According to Garrick Ollivander , abnormally short wands usually selected those whose moral character was stunted, rather than because they were physically short. She was Sorted into Slytherin and her head of house was Horace Slughorn. Prefect , Head Girl during her studies, which made her feel deprived, and she never truly enjoyed her time as a student at Hogwarts. After leaving Hogwarts, Umbridge quickly rose to influential positions in the British Ministry of Magic.
She started her political career as an intern in the Improper Use of Magic Office. Before reaching age 30, she became the Head of the Office, evidence of her ruthless tactics under her sweet attitude, which also involved taking credit for other people's work. This set up the beginning of her dubious career as a Ministry employee, one who tyrannised her subordinates while flattering her equals and her superiors.
Dolores, being very opportunistic and power-hungry, was ashamed of her father, who was a low-level worker in the Department of Magical Maintenance , while she was seeking a professional career. Under her pressure, he retired early and she promised him a small monthly allowance in exchange for quietly leaving the public sight. From that point on she lied about her family, claiming that she was a pure-blood rather than a half-blood. She eventually became Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and had a place in the Wizengamot.
Whenever she was asked usually by workmates who did not like her 'are you related to that Umbridge who used to mop the floors here? Nasty things tended to happen to people who asked about Orford, or anything about which she did not like talking, and people who wanted to remain on her good side pretended to believe her version of her ancestry. Throughout her career, Dolores tried to garner affections of one of her superiors in order to advance her status and security, with no particular desire on which superior it would be, as long as he would be a powerful husband.
However, while they valued her hard work and ambition, those who got to know her best found it very difficult to like her very much. Indeed, when she got intoxicated from a glass of sweet sherry , Dolores was prone to spout very uncharitable views, which shocked even those of anti-Muggle ideologies with some of her suggestions, behind closed doors, of the treatment that the non-magical community deserved. As such, Dolores never succeeded in getting married. Shortly before the — school year , Dolores was informed that Albus Dumbledore the then- headmaster of Hogwarts had arranged a Ministry of Magic student programme , and she was told she would meet Jacob's sibling.
During the — school year, Dolores entered her office to find Jacob's sibling there. She beckoned for him to leave until she learned their name, to which she smiled and asked them to meet Wilkie Twycross in the All-Purpose Room , which was becoming quite crowded.
While walking to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop , she got attacked by a rogue wampus cat. The cat's hypnosis caused her to forget the incident, only remembering the fall. Jacob's sibling later found her at Hogsmeade station covered with scars because of the attack.
When she was questioned by them, they came to the conclusion she was indeed attacked by a Wampus cat. But when they told Dolores this, she got angry and didn't believe them because they were a "child". Umbridge's hatred towards " half-breeds " led her to draft a piece of anti-werewolf legislation in , which made it nearly impossible for werewolves , such as Remus Lupin , to find work. In , she also campaigned that the Merpeople be rounded up and tagged, though this idea was scrapped due to it being too ludicrous to be put into effect.
As Senior Under-Secretary to the Minister for Magic in , Umbridge managed to claw her way up to power using Cornelius Fudge 's increasing paranoia and insecurities to her advantage. She also used her authority to intimidate Harry Potter during an interrogation before the Wizengamot. She was very outspoken against him and tried to discredit his claim that the only reason he cast a Patronus Charm was because of the presence of Dementors.
She said that the Dementors were under the control of the Ministry, and that it was preposterous that they would just happen to wander into a Muggle suburb and chance upon a wizard. She believed Harry should be punished for inadvertently violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.
Owing to the fairness of Madam Bones and a majority ruling of the court, Harry was found innocent. Only Fudge , Umbridge, and roughly a half-dozen of the court voted for conviction. Harry was cleared of all charges, much to Umbridge's disappointment. What Umbridge did not reveal at the time was that she herself had ordered the Dementor attack on Harry and his cousin Dudley Dursley , since both possible outcomes would work in the Ministry's favour. Harry would either be subjected to the Dementor's kiss or would be forced to conjure a Patronus to fend them off, which would give them an excuse to expel him.
As a result of this failed plan, she was distraught that Harry "wriggled out of that one". Her placement was to limit the learning of martial magic and allow the Ministry to monitor the activities at Hogwarts. Moreover, Umbridge admitted that she was not fond of children, even expressing hatred for them, as she once confessed to Harry Potter.
The start of her speech began when she rudely interrupted Dumbledore with a cough, and she insulted the students by speaking to them condescendingly as though they were five-year old children. She essentially stated that progress in Defence Against the Dark Arts was going to be limited, but none of the students aside from Hermione were able to comprehend her dull speech and simply wandered off into their own discussions, while Umbridge ignorantly continued.
