Parseltongue

**Parseltongue** is a rare and difficult magical language, which makes the spells cast in it more powerful. It also allows the speaker (called Parselmouth) to communicate with snakes; either real or representations, as well as with snake-like objects.

## History

The language of the serpents has its origin in the currently "extinct" race of the Naga; name given by humans to the Paar'zheal, a word whose meaning is "The People".

The Naga were a species of reptilian humanoids, with a serpentine body from the waist down and six arms. This race had individuals very skilled in the art of magic, but there were also some who lacked this ability, which made the latter targets of discrimination. Because of this, his most powerful and wise wizard, named Sardeth, used forbidden and wild magic to make his language inherently magical, making it possible for all of his race to do magic. Such action led many Naga to use magic recklessly, causing misfortunes that led to the ruin of their civilisation in one day.

This event caused the same magic to punish the Paar'zheal, reshaping reality by causing the ancestors of the Naga to disappear, preventing the evolution of the Naga and thus erasing their existence. This event was what allowed the ancestors of the human species to evolve. The only surviving Naga was Sardeth, who was condemned to be a prisoner in a pocket dimension, from which he cannot escape since because the ancestors of the Naga were eliminated by magic, Sardeth became a paradox that it would be destroyed by coming into contact with the plane of reality where humans live.

However, those humans who have given a "sacrifice" can access the dimension of Sardeth, and by doing this they are rewarded with a wish from the Naga, although later their memories of the encounter are altered, causing the visitor to forget Sardeth and its dimension.

One of the wizards who managed to meet Sardeth was a young Salazar Slytherin, who, fearful that the Parseltongue would be lost in history due to how difficult it is to learn the language and how little material it is, Slytherin asked the Naga that his descendants acquire the inherent ability to speak the language. Unfortunately, Sardeth's ignorance of the sexuality of the human species caused a flaw in Slytherin's desire, causing only the male descendants of the Spanish wizard to obtain the gift of speaking Parseltongue naturally.

## Characteristics

Parseltongue has the characteristic of causing an intense feeling of fear to those who are not used to hearing it, which makes studying and learning it very difficult.

Spells spoken in Parseltongue receive an increase in power, especially with spells that have a large number of "s" sounds in their pronunciation. Healing spells spoken in Parseltongue become more effective, curses spoken in Parseltongue become stronger and irreversible unless a counter-spell spoken in Parseltongue is used.

Parselmouths have the ability to communicate with snakes; whether magical or not, with representations of snakes such as statues or paintings, snake-like creatures and with objects shaped like a snake, such as creepers. The latter is possibly only possible in places impregnated with a great deal of ambient magic. When a normal snake is affected by Parseltongue, it gains notion of itself and a certain degree of intelligence, but loses both once the Parselmouth is no longer in contact with it.

## List of Parselmouths

* The Paar´zheal
	+ Sardeth
* Hypatia of Greece
* Saint Patrick
* Herpo the Foul
* Salazar Slytherin
* Descendants of Salazar Slytherin
	+ Duke Esteban de Cortez y Slytherin
	+ House Gaunt
		- Marvolo Gaunt
		- Morfin Gaunt
		- Tom Marvolo Riddle
	+ House Wilkes
		- Atticus Wilkes
		- Erasmus Wilkes
		- Harry Black
		- Jim Potter
* Albus Dumbledore - Only able to understand Parseltongue and not speak it due to a a childhood stammer
* Guptar Baska
* Ronald Weasley - Obtained after being possessed by a fragment of Tom Riddle's soul
* Princes of Slytherin - Those who obtain the title of "Prince of Slytherin" are able to communicate with representations of snakes within Hogwarts
	+ Kristoff Kolumbiko
	+ Jocasta Flint
	+ Caractacus Flint
	+ Regulus Black
	+ Lucius Malfoy

## Spells spoken in Parseltongue

* Conjunctivitis curse.
* Episkey. Healing spell.
* Finite Incantatem.
* Fumos Maxima.
* Incendio. Spell to produce fire.
* Lumos. Enlightenment spell.
* Rictumsempra. Tickle spell.
* Samsara. Life support spell.
* Sectumsempra.
* Serpensortia. Snake Summoning Spell.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 125 - The Hunting of Sirius Black (Pt 4),

"I had a mild stammer as a child, and while I overcame it... ...it remained just prominent enough to prevent me from correctly pronouncing words in Parseltongue.".