Gregory G Goyle

Gregory Goyle (b. 1979/1980) was a pure-blood wizard in the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was sorted into Slytherin House. Goyle was the son of a Death Eater and his wife. It is unknown if he was a Death Eater as well.
Goyle, along with fellow Slytherin Vincent Crabbe, seemed to already be best friends with Draco Malfoy before their first year at Hogwarts. Both wizards were shown to be more lackeys than friends, often following Malfoy around and doing his bidding.
==Biography==
===Early life ===
Gregory Goyle was born into a pure-blood magical family in late 1979 or early 1980. His father, Mr Goyle, was a Death Eater during the First Wizarding War and a loyal supporter of Lord Voldemort until his downfall in 1981. Several Death Eaters avoided imprisonment in Azkaban by claiming that the Dark Lord had controlled them with the Imperius Curse. It is likely that Mr Goyle did this as well.
Due to all of their fathers being Death Eaters, Goyle probably knew Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe before his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Like many new students, he might have purchased his wand from Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.
===Hogwarts years ===
====First year====
Goyle started his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1991. He, Draco, and Crabbe met Harry Potter and offered him acceptance into their clan. Harry rejected this offer and left Draco Malfoy, the leader of the group, confused as to why he would choose to be friends with Ronald Weasley instead. After being rejected, Goyle attempted to steal some of Harry and Ron's treats from the food trolley and he ended up getting bitten by Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
250px|thumb|left|Vincent Crabbe, Draco Malfoy, and Gregory Goyle in their first Potions class
When he arrived at Hogwarts, he was Sorted into the House of Slytherin with his friends Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe. Throughout the year, Goyle was mean to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and at the end of the year final exam results were to be given out and Harry Potter (who disliked Goyle) hoped that he was as stupid as he was mean and would fail his exams. However, Goyle just managed to scrape through them and thus passed his first year of education.
====Second year====
In his second year of education, the Chamber of Secrets was opened for the second time, having opened 50 years previously when Tom Riddle was in education. There was suspicion amongst the students as to who the Chamber was referring to when messages regarding an 'Heir of Slytherin' were written on walls in blood. Some speculated that it was Harry Potter, others Draco Malfoy.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione wanted to get more information and decided to brew Polyjuice Potion so that they could take the forms of Goyle, Crabbe, and Millicent Bulstrode and question Draco. When attempting to steal items from Severus Snape's store room for the Polyjuice Potion, Hermione Granger needed a distraction and Harry threw a firecracker into Goyle's Swelling Solution.
Over the Christmas holidays, the Polyjuice potion was finally completed and the three needed to get some of their designated pupils' DNA in order to make a transformation. Hermione had already gotten hairs from Millicent Bulstrode's robes during a violent Duelling Club practise; however she did not know that these hairs actually belonged to her cat. Harry and Ron still needed to get some hairs of Crabbe and Goyle and put Sleeping Draught into some cakes that Goyle and Crabbe would later eat and fall asleep. Once they fell asleep Ron and Harry managed to acquire their hair, Goyle's hair turned the Polyjuice potion a khaki colour when it was added.
==Physical appearance==
Goyle was described as having large feet, small dull eyes, long gorilla arms, short, bristly hair low on his forehead, and broad shoulders. He and Crabbe were described as 'silent, hulking bodyguards'. He also had a scar on one of his knuckles after being bitten by Scabbers.
==Personality and traits==
Goyle was generally less intelligent than Crabbe, always causing trouble and nearly failing his exams in his first year. He was unable to give Dolores Umbridge a simple answer after being questioned about Rubeus Hagrid's lessons, only being able to grin foolishly.
Goyle seemed to lack intelligence, magical talent, and independent thought, thus used only his size and strength to bully other students or scare off anyone who threatened Malfoy. Goyle was also very sadistic and had no qualms about using the Cruciatus Curse to torture fellow students. However, while he did poorly in Defence Against the Dark Arts, he excelled in the actual Dark Arts class, being top of the class due to his sadistic tendency to use fellow students as practise subjects for curses.
==Magical abilities and skills==
*Duelling: Goyle proved to be a capable duellist when he and Crabbe had to fend off against Harry on his way to the Astronomy Tower. In the Skirmish at the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts, he duelled with Harry, Ron and Hermione and fired multiple Dark curses at them, meaning he had some skill in martial magic, but he was not skilled enough as he was disarmed by Hermione.
*Dark Arts: Goyle was able to perform the Unforgivable Curses and was particularly skilled in the casting of the Cruciatus Curse. Neville Longbottom noted that because of his proficiency with the curse, it was probably the first time he had been top in anything.
*Flying: Goyle was one of the Beaters for the Slytherin Quidditch team, alongside his friend Crabbe. Like Crabbe, he was chosen for his size and strength rather than skill.
*Charms: Goyle had some skills in charm-work, as he was able to cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself to hide himself from Harry, Ron and Hermione before they entered the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts, along with Crabbe and Malfoy.
