Changes: Pensieve

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"Point me!"
This article is about the object in general. You may be looking for Hogwarts Pensieve.

Dumbledore: "I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form."

Harry: "You mean... that stuff's your thoughts?"

Dumbledore: "Certainly."

— Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter^[src]

The Pensieve is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone or metal basin, into which runes and strange symbols are carved and precious stones are fitted. It is filled with a silvery substance that appears to be a cloud-like liquid/gas; the collected memories of people who have siphoned their recollections into it.

Memories can then be viewed from a non-participant, third-person point of view. Owing to the highly personal nature of extracted memories, and the potential for abuse, most Pensieves are entombed with their owners along with the memories they contain. Some witches and wizards will pass on their Pensive/ memories to another person, as is the case with the Hogwarts Pensieve.

History of known use

Main article: Hogwarts Pensieve

May 1995

File:Tumblr mfigpvo2ls1qdab59o8 250.gif

Harry falls into one of Dumbledore's memory of Kakaroff's trial

File:Index-0.jpg

Dumbledore removes a memory

The first time Harry Potter saw a Pensieve was in Albus Dumbledore's office in his fourth year, which he used to view the headmaster's memory of Death Eater trials at the end of the First Wizarding War. It was there that Harry witnessed the trial of Barty Crouch Jr. and the others who tortured the Longbottoms to insanity. He also saw Igor Karkaroff and Ludo Bagman being questioned. Igor was giving the names of fellow Death Eaters in an attempt to save his own skin, and avoid a sentence in Azkaban.

Early 1996

File:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Snape's worst memory

Sometime after returning from the Christmas break of his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry viewed a memory in the Pensieve of Severus Snape and witnessed his most regretted moment — being bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black and lashing out at Lily Evans when she came to his defence. This summarily ended Harry's Occlumency lessons with the Potions Master, as he was furious with Harry at seeing the memory. At the end of the school year, Dumbledore used the Pensieve to show Harry his memory of Sybill Trelawney's Prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort.

1996-1997

Main article: Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's private lessons

Halfblood-01136 — Albus Dumbledore stored the memories of Tom Riddle

In Harry's sixth year, he repeatedly used the Pensieve, under Dumbledore's instruction, to see how Tom Riddle came to be Voldemort, in series of private lessons between the two of them. He needed to persuade Slughorn to give him the memory Dumbledore considered the key to the matter. Using the Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck) potion, Harry succeeded in the task, and poured the memory into the Pensieve. In the course of the lessons, memories were viewed from many sources, including Ministry of Magic employee Bob Ogden, a house elf named Hokey, Morfin Gaunt, Horace Slughorn, and several of Albus Dumbledore's own memories. These memories were instrumental to Harry understanding Voldemort's mindset, allowing him to deduce later where the Dark wizard had hidden his life-sustaining Horcruxes. Harry learned that Riddle had suceeded (once unintentionally and unwittingly) in making seven Horcruxes by viewing the memories.

1998

Pensieve2 — The Hogwarts Pensieve in 1996

Harry entered the Pensieve again in 1998 with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother, Lily, the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertently made Harry a Horcrux.

Harry finally realises that Snape was on his side the whole time, starting from the time that Voldemort had threatened Lily. It was only that Snape could not stand to be around the child of his enemy, James Potter, whom Harry looks almost exactly like, and that Harry was living proof that Lily had loved another man. Apart from having his mother's eyes, Snape only saw James through Harry, even saying that he had his father's "knack for trouble". Harry used the Pensieve to collect information, the information was that Harry had to confront himself to death in order for Voldemort to die; since Harry himself was a Horcrux.

