Ominis Gaunt

* In-game
* Face

**Ominis Gaunt** (1874 – 1924) was a pure-blood wizard and a member of the House of Gaunt. He was a Slytherin student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1886 to 1894. Despite being born into a family of dark wizards, he developed a deep distrust towards the Dark Arts, and often found himself in conflicts with his friend Sebastian Sallow over how they should be used.

In his fifth year, Ominis became acquainted with a new fifth year student, Philomena Halen, though the two had a rocky start at first, by the end of the school year, Ominis considered her a friend. The two would get in a relationship in their seventh year, and when the two turned twenty would also get married. In 1897, the two would have twin daughters, Tuilla and Lycoris Gaunt.

Ominis and his new family were then considered blood traitors and fled to live in England, close to Philomena's parents. However, while celebrating the twins' birthday at Philomena's family home in 1904, Ominis' Gaunt family imbarded the home and slaughtered the whole family.

## Biography

### Early life

"*If you cast* Crucio*, you will regret it forever.*"
— Ominis Gaunt on his hatred of the Cruciatus Curse, instilled since childhood
He was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, born into the pure-blood House of Gaunt to a Mr and Mrs Gaunt, two Dark wizards. He was born blind, and no spell was able to reverse it. After this, he took to using his wand, which was "*almost sentient*", to navigate his way around.

His upbringing resulted in trauma that made him pessimistic, distrusting of people, and sarcastic. He disagreed with his family's use of the Dark Arts, which aligned him with his favourite aunt, Noctua Gaunt, who herself wished to change the family's traditions and uncover more about Salazar Slytherin's legacy. Ominis was dismayed to find out that she had died in her attempt to navigate Slytherin's Scriptorium.

When he was a child, he refused to perform the Cruciatus Curse, which his older siblings and parents often performed on Muggles "*for sport*". This resulted in his own family using the curse on him, creating a division between him and his family that never healed. When told to cast the curse again, he relented to avoid further anguish to himself, and found it difficult to forgive himself ever since.

### Hogwarts years (1886–?)

#### Earlier years

Ominis started attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of eleven. On 1 September 1886, he was sorted into Slytherin (a house he "*most certainly*" expected to be sorted into due to his heritage), and became friends with Sebastian Sallow and his twin sister, Anne. The three of them would often go into the Undercroft, a secret room only known to the House of