Bloody Baron

The **Bloody Baron** was a character throughout the *Harry Potter book series*.

He is the House ghost of Slytherin. When he was a wizard, he fell in love with Helena Ravenclaw but she was not in love with him. Rowena Ravenclaw sent him to get Helena back when she ran away but he stabbed her death in a rage when she refused to return. He then killed himself. When he turned into a ghost, Helena's blood stayed on him which gave the nickname, Bloody Baron.

## Biography

### Early life

Born into a wizarding noble family in the tenth century, the Bloody Baron was one of the first students to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when it was still being run by the four founders. He was sorted into Slytherin and was probably taught by Salazar Slytherin himself. He met Helena Ravenclaw during that time and he fell in love with her but she did not love him.

### Death

In adulthood, Helena ran away from home after she stole Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. Rowena sent the Baron to get her daughter back and he found her in the forests of Albania. However, he had a bad temper and was angry when she refused to go back with him. He eventually killed her by stabbing her. Unable to cope with what he did, he took his own life using the same knife. He and Helena became ghosts after their deaths and haunted Hogwarts. In penance for what he did, he carried heavy chains around him which Helena agreed that he ought to have done.

### House ghost

The Baron soon became the House ghost of Slytherin, while Helena was the House ghost of Ravenclaw. He and Helena never told anyone the story of how they died. The students gave him the nickname the Bloody Baron and the other ghosts were afraid of him. According to Nearly Headless Nick, the Bloody Baron loved groaning and clanking in the Astronomy Tower which was his favourite hobby.

When the Baron's house, Slytherin kept winning the House Championship for six years in a row, the Baron bragged about it to Nearly Headless Nick. At the first Start-of-Term Feast that Harry Potter attended, Nick told the new first years that he couldn't stand the Bloody Baron's gloating and that they had to help Gryffindor beat Slytherin that year. During the feast, the Baron sat next to Draco Malfoy who looked very uncomfortable to be next to him. In mid-September, he glided past Neville Longbottom twice one night after he was locked outside of his common room. Neville decided to join Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley when they snuck out to duel because he found the Baron scary.

The Bloody Baron was the only person Peeves was scared of and he was the only person who could really control the poltergeist. One night, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione Granger ran into Peeves in June while they were under the Cloak of Invisibility. It was after curfew and they couldn't get caught out of their common room. Knowing the poltergeist was afraid of the Bloody Baron, Harry pretended to be him and warned Peeves that he was invisible, he had business in that part of the castle that night and he should leave. Peeves nearly fell out the air in shock and was very apologetic toward the Baron before scooting away.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 31
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 16
3. ↑ The Baron attended Hogwarts during the Founders era and if he was sorted before Salazar Slytherin left the school, he has to be at least half-blood given that Slytherin wanted to exclude Muggle-born students.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 J.K. Rowling's old website (archived)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 7
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*, Chapter 23
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 9