27 Talk

Serpent of Slytherin

Redirected from Slytherin's Basilisk

Serpent of Slytherin

Biographical information
Born	c. 990s or 1000s Chamber of Secrets
Died	29 May, 1993 (aged around 1000) Chamber of Secrets
Also known as	Fanged Servant (by Fred and George Weasley.)
Physical information
Species	Basilisk
Gender	Female ^[1]
Eye colour	Yellow
Affiliation
Loyalty	Salazar Slytherin Heir of Slytherin

[Source]

"...That is believed to be some sort of monster..."

—Professor Binns on the Chamber of Secrets' occupant^[src]

The Serpent of Slytherin^[2] was a basilisk placed by Salazar Slytherin inside the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The basilisk could only be controlled by Slytherin's one true heir, Tom Riddle. This means that despite being a snake, other Parselmouths (such as Harry Potter) have no control over it.

1 Biography
2 Traits
3 Known victims
4 Behind the scenes
5 Appearances
6 Notes and references

BiographyEdit

First Opening of the Chamber of SecretsEdit

Salazar Slytherin's basilisk was born in the chamber, as revealed by Aragog. In the early 1940s, the Chamber of Secrets was opened by a Slytherin fifth year, Tom Marvolo Riddle, who was able to control the creature through his status as the heir of Slytherin. Riddle unleashed the basilisk on the school, his goal to kill the Muggle-born students. All the victims were merely Petrified, except for a student named Myrtle, who was killed in the girl's bathroom. A sink in this bathroom was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. These events were nearly the cause for permanent closing of Hogwarts.

To avoid this fate for Hogwarts, Riddle framed Gryffindor third year Rubeus Hagrid for all the events, claiming Hagrid's pet Acromantula Aragog was responsible for the attacks. Hagrid was expelled, and the attacks stopped. However, Transfiguration teacher Albus Dumbledore became suspicious of Riddle and thus prevented him from further terrorizing the school from fear of discovery. He also convinced Professor Armando Dippet, who was Headmaster at that time, to allow Hagrid to stay at Hogwarts as gamekeeper.

Second Opening of the Chamber of SecretsEdit

Slytherin's basilisk would only listen to Tom Marvolo Riddle (later Lord Voldemort), regardless of Harry Potter being able to understand and speak Parseltongue to it in the Chamber of Secrets. It is possible that the basilisk was trained, enchanted, or persuaded to obey only the Heir of Slytherin, and not all Parselmouths.

Fifty years after the original Tom Riddle's attack on Hogwarts, the basilisk was re-awakened by a shade of Riddle generated by a Horcrux he had contained in his old diary, possessing Ginny Weasley after Lucius Malfoy slipped the diary into her cauldron during a confrontation in Flourish & Blotts as part of a plan to discredit her father. However, although Riddle/Ginny killed the Hogwarts roosters to prevent them being used against the basilisk, the basilisk managed only to petrify some students, a ghost, and a cat, each of them seeing only the snake's reflection or seeing it through something rather than seeing the snake directly. Using his own ability as a Parselmouth, Harry was able to hear the basilisk and attemped to find her. Later in their search Hermione became one of the basilisk's victims, but she managed to get some information on the basilisk for Harry and Ron. Harry and Ron (accompanied by a reluctant Gilderoy Lockhart) entered the Chamber of Secrets, where Ginny Weasley was being held by Tom Riddle. After being separated from Ron and the self-Obliviated Lockhart, a battle commenced between Harry Potter and the basilisk.

Battle with Harry Potter and deathEdit

Main article: Skirmish in the Chamber of Secrets

During the battle between Harry Potter

and the basilisk, Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes was able to blind the basilisk, allowing Harry to fight the basilisk without the fear of being killed instantly by its gaze. During that period of hiding, Harry obtained Godric Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat, which had been brought to him by Fawkes. Harry stabbed the basilisk through the roof of its mouth, killing it. Harry subsequently used one of the creature's fangs to destroy Tom Riddle's diary, which he would later discover was one of Voldemort's seven Horcruxes.

Post-mortemEdit

By 1998 the basilisk's body had fully decomposed, leaving just a skeleton. Another one of the basilisk's fangs was used once again by Hermione Granger to destroy another Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff's cup. The fang's venom, which was absorbed by the sword that slew it due to its taking in only that which made it stronger, allowed it to destroy Slytherin's locket. While the sword slew Nagini, due to her being a living creature, it's unknown whether or not any sword would have done the job.

TraitsEdit

A horrifying monster with dark green scales, this creature was immensely large and had deep yellow eyes. It possessed great strength, and as a basilisk, it could kill with a gaze, and petrify with an indirect look. In addition, its fangs were capable of destroying Horcruxes. It could breathe while submerged underwater. Although it was rendered blind by Fawkes, Harry Potter was its original killer.

Known victimsEdit

The following list shows all known Basilisk victims both killed, Petrified, and otherwise harmed by the monster.

KilledEdit

Moaning Myrtle
Postmortem: fangs and venom destroyed two pieces of Tom Riddle's soul (in Tom Riddle's Diary in 1993 and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup in 1998.)
Indirectly: Godric Gryffindor's Sword which is imbibed with a Basilisk's venom, destroyed Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, both of which contained a piece of Tom's soul.
- The sword also slew Nagini though the venom may not have been necessary to release the soul due to the instability of living Horcruxes.
- In the film version, a fang is also used to stab Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem before it is engulfed by Fiendfyre.

PetrifiedEdit

Several unknown students during 1943
Mrs. Norris (saw its reflection in puddle of water)
Colin Creevey (saw through lens of camera)
Justin Finch-Fletchley (saw through Nearly Headless Nick)
Nearly Headless Nick (made eye contact, but was a ghost, and could not die again)
Hermione Granger (saw in Penelope's mirror)
Penelope Clearwater (saw in her mirror)

InjuriesEdit

Harry Potter (her fang went into Harry's arm, who would have died if not healed by Fawkes)

Behind the scenesEdit

In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Harry does not get pierced by the Basilisk's fang and instead pulls it out of the dead Basilisk's mouth. Also, the basilisk notices Harry when Ginny screams at one of his disembodied eyes. A third difference is that the basilisk has a scarlet plume on its head, thus its gender is male. Additionally, Ginny helps Harry during the battle as opposed to being unconscious the whole time.
Penelope Clearwater is the only victim of the 1992–1993 school year incident who was not a victim of Slytherin's basilisk in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Still, there was a mirror next to Hermione's bed, but it is never mentioned that Penelope was with Hermione.
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber of Secrets, the skeleton of the basilisk is still there, but appears to be in a different spot than where Harry killed it earlier. Additionally, the fang which had been lost in Harry's arm appears to still be in the mouth of the skeleton.
In recalling his father reading the first two Harry Potter books to him, Daniel Radcliffe stated that his father had a great voice for the basilisk. He suggested his father to director Chris Columbus, and his father was mortified.^[3]