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{{Quote|Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.|[[Firenze]] to [[Harry Potter]]|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone}}
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{{Quote|Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenceless to save yourself, you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.|[[Firenze]] to [[Harry Potter]]|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone}}
   
 
The '''unicorn''' is a white, equine creature with a single horn on its forehead.
 
The '''unicorn''' is a white, equine creature with a single horn on its forehead.
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==Nature==
 
==Nature==
 
===Physiology and life cycle===
 
===Physiology and life cycle===
 
Unicorn foals are born pure gold in colour. They remain so until they are about two years old, at which time they turn silver in colour. At around four-years-old their first horn grows in. They are fully grown at about seven years old, at which at this age they turn a shade of white that is so bright it that makes [[Water|snow]] look grey in comparison. Their hooves are golden, (remaining so from they gold stage, (the first two years of their life)), and their [[Unicorn blood|blood]] is silver-blue in colour and shines under the moonlight. It is not mentioned how long a Unicorn can live for.
 
Unicorn foals are pure gold, and turn silver when they are about two years old. They grow their horn at around four. At about seven years old, they are fully grown and turn a shade of white that is so bright it makes [[Water|snow]] look grey in comparison. Their hooves are golden, and their [[Unicorn blood|blood]] is silver-blue in colour and shines under the moonlight.
 
   
 
===Distribution===
 
===Distribution===

Revision as of 22:55, 19 March 2013

"Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenceless to save yourself, you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
Firenze to Harry Potter[src]

The unicorn is a white, equine creature with a single horn on its forehead.

Nature

Physiology and life cycle

Unicorn foals are born pure gold in colour. They remain so until they are about two years old, at which time they turn silver in colour. At around four-years-old their first horn grows in. They are fully grown at about seven years old, at which at this age they turn a shade of white that is so bright it that makes snow look grey in comparison. Their hooves are golden, (remaining so from they gold stage, (the first two years of their life)), and their blood is silver-blue in colour and shines under the moonlight. It is not mentioned how long a Unicorn can live for.

Distribution

Unicorns inhabit the forests of Europe including the Forbidden Forest by Hogwarts.

Interaction with humans

Unicorns prefer a woman's touch, but the young ones are more trusting and do not mind men as much. Unicorns are also so fleet-of-hoof that they can rarely be caught by humans.

Uses

Various parts of the Unicorn - the horn and tail hair in particular - are used in potions. Unicorn hair in general is used for the cores of wands. The tail hair can also be used as binding in bandages due to its incredible strength.[1] The blood of a unicorn can be used to keep a person who is near death alive, but "you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."[2]

The unicorn's single straight horn is used, in runic, to symbolise the number one.[3]

History

Unicorn runes

The number one, in the runic alphabet

1992

Unicorns death

A dead unicorn in 1992.

At least two unicorns were slain by Quirinus Quirrell so Lord Voldemort could drink their blood and return to power. Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Fang found the corpse of one of them in the Forbidden Forest.

1995

In 1995, fourth year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry studied unicorns in their Care of Magical Creatures class, while Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank was standing in for Hagrid.[4]

Behind the scenes

  • In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Voldemort tries to sneak up on the unicorn with a knife and fork, but is scared off by Firenze who shows him his fist. Hagrid then proceeds to care for the sick unicorn like a child.
  • Unicorns are capable of moving faster than werewolves. During the detention in the Forbidden Forest in 1992, Harry asked if a werewolf could be killing the unicorns and Hagrid replied that they're not fast enough.[2]

Appearances

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 78 images related to Unicorn.

See also

Notes and references

Study of Ancient Runes
Ancient Runes Made Easy
Professors: Bathsheda Babbling · Clodagh Dromgoole · Elspeth MacGillony
Textbooks: Advanced Rune Translation · Ancient Runes Made Easy · Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms · Rune Dictionary · Spellman's Syllabary
Known runes: Acromantula · Demiguise · Ehwaz · Eihwaz · Fwooper · Graphorn · Hydra · Quintaped · Runespoor · Salamander · Unicorn · Unknown · Mark of Merlin
Care of Magical Creatures
Fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-pottermore
Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts
Hagrid's Hut · Forbidden Forest · Care of Magical Creatures Classroom · Magical Creatures (club) · The Paddock
Professors Silvanus Kettleburn · Rubeus Hagrid · Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank (substitute teacher)
Textbooks The Monster Book of Monsters · Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Creatures studied at Hogwarts
Blast-Ended Skrewt · Bowtruckle · Chimaera · Crup · Demiguise · Diricawl · Doxy · Dugbog · Fairy · Fire Crab · Fire Dwelling Salamander · Flobberworm · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Gnome · Golden Snidget · Griffin · Hippogriff · Imp · Jackalope · Knarl · Kneazle · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Occamy · Porlock · Quintaped · Streeler · Thestral · Unicorn · Yeti
Magical creatures by classification
X Flobberworm · Horklump
XX Augurey · Bowtruckle · Chizpurfle · Clabbert · Diricawl · Fairy · Ghoul · Gnome · Grindylow · Imp · Jobberknoll · Mooncalf · Porlock · Puffskein · Ramora · Winged horse
XXX Ashwinder · Billywig · Bundimun · Crup · Doxy · Dugbog · Fire crab · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Hippocampus · Hippogriff · Hodag · Jarvey · Knarl · Kneazle · Leprechaun · Lobalug · Mackled Malaclaw · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Nogtail · Pixie · Plimpy · Pogrebin · Red Cap · Salamander · Sea serpent · Shrake · Streeler · Winged horse
XXXX Centaur · Demiguise · Erkling · Erumpent · Golden Snidget · Graphorn · Griffin · Hidebehind · Kappa · Kelpie · Merperson · Occamy · Phoenix · Re'em · Runespoor · Snallygaster · Sphinx · Tebo · Thestral · Thunderbird · Troll · Unicorn · Winged horse · Yeti
XXXXX Acromantula · Basilisk · Chimaera · Dragon · Horned Serpent · Lethifold · Manticore · Nundu · Quintaped · Wampus cat · Werewolf