"I stole the diadem. I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it. My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts."
Helena Ravenclaw (late 10th century — early 11th century), known as the Grey Lady (originally Whispering Lady[6]) after her death, was a witch and Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter. She attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Ravenclaw house. At some point, she stole her mother's diadem and ran away to Albania. Rowena became fatally ill, and hoping to see her daughter one last time, sent the Bloody Baron, a man who harboured an unrequited love for Helena, to find her. The Baron killed Helena when she refused to return with him, before killing himself out of regret for what he had done. She and the Baron eventually returned as ghosts to Hogwarts Castle, where Helena is the Ghost of Ravenclaw House.
At the age of eleven, Helena became part of one of the first generations of students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, which, at that time, was still being run by its original Founders. She was Sorted into Ravenclaw House and was educated in the magical arts by her mother during the seven years that followed.[5]
Around this time, she met the Baron of Slytherin house. He fell in love with her, though she always rejected his advances.[4] Helena never found true love as she never found a man that lived up to her standards.[7]
Helena Ravenclaw: "I stole the diadem from my mother."
Harry Potter: "You — you did what?"
Helena Ravenclaw: "I stole the diadem. I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother. I ran away with it. My mother, they say, never admitted that the diadem was gone, but pretended that she had it still. She concealed her loss, my dreadful betrayal, even from the other founders of Hogwarts. Then my mother fell ill — fatally ill. In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time. She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so."
Envious of her mother's cleverness and importance, Helena stole her diadem and left Scotland, believing the item could help her become wise enough to accomplish her goals. Ashamed of her daughter's betrayal, Rowena Ravenclaw never admitted her daughter's treachery, hiding the fact that the diadem was no longer in her possession.[4]
Having fallen fatally ill and on her deathbed, Rowena desperately asked the Bloody Baron, who was deeply in love with Helena, to find her daughter and bring her back to her so that she could see her one last time. Helena tried to hide from him, but the Baron managed to track her down to a forest in Albania. When she heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward her, she hid the diadem inside a hollow tree. Helena refused to come with the Baron and rejected his affections and he stabbed her in a fit of rage. After seeing what he had done, remorseful of his action, he stabbed himself to death.[4]
Post-mortem
"Oh yes, our house ghost is the Grey Lady. The rest of the school thinks she never speaks, but she'll talk to Ravenclaws. She's particularly useful if you're lost, or you've mislaid something."
Helena, now known as the "Grey Lady", returned from the dead as ghost along with the Baron. They both returned to Hogwarts Castle, where they became the house ghosts of their former Houses, Ravenclaw[4] and Slytherin.[8] The Baron has been remorseful of his actions ever since, and carries heavy chains as a sign of penance.[4] Nobody else seems to know why both of them died nor why the Baron is covered in blood, not even the other Hogwartsghosts.[8]
According to RavenclawPrefectRobert Hilliard, while the most of the school sees the Grey Lady as a timid ghost, she maintains a good relationship with members of her own House and is particularly useful if they were lost, or had mislaid something.[9]
1940s
Harry Potter: "You've already told someone this story, haven't you? Another student?"
Helena Ravenclaw: "I had… no idea… He was flattering. He seemed to… understand… to sympathise…"
Harry Potter: "Well, you weren't the first person Riddle wormed things out of. He could be charming when he wanted…"
— Helena Ravenclaw tells Harry Potter about how Tom Riddle managed to wheedle the location of the Lost Diadem.[src]
During the last few years of Tom Riddle's education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he became interested in the subject of Horcruxes. Planning to create some in an effort to become immortal, Riddle favoured objects worthy of the honour.[10] He apparently heard of Ravenclaw's diadem, and questioned the Grey Lady about it. Tom managed to obtain all necessary information to get the diadem.[4]
Unaware of Riddle's true intentions, the Grey Lady found him flattering and understanding, but seemed to regret revealing her secret to him after his atrocities in the First and Second Wizarding Wars.[4]
1991—1992 school year
"They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else."
On 4 June, 1992, the Grey Lady seemed to have attended an advanced-students' Transfiguration class, and sat taking notes on one of the desks after the class was dismissed while Professor McGonagall wrote some notes of her own on her desk.[15]
By 1995, there was a tetraptych depicting Helena Ravenclaw hung in the hallway outside the Hogwarts Library. The Grey Lady could be usually seen strolling along this corridor this school year.[17]
"An extraordinary assortment of people had already settled into half of the chairs: shabby and smart, old and young. […] The castle ghosts were there too, barely visible in the bright sunlight, discernible only when they moved, shimmering insubstantially in the gleaming air."
