The Unicorn 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 Unicorn.

The unicorn in Harry Potter books

“Even in Harry’s wizard world, with so many wondrous beats, the unicorn is a symbol of the sacred”^​1​ and in fact a superior animal.

In contrast to other magical creatures, many parts of the unicorn such as the hair, the horn, and the blood have highly magical properties and so the whole wizarding world cannot exist without them.

Physical appearance and characteristics

Newt Scamander, the author of Harry‘s schoolbook FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM, describes the unicorn as a beautiful beast found throughout the forests of northern Europe. It is a pure white horned horse.^​2​

“The unicorn was so brightly white that it made snow all around look grey.”³

Unlike a full-grown unicorn, the foal is initially gold and turns silver when it is about two years old and the horn grows when it is four. “‘Easier ter spot than adults,‘ Hagrid told the class“^​3​. So the unicorn is a very shy creature and it generally avoids human contact: “They ́re a bit more trustin’ when they’re babies … don’ mind boys so much …^​3​

A unicorn is really difficult to catch because it can run really fast, even faster than a werewolf. When Harry`s temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Grubbly- Plank, shows the unicorn, which is kept in captivity to Harry‘s class, it scrapes the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throws back its horned head impatiently. This is typical behavior of a unicorn when it is irritated by human beings.^​3​

This shy animal is more likely to allow a witch rather than a wizard to approach.² This means that the unicorn prefers to be touched by women which is confirmed by Professor Grubbly-Planks when she first and foremost encourages the girls to come closer and cluster around the beautiful creature: “Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it … “³ In return the girls’ affection and admiration of the unicorn is bigger than that of the boys.³ In addition, they consider unicorns to be proper creatures, not monsters like Hagrid used to refer to them.³ Professor Grubbly-Plank does still not forget to enumerate its many magical properties, because this graceful being is not only nice to watch but the unicorn’s hair, the horn and the blood have highly magical powers.

Magic wands frequently have a core of unicorn hair because it is easier to get than a dragon heartstring or a phoenix feather because sometimes unicorn hair gets caught on branches of trees when the animal walks through the forest.⁴

• Mary Cattermole’s wand^​2​
• Cedric Diggory’s wand^​3​
• Neville Longbottom’s second wand^​4​
• Draco Malfoy’s wand^​2​
• Ron Weasley’s first^​5​ and second wand^​6​

The hair and the horn of a unicorn have magical properties that make them essential ingredients in potions.^​5​ such as the potion that returns Lord Voldemort to an almost human form.^​3​ The unicorn blood, which looks like shining, silvery stuff, is even more powerful.

“The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.”^​5​

Important action for plot

First mentioned

Various parts of the unicorn have got magical power, above all the horn and the tail-hair. This fact is first mentioned in the chapter “Diagon Alley” because both can be bought there. Mr. Olivander himself uses the tail-hair for the cores of his fine wands. The Apothecary sells the tail-hair besides the silver horn as essential ingredients for potions. The horn costs twenty-one Galleons each Harry detects on his first visit. That’s costly compared to the newspaper The Daily Prophet, which costs 5 Knuts.^​5​ If you convert the value of the Galleon into Euros, the horn costs about 2070 Euros. As no student at Hogwarts can do without the magical power contained in these parts of the unicorn, Harry himself uses them.^​5​

First appearance

Nobody dares to kill such a majestic animal like the unicorn. The only one who does not care is Lord Voldemort. His faithful servant Quirrell shares his body with the Dark Lord and lets him into his heart and mind. So Lord Voldemort forces Quirrell in Harry’s first school year to kill at least two unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and to drink their blood for him. The blood strengthens him until he can get hold of the Philosopher’s Stone to create a body of his own with the help of the Elixir of Life.^​5​

During their detention, Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Draco Malfoy are instructed to find a wounded unicorn for Hagrid. While combing the forest for the poor thing, Harry and Malfoy become eyewitnesses of a cruel crime. They watch a cloaked figure drinking the blood of a deadly wounded unicorn. When the hooded figure attacks Harry, he is shocked and unable to move. It is Firenze, the centaur, who saves his life and chases away the mysterious attacker.

The unicorn legend has been known in the western world since the fourth century before the birth of Christ but it appeared in the East many centuries earlier. It’s great appeal comes from its mysteriousness and uniqueness: the unicorn is supposed to be a rare creature living in faraway lands and in places hardly ever seen by human beings. This mythical animal is said to be noble, very strong and is supposed to become gentle in the presence of a virgin. People assume that his horn has got marvellous powers.⁸

Other sources

His broad range of symbolic meanings including contrasting ideas has always stimulated the imagination of artists and writers. Another reason for his appeal is that it seems to be possible that a unicorn exists in real life. Even in the nineteenth century some educated people believed that this genuine animal might exist or actually did exist.⁸

Description

A unicorn is a mythical animal mostly resembling a horse with a single straight horn projecting from his forehead.⁹

In classical myths unicorn horns have purification properties, which are used to dissolve poisons. This could be why it is used in the Antidote to Common Poisons.¹⁰

Myth of the unicorn

Development of the myth

The unicorn legend, which has been handed down from the past, has many different facets. The idea of the creature may have originated from an actual animal and is not just imaginary. Most likely it was derived from the rhinoceros –especially from the one-horned Asian rhinoceros. Although they look quite different there do exist some parallels between

the unicorn and the rhinoceros. When attacked it is said that they are both very fierce and very hard to capture and the unicorn’s horn, like that of the rhinoceros, “was reputed to have great curative and aphrodisiac powers.“⁸ Another theory presents the oryx antelope as a likely source of the unicorn legend. One species of it, called the Arabian oryx, is a large animal with white identifying marks and long, nearly straight horns. If you see the oryx in profile, it may seem to have only one horn and then you could mix it up with a unicorn.

