Isidora Morganach
- "Everyone feels pain. And why? Because of your arrogance. Your obsession with secrets. They won't suffer any longer. Not my father, not my students. No one."
- — Isidora Morganach's disagreements with the Keepers on the secrecy of ancient magic[src]
Professor Isidora Morganach (fl. 1470s)[1] was a Scottish witch who served as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Tudor period.[1][4]
Born in Feldcroft, Scotland, she possessed the rare and unique ability to perceive and use ancient magic, which did not truly develop until she was fifteen years old. Her life was marked by her mentorship by the Keepers, four Professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who undertook the responsibility of safeguarding and concealing ancient magic from the wider wizarding population. Forever the subject of her mentors' suspicions, Isidora fundamentally disagreed with this and took it upon herself to use her powers to heal the pain and suffering of those whom she came across.[2][6][7]
Despite her well-intentioned goals, her actions had irreversible consequences, doing more than taking away the pain and suffering, and she was viewed as a dangerous enemy by the Keepers. She was eventually killed by Professor San Bakar, her former mentor and colleague.[2] The existence of the repository she built, which stored her extracted emotional magic, would become the Keepers' highly shrouded secret, eventually fading into myth, only to be learned about and become the envy of Ranrok and his goblin rebellion centuries later.[8]
Biography[]
Early life[]
A young Isidora with her family, watching the Keepers
Isidora was born into a family of unknown wizarding descent sometime during the Tudor era.[1] Born with the rare ability to detect and wield ancient magic, she grew up in the hamlet of Feldcroft where she lived with her father and brother. As a young child, the hamlet was struck by a drought which made life difficult for its inhabitants.
The Keepers — a group of Hogwarts professors comprising Percival Rackham, Niamh Fitzgerald, Charles Rookwood, and San Bakar — used magic to put an end to the drought in a matter of minutes, transforming the hamlet into fertile land. Isidora saw the whispers of ancient magic wielded by Percival while she and her family were trying to get water out of a well.[3]
At some point, her brother died.[6]
Hogwarts years[]
Isidora conjuring pillars with ancient magic, supervised by her mentor, Percival Rackham
As her ancient magic abilities developed late, like those of Percival Rackham several decades earlier,[3] she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry starting in her fifth-year. She was sorted into Ravenclaw. Shortly after, she was called to meet the Headmistress, Niamh Fitzgerald, along with the Keepers. They told her she was the first person after Percival to show her rare ability with ancient magic, and that she had to learn how to wield it properly. Percival took her under his wing as his apprentice, and under his guidance, she learned how to control her power.[4][9]
Healing mission[]
Professor Morganach at Hogwarts
After completing her studies, Isidora returned to Hogwarts as the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Charming and approachable, she was a very popular teacher in her time.[4] In her role, she started to experiment independently with her ancient magical abilities, straying from the path of secrecy that the Keepers had attempted to instil within her. As her father had never recovered from her brother's death, she created a spell that had the capacity to extract pain, which she used on her father in front of her colleagues to showcase the power of ancient magic, much to their surprise and distaste.[6] She later used the spell on Niamh Fitzgerald without the latter's permission, but was stopped before any major damage could be done.[7]
The Keepers became gradually more suspicious of Isidora and attempted to temper her desire to change the world, urging that ancient magic should be kept secret, but Isidora was reluctant to abandon her philosophy.[7] She started to experiment further, extracting pain from the people that she came across and storing it within her home. As the sheer scale of her stored pain became too large, she commissioned Bragbor the Boastful, a goblin, to create the final repository, a goblin silver storage unit for the extracted pain.[10] This repository was kept in the Keepers' Caverns beneath Hogwarts Castle, where Isidora regularly took Hogwarts students to heal them from their emotional pain.[2]
Sensing the growing suspicion and enmity of the Keepers, Isidora set out a series of clues with the hope that a future student who shared her gift could learn about her life and follow down her path. These clues took the form of a triptych in the Undercroft which had two canvases torn out, with the remaining canvas being a hint to the location of the next, and so on.[11] These canvases were located in two of Isidora's hideouts: one in the Overlook, and another in Tower Tunnel.[12][10] Both of these places would be explored centuries later.[12][10]
Death[]
Isidora's duel in the Keepers' Caverns
The Keepers recognised that Isidora had gone too far and united against her within the Caverns, attempting to finally stop her. In self-defence, Isidora rendered Niamh Fitzgerald unconscious, which started a duel between her, Percival Rackham, and Charles Rookwood. The duel was ended swiftly when San Bakar cast the Killing Curse, ending Isidora's life.[2]
Post-mortem[]
A portrait of Isidora Morganach, kept within her house, was intentionally burned, though it was unknown by whom.[11]
Centuries later, when an unidentified 19th-century Hogwarts student also developed ancient magical abilities, the Keepers guided them in portrait form and used Isidora Morganach as their key example of how not to use magic.[9] Isidora's triptych was discovered by this student and their friend, Sebastian Sallow, the latter of whom urged the student to use their ancient magical powers to heal his sister, Anne (an act which would contravene the message of the Keepers).[12][10]
Meanwhile, Ranrok and Victor Rookwood were determined to unlock the secrets of the final repository for their own independent purposes: the elevation of goblinkind above wizardkind,[13][8] and the reclamation of the Rookwood family legacy,[6][14] respectively.