The Carrows were put in charge of all discipline and punishments, which were violent. It is likely that the Grey Lady, as did the Heads of House, tried to protect the pupils from Alecto and Amycus.[23]
On 2 May, 1998, the Battle of Hogwarts ensued after Lord Voldemort learned Harry Potter was in the premises. The ghosts, including the Grey Lady, attended a gathering in the Great Hall, in which Professor McGonagall gave instructions on evacuation of underage students and Kingsley Shacklebolt organised the participants for battle. Harry Potter, needing information on the whereabouts of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, asked Nick who the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower was. Although he was initially slightly hurt that Harry needed another ghost rather than him, he pointed her out to him. She was initially reluctant to convey any information on the diadem's whereabouts, thinking that Harry sought the diadem in a desperate (and vain) attempt to sharpen his wits and thus increase his chances of defeating Lord Voldemort. However, letting it slip that she was Ravenclaw's daughter and learning that the diadem could be effectively used in Voldemort's destruction, she conveyed to Harry all necessary information for him to be able to figure out where Voldemort had hidden the diadem, therefore destroying nearly all the Horcruxes.[4] Later on, the ghosts gathered at the Great Hall, joining the mass mourning over the fallen.[22]
"Harry supposed that she was beautiful, with her waist-length hair and floor-length cloak, but she also looked haughty and proud. Close in, he recognized her as a ghost he had passed several times in the corridor, but to whom he had never spoken."
Helena was a tall[14] witch with waist-length hair.[4] She wore floor-length cloak.[4]Harry Potter "supposed that she was beautiful," but had trouble seeing through her proud and haughty appearance.[4] She carried herself in a serene manner.[18]
A highly intellectual young lady, Helena was a scholarly, literary, and cultured woman.[7] Close to one-thousand years after her death, she still maintained her intellectual curiosity, enjoying attending Transfiguration classes[15] and reading.[16]
Helena was described as an intelligent lady. She had high standards and never found love due to this.[7] She was also evasive, as she did not appear to like telling others about her past (not even that she was Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter) and somewhat taciturn.[4] She also had a preference to secluded places: she hid in a forest when she ran away from her mother,[4] hung around in deserted classrooms,[15] and chose a deserted Gryffindor Tower as a reading spot.[16] Despite all this, she had a thirst for importance and notability and was, as such, very envious of her mother.[4]
Etymology
"Helena" is a Latinate form of Helen, derived from Greek ‘ελενη (helene) which means "torch" or "corposant" (source of light).
Many Grey Lady ghosts are known in various locations throughout England and Wales.
Behind the scenes
J. K. Rowling has stated that The Grey Lady appeared very briefly in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It is believed this passage refers to her: "Harry and Ron passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else". No other unexplained mention of a ghost is found in the book, so it can be presumed this is the Grey Lady. Likewise, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a reference of a "ghost of a long-haired woman [who] drifted serenely past" fits almost perfectly with the description of the Grey Lady in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Grey Lady makes a notable appearance in the deleted scenes portion of the Chamber of Secrets DVD (when Harry is finding the secret of Tom Riddle's Diary, he asks her to leave, wanting privacy). It seems rather strange that the Ravenclaw ghost is allowed in Gryffindor Tower. However as a ghost she can go everywhere.
There are a number of Grey Lady ghost stories of Great Britain, and it is thought that they might have been an inspiration for this character.
The Harry Potter Wiki has 19 images related to Helena Ravenclaw.
Notes and references
↑ 1.01.1Given Hogwarts was founded in around 993 A.D. and that Helena attended it within Rowena Ravenclaw's lifetime, she must have been eleven by or after the school's founding. So, the earliest date she could have possibly been born is 982.
↑The Baron killed her after her seven years at Hogwarts, and given the earliest she could have started at the school is 993, her earliest possible death year is 1000.
↑Helena's mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, was a witch. Therefore, Helena could not have been anything less than a half-blood.
↑ 7.07.17.2This information was told by J.K. Rowling to Nina Young, who plays the Grey Lady in the first film. Nina Young later relayed this information to a fan in response to a fan letter (see the letter here)
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