Her rudeness and subliminal speech led many teachers to scorn her, as none except Dumbledore bowed back to her when she paused to bow at the staff. Upon finishing, she received very scattered and unenthusiastic applause, as most students lost track of her speech altogether, and the teachers barely clapped once or twice before stopping, showing their low regard for Umbridge. However, Argus Filch was the one staff to genuinely applaud at the end. She taught according to a politically restricted Ministry-approved curriculum.
This curriculum entailed learning strictly the theory of Defence Against the Dark Arts , with no practical applications. Umbridge taught exclusively from a simplistic book: Defensive Magical Theory , by Wilbert Slinkhard , which seemed, based on the chapter headings, to concern itself with negotiation and appeasement of, rather than actual defence against, the Dark Arts. By teaching basic defensive theory as opposed to real spells that would prepare her students for the outside world, she and the Ministry hoped to decrease the chance that Dumbledore could form a wizard army of students to overthrow the Ministry.
Dolores proved to be ineffective as an educator. She had no teaching background and had trouble maintaining the class's attention. Because of these shortcomings she ordered her students to simply read from the book during class, denied them the rights to ask questions, and sat back behind her desk to simply observe.
Most students were concerned and felt they would be left defenceless against the Dark Arts , since the book was useless, and even if Voldemort was indeed dead and gone there were plenty of other dangerous things in the world to defend against. Some spoke out openly in class, such as: Hermione , Ron , Harry , Dean Thomas , and Parvati Patil , but were immediately silenced or punished by Umbridge. Harry was the most outspoken, which often landed him in trouble. She steadfastly stuck to the Ministry line that Voldemort had not returned and that Harry Potter's claims were only to get attention for himself.
When Harry dared to contradict the Ministry of Magic's stance, Umbridge punished him by giving him detention where he was forced to write the phrase " I must not tell lies " repeatedly with a Black Quill ; whatever the user wrote with it used their own blood as ink and sliced the words into their flesh, eventually leaving his hand permanently scarred.
Owing to her lack of teaching ability, obvious disrespect towards the school and its residents and her unwavering loyalty to Fudge, Umbridge quickly became a heavily disliked person by the overwhelming majority of students and teachers alike.
Umbridge evaluating Filius Flitwick , before measuring his height. After working at Hogwarts for a short while and having a discussion with the Minister, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Three increased Umbridge's power and influence in Hogwarts.
She was appointed the first-ever " Hogwarts High Inquisitor " and used this position to evaluate, harass, and fire any teachers at Hogwarts deemed unsatisfactory by her or the Ministry. Umbridge was rude to many of the teachers she evaluated, especially those with close ties to Professor Dumbledore and those she considered unfit to teach, such as Sybill Trelawney.
She even measured Flitwick's height with measuring tape. He was displeased and very offended by this disrespect. Some teachers refused to allow themselves to be intimidated, however; when inspecting Professor Minerva McGonagall 's Transfiguration class, Umbridge tried to harass Minerva with interruptions and false coughing, but Minerva either ignored them or retorted with scathing remarks.
To combat Umbridge's repressive stance of not teaching practical defensive magic, Harry formed a group to teach practical Defence Against the Dark Arts. However, Umbridge, learning that the group was created and afraid that the students would soon start to rebel against her, soon abolished all student groups of three or more members , meaning that students were not allowed to be seen together in a group whose members numbered three or more, or they would be suspected of rule breaking.
This also included Quidditch teams. She permitted them to be reformed if they asked for permission, and only if she deemed them to be allowable, which meant that Dumbledore's Army became an illegal organisation. The Slytherin Quidditch team was immediately given permission to reform, perhaps because Umbridge was from Slytherin House , but she refused to allow the other teams permission under the excuse that she needed time to consider it.
Gryffindor at least had to wait an entire month before Professor McGonagall finally intervened and likely went to Professor Dumbledore to force it through. She permanently banned Harry, George , and Fred from playing Quidditch following a brawl with Draco Malfoy , and confiscated their brooms to keep in her office; however, Harry's ban was lifted after Umbridge was suspended from Hogwarts.
Educational Decree Number Twenty-Seven. When Harry gave an interview about Voldemort to The Quibbler , Umbridge then banned possession of the magazine to the point of risking expulsion from Hogwarts , and took away Harry's Hogsmeade privileges as a punishment for giving the interview, accusing him of giving false statements. However, by committing the former, Umbridge only caused the entire school to secretly read and discuss the Quibbler.
