History Literature / FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem

* CharacterFilibuster:
** Ron and Hermione get into a large argument... via notes... on one of the first pages of Harry's books. Harry tells them both to shut up.
** An entry right next to trolls has a drawing of one of Malfoy's goons, courtesy of Ron.
--->My name is Gregory Goyle and I smell

* {{Teleportation}}: [[DumbDodoBird Diricawls]] and [[ThePhoenix phoenixes]] can do this (in a puff of feathers and burst of flames, respectively).

* DumbDodoBird: The Diricawl, certainly a weird one though. See BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy and {{Teleportation}}.

% * OurGriffinsAreDifferent: Classical griffins and hippogriffs (note that hippogriffs were a part of mythology, but mostly as a figuratively unlikely creature, since horses and griffins were enemies).

* OurGriffinsAreDifferent: Classical griffins and hippogriffs (note that hippogriffs were a part of mythology, but mostly as a figuratively unlikely creature, since horses and griffins were enemies).

* PowerTrio: The Runespoor is a three-headed snake and the heads form one of these. The middle head is the dreamer (The Id), the left head is the planner (The Superego), and the right head is the critic (The Ego).

** Ron and Hermoine get into a large argument... via notes... on one of the first pages of Harry's books. Harry tells them both to shut up.

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: It's common to find a Runespoor, a three-headed serpent, with the right head bitten off — as this head is 'the critic' and criticizes the other two's actions.

** In the entry for the hippogriff, there's a brief line stating that they can be tamed, though this should only be attempted by experts. Harry's remark? "Has Hagrid read this?"

** The entry of the Hungarian Horntail describes it as the most dangerous dragon breed of all: Harry notes, "You're not kidding."
** In the entry on Acromantulas, there's a note about rumours of a large colony established somewhere in Scotland. It's crossed out with "confirmed by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley" written over it. This also confirmed to many fans that Hogwarts is located in Scotland. In addition, Ron adds nine X'es to its XXXXX rating, referencing his arachophobia.
** Hagrid at one point tells Umbridge he has a friend that breeds Abraxan Horses. This book gives the name and information of them — enormously powerful and palomino-bodied — which confirms that Hagrid is talking about Madam Maxime, and that they are the horses that carried the Beauxbatons carriage.

** The entry for pixies has them classifed as "XXX", which means competent wizards should cope. Next to it has Ron's note: "but XXXXXXX if you're Lockhart", referring to the pixie-chaos that Lockhart unleashed in ''Chamber of Secrets'' while attempting to teach DADA, and the subsequent injuries he suffered for it.

** The entry for basilisks says that there have been no recorded sightings of them in Britain for at least four hundred years. Harry noted "That's what you think."

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Thestral has a black coat, has a very reptilian appearance, is attracted by raw meat, and is considered a bad omen — because it can only be seen by those who have witnessed someone die. However, that is just superstition, and the horses in the series are perfectly friendly to Harry when he meets them. Likewise, the Augurey was thought to be an omen of death, when it really just predicts incoming rain.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The creation of the Quintapeds, also known as the Hairy [=MacBoons=]. Summary: The heads of two FeudingFamilies engage in a duel and one of them gets killed. The dead man's family responds by transforming all members of the other family into five-legged monsters. The wizarding family who were just transfigured were famously inept at magic, and the wizards who transfigured them discover that they're much more dangerous as monsters. [[TooDumbToLive Said monsters proceed to kill everyone]], leaving the Quintapeds incapable of turning back into humans.

** Lethifolds, Dementor-like creatures that can sneak up on a sleeping person and eat them alive, leaving nothing behind. They can only be repelled by Patronuses, which are extremely difficult to cast. And since they typically target the sleeping, most of their victims never get the opportunity to even attempt a Patronus.
** Nundus, gigantic, silent leopards with diseased breath powerful enough to sicken and wipe out entire villages. They have never been contained by less than ''one hundred'' highly-trained wizards working together at once.

