Manticore

Manticore
Species information
Hair colour	Golden
Native to	Greece
Mortality	Mortal
Distinction	Head of a human Lion's body Scorpion's tail with highly poisonous stinger Capable of human speech Extremely violent, dangerous and carnivorous Skin resistant to most spells
Affiliation	Dark Arts
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast XXXXX
Status	Extant

"The Manticore is a highly dangerous Greek beast with the head of a man, the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. As dangerous as the Chimaera, and as rare, the Manticore is reputed to croon softly as it devours its prey. Manticore skin repels almost all known charms and the sting causes instant death."

— Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Manticore was a magical beast and one of the wizarding world's most dangerous creatures.

Description

There were two breeds of this magical beast; a feline-like mainstream breed and an insectoid breed.

Mainstream

The mainstream breed of Manticore had the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion that would kill anyone instantly with its sting. It was known to be capable of human speech and had intelligence comparable to a Being, however, due to its extreme aggressiveness towards humans, it was considered a sentient beast. The Manticore sang softly as it ate its prey.

A Manticore's skin repelled all known charms, so it was extremely difficult to subdue a Manticore with magic. However, being invulnerable to spells was not the same as being durable; it was possible to take down a Manticore by dropping something large and heavy on top of it. Additionally, Manticores were easily mesmerised by bright lights, such as the light produced by the Wand-Lighting Charm.

Insectoid

The insectoid breed of Manticore, by contrast, resembled a monstrous scorpion with a crimson body covered in quills, two pairs of pincers, a pair of flexible antennae whose ends split into three parts to reveal thin tendrils to sense and grab elusive prey from a distance, and three stingers, with the middle one being larger. The middle stinger could shoot fire in a manner not unlike the Fire Crab or the Blast-Ended Skrewt. Juveniles of this breed sported reddish colouration, only had one stinger, and lacked quills. In addition to being sensitive to light, this breed could grow to the size of dragons.

History

Early history

"— a manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the manticore off — oh — no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it."

— Hermione Granger reading previous magical creature cases to Hagrid

The Manticore feasting on its prey

The Manticore originated in Greece, and was as rare as the Chimaera. The sting of the Manticore caused instant death, and it was reputed to croon softly to its victims as it devoured them. In 1296, a Manticore savaged a person. It managed to escape execution because it was too ferocious to be captured.

Manticores were not offered the status of being by the British Ministry of Magic because of their violent and extremely dangerous tendencies.

20th century

In 1932, when Newt Scamander came to rescue his brother Theseus from the Erkstag prison in Germany, they encountered a Manticore mother, whom the two witnessed killing and devouring prisoners. Later, the brothers fled from it, which tried to drag them into her lair and eat them. In 1957, Norvel Twonk died while saving a Muggle child from a runaway Manticore. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class.

At some point, when Peregrine was a student at Hogwarts, he accidentally let loose a Manticore on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.

The third and final task of the All-Wizard Cup involved a Manticore

During the 1988–1989 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the third and final task of the All-Wizard Cup featured a Manticore that was threatening a group of fifth-years in the Forbidden Forest. The remaining competitors of the final task, which included Jacob's sibling, rushed to the aid of their friends, and managed to collectively subdue the Manticore under the leadership of Jacob's sibling. During the 1990–1991 school year, Bill Weasley taught seventh-year students how to defend themselves against Manticores in one of his extracurricular evening Defence Against the Dark Arts classes.

In 1993, the portrait of Norvel Twonk in Hogwarts Castle which guarded a secret passage could be opened with the password "Manticore". By September 1994, Rubeus Hagrid somehow managed to get Manticores to breed with Fire Crabs, creating the hybrid Blast-Ended Skrewts.

21st century

Luna and the student encountering the mother Manticore

During the late 2000s or early 2010s, a herd of baby Manticores appeared on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch and headed towards the Forbidden Forest. Luna Scamander was there along with Rubeus Hagrid and some students, including a student playing on the field. A Manticore mother had taken up residence in the forest, and was later found by Luna and the student, who had a fight with her.

At one point in the late 2010s, a British witch named Theresa Stadt was found to have somehow raised a Manticore called "Mr Whiskers" from infancy. When the Ministry of Magic was notified of this Manticore, they sent a Magizoologist member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to retrieve it, which proved a "remarkably ghastly affair".

Behind the scenes

An insectoid Manticore as seen in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Manticore (Trading Card)

• Both the manticore and the chimaera are hybrid creatures with different body parts (specifically the head, body, and tail) all coming from different animals. A manticore has the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion, while a chimaera has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon.
• The manticore is a creature from Persian mythology, later adopted by the Greeks and medieval Europeans.
• In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Bill Weasley brings in a live Manticore in Classroom 3C to present to students in one of his evening extracurricular Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. This appears to be extremely odd for a few reasons; the Manticore is an extremely dangerous beast known to devour humans with a lethal sting, making it very implausible that Bill would have either been able (or allowed for that matter) to have brought one into Hogwarts Castle (a place full of humans), and secondly, Jacob's sibling (the player) is able to subdue it with a simple defensive spell, despite it clearly saying in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that its skin can repel all known charms. This is most likely canonical or logical oversight by the game's developers. It may also be possible that this particular Manticore had been properly subdued so it could be safely presented to people.
• The insectoid breed of Manticore was conceived by the concept artists of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in favour of mainstream breed because they desired a more scorpion-like variant of the creature in the film. The same breed subsequently appears in Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, first in the Manticore investigation quest released in May 2022, and then in the Field Studies quests released in January 2023.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Exploding Snap) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (First appearance)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Movie Magic
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter (website) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened

See also

• Blast-Ended Skrewt
• Chimaera
• Firefly

External links

• Manticore on Wikipedia