"Harry, your eyesight really is awful."
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Professor Ambrose Swott[1] was a wizard. He was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[2]
Biography
Lifetime
Professor Swott's clothing style suggests that he lived during the Tudor period (1486 to 1603).[2] He became the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at some point.[2]
Post-mortem
Professor Swott died sometime before 1992.[3] Two portraits of him hung at Hogwarts: one depicted a bespectacled young man,[4] and another, hung in the Headmaster's office, depicted an older wizard with a long ginger beard.[2] Swott's name was also carved into a wood panel on the wall of the school's Divination classroom.[5]
In the winter of 1993, Swott's name appeared on the Marauder's Map,[6] presumably indicating that he lingered at Hogwarts as a ghost after his death.[7]
Etymology
"Ambrose" is a name, which ultimately derives from the Greek name Ambrosios, meaning "immortal".[8] Swott may have been based on swot, a British slang term, meaning "to study hard" or "one who studies hard."[9]
Behind the scenes
It is possible that Swott's portrait is a reference to a portrait of Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) (Appears in portrait(s))
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) (Name seen on wood panelling)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) (Appears in portrait(s))
Notes and references
- ↑ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - see this image
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) DVD (Disc 2 - Dumbledore's Office) (see this image)
- ↑ In interviews, J.K. Rowling has stated the portraits at Hogwarts are "all of dead people," and "all the portraits you see in the headmaster's study are all headmasters and mistresses who died." Swott's portrait is visible in the "Dumbledore's Office" tour on Disc 2 of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) DVD.
- ↑ See this image.
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) - see this image
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) - Chapter 16
- ↑ In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 24, Harry notices on the Marauder's Map that Draco Malfoy is in a boys' bathroom with Moaning Myrtle, thereby confirming that the Map shows ghosts.
- ↑ "Ambrose" on Behind the Name
- ↑ "Swot" on Wiktionary