* ExactWords: Early definitions of "Beings" were done with human centrism in mind, leading to definitions like "creatures who walk on two legs" or "who speak the human language". This would leave out obvious beings like centaurs and merfolk, but accidentally include a lot of creatures, such as trolls, augureys, fwoopers, or vampires. Havoc ensues. The definition that stuck was "Any creature that can understand the laws of the Wizarding World", which helped tighten the list to just sentients. By the time they got there, the Centaurs were so annoyed with this that they insisted on keeping the Beast designation in protest.

* FeudingFamilies: The [=McCliverts=] and the [=MacBoons=] (the former, [[AllMythsAreTrue possibly]], transformed the latter into five-legged, hairy monsters; the latter proceeded to eat them).

* CaptionHumor: Harry and Ron's notes throughout the book.

* FantasticRacism: Some extreme factions favor classifying Muggles as "beasts".

* HypocriticalHumor: In one of Ron and Hermione's written arguments:

* DeadpanSnarker: Have you read Harry and Ron's commentary? There's also the arguments Ron and Hermione get into.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: The creation of the Quintapeds. Summary: The heads of two FeudingFamilies engage in a duel and one of them gets killed. The dead man's family responds by transforming all members of the other family into five-legged monsters. The wizarding family who were just transfigured were famously inept at magic, and the wizards who transfigured them discover that they're much more dangerous as monsters. [[TooDumbToLive Said monsters proceed to kill everyone]], leaving the Quintapeds incapable of turning back into humans.

** Pickled murtlap tentacles can be eaten to improve resistance to jinxes, or made into a salve to soothe painful cuts and abrasions.

** Pixie — tiny shrill flyers. [[((Troll}} They love making mischief]] and are strong enough to lift a human's weight.

** Lethifolds, Dementor-like creatures that can sneak up on a sleeping person and eat them alive, leaving nothing behind. They can only be repelled by Patronuses, which are extremely difficult to cast.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Once again, in-universe--sea serpents are said to be fairly docile, when anyone reading knows that "Muggle" literature portrays them as vicious monsters.

** The Loch Ness Monster is actually a shapeshifter, and hides whenever Muggles try to look for it.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Sphinx is a mostly benevolent creature who will only get violent if the person who hears their riddle guesses wrongly. It's not known from Harry's encounter in the fourth book if a Sphinx will interpret ''any'' answer as a guess -- but she does allow him to ask questions about the riddle. Also she gives the option for them to choose not to guess and walk away.

* BrownNote: Fwooper song, if listened to too much, will drive the listener insane. The cry of the Augurey was thought to be this but that's just superstition. The cry of the rooster is this for the Basilisk.
* CallBack: Rita Skeeter claims that Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts are illegal crossbred creatures in the fourth book. Their lack of an entry in this one confirms they're crossbred [[spoiler:though their status as a tri wizard cup obstacle suggests they were legal for at least that purpose.]]

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: It's common to find a Runespoor, a three-headed serpent, with the right head bitten off--as this head is 'the critic' and criticizes the other two's actions.

** The entry for the Kappa, a Japanese creature that Snape claimed was more commonly found in Mongolia during ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''. "Snape hasn't read this either."

** Hagrid at one point tells Umbridge he has a friend that breeds Abraxan Horses. This book gives the name and information of them -- enormously powerful and palomino-bodied -- which confirms that Hagrid is talking about Madam Maxime, and that they are the horses that carried the Beauxbatons carriage.

** The entry for pixies has them classifed as "XXX", which means competent wizards should cope. Next to it has Ron's note: "but XXXXXXX if you're Lockhart", referencing to the pixie-chaos that Lockhart unleashed in ''Chamber of Secrets'' while attempting to teach DADA, and the subsequent injuries he suffered for it.

** Given Harry saw the merpeople while diving into the lake, he crosses out "less pretty" and instead writes [[FishPeople "ugly"]].

