The Warlock's Hairy Heart
From Harry Potter Wiki
- "Warlock's Hairy Heart is really, quite gothic, it's quite dark that one, and Voldemort would've done well to know that story before he set out on his campaign of terror."
- —J. K. Rowling[src]
The Warlock's Hairy Heart is one of the stories in the wizarding fairy tales collection, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. This story is the darkest of the five stories from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and it is intended to teach young wizards and witches not to mess with the Dark Arts.
[edit] Summary
The main character is a handsome, skilled and rich young warlock who sees emotions as a weakness, and decides to prevent himself from ever falling in love by using the Dark Arts. The Warlock is deluded and he believes himself to be envied for his splendid and perfect solitude. This makes him all the more upset when he overhears two servants talking about him. One Servant is taking pity on him, and the other servant is making fun of him for never having a wife. This swings a blow to the warlock's pride The Warlock decides to find a beautiful, talented and wealthy woman, so that he is envied by all.
He meets that girl the next day. Though the girl is both "fascinated and repelled", the warlock, as well as her own family, persuades her to come to a dinner feast at his castle. The Warlock attempts to flatter the young woman, using words he steals from the poets. She confronts him saying that she would only believe these lovely words if she thought he had a heart. So the Warlock takes her down to the dungeon of the castle and shows her a magic crystal casket, within which lies his own beating heart.
Due to the fact that the heart has been parted from its owners body for so long, it has become shriveled and covered in black hair. The woman asks him to put his heart back inside his chest and so he does. The woman is so pleased that she runs forwards and embraces him. However, being disconnected from its body for so long, his heart has developed savage tastes as it has degenerated into an beast-like state. And so he is driven to take by force a truly human heart. He tears out the woman's heart to replace his own, but finding that he cannot use magic, he cuts his own heart out with a dagger. Thus he and the maiden both died, with him holding both hearts in his hands.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- It is the only story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard which was not mentioned in the seventh Harry Potter book.