In former days people thought that unicorns exist in the sea as well as on the land. The existence of sea creatures like the narwhale is not the only reason for this idea but there was

“a widespread belief in earlier ages that each animal living on the land had an animal equivalent to it in the sea.”⁸

Sometimes the water unicorn is described as having the body of a large fish or as a whale- like creature.

The idea of the unicorn having horns with spiral twistings as portrayed in the Middle Ages has its origin in the outlook of the narwhal tusk. For many people in those days the sight of a narwhal tusk was proof in itself that the unicorn must exist in the sea and then there must be a land unicorn as well. As mentioned above this thinking was characteristic for the people living more than five hundred years ago.⁸

All in all, it is likely that the idea of this mythical creature may not have originated in just one animal but in a combination of animals and concepts: “Myth has joined with fact, and fact and fantasy together have created the unicorn.”⁸

The unicorn in different cultures

Western World

Most people imagine the unicorn as having the body of a horse. But this is only one of a number of forms this mythical beast has had through the centuries. In the West this magical creature has often been presented as resembling a horse or a goat and in a variety of other forms as well. (Sometimes with a horse’s body and a goat-like beard.)¹¹

In the West the unicorn has had both negative and positive associations.

“He has symbolized courage, nobility, wisdom, and virtue, but he has also stood for pride, wrath, and destructive forces.”⁸

The Chinese have several kinds of unicorns. The ki-lin is the most popular one, but it has in contrast to the unicorn in the Western world only positive associations.⁸ It has been described in different ways. This mythical being lives in paradise and visits the earth when an upright ruler or a wise philosopher is born. The unicorn, which can live up to thousand years, is mostly portrayed as a deer with one horn, with the tail of an ox, the hooves of a horse, and the body covered with the scales of a fish.¹²

In Japan two types of unicorns are known: the kirin, which is based on the ki-lin, he is only benevolent, and the sin-you, which resembles a lion.⁸

Eastern World

In the Muslim world the unicorn is called karkadann. Its name refers to the rhinoceros and its behaviour is also similar to this mighty animal, which has got one or two horns on its nose.⁸

But the fierce creature may also have the form of a deer, a horse, an antelope or some other animal. In Muslim art unicorned creatures sometimes are even winged. The strangest of all is that of the three legged ass which has a white body, six eyes, nine mouths, and a golden horn. This strange animal appears in the sacred literature of ancient Persia.⁸

Muslim World

Symbolism and the unicorn in real life

Unicorns on seals and coins

In the British Museum you can find seals from one of the world’s earliest civilization the Indus Valley Civilization, which is dated back to 2500 BC. These seals show unicorn like figures marked with Indus script writing. These unicorn figures have been investigated as representations of aurochs. As the animal is always shown in profile, only one of the two horns is seen. What this symbolic animal stands for has been a source of speculation.¹³

Much later golden coins known as the unicorn and half-unicorn, both with a unicorn on the obverse, were used in Scotland in the 15th and 16th century.¹³ This may be considered as a proof of he popularity of he unicorn legend and the knowledge of its symbolic meaning.

In Heraldry

“The unicorn has long been linked with nobility and kingship”⁸ that means that the animal himself embodies the nobility, courage and strength that a king should possess. In literature it is said, that therefore young unicorns were taken to the palace of the king for public exhibition. Considering the unicorn’s connection with kingship and nobility, it is understandable why the mythical animal has an important place in heraldry.⁸

The unicorn is found for example on the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is used by the Queen in her official function as monarch of the United Kingdom. Here the unicorn symbolizes Scotland. The mythical beast is chained, because in legend “a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast.”¹⁴ (See Pic 12)

Another example of a unicorn on a coat of arms is the one of Saint Lo. Here the unicorn is shown without chains.¹³

The Unicorn – an ambivalent symbol

As already mentioned above the symbolic meanings of the unicorn are rather ambivalent in the Western World:

“He is a symbol of Christ, but he is a symbol of the Devil, as well.”⁸ Referring to his strength, it can represent the invincible power of Christ, but it can also represent the destructive power of Satan. In a special context the popular magical beast may symbolize either good or evil.⁸

Because of his symbolic association with Christ and the Virgin Mary, the unicorn has often been seen as a symbol of purity and chastity. People have connected the animal with purity because of the powers attributed to the horn.⁸

In contrast to the western unicorn, the Chinese ki-lin differs greatly in its conception; it is always benevolent. Above all it symbolizes wisdom and justice.⁸

This day and age

In our world today the unicorn is still a very popular magical animal and in fact not just for kids. It frequently appears in literature and art as well. Yet the symbolism connected with the unicorn is so complex and meaningful that it will certainly resist commercialization, because the unicorn

“has an appeal that transcends anyone, time and place. For centuries he has satisfied some deep human need. And he will undoubtedly continue to do so for a long time to come.”⁸

Summary

To conclude it can be said that in the Harry Potter books the unicorn is only presented as a wondrous magical creature, which is unique and of great beauty. The one-horned animal lives in the forest and is very hard to capture because it avoids contact to people and it is very fast when it wants to escape. In contrast to other sources Joanne K. Rowling’s unicorn has only positive associations. So killing such a pure and defenceless animal like the unicorn is said to be the worst crime. A curse tries to protect the wonderful creature and to prevent people from doing it any harm. Lord Voldemort, the evil incarnate, is the only person in the book who ignores the strict prohibition.