* DarkIsEvil: Any beast or being classified as a "Dark Creature" falls under this. Dark Creatures (or "Demons" as they are classified) consists of anything that is capable of magic and uses said magic for the sake of malicious intent rather than survival. Dementors, werewolves, and boggarts are all considered Dark Creatures whereas chimeras, manticores, and dragons are not. This is because a dragon will only attack a wizard (or Muggle) to defend itself or for food while a werewolf will attack to turn another human into a werewolf or out of murderous intent - but is only dangerous when transformed and is as harmless or harm''ful'' as any other human the rest of the time.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Thestral has a black coat, has a very reptilian appearance, is attracted by raw meat and is considered a bad omen--because it can only be seen by those who have witnessed someone die. However, that is just superstition, and the horses in the series are perfectly friendly to Harry when he meets them. Likewise, the Augurey was thought to be an omen of death, when it really just predicts incoming rain.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: The creation of the Quintapeds. Summary: The heads of two FeudingFamilies engage in a duel and one of them gets killed. The dead man's family responds by transforming all members of the other family into five-legged monsters. The wizarding family who were just transfigured were famously inept at magic, and the wizards who transfigured them discover they're much more dangerous as monsters. [[TooDumbToLive Said monsters proceed to kill everyone]], leaving the Quintapeds incapable of turning back into humans.

** Chimaeras, creatures with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. Only one attempt to kill a member of this species has ever succeeded. And [[FluffyTamer Hagrid]] tried to buy an egg once, possibly to use in Care of Magical Creatures class.

** Dragons, who are gigantic, breathe fire and eat anything they can find, including humans.

** The updated 2017 edition of the book added two more XXXXX-classified beasts: the Wampus Cat and the Horned Serpent. It's not specified exactly what makes Wampus Cats so dangerous, but they can walk on their hind legs, outrun arrows and are reputed to have hypnotic eyes. Horned Serpents are equally mysterious, but Isolt Sayre was known to have befriended one.

** Many creatures first appeared here before being mentioned in the books. Even Thestrals are included, albeit as a minor reference under "Winged Horse". Likewise some creatures that appeared but weren't named, were given official names in this, such as the Acromantula and the subspecies of Merpeople and Winged Horses.
** Then there's the Erumpent, a rhinoceros-like creature that has an exploding horn. [[spoiler: In ''Deathly Hallows'' Xenophilius Lovegood has an Erumpent horn on his wall, thinking it belongs to a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, and his accidentally blowing it up helps the trio escape.]]
* EldritchAbomination: Lethifolds, being formless [[LivingShadow living shadows]] that may or may not be related to [[HumanoidAbomination Deme]][[TheHeartless ntors]], which like to ambush sleeping people and consume them. (Dementors themselves don't get an entry, as they are considered non-beings.)
* EmotionEater: The Pogrebin, which tails humans for hours and causes them to feel despair. Luckily just kicking them is pretty effective in getting rid of them.
* ExactWords: Early definitions of "Beings" were done with human centrism in mind, leading to definitions like "creatures who walk on two legs" or "who speak the human language." This would leave out obvious beings like centaurs and merfolk, but accidentally include a lot of creatures, such as trolls, augureys, fwoopers, or vampires. Havoc ensues. The definition that stuck was "Any creature that can understand the laws of the Wizarding World", which helped tighten the list to just sentients. By the time they got there the Centaurs were so annoyed with this that they insisted on keeping the Beast designation in protest.

* FantasticRacism: Some extreme factions favor classifying muggles as "beasts".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Demiguise is mentioned as a huge, gorilla-like creature whose silky hair is used to create invisibility cloaks. These cloaks are said to wear out over time. [[spoiler: Harry's cloak has been around for years and is still fully functional, becoming an important plot point in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''.]]

*** However, as the book clarifies, the Ministry of Magic banned their use due to continued cases of muggles asking [[DidntThinkThisThrough why their neighbors were using holiday lights in July.]]

* NotTheNessie: There ''is'' one, but it's part of a larger species, and is a shapeshifter--it turns into something else whenever muggles look around for it.

