Quirinus Quirrell's turban

Quirinus Quirrell's turban
Object information
Manufacturer	Quirinus Quirrell (possibly) African prince (allegedly) Lord Voldemort (possibly)
Made	Possibly around 1991
Usage	To hide Lord Voldemort's face on the back of Quirrell's head
Owners	Unidentified African prince (allegedly) Quirinus Quirrell Lord Voldemort

"Petrified, he watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. What was going on? The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot. Harry would have screamed, but he couldn't make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake."

— The thing behind Quirrell's turban

This turban was used by Professor Quirinus Quirrell to hide the face of Lord Voldemort after the Dark Lord possessed him. He used it after he failed to steal the Philosopher's Stone from Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Quirrell's story was that an African prince gave him the turban as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Whether he only made up the turban part or the whole tale is false, we do not know. The turban had an odd smell possibly caused by Voldemort's face and so Fred and George believed that the turban was stuffed full of garlic to ward off vampires.

During the winter of the 1991–1992 school year, Fred and George Weasley bewitched several snowballs to follow Quirrell around and bounce off the back of his turban, not realising that by doing so they were hitting Lord Voldemort in the face.

Quirrell removing the turban

"Mere shadow and vapour. I have form only when I can share another's body, but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds. Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks. You saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the Forest. And once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own"

— Lord Voldemort on Quirinus Quirrell's deeds

The turban would have only been used until Voldemort got the Elixir of Life and achieved a body of his own.

Behind the scenes

• In the film version of Philosopher's Stone, Quirrell was wearing the turban at the Leaky Cauldron pub when he first met Harry Potter. However, in the book he wasn't, as he had not been possessed by Voldemort until after his failed attempt to steal the Stone from Gringotts.
• On Harry Potter's first night sleeping at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he had a nightmare in which he imagined that he was wearing this turban, which told him that he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. It then kept getting heavier & heavier and tightened painfully, and Draco Malfoy laughed at him as he struggled with it, then transformed into Severus Snape.
• According to coustume designer Judianna Makovsky, they could not use a Middle Eastern turban because it could not hide what needed to be hidden without being misleading.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Appears in flashback(s))
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4