Wisdom, wit, intelligence, learning, creativity, and curiosity. That's what it takes to get into Ravenclaw. While the house with the eagle emblem isn't as popular as Slytherin and Gryffindor, and doesn't have as rich a lore, it also has its own little secrets that enrich its universe: the tragic story of its founder, her relic, and the famous wizards who studied there.
#4 The Tragic Story of Its Founder
Rowena Ravenclaw is the founder. Famous for her extraordinary intelligence and insatiable thirst for knowledge, she designed Ravenclaw Tower to honor and welcome students who shared her qualities. She wore a Diadem, a symbol of her beauty, which, according to legend, "made the wearer wiser." Unfortunately, this majestic jewel was the very thing that caused her downfall. Jealous of her mother's beauty, her daughter Helena stole the relic and fled to Albania. Suffering from an incurable illness, Helena asked a man (who would later be sadly known as the Bloody Baron) to search for her. Secretly in love with Helena, he managed to find her. But the young woman, who had carefully hidden the Diadem, refused to return to the castle. In a fit of rage, he stabs her and kills her instantly... before committing suicide, drowning in grief. Both then become ghosts of their own houses: Helena becomes the Grey Lady and the Baron becomes the Bloody Baron of Slytherin House. Those who have read the books and seen the films know that years later, Tom Riddle will manage to make the Grey Lady talk in order to find the Diadem in Albania and convert it into a Horcrux. Without doubt one of the most tragic stories in the saga.
#3 A Cursed Crest
In the Harry Potter films, Ravenclaw's colors are blue and silver. In the books, however, Bronze is the official color along with blue, which symbolizes the sky and the spirit. The films chose to make this change for aesthetic reasons and visual consistency. As for the emblem, it is represented by the figure of the eagle, a majestic animal which invokes a certain elevation of the spirit and its nobility. Yet, in English,Seradigle is called "Ravenclaw". A name that does not refer to an Eagle at all but to a raven, and more precisely to "a Raven's claw". For the record, J.K. Rowling never thought of flocking a raven on the emblem (as she imagined a bear instead of the badger for Hufflepuff), but thought the name sounded better.
#2 A common room with a very special entrance
The Ravenclaw common room is certainly one of the most beautiful at Hogwarts. Located in the highest towers of the castle, it is laid out in a circular shape with blue silk carpets, a huge library, objects that refer to exploration and curiosity like globes and telescopes, and a magnificent domed ceiling on which a starry sky appears. The Hogwarts Legacy game has managed to design the common room faithfully to the descriptions in the books, with great attention to detail. As beautiful as it is, the Ravenclaw common room requires students to decipher a riddle posed by an eagle-shaped knocker (it is the only house to include a riddle). A true test of intelligence that only those who manage to pass will prove worthy of wearing the house uniform.
#1 Famous inventors and wizards
With the aforementioned qualities needed to fit into Ravenclaw House, it's no surprise that a whole host of inventors would emerge from it. While the British novelist never really detailed the list of these geniuses, information on the lore contained on fansites like Pottermore, wikis, or on the chocolate frog cards in video games allows us to trace some names. There we find Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the Lunascope, a magical instrument allowing the observation of the different phases of the moon, Ignatia Wildsmith, at the origin of the Floo powder (which materializes the waypoints in the game Hogwarts Legacy), or even a certain Teophilus Abbott, known for having combined alchemy and botany and created advanced plant potions.
On the wizarding side, Ravenclaw has nothing to envy from the other houses. Along with Harry, Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang studied there, some of its teachers like Filius Flitwick, Professor Quirrell and the usurper Gilderoy Lockhart, as well as the wandmaker Ollivander. Ravenclaw was even to include Hermione Granger and Minerva McGonagall, but the witches both influenced the Sorting Hat to place them in Lion House.
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