Behind the scenes

PottermorePensieve — The cabinet holding Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve

In the books, the Pensieve is said to be able to sit on a table, however, in the fourth film, the Pensieve is much larger and is kept in a separate cabinet. This is contradicted by the sixth film, where it can sit on the table and looks as if it is made out of metal instead of stone. This contradiction is resolved in the eighth film, when Harry goes to the headmaster's office and removes the metal dish from the stone basin before watching Severus Snape's memories.
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Harry used the pensieve, he was sitting in the court itself and watching the hearing as if he was part of it, while in the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry is merely watching the memory but is not seen anywhere in it.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game) after the end credits in commemoration of the conclusion of the saga, Harry once again enters the Pensieve and sees flashbacks from all of the other video games with a message saying "Thanks for playing".
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Severus Snape's memories take the form of tears. As such, Snape specifically instructs Harry to put them in the Pensieve, something he does not do in the book, since Harry is familiar with the wispy form of thoughts.

Etymology

Pensieve is portmanteau, combining the words ‘pensive’ and ‘sieve.’ The latter is an object in which something may be sorted, drained or separated, and ‘Pensive’ is derived from French, and originally from the Latin ‘pensare,’ meaning ‘to ponder,’ and in common English usage means ‘thoughtful’ or ‘reflective;’ thus a ‘pensieve’ allows for the sorting of thoughts, or memories. Pensive can also refer to a tense mood someone seems to be in, and indeed many of the memories Harry views in it are of tense or awkward moments.

