Which School of Magic Is For You? — Ilvermorny
Next in our series of examinations of schools of magic: Ilvermorny
Brought to us by our namesake Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the movie, Ilvermorny is the American wizarding school in the Harry Potter background.
For this school, we shall go right to the horse’s mouth: Pottermore, the online compendium of everything Harry Potter.
The entry on Ilvermony says:
This American wizarding school was inspired by Hogwarts, but what else do we know about Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Here’s a handy guide.
It has Irish roots…
First established as a magical home-school in the early 1600s, Ilvermorny was named for the cottage where its co-founder, Isolt Sayre, spent her early childhood in County Kerry.
Although not a happy childhood – her pure-blood obsessed Aunt Gormlaithkidnapped Isolt after murdering her pro-Muggle mother and father – her early years, at least, were idyllic. After travelling to America, Isolt chose to remember them in numerous ways. The name Ilvermorny was one, calling her Pukwudgie companion after her father was another, and Ilvermorny’s symbol – the Gordian Knot – was a third. Isolt wove the Knot, based on an old brooch of her mothers’, into both Ilvermorny’s Sorting Ceremony and the clasp that fastens students’ robes.
…but is hidden away in Massachusetts
…
So it was that Ilvermorny’s four founders – Isolt, James and their first students, Webster and Chadwick – divided their own school. Each named a house after their favourite magical creature: Horned Serpent (Isolt), Wampus (Webster), Thunderbird(Chadwick) and Pukwudgie (James). As J.K. Rowling explains:
‘It is sometimes said of the Ilvermorny houses that they represent the whole witch or wizard: the mind is represented by Horned Serpent; the body, Wampus; the heart, Pukwudgie and the soul, Thunderbird. Others say that Horned Serpent favours scholars, Wampus, warriors, Pukwudgie, healers and Thunderbird, adventurers.’
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