** Fairies -- the traditional tiny cute WingedHumanoid. Has very little intelligence and very basic magic. Usually just used for decoration. The author expresses surprise at the good Muggle press the Fairy has.
** Pixie -- tiny shrill flyers. They love making mischief and are strong enough to lift a human's weight.
** Imp -- close cousin to the pixie, but much duller in appearance and cannot fly. Also considerably less of a nuisance.
** Doxy -- covered in black hair, with two sets of very sharp teeth and extra arms and legs. Considered pests, they're also very hostile to humans.
** Bowtruckle -- a tree-dwelling creature that appears to be made of wood. Is normally benevolent but will get violent if it is threatened.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: There are three species of them -- Sirens, Selkies and Merrows. Selkies are the only ones that actually appear in the series though. The Mermish language sounds like a lot of shrieking and screaming above the surface. But underwater it sounds like normal talking. All merpeople are said to share a great love of music. They presumably can't transform into humans at all.

** Abraxan -- the biggest and strongest, with palomino bodies. These horses appear in the series, transporting the Beauxbatons carriage from France to Britain.
** Aethonan -- chestnut in appearance and native to Britain and Ireland.
** Granian -- a grey[[note]]Meaning actually with a white coat, confusingly enough[[/note]] and incredibly fast. This would be what species Pegasus was.
** Thestral -- black and more reptilian in appearance. Is invisible to everyone except those who have 'seen death'. Also very good at finding locations.

* PowerTrio: The Runespoor is a three-headed snake and the heads form one of these. The middle head is the dreamer (The Id), the left head is the planner (The Superego) and the right head is the critic (The Ego).
%%* ThePunishment
* RedHerring
** The Nundu is described as the most dangerous beast in the world. You would guess that Harry has to fight one later in the series. He doesn't. Then again, it lives in Africa, where Harry really didn't have any reason to go...

* RiddlingSphinx: Despite its humanoid appearance, the sphinx is classed as a beast because of this. It speaks only in riddles and puzzles -- and gets violent if given the wrong answer.
* SeaMonster: The Sea Serpent counts as a subversion as -- despite reaching up to a hundred feet in length -- it's a fairly docile creature.

* SelkiesAndWereseals: In this universe, 'Selkie' is a subspecies of merpeople. It's implied that they are the merpeople encountered in the Second Task[[note]]They are said to come from Scotland and this same book implies that is where Hogwarts is located[[/note]] -- possibly referencing selkie mythology, they have a more aquatic appearance that traditional beautiful mermaids.

* StuffBlowingUp: Erumpent horns contain explosive fluid. Their numbers aren't very large because of this, as they still have the rhino instinct to charge at poor bastards.
* TakeThatScrappy: In-universe example. The Flobberworm -- the most despised creature Hagrid ever brought to class -- is officially classified as 'Boring' in the book's entry, and the only creature with that designation, to boot.

* UrbanLegend: In-universe; it's mentioned that there are rumors about dried Billywig stings being an ingredient in the popular wizarding sweet Fizzing Whizbees (which incidentally ''also'' causes temporary levitation). This is likely a reference to similar real life urban legends, such as the (debunked) claim that Bubble Yum contained spider eggs.
* VisualPun: Fairies are conjured up to serve as decorative lights -- fairy lights.
* VoluntaryShapeshifter: Many creatures in the Wizarding World are capable of shapeshifting, most notably the Kelpie, which usually takes the form of a [[{{Planimal}} horse with sticky reeds in its hair]]. The largest Kelpie in the world is the Loch Ness Monster, which prefers to take the form of a sea serpent and will sometimes shift into the form of something innocuous, like an otter, when pursued by suspicious muggles.

** We get to hear about some of these debates. For instance, one attempt at setting formal class definitions was whether they could speak English. This unfairly excluded the Merfolk, which offended the Centaurs enough to cause their insistence on "beast" classification for themselves. On the other hand, a group of Goblins took the opportunity to quite literally Troll the Wizards by teaching the monsters a few basic phrases by rote.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent:
** And there are three species of them -- Sirens, Selkies and Merrows. Selkies are the only ones that actually appear in the series though. The Mermish language sounds like a lot of shrieking and screaming above the surface. But underwater it sounds like normal talking. All merpeople are said to share a great love of music. They presumably can't transform into humans at all.
** Another creature -- the Hippocampus -- has the head and forequarters of a horse but also has a fish's tail. It's not classified as a merpeople species despite the similarities.