Appearances

The Harry Potter Wiki has 65 images related to Pensieve.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Pottermore}}
-{{Merge|Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve}}
-{{Youmay|the object in general|Albus Dumbledore's [[Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve|Pensieve]]}}
+{{Youmay|the object in general|[[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] [[Hogwarts Pensieve|Pensieve]]}}
 {{Object infobox
 |name=Pensieve
-|image=[[File:Pensieve.jpg|250px]]
+|image=[[File:Pensieve.PNG|250px]]
 |manufacturers=
 |made=
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 |owners=*[[Albus Dumbledore]]
 *[[Severus Snape]]
+*[[Headmaster|Headmasters]] and [[Headmistress|Headmistresses]] of Hogwarts
-|first=''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]''
+*Advanced witches and wizards
-|latest=''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''
-|last=
 }}
 {{Dialogue a-b-a|Dumbledore|I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.|Harry|You mean... that stuff's your thoughts?|Certainly.|[[Albus Dumbledore]] to [[Harry Potter]]|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire}}
-The '''Pensieve''' is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone basin, into which are carved [[runes]] and strange symbols. It is filled with a silvery substance that appears to be a cloud-like liquid/gas; the collected memories of people who have siphoned their recollections into it. Memories can then be viewed from a non-participant, third-person point of view.
+The '''Pensieve''' is an object used to review memories. It has the appearance of a shallow stone or metal basin, into which [[runes]] and strange symbols are carved and precious stones are fitted. It is filled with a silvery substance that appears to be a cloud-like liquid/gas; the collected memories of people who have siphoned their recollections into it.
+Memories can then be viewed from a non-participant, third-person point of view. Owing to the highly personal nature of extracted memories, and the potential for abuse, most Pensieves are entombed with their owners along with the memories they contain. Some witches and wizards will pass on their Pensive/ memories to another person, as is the case with the [[Hogwarts Pensieve]].
 ==History of known use==
-{{Main|Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve}}
+{{Main|Hogwarts Pensieve}}
 ===May 1995===
+[[File:Tumblr_mfigpvo2ls1qdab59o8_250.gif|frame|left|Harry falls into one of Dumbledore's memory of Kakaroff's trial ]]
+[[File:Index-0.jpg|thumb|228x228px|Dumbledore removes a memory]]
 The first time Harry Potter saw a Pensieve was in Albus Dumbledore's office in his [[fourth year]], which he used to view the headmaster's memory of [[Death Eaters|Death Eater]] trials at the end of the [[First Wizarding War]]. It was there that Harry witnessed the trial of [[Bartemius Crouch Jr.|Barty Crouch Jr.]] and the others who tortured the [[Alice and Frank Longbottom|Longbottoms]] to insanity. He also saw [[Igor Karkaroff]] and [[Ludovic Bagman|Ludo Bagman]] being questioned. Igor was giving the names of fellow Death Eaters in an attempt to save his own skin, and avoid a sentence in [[Azkaban]].
 ===Early [[1996]]===
+[[File:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Snape's worst memory|thumb|right|235 px]]
-Sometime after returning from the Christmas break of his [[1995–1996 school year|fifth year]] at Hogwarts, Harry viewed a memory in the Pensieve of [[Severus Snape]] and witnessed his most regretted moment — being bullied by [[James Potter I|James Potter]] and [[Sirius Black]] and lashing out at [[Lily Evans]] when she came to his defence. This summarily ended Harry's [[Occlumency]] lessons with the Potions Master, as he was furious with Harry at seeing the memory. At the end of the school year, Dumbledore used the Pensieve to show Harry his memory of [[Sybill Trelawney]]'s [[Sybill Trelawney's first prophecy|Prophecy]] concerning Harry and Voldemort.
+Sometime after returning from the Christmas break of his [[1995–1996 school year|fifth year]] at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]], Harry viewed a memory in the Pensieve of [[Severus Snape]] and witnessed his most regretted moment — being bullied by [[James Potter I|James Potter]] and [[Sirius Black]] and lashing out at [[Lily Evans]] when she came to his defence. This summarily ended Harry's [[Occlumency]] lessons with the Potions Master, as he was furious with Harry at seeing the memory. At the end of the school year, [[Dumbledore]] used the Pensieve to show [[Harry]] his memory of [[Sybill Trelawney]]'s [[Sybill Trelawney's first prophecy|Prophecy]] concerning [[Harry Potter|Harry]] and [[Voldemort|Voldemort.]]
 ===[[1996–1997 school year|1996-1997]]===
-[[File:Memories about Riddle.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Albus Dumbledore stored the memories of [[Tom Riddle]].]]
 {{Main|Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's private lessons}}
+[[File:Halfblood-01136.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Albus Dumbledore stored the memories of [[Tom Riddle]]]]
 In Harry's [[1996|sixth year]], he repeatedly used the Pensieve, under Dumbledore's instruction, to see how [[Tom Riddle]] came to be Voldemort, in series of [[Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's private lessons|private lessons between the two of them]]. He needed to persuade Slughorn to give him the memory Dumbledore considered the key to the matter. Using the Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck) potion, Harry succeeded in the task, and poured the memory into the Pensieve. In the course of the lessons, memories were viewed from many sources, including Ministry of Magic employee [[Bob Ogden]], a house elf named [[Hokey]], [[Morfin Gaunt]], [[Horace Slughorn]], and several of Albus Dumbledore's own memories. These memories were instrumental to Harry understanding Voldemort's mindset, allowing him to deduce later where the Dark wizard had hidden his life-sustaining [[Horcrux]]es. [[Harry Potter|Harry]] learned that [[Tom Marvolo Riddle|Riddle]] had suceeded (once unintentionally and unwittingly) in making seven Horcruxes by viewing the memories.