After Ranrok used his stolen wand to destroy the final repository, thus allowing Isidora's stored emotion to escape, the student could have chosen to repair the repository or consume the magic within. If they did the latter, they would argue that Isidora was right all along, and justified her actions.[8]
Physical description[]
Isidora was a woman with fair skin, dark brown hair tied up in a bun, and black eyes.[9]
Personality and traits[]
Isidora was "confident, relatable, and wry", and moved "gracefully and intensely". She was very charming, leading to her becoming notably popular in her role as a professor.[4] She was fiercely dedicated to the removal of pain and suffering from those with whom she interacted, and was determined to use her ancient magic abilities for the betterment of her community, even if this conflicted with the views of her mentors.[2]
However, her desire for power and want to remove pain from others eventually led to her using it on others against their will[7] and taking power for herself.[2] She went so far as to remove all emotion from her own father[6] and began forcing it on students,[2] showing how far she had fallen from her good intentions in pursuit of power.
Magical abilities and skills[]
- Ancient magic: Isidora was a wielder of the mysterious ancient magic.[4] Like a fellow wielder several centuries later, she acquired this trait later in life, but was still a powerful witch regardless.[15]
- Transfiguration: Isidora used ancient magic to conjure pillars out of thin air, with Percival Rackham praising her ability to transfigure the world around her.[9]
- Defence Against the Dark Arts: Isidora taught this subject at Hogwarts, and was considered a popular and effective teacher.[4]
- Spell creation: Isidora invented a spell used to extract physical and emotional pain from the target.[9]
- Healing magic: Though her self-created pain extraction spell may have been used in a morally ambiguous manner, it still had the successful result of stripping emotional pain away from the individuals it was cast upon.[9]
- Duelling: Isidora was able to keep both Charles Rookwood and Percival Rackham at bay during her final duel in the Keepers' Caverns (to the point that she was on the verge of subduing them both before being killed by San Bakar), and was able to cast an explosive spell on the Keepers in self-defence, rendering Niamh Fitzgerald unconscious, but still alive.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
Concept art of Isidora Morganach
- Isidora Morganach is voiced by Holly J. Barrett in Hogwarts Legacy.[16]
Appearances[]
- Hogwarts Legacy (First appearance) (Appears in flashback(s)) (Appears in portrait(s))
- The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "The Path to Hogwarts" – "Vault number twelve was commissioned shortly after Gringotts was founded four centuries ago." Gringotts was founded in 1474 (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter), which means the Keepers and Isidora Morganach must have been active around this time period.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "San Bakar's Trial"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Secrets of the Restricted Section"
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy (see this image)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Hogwarts Legacy (see this image)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Charles Rookwood's Trial"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "The Final Repository"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Hogwarts Legacy
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "In the Shadow of the Mountain"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "In the Shadow of the Estate"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "In the Shadow of the Mine"
- ↑ Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Lodgok's Loyalty"
- ↑ Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Wand Mastery"
- ↑ Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Percival Rackham's Trial"
- ↑
Holly J. Barrett at the Internet Movie Database
