The Centaur in the Wizarding World

As for the upcoming second installment of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I did a deep dive into a few of these magical creatures. In this post, I have taken a closer look at the Centaur.

2.2.1 The centaur in Harry Potter books

2.2.1.1 Physical appearance and characteristics

According to one of the standard schoolbooks at Hogwarts, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them used in the subject Care of Magical Creatures, the Centaur has a human upper body joined to a horse’s body, which may be any of several colors. Being intelligent and capable of speech, it should not be classified as a beast, but it is, following the centaurs’ request. They are initially from Greece, but according to the schoolbooks, nowadays, centaur communities can be found in many European forests.​1​ (Fantastic Beasts & where to find them, 6)
The wizarding authorities in each of the countries where centaurs live have allocated areas where the centaurs cannot be troubled by muggles4. However, the mythical creatures also have their own means of hiding from humans. Their ways are shrouded in mystery. They live in herds ranging in size from ten to fifty members at the most. They mistrust the wizards as well as the muggles. They are described to be well skilled in magical healing, divination, archery, and astronomy.​1​ (cf. Fantastic Beasts & where to find them, 6) They are astrologers, but they generally do not interfere in people’s fate.^​1​ (HP1, 188)

2.2.1.2 Important action for the plot

2.2.1.2.1 First appearance

Harry and Hermione get sight of centaurs during their first year in Hogwarts. They meet some of them together with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest where a herd lives. They are looking for an injured unicorn. The gamekeeper introduces Ronan and Bane to the terrified children. He asks the centaurs for help but in vain; they do not seem to be interested in human problems as Hagrid points out: “Ruddy star-gazers. Not interested in anythin’ closer’n the moon.”^{​​1​​} (HP1, 185)
Harry, Draco and Fang find the injured unicorn but it is already dead. When they realize that a hooded figure drinks the unicorn’s blood Malfoy and Fang bolt, but Harry cannot move for fear. His scar is on fire and the pain in his head is so bad that he falls to his knees.
This moment a young centaur appears and scares the hooded figure away. Harry’s savior has white-blond hair and a palomino body. He is called Firenze and as he thinks that Harry is in great danger, he decides to save him by taking him away on his back.
During Harry’s ride on the kind creature they meet Ronan and Bane. Bane is furious and shouts at Firenze. He insults him and says:
“Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?”^{​​1​​} (HP1, 188)
Bane is of the opinion that centaurs should not interfere with what the planets say is going to happen. He is concerned with what has been foretold. Firenze does not agree and argues:
“I set myself against what is lurking in this Forest, yes, with humans alongside me if I must.”^{​​1​​} (HP1, 188)
Then he plunges off into the forest with Harry still on his back.
When Firenze slows to a walk he explains to Harry that Voldemort is the one who wants to use the unicorn blood to strengthen him, until he is able to steal the Philosopher’s Stone at the Castle of Hogwarts. When Firenze leaves Harry, he does not only wish him good luck but he also says:
“The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times.”^{​​1​​} (HP1, 189)

2.2.1.2.2 Firenze as teacher in Hogwarts

About four years later they meet again. “It was foretold”(HP5, 529), says Firenze to the astonished Harry. The young Centaur has agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore as Professor Umbridge has dismissed Professor Trelawney. Firenze is now the new Divination teacher at Hogwarts. The first lesson becomes the most unusual lesson Harry has ever attended: Professor Dumbledore has arranged the classroom in imitation of the Centaur’s natural habit – they have their lesson in the middle of a forest clearing. Firenze would prefer the Forbidden Forest but he cannot return, because his herd has banished him. The others see his work for Professor Dumbledore as a betrayal of their kind. The centaurs do not like that Firenze bows down to wizards and that he may share the centaurs’ secrets with the students at Hogwarts.^​2​ (cf. HP5, 529)
Speaking in a calm voice Firenze tells the class to observe the heavens:
“Here is written, for those who can see, the fortune of the races … Centaurs have unravelled the mysteries of these movements (the stars’ and planets’) over centuries. Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us”^​2​ (HP5, 531), he says.
But what the humans call fortune telling is pure nonsense to him:
“I, however, am here to explain the wisdom of centaurs, which is impersonal and impartial. We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there. It may take ten years to be sure of what we are seeing.”^​2​ (HP5, 531)
Then the new Divination teacher points to the red star directly above Harry and tells the amazed class that
“in the past decade, the indications have been that wizardkind is living through nothing more than a brief calm between two wars.”^​2​ (HP5, 532)
The main indication is that Mars, the bringer of battle, shines brightly above them, suggesting that the fight must soon break out again. How soon, centaurs usually try to find out by burning certain herbs and leaves and interpreting the fume and flames. Unfortunately, humans are hardly ever good at this practice, and it even takes centaurs years to become competent.^​2​ (cf. HP5, 532)
He is nothing like any human teacher Harry has ever had. Harry gets the impression that his priority is not to teach them what he knows, but rather to point out to them that nothing, not even centaurs’ knowledge, is foolproof.^​2​ (cf. HP5, 532)

2.2.2 Other sources

Fundamentally the Centaur is a mythological creature, which has a human upper body and the lower body and legs of a horse. Of course there exist a number of variations including a winged centaur.^​3​ (cf. South, 225) One of the unanswered questions about the early development of this mythological creature is the name “centaur” itself. The most famous Greek poet Homer is the first one to name the beast, but we do not exactly know, what the word itself means. But Homer as well as Hesiod call them “beast men” or “hairy beast men” when discussing centaurs.

