggart has.
From the words bogey and
boggart we also get names of less
frightening annoyances like “bugaboo” and “bugbear.”
See also: Beasts Cornish Pixies
Goblins Trolls Veela
Harry faces boggarts in Azkaban and in the maze in Goblet. He defeats them with advice from Professor
Lupin that sounds like what children in our world have been told
for centuries: “The thing that really finishes a boggart is
laughter” (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban by J. K. Rowling). Of course, this is easier for
wizards, who can simply use the Riddikulus charm to turn the
boggart into something funny. Yet even then it’s not always easy.
If you face a truly cruel boggart like the one Mrs. Weasley
encounters in Phoenix, it can be hard to
keep calm. Some jokes just aren’t funny.