Bowtruckle

Bowtruckle
Species information
Eye colour	Brown
Skin colour	Green
Native to	Western England Southern Germany Scandinavia
Mortality	Mortal
Distinction	Resemble trees Tree-dwelling Eats insects
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast XX
Status	Extant

"The Bowtruckle, which eats insects, is a peaceable and intensely shy creature but if the tree in which it lives is threatened, it has been known to leap down upon the woodcutter or tree-surgeon attempting to harm its home and gouge at their eyes with its long, sharp fingers. An offering of woodlice will placate the Bowtruckle long enough to let a witch or wizard remove wand-wood from its tree."

— Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Bowtruckle was a hand-sized, insect-eating, tree dwelling magical beast with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced stick figure made of bark and twigs, which served well as camouflage in its natural habitat.

Description

The Bowtruckle could be found in western England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. A Bowtruckle served as a tree guardian for its home tree, which was usually a tree whose wood was of wand quality (such as a Wiggentree). The twig-like fingers were well adapted for digging out woodlice from trees and could also be used as a weapon against a foe when aimed at the eyes.

A group of Bowtruckles was called a branch.

It was generally a peaceful creature, but it could attempt to gouge out an attacker's eyes if anything threatened its tree or itself, and was adept at dodging most types of charms. In order to take leaves or wood from a Bowtruckle's tree, a wizard or witch had to offer it woodlice or fairy eggs as a distraction.

History

Earlier history

A Bowtruckle in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson during the 1987–1988 school year

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had a Bowtruckle Island at the Great Lake. Newton Scamander used to go to it when he attended Hogwarts, and gained the trust of the Bowtruckles. In between February and June 1913, he took Leta Lestrange in an effort to cheer her up.

Newt Scamander kept a branch of Bowtruckles in his suitcase by December 1926.

During the 1987–1988 school year, Bowtruckles were studied by fourth-year Care of Magical Creatures students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, taught by Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, who described them to be slipperier than Frog Spawn Soap. One of Kettleburn's personal Bowtruckles was named by Jacob's sibling, and was named either Jacob, Barnaby Junior or Newt, after a person of the same name.

Bowtruckles were studied by fifth-year Care of Magical Creatures students at Hogwarts during 1995–1996 school year, taught by substitute Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank.

21st century

In 2008, a new first-year student helped Professor Longbottom water Bowtruckle saplings in the Herbology Classroom. He suggested they use the Water-Making Spell instead of a watering can. When they tried to water a sapling, they accidentally hurt it which made it angry. Neville intervened and apologised, offering a treat as a peace offering before it decided to gouge out their eyes.

In the 21st century, a branch of bowtruckles was unleashed as a Confoundable by the Calamity and had to be dealt with by the Statute of Secrecy Task Force and returned to the Black Forest in Germany. Luna Lovegood also took a Magizoologist member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force into the Forbidden Forest in search of Bowtruckles, teaching them the incredible concentration and care required to locate such small creatures.

Etymology

The word "bow" was an old Scottish dialect means "dwelling", and "truckle" means "limb of tree" in old English dialect. This means "to take a subordinate position". In Hindi translation of the fifth book, it's called "Kaashth'jeev", which loosely translates to "wood (of tree) creature".

Behind the scenes

• It is unknown why Bowtruckles are classified as harmless, given their aggression when their home tree or themselves are threatened.
  • A possible explanation is that they are generally peaceful, only displaying aggressiveness in these selected circumstances (explaining why they're classified as harmless as opposed to boring). Furthermore, due to their small size, they might not pose a grave danger to wizards, even when they are being aggressive.
• The Bowtruckle's use in lock-picking may be inspired by the rashnovik plant, a magical herb in Slavic mythology said to be able to unlock or uncover anything that is locked or closed regardless of size, material, or key. They were notoriously difficult or even impossible to find and identify, and could only be found by chthonic animals like snakes, tortoises, or hedgehogs.

Bowtruckle, as seen in the PC version of the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

• In the PC version of Chamber of Secrets, Bowtruckles appear as enemies, whose offensive consists of throwing pieces of wood. Harry can cast Diffindo at them to defeat them, which earns him a piece of Wiggentree bark, one of the two ingredients in the Wiggenweld Potion. Unfortunately, due to the absence of enemies dropping Flobberworm Mucus upon defeat, this does tend to offset the player's balance of ingredients rather heavily.
  • The pieces of wood thrown by them to hurt the player are actually Wiggentree barks.
  • They are also much larger and evil-looking in this appearance.
• In the GBA version of Goblet of Fire, they appear as enemies. When a player goes near a tree they live in, they can throw pieces of wood at him or her. To defeat them, the player has to cast the Confundus Charm at them.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Bowtruckles help build wooden ladders in the Forbidden Forest.
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Rubeus Hagrid commented to Harry Potter that "I brought you here sixteen years ago when you were no bigger than a bowtruckle."
• At Comic-Con 2016, Eddie Redmayne chose a Bowtruckle Newt Scamander calls "Pickett" as his favourite beast in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (GBC and PC versions only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (GBA version only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• The Archive of Magic: The Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (First appearance)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Dimensions
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy (Mentioned only)