These actions were sanctioned by the Ministry of Magic in the form of Educational Decrees , but students merely found ways to circumvent or avoid them, often treating them as a joke.
With her new authority, she attempted to dismiss Sybill Trelawney as Professor of Divination ; however, she was foiled in her attempt to send Trelawney away from the school, since Albus Dumbledore still had the power to keep Trelawney on school grounds and chose to exercise those powers. Umbridge was horrified when Dumbledore replaced Trelawney with a centaur named Firenze ; however, she could not prevent Firenze from being given the job, as the Ministry's rules only allowed her to appoint a new teacher if Dumbledore could not find one himself, since the Ministry was counting on Dumbledore being unable to find a new teacher.
Umbridge considered Firenze, like all centaurs, as a "filthy half-breed". Umbridge and Fudge confront Dumbledore about the D. In , Umbridge and many other Slytherins found the D. Marietta betrayed the D. She tried to prosecute Harry and have him thrown out of Hogwarts for forming the Defence Against the Dark Arts club, but Dumbledore took advantage of lack of evidence and the organisation's name to take the blame — claiming that he had invited the group to attend this meeting and no other such gatherings had taken place in the intervening time, and also the fact that the group was formed before it was made illegal — and he disappeared from Hogwarts, after a minor scuffle with Aurors and the Minister for Magic himself.
She soon after formed the Inquisitorial Squad , made up entirely of Slytherins , which rewarded certain students for reporting on others and sanctioned them to act as enforcement goons. Fred and George Weasley 's fireworks terrify Umbridge. In response, the resentment simmering against her exploded into a full-fledged rebellion and Umbridge soon found herself on the receiving end of innumerable pranks, tricks and incidents designed to make her regret ever daring to set foot in Hogwarts.
Many of these were orchestrated by Fred and George Weasley, who led the resistance before Umbridge caught them, though they flew away on their brooms before she could have them whipped. Indeed, Hogwarts Castle itself seemed to join its inhabitants in making her life difficult, with Peeves the poltergeist at Fred and George's request spearheading the rebellion. This included doing things that made her work harder, like bursting out of blackboards, pushing over statues, toppling neatly stacked piles of parchment into fires, and following Umbridge around for hours, blowing raspberries every time she spoke.
Umbridge had previously asked Cornelius Fudge to sign an order for the expulsion of Peeves , but if any such order was ever signed, it was clearly unsuccessful at his removal, since it was impossible to kick him out of Hogwarts. Umbridge was also forced to rule as Headmistress from the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's office , as the Headmaster's Tower refused to recognise her as the legitimate head of the school and sealed itself against her, causing her to throw a "right little tantrum".
The teachers, who disliked Umbridge intensely, did as little as possible to help her in her duties, many going out of their way to make things more difficult for her by requesting her assistance in removing various charms and pranks by claiming that they weren't sure they had the 'authority' to do so.
The teachers also lavished favours on Harry in the form of House Points and even sweets, specifically squeaking Sugar Mice from Professor Flitwick , for resisting against her.
Minerva McGonagall, who normally intensely disliked Peeves and his antics, refused to stop him and even gave him advice on how to perform his actions. The only staff member who supported Umbridge whole-heartedly was the caretaker, Argus Filch , who grew to like her methods, as well as being given permission to torture students himself. She later fired Gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid , as he was a half-giant. When attempting to subdue and force Hagrid off the school's grounds with five Ministry of Magic officials, they seriously injured Professor Minerva McGonagall , who was protesting the force used to wrangle Hagrid, which was so scandalous that, while the event was occurring, an O.
Astronomy test was just near the action and even the instructor objected. Umbridge worked hard to intercept and monitor all means of communication. She tried to prevent Harry Potter from contacting his godfather Sirius Black. She read all incoming and outgoing student mail, and even Hedwig , Harry Potter's owl, was injured.
Even though it was hypothetically suggested that Hedwig was attacked by a Thestral by Professor Grubbly-Plank , a more likely possibility was that Hedwig was injured by Umbridge in an attempt to obtain the letter she carried from Sirius Black.
Umbridge asking Snape for Veritaserum in order to interrogate Harry. Soon afterwards, Umbridge caught Harry trying to use the Floo Network in her office while trying to contact Sirius, and he and his friends and fellow D.
When Harry refused to tell her what he had been doing, Umbridge first attempted to dose him with Veritaserum , but Professor Snape told her he had no more, as she had squandered it all when interrogating students.
She did this on account of not knowing the proper amount to give the students. Centaurs drag Dolores Umbridge away upon being called 'filthy half-breeds ' and 'creatures of near-human intelligence'. She then claimed that the illegal Cruciatus Curse might " loosen his tongue ". Hermione, much in shock, protested against it, but Umbridge simply brushed her off and noted that what "Cornelius doesn't know, cannot hurt him.