==Relationships==
===Draco Malfoy===
Goyle often followed Malfoy around. Simply put, he was nothing more than his lackey. However, Draco showed concern for him sometimes; he immediately reported Goyle's injury to Snape in their fourth year. When Crabbe's Fiendfyre destroyed the Room of Requirement, Draco went out of his way to save Goyle from the flames, dragging him to safety.
After the second war, Draco had since severed ties with Goyle, due to his (and Crabbe's) lack of intelligence, making Goyle more of a thuggish lackey than a friend Draco could connect with, along with the excessive cruelty and recklessness he exhibited during the skirmish at the Room of Requirement that nearly killed everyone in the room.
===Vincent Crabbe===
Vincent Crabbe was another of Malfoy's lackeys, and as such Crabbe and Goyle were best friends, wandering around and doing just about everything together. However, Crabbe was more intelligent and favoured by Malfoy because of this.
===Blaise Zabini===
Despite both being in Slytherin, Goyle and Blaise were not very close. When Blaise was knocked onto Goyle's lap, they snarled at each other and Goyle brutally flung Blaise off himself.
===The trio===
Harry, Ron, and Hermione disliked Goyle greatly. He was also one of their four most disliked people at Hogwarts, even going as far as expressing their hope that Goyle might fail his exams in his first year and be forced to leave the school. However, Ron and Hermione did assist Draco in saving Goyle's life during the Battle of Hogwarts.
==Etymology==
*The name is derived from Greek meaning 'watchful, alert'. It is also associated with the , 'the Watchers', a group of fallen angels who mated with mortal women to spawn a race of giants. This may allude to Goyle frequently acting like a bodyguard to Draco Malfoy and to his large frame.
*His last name is probably from 'gargoyle', small monsters used to decorate buildings. The Gargouille also was a legendary water monster living in the River Seine in Paris, France. Gargoyles served as gutters/downspouts on gothic buildings. The word Gargoyle is derived from the French gargouille and the Latin gargula which translate to throat in contemporary English. Related words include gargle and gurgle.
*Interestingly, gargoyles' supposed jobs are to watch over the building they are perched on. They are portrayed as grim and monstrous characters.
==Behind the scenes==
*Goyle is portrayed by Josh Herdman in the film adaptions of Harry Potter, making him one of fourteen characters to appear in all eight.
*In the books, Goyle is generally portrayed as being less intelligent than Crabbe, but in the films it seems to be the other way around.
*In , Goyle was absent during the scene at Hogsmeade, being replaced by the original character Pike. This was due to Josh Herdman being incapable of performing such a scene due to a then-recent injury.
*Goyle is among the cast of characters who appear in all eight films, though he hardly has any lines at all.
*In , Goyle takes the place of Crabbe, who was written out due to drug charges against Jamie Waylett. Goyle dies in Crabbe's place; when Goyle (mirroring Crabbe in the book) tries to kill Hermione with the Killing Curse, Ron chases after him, and Goyle casts Fiendfyre in an attempt to kill him, after which (Goyle) attempts to climb to safety with Malfoy and Blaise Zabini (who plays roughly the same role as Goyle does in the book), but grabs onto a loose chair and falls into the fire. Also, at the beginning of the scene, when Harry asks Malfoy to turn back from Voldemort, Goyle insists that he stay on Voldemort's side. In addition, it is not Goyle who destroys the diadem, but Harry, who stabs it with a Basilisk Fang before Ron kicks it into the fire.SnitchSeeker.com
*In , Goyle is portrayed as being more intelligent (and even supportive of Harry at times); when Malfoy and Crabbe confront Harry after Mrs Norris gets petrified, Goyle is disapproving of their behaviour, and at the end of the same school year, he cheers for Harry until Malfoy knocks him out. Something similar happens in , where Malfoy simply pulls Vincent Crabbe back down when about to cheer for Hagrid.
*In , unlike the film, Goyle doesn't grab onto a loose chair and climbs to safety successfully like Draco and Blaise. However, when Harry and Ron rescue Draco and Blaise, Hermione is unable to reach Goyle, who remains standing on the high ground until the Fiendfyre charges at him, killing Goyle offscreen. Contrary to canon, Goyle's in-game character is unable to perform Dark magic.
*Gregory Goyle's LEGO minifigure in set 4735 features Harry Potter's face on the flip side to show that it is actually Harry, disguised by Polyjuice Potion., Page 52 ('Gregory Goyle: Slytherin Infiltrator')
==Appearances==
* 
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* 
==Notes and references==
Category:20th Century Births
Category:Beaters
Category:Dark-Wizards
Category:Foundables
Gregory
Category:Impersonated Known Individuals
Category:Males
Category:Pure-Bloods
Category:Slytherins
Category:Slytherins Sorted-In 1991
Category:Entire Known-Unforgivable-Curse Users