* TheDreaded: Any creature classified as XXXXX by the Ministry of Magic, meaning that they kill (and, in some cases, eat) wizards and are usually impossible to tame or domesticate.

* HehHehYouSaidX: Someone circles the word "bum" in "Glum'''bum'''ble".

** Fairies – the traditional tiny cute WingedHumanoid. Has very little intelligence and very basic magic. Usually just used for decoration. The author expresses surprise at the good Muggle press the Fairy has.
** Pixie – tiny shrill flyers. They love making mischief and are strong enough to lift a human's weight.
** Imp – close cousin to the pixie, but much duller in appearance and cannot fly. Also considerably less of a nuisance.
** Doxy – covered in black hair, with two sets of very sharp teeth and extra arms and legs. Considered pests, they're also very hostile to humans.
** Bowtruckle – a tree-dwelling creature that appears to be made of wood. Is normally benevolent but will get violent if it is threatened.

** And there are three species of them--Sirens, Selkies and Merrows. Selkies are the only ones that actually appear in the series though. The Mermish language sounds like a lot of shrieking and screaming above the surface. But underwater it sounds like normal talking. All merpeople are said to share a great love of music. They presumably can't transform into humans at all.

** Abraxan – the biggest and strongest, with palomino bodies. These horses appear in the series, transporting the Beauxbatons carriage from France to Britain.
** Aethonan – chestnut in appearance and native to Britain and Ireland.
** Granian – a grey[[note]]Meaning actually with a white coat, confusingly enough[[/note]] and incredibly fast. This would be what species Pegasus was.
** Thestral – black and more reptilian in appearance. Is invisible to everyone except those who have 'seen death'. Also very good at finding locations.

* UrbanLegend: In-universe; it's rumored that there are rumors about dried Billywig stings being an ingredient in the popular wizarding sweet Fizzing Whizbees (which incidentally ''also'' causes temporary levitation). This is likely a reference to similar real life urban legends, such as the (debunked) claim that Bubble Yum contained spider eggs.

* TakeThatScrappy: In-universe example. The Flobberworm -- the most despised creature Hagrid ever brought to class -- is officially classified as 'Boring' in the book's entry.

* DarkIsEvil: Any beast or being classified as a "Dark Creature" falls under this. Dark Creatures (or "Demons" as they are classified) consists of anything that is capable of magic and uses said magic for the sake of malicious intent rather than survival. Dementors, werewolves, and boggarts are all considered Dark Creatures whereas chimeras, manticores, and dragons are not. This is because a dragon will only attack a wizard (or Muggle) to defend itself or for food while a werewolf will attack to turn another human into a werewolf or out of murderous intent.

** Werewolves, who are human every day of the month except for nights with a full moon, when they turn into violent beasts that attack and eat humans on sight. Even werewolves in human form can be dangerous, as proved by the savage Fenrir Greyback, an ally of the Death Eaters whose mission is to bite and transform as many people into werewolves as possible.

** Basilisks, giant (noticing a pattern?) fifty-foot-long venomous snakes who have the power to turn anyone who looks at them to stone.
** The updated 2017 edition of the book added two more XXXXX-classified beasts: the Wampus Cat and the Horned Serpent. It's not specified exactly what makes Wampus Cats so dangerous, but they can walk on their hind legs, outrun arrows and are reputed to have hypnotic eyes. However, the Cherokee have traditionally used their hairs as wand cores, implying that they can be befriended or tamed. Horned Serpents are equally mysterious, but Isolt Sayre was known to have befriended one.

** Nundus, gigantic, silent leopards with pathogen spreading breath so powerful they can wipe out entire villages from the disease they cause. They have never been contained by less than ''one hundred'' highly-trained wizards working together at once.

** Lethifolds, a Dementor-like creature that can sneak up on a sleeping person and eat them alive, leaving nothing behind. It can only be repelled by a Patronus, a difficult feat of magic.
** Nundus, gigantic, silent leopards with pathogen spreading breath so powerful they can wipe out entire villages from the disease they cause. They have never been contained by less than ''one hundred'' highly-trained wizards.