There, Umbridge was confronted by a herd of centaurs , whom she shamelessly insulted with racial slurs and arrogance. Umbridge then attacked one of the centaurs near her, and as a result, she was chased and nearly killed by them. Although she survived, her wand was snapped in half when one of the centaurs stepped on it.
Umbridge was ultimately rescued by Dumbledore, although she was apparently left with a significant fear of centaurs afterwards, reacting violently at even the sound of hoofbeats. How Dumbledore managed to rescue her from the human-hating centaurs without suffering any injury himself remained a mystery, though it is likely that the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest had respect for Albus, based on their salute at his funeral. After Voldemort appeared in the Ministry of Magic and was seen by a number of people, including Cornelius Fudge , Dumbledore was restored as the Headmaster and Umbridge was suspended following allegations of abuse.
Umbridge, who had been recovering in the school's hospital wing, attempted to sneak out of the castle on the second-to-last day of term during the evening meal. But fate had her run right into Peeves the poltergeist , who took advantage of his final opportunity to fulfil the request of Fred and George and chased her gleefully from the premises. Peeves did this while beating her over the head alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk , leading a crowd of delighted students whose teachers made only a few feeble attempts to restrain them.
Professor Minerva McGonagall expressed regret at not being able to chase Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick and she was not fully recovered. Despite all of her actions at Hogwarts, Umbridge later returned to the position of Senior Under-Secretary at the Ministry and told the new Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour , about Harry's wish to become an Auror, to Harry's anger.
In fact, one of the reasons why Harry refused to trust the Ministry of Magic and Scrimgeour was that Umbridge was never sacked and arrested for her actions at Hogwarts. I had my exposure to Harry Potter books back in high school, in my teenage years. The story is meant for children, yet it managed to capture the heart of the seventeen-year-old me back then. They boasted how they are above any average student because they have a Harry Potter book in their shelves.
And to demonstrate their eternal loyalty to the Potter series, they tried real witchcraft that almost unhinged them. Nevertheless, it was my martial arts instructor who really get me into the Potter series. It was a wonderful experience! It was a compelling read, yet with a fairytailish motif I think my classmates got carried away when they tried black magic. From the Order of the Phoenix up to the last novel of the series, the story started to grow up.
The scenes became more mature and darker, as if alluding the loss of innocence as children grow. And then there are some suggestive scenes aside from foul languages being uttered by the character. We will know more about that later, but as a clue she was left badly traumatized by the incident she herself started. Now if you want to know more, just read below.
Dolores Umbridge is a highly unlikeable character. You will agree with me that you hated her more than all the villains in the series. I could bear with the twisted and sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange, and I have no problem with the rest of the Death Eaters. I kind of felt sorry for the Malfoys though. Draco might be a bully, and his parents are complete smugs.
But it is pitiful how the Dark Lord abuse and manipulate the Draco family as a punishment. They might be nasty, but the Malfoys are still a family. Pity for Wormtail Peter Pettegrew for looking comical. I planned to make a separate article for the toad woman, on why she is so hated. But we knew that a stay in the Azkaban prison without the Dementors was never enough.
She was a cowardly, racist, manipulative old hag and we want to see more than incarcerations. Draco Malfoy had just taken Hermione Granger into his arms and was kissing her passionately.
He had said he wanted her. Just was she thought her wishes were about to be answered, there was a thud, a grunt and Malfoy was pulled away from her. Even J. Rowling considered Dramione. Rowling even suggested that Draco bullying Hermione was like adolescent hair pulling on the playground. She has also said that his secret feelings for her did in fact influence his actions at the Malfoy Manor and the final battle of Hogwarts.
James said it was because Snape existed. Someone suggested that rape is something we perceive as happening to vulnerable and powerless people. Perhaps we see murder as something that happens to powerful people then, and have a milder emotional response?
There are a lot of questions that can arise from this, but it got me to thinking about our religious views. Kore has descended to become the Dread Queen, Persephone. We actually celebrate this cycle of a woman being released only to inevitably be sent back to her rapist. Why do we celebrate this? How many Gods and demi-Gods are said to be borne of rape? Europa is not the only woman Zeus abducted, and his conquest of Ganymede was via abduction as well.
How do we reconcile this? How do we resolve the celebration of rape narratives in Pagan religions? Get newsletters and updates Close. Also, send me the Pagan Newsletter and special offers. Also, send me the Pagan Newsletter. Toggle navigation. Home Topics Archive Index.
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