Myrtle

From Harry Potter Wiki

Myrtle, more commonly known as Moaning Myrtle in both life and death, is the ghost of a witch who haunts the second floor girl's bathroom (and occasionally other bathroom facilities) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was a student at the school in the 1930s and 1940s. She was sorted into Ravenclaw house.^[2] Myrtle was killed by Slytherin's Basilisk in 1943 on the orders of Tom Marvolo Riddle who had opened the Chamber of Secrets and would later become Lord Voldemort.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Education at Hogwarts 1.1.1 Chamber of Secrets, 1943 1.1.2 Basilisk and Death 1.2 Post-Mortem 1.2.1 Haunting Olive Hornby 1.2.2 Chamber of Secrets, 1992 1.2.3 Triwizard Tournament 1.2.4 Comforting Draco Malfoy 2 Relationships 2.1 Harry Potter 2.2 Draco Malfoy 3 Etymology 4 Character attributes 5 Behind the scenes 6 Appearances 7 Notes and references

[edit] Biography

[edit] Education at Hogwarts

Myrtle was a witch born to a muggle mother and father, making her a Muggle-born. She started her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sometime around the 1940s. When she arrived at Hogwarts she was sorted into the house of Ravenclaw. While at Hogwarts she was unable to make any friends and would constantly be teased and bullied because of this, and her physical appearance by her fellow students.

[edit] Chamber of Secrets, 1943

In 1943, some time into Myrtles education, the Chamber of Secrets was declared open for the first time. The Chamber of Secrets was a legendary chamber believed to be built by Salazar Slytherin when he left Hogwarts and inside was believed to be a beast that his heir could only control. It was to be made out that Gryffindor student, Rubeus Hagrid had opened the chamber, but in fact it was Tom Marvolo Riddle, a Slytherin student. Hogwarts was soon under threat of facing closure as Muggle-born students were being mysteriously attacked by the mythical beast believed to be down inside the chamber.

[edit] Basilisk and Death

On her final day of being alive Myrtle was teased by student Olive Hornby, she had made fun of Myrtles glasses and as a result left Myrtle sobbing, Myrtle then ran into one of the bathroom's stalls, took off her glasses and started crying. Shortly after Myrtle had entered the bathroom, Riddle entered and started speaking in Parseltongue in order to open the Chamber of Secrets, which entrance was hidden behind the bathroom sinks. The Monster of Slytherin (a Basilisk) then emerged from the Chamber of Secret's entrance.

Myrtle, still on one of the stalls, recognized the voice as being from a boy. Opening the stall's door, she yelled at Riddle to go away. On Riddle's command, the Basilisk stared at Myrtle, and her eyes met with the monster's. Looking at a Basilisk's eyes being a fatal act, Myrtle's body fell to the bathroom floor. Her death was the murder that Tom used to make his first Horcrux: the Diary.

[edit] Post-Mortem

[edit] Haunting Olive Hornby

Following her death Myrtle chose to return as a ghost so she could haunt student Olive Hornby in revenge for bullying her. Olive soon recruited the help of the Ministry of Magic to get rid of Myrtle, who was thereafter obliged to remain at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now having to stay at Hogwarts, Myrtle chose to haunt the bathroom where she had died and was rarely seen outside of it. As a result of her haunting this bathroom, the room was hardly ever used by students, unless they wanted to go unnoticed or were desperate.

[edit] Chamber of Secrets, 1992

In the 1992–1993 school year the Chamber of Secrets, which was located in Myrtles bathroom was opened again, multiple times, 50 years after it was open for the first time, which resulted in the death of Myrtle. This time it was being opened by a Gryffindor First year, Ginny Weasley who was being possessed by Tom Riddle's Diary, which had took soul form after the defeat of Lord Voldemort and the end of the First Wizarding War. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger used Myrtle's bathroom in 1992 to brew Polyjuice Potion that was used to disguise Harry and Ron as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle so that they could sneak into the Slytherin Dungeon to interrogate Draco Malfoy about the Chamber of Secrets, to see if he was the heir or if he had any information on it, which he did. He told them that his father Lucius Malfoy told him that the last time the chamber was open a "mudblood" was killed, referring to Myrtles murder.^[1]

In 1993, Myrtle helped Harry and Ron to find out about the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets after their friend Hermione Granger, a muggle-born had been attacked. When Harry asked her about how she died, Myrtle surprisingly was actually flattered, and acted as though she had never been asked this question before and happily told her story, but soon after she started wailing for reliving her death. She also flooded the bathroom after "somebody" attempted to flush Tom Riddle's diary down her toilet to dispose of it.

[edit] Triwizard Tournament

During the 1994–1995 school year Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was the holding grounds to the Triwizard Tournament. Before the second task the champions had to solve the mystery behind their Golden egg, which was a message hidden inside that can only be understood under water. One champion Cedric Diggory decided to think things over whilst taking a bath in the Prefects' bathroom, Myrtle was spying on Cedric whilst he was doing this and admits that it took him a long time to figure it out, as nearly all the bubbles in the bath were gone by the time he cracked it. Cedric later recommended to Harry Potter that he take a bath in the Prefects' bathroom. Harry took his egg in the bathroom with him and thought things over in the water. Despite this, Harry had no clue what to do next, but then Myrtle arrived and through talking to her, he solved the clue by opening the egg under water. ^[3]

After solving the task Harry now had the location and an understanding of what to do for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. The egg told Harry that he had something taken from him that sits at the bottom of the Black Lake. Myrtle also appeared before Harry whilst he was in the Black Lake, and pointed him in the right direction of the captives of the Merpeople during the Triwizard Tournament, helping him to reach them before anyone else in the tournament did. That year also Myrtle briefly stumbled across some Polyjuice Potion and questioned Harry if he had been a "naughty boy" to which he declined, Myrtle could have potentially solved that Barty Crouch Jr. had been impersonating Alastor Moody all year had she looked into her suspicions further.

