Seer

"*True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney...*"
— Minerva McGonagall being dubious on Sybill Trelawney's ingenuity as a Seer[src]

A **Seer** was a gifted wizard or witch who had the ability to see into the future with their Inner Eye.

## Contents

* 1Description
* 2Naming Seers
* 3Known Seers
* 4Behind the scenes
* 5Appearances
* 6Notes and references

## Description

Seers predicted prophecies, which were then recorded and stored in the Hall of Prophecy in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries.

According to Minerva McGonagall, true Seers were extremely rare, and she had doubt that Sybill Trelawney could be considered as one despite her sporadically accurate predictions.

Albus Dumbledore once told Harry Potter that seeing into the future was incredibly difficult because of the complexity of every single action and their consequences.

Some Seers did not have control over their Seeing. Sybill Trelawney only made two actual Prophecies, however, she did make plenty of claims. These claims ranged from future troubles to Neville Longbottom accidently breaking a teacup. When she made an actual Prophecy, Trelawney went into a trance and spoke in a completely different voice. After a trance she did not remember either of her predictions, having no recolaction of even going into a trance-like state in the first place. However, Gellert Grindelwald retained focus and awareness of the outside world when he had visions, could remember all of his predictions, and could even project his visions via the use of a skull-hookah for other people to see, like in the Lestrange Mausoleum.

Hermione Granger expressed scepticism of Divination as a branch of magic, regarding it as imprecise at best and entirely fabricated at worst. Her lack of respect for Divination notably placed her squarely at odds with Sybill Trelawney.

## Naming Seers

*Main article: Naming Seer*
A Naming Seer was a wizarding occupation that used Divination to see the future. A Naming Seer predicted what a wizard and witch's child would be like and would suggest an appropriate name according to their predictions.

## Known Seers

"*Harry wheeled around. Professor Trelawney had gone rigid in her armchair; her eyes were unfocused and her mouth sagging... But Professor Trelawney didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes started to roll. Harry sat there in a panic. She looked as though she was about to have some sort of seisure. He hesitated, thinking of running to the hospital wing — and then Professor Trelawney spoke again, in the same harsh voice, quite unlike her own...*"
— Sybill Trelawney in a trance while making a prediction[src]

Cassandra Vablatsky

Mopsus

Sybill Trelawney

Gellert Grindelwald

* Calchas
* Cassandra Trelawney
* Inigo Imago
* Professor Mopsus
* Johan Hoffman
* Susie Sooth
* Tycho Dodonus
* Canadian Seer
* Female Seer
* Male Seer
* Liz Tuttle's mother

## Behind the scenes

* Centaurs may have been considered Seers, despite not being human wizards, as they had their own brand of divination and could take several years to interpret what they saw in the skies.
* Proof that Seers do not always receive the right visions from the future would include Gellert Grindelwald having a vision that an Obscurial killed the man that he feared the most (Albus Dumbledore). Albus Dumbledore mentions this vision of Gellert Grindelwald's to Newt Scamander in a deleted scene in *Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald*.