2.2.2.1 Babylonia – the ”native city” of the centaur

The Centaur apparently comes from Babylonia. During the late second Millenium B.C. the Kassites, an ancient Near Eastern people gain control of the city in 1585 B.C. The horse, which the Kassites worship, first comes into use in Babylonia at this time. (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassites#cite_note-fournet-4, 20.12.2012) Most Historians think that this people that moved into the fertile country from Iran or further east has created the Centaur, while the Hattites, may have spread the idea of this mythical beast and helped to raise it “to its place of greatest religious, literary, and artistic development”^​3​ (South, 225) – in Greek culture.

2.2.2.2 First appearance of the mythological creature – Egypt

The Kassites who once fought the Egyptians and Assyrians for supremacy in the Near East, customarily set up stones, not only to mark but also to protect the borders of their lands.
Actually, under the Kassites kings, a new system of land-tenure is coming into fashion: Consequently, they carve the figures of gods or guardian spirits as well as protective curses carefully into the boundary stones. The idea is that by curse and sculptured emblem they
invoke the gods to protect their private rights. (cf. http://www.third-millennium- library.com/readinghall/UniversalHistory/THE_OLD_WORLD/Cambridge_Ancient_History/XXII-Cassite_Dynasty.html, 20.12.2012)
Among many different creatures there, those of half-man and half-horse can also be found. On one of the stones, the Centaur is double-faced (a man’s facing to the front, and a dragon’s facing to the rear) as well as double-tailed (a horse’s and a scorpion’s tail) and on one the centaurs is winged. The fact that the Kassites use pictures of centaurs as guardian spirits on their border stones does not necessarily mean that they invented them, but when their empire ends at about 1155 B.C., we can at least be sure that the beast is already in existence. It is depicted as a hunter, and uses the bow as its principal weapon.^​3​ (cf. South, 226)
The Kassites, who were barbarian nomads, may have ridden their horses. As the Near-East cultures are only accustomed to chariots and donkeys, such a sight may have been sensational enough to cause severe confusion and make the people believe that horse and man are one animal. But we must also take into consideration that Mediterranean peoples have a penchant for creating hybrid man-beast forms.^​3​ (cf. South, 226)

2.2.2.3 In Greek culture

The Centaur has probably been imported to Mycenaean Greece by means of the Hattites, an ancient Anatolian people, with whom the Mycenaeans maintain excellent trade relations at this time. In Greek culture, the Centaur undergoes significant modifications in its symbolic or mythic purpose and its appearance. A sharp distinction is made between the Centaur Cheiron and the rest of the centaurs: Cheiron (Latin Chiron) is seen as wise and benevolent to humankind, and therefore, he is universally beloved. He is a celebrated healer, the teacher of heroes, the maker of sophisticated weapons, and, in summation, “the most righteous of the Centaurs”.^​3​ (South, 227)
In contrast to Cheiron, the centaur population is associated with drunkenness and physical, especially sexual violence. Perhaps the figures portrayed on the Kassites boundary stones already represented good and evil and wisdom and violence. On the one hand, the human face of the centaurs may represent benevolence and guardianship. On the other hand, the dragon heads and scorpion tails may suggest eroticism or the tendency to uncontrollable violence.^​3​ (cf. South, 227)

2.2.3 Symbolism

The Greeks, a horse-loving and horse-breeding people are familiar with the erotic reactions of stallions. This may be why the semi-equine Centaur becomes a symbol for sudden irrational violence, particularly sexual violence. It takes several centuries for this symbolism to develop ultimately, but (cf. South, 227) “by Homer’s time the average centaur is a potentially uncontrollable creature.”^​3​ (South, 227)
The wicked centaurs are the exact opposite of the knight and the horseman. Instead of mastering their instincts, these centaurs are ruled by them. They symbolize violent lust, brutality, vengefulness, and the Devil itself. They represent the struggle within each heart between good and evil, moderation and excess, forgiveness and retaliation, god and beast. (cf. http://monsters.monstrous.com/centaurs.htm, 21.12.2012)
In contrast, the wise Cheiron is a close representation of a saint to the Greeks, and he is a father figure to many of the gods’ children. He can teach them a good knowledge of the world. As the Centaur Cheiron represents the favorable combination of the spiritual and the animal nature, he represents Christ, the God-Man, for early Christians. (cf. http://monsters.monstrous.com/centaurs.htm, 21.12.2012)
He also symbolizes the Lord fighting against evil and the enemies of Israel.
According to legend Zeus, the „King of the Gods“ in Greece himself helped Cheiron attain immortality as he set his remains in the night sky where he appears as Sagittarius, the archer. (cf. http://ww2.netnitco.net/~legend01/centaur.htm, 21.12.2012)

2.2.4 Summary

The centaurs are chimeras. As two hearts beat in their breasts, their actions are often ambivalent. On the one hand, they are “ruddy star-gazers”^{​​1​​} (HP1, 185). On the other hand, they are not allowed to interfere in people’s fate. In the final battle, the centaur community takes a hard decision and decides to fight the Dark Lord alongside the defenders of Hogwarts. It turns out that they can make positive contributions if they want to, whereas, in legend, they are always seen as potentially uncontrollable creatures.

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