 ===1998===
-[[File:Pensieve2.jpg|thumb|right|220px|The Pensieve in [[1996]].]]
+[[File:Pensieve2.jpg|thumb|225px|The Hogwarts Pensieve in [[1996]]]]
-Harry entered the Pensieve again in [[1998]] with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother, [[Lily Evans|Lily]], the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertently made Harry a [[Horcrux]]. Harry finally realises that Snape was on his side the whole time, starting from the time that Voldemort had threatened Lily. It was only that Snape could not stand to be around the child of his enemy, James Potter, whom Harry looks almost exactly like, and that Harry was living proof that Lily had loved another man. Apart from having his [[Lily Potter I|mother's]] eyes, Snape only saw James through Harry, even saying that he had his father's "knack for trouble". Harry used the Pensieve to collect information, the information was that Harry had to confront himself to death in order for Voldemort to die; since Harry himself was a Horcrux.
+Harry entered the Pensieve again in [[1998]] with memories acquired from Severus Snape in his dying moments. Harry learned of Snape's friendship with, and unrequited love for, Harry's mother, [[Lily Evans|Lily]], the reason for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and that Voldemort had inadvertently made Harry a [[Horcrux]].
+Harry finally realises that Snape was on his side the whole time, starting from the time that Voldemort had threatened Lily. It was only that Snape could not stand to be around the child of his enemy, James Potter, whom Harry looks almost exactly like, and that Harry was living proof that Lily had loved another man. Apart from having his [[Lily Potter I|mother's]] eyes, Snape only saw James through Harry, even saying that he had his father's "knack for trouble". Harry used the Pensieve to collect information, the information was that Harry had to confront himself to death in order for Voldemort to die; since Harry himself was a Horcrux.
 ==Behind the scenes==
-[[File:PottermorePensieve.png|thumb|left|The cabinet holding Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve.]]
+[[File:PottermorePensieve.png|thumb|left|The cabinet holding Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve]]
 *In the [[Harry Potter books|books]], the Pensieve is said to be able to sit on a table, however, in the [[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)|fourth film]], the Pensieve is much larger and is kept in a separate cabinet. This is contradicted by [[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)|the sixth film]], where it can sit on the table and looks as if it is made out of metal instead of stone. This contradiction is resolved in the [[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2|eighth film]], when Harry goes to the headmaster's office and removes the metal dish from the stone basin before watching Severus Snape's memories.
 *In the film adaptation of ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', when Harry used the pensieve, he was sitting in the court itself and watching the hearing as if he was part of it, while in the film adaption of ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', Harry is merely watching the memory but is not seen anywhere in it.
-*In the video game adaptation of ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2]]'' after the end credits in commemoration of the conclusion of the saga, Harry once again enters the Pensieve and sees flashbacks from all of the other video games with a message saying "Thanks for playing".
+*In ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)]]'' after the end credits in commemoration of the conclusion of the saga, Harry once again enters the Pensieve and sees flashbacks from all of the other video games with a message saying "Thanks for playing".
-*In ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'', Severus Snape's memories take the form of tears. As such, Snape specifically instructs Harry to put them in the Pensieve, something he does not do in the book, since Harry is familiar with the wispy form of thoughts.
+*In the film adaptation of ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2]]'', Severus Snape's memories take the form of tears. As such, Snape specifically instructs Harry to put them in the Pensieve, something he does not do in the book, since Harry is familiar with the wispy form of thoughts.
 ==Etymology==
-''Pensieve'' seems to be a portmanteau, combining the words ‘pensive’ and ‘sieve.’ The latter is an object in which something may be sorted, drained or separated, and ‘Pensive’ is derived from French, and originally from the Latin ‘pensare,’ meaning ‘to ponder,’ and in common English usage means ‘thoughtful’ or ‘reflective;’ thus a ‘pensieve’ allows for the sorting of thoughts, or memories. Pensive can also refer to a tense mood someone seems to be in, and indeed many of the memories Harry views in it are of tense or awkward moments.
+''Pensieve'' is portmanteau, combining the words ‘pensive’ and ‘sieve.’ The latter is an object in which something may be sorted, drained or separated, and ‘Pensive’ is derived from French, and originally from the Latin ‘pensare,’ meaning ‘to ponder,’ and in common English usage means ‘thoughtful’ or ‘reflective;’ thus a ‘pensieve’ allows for the sorting of thoughts, or memories. Pensive can also refer to a tense mood someone seems to be in, and indeed many of the memories Harry views in it are of tense or awkward moments.
 ==Appearances==
@@ Line 62: / Line 71: @@
 *''[[The Wizarding World of Harry Potter]]''
 *''[[Pottermore]]''
+*[[Harry Potter: The Character Vault]] (mentioned only)
 [[de:Denkarium]]
 [[es:Pensadero]]
@@ Line 69: / Line 78: @@
 [[fi:Ajatuseula]]
 [[ru:Омут памяти]]
-[[Category:Objects]]
 [[Category:Mental magic]]
+[[Category:Objects]]