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Hesper Black was a pure-blood witch and an early member of the House of Black. She never married or had any children, and her exact relation to the main branch of the family is unknown.

Etymology[]

Hesper traces back to Hesperia, which means "sunset". Sunsets and the night that follows it are often considered evil, like the colour black. It could also refer to the "setting of her bloodline" since she didn't have children.

Black can be considered a colour, and is the result of the absence of, or complete absorption of, light. In Western culture, the colour black has typically been associated with evil, darkness, and witchcraft, but also with prestige and sophistication — appropriate for the House of Black. Black has also been associated with life and prosperity by other cultures. In ancient China, black was the symbol of the element of water, which also corresponds to Slytherin, the Hogwarts house of almost all members of the Black family. In English heraldry, black represents darkness and ignorance; a possible allusion to the prejudice common to members of the House of Black.

However, the English word black is derived from either the Old English blœc, meaning "black", or blac, meaning "pale". Pallor is associated with sickness and the colour white, which is usually held to symbolise purity in Western and Indian culture, and death in East Asian cultures. This mirrors the typical colouring of members of the House of Black — dark hair and pale skin.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Based on a statement by Horace Slughorn, this character may have been a member of Slytherin house.[1] However, she attended Hogwarts in the 1830s, when Slughorn wasn't born.
  • This character appears only on the version of the Black family tree shown in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She was not included on the version of the tree which J. K. Rowling gave to a charity auction in 2006.[2] However, according to director David Yates, Rowling provided the film-makers with a copy of the Black family tree going back eight generations.[3] The film makers presumably received a more complete version of the tree than the one auctioned off, which only goes back six generations.
  • On the Black Family tree depicted on the 2nd DVD of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hesper’s picture is depicted as a skull. Regulus Black is also depicted in the same way, and it is unknown why some people have skulls instead of pictures.[4]
  • It is interesting to note that there are no dates on the scroll of Hesper, where only her first name is written.
  • She shared her first name with Sirius Black II's wife, Hesper Black née Gamp.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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