[edit] Comforting Draco Malfoy

In 1997 Draco Malfoy confided in Moaning Myrtle about his assassination attempts of Albus Dumbledore.^[4] Myrtle comforts him, and feels that she understands him. However when Malfoy and Harry engage in an intense duel, Myrtle does cry out for them to stop, but it is clear to Harry that she enjoys the excitement. Previously, when Harry had asked Myrtle about who the boy she has been seeing is, she does not tell him but states that she has 'learned not to expect too much from boys', as Harry has never once visited her bathroom as she'd asked him to. The last time Myrtle is seen by Harry Potter is when she is ordered to leave the bathroom by Severus Snape.

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Harry Potter

During his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Harry unfortunately was nice to Myrtle and she developed a crush on him. Whilst at Hogwarts Harry wasn't exactly known to stay out of life-threatening trouble, and Myrtle offered to share her toilet with Harry if the event of his death occurred. She also was more than happy to help Harry during his studies at Hogwarts, with any task, during his Second year she helped him solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets and in his Fourth year she helped him solve the mystery of the Triwizard Tournament's second task. During his fourth year Myrtle acted to a level, sexually, towards Harry whilst he bathed in the Prefects' bathroom, causing him to feel uncomfortable as he did not reciprocate her feelings of attraction. She does however act coldly sometimes towards Harry after he rarely ever visits her.

[edit] Draco Malfoy

Myrtle also got on well with Draco Malfoy, who in turn was Harry Potter's enemy whilst at Hogwarts. Despite Draco being prejudiced against Muggle-borns and constantly teasing Hermione Granger for being muggle-born, the two managed to become close as both needed company for comfort. She and he became friends whilst she comforted him during his Sixth year at Hogwarts; that year Draco had become a Death Eater and was feeling the strains of it as he was required to murder Albus Dumbledore. He shared his feelings and thoughts with Myrtle, who listened and comforted him. Also she seems to have taken preference of Draco to Harry as Harry never visits Myrtle when she asks him to. Some time during 1997 Harry and Draco duelled one another in the bathroom and it resulted in Draco being seriously injured.

[edit] Etymology

• Myrtle' is a type of evergreen shrub that is often overlooked because of its plainness, native to southern Europe and north Africa.
• Myrtle is a variety of the colour green. It is immoderately dark, slightly more so than the colour spinach.

[edit] Character attributes

Myrtle was a squat student with dark lank hair, pimples, and thick glasses. She died in 1943 and became a Ghost, wearing her school uniform for eternity. Myrtle was constantly bullied during her education at Hogwarts for both her physical appearance and her personality. Myrtle hardly ever smiles and takes great offence at the smallest excuses, crying rivers of tears and wailing. She does however seem to warm to some male students, including Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Myrtle also appears to be a desperate flirt, she constantly flirts with Harry Potter and shows her desperation to find love by spying on students such as Cedric Diggory whilst he bathed in the Prefects' bathroom, which required her to leave her stall which she usually would never do. Myrtle liked to take bubble baths when she was alive, due to "all those pretty bubbles"^[5].

[edit] Behind the scenes

• The myrtle tree is a close relative of the willow tree. "Moaning Myrtle" is a similar phrase to "weeping willow." Her name is also possibly related to the "Moaning Minnie," the British name for a German WWII artillery shell that made a distinctive moaning whine before it hit.

• Moaning Myrtle was portrayed by Shirley Henderson in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Being 5' 0½" (1.54 m) and 37 years old when she first played Moaning Myrtle, she is the oldest actor to play a teenage Hogwarts student in the Harry Potter films.^[6]
• The myrtle ("Myrtus") is a flowering plant of southern Europe and north Africa. In Greek mythology, it was sacred to Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and to Demeter, goddess of grain and fertility; Pausanias relates it to the tragedy of Adonis. Romans, through Virgin, relate the myrtle to Venus and used them in wedding rituals, something that Jewish liturgy, which deemed it sacred, also used. Myrtle has also uses in Wiccan rituals, and was considered medicinal by the ancients, including Hippocrates, Pliny, Galen and Arabian writers.^[7]
• Myrtle's surname is not known, as it has never been said in the canon.
• In one scene of Chamber of Secrets, Ron jokingly suggests that Tom Riddle earned his Special Award for Services to the School for killing Myrtle; this foreshadows the fact that Riddle did indeed kill her.
• Hermione says Moaning Myrtle haunts the bathroom on the first floor. However, when Harry sees the writing on the wall outside her bathroom, he is on the second floor. This may be attributed to the English/European manner of naming the Ground Floor as the one usually with the main entrance, and the First Floor as one floor up from the Ground Floor.
• Myrtle is shown to have a crush on Harry throughout the series. In the Goblet of Fire film, the bathroom scene shows her acting sexually towards Harry.
• Myrtle was also the first person to be killed by Lord Voldemort.

[edit] Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)(Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)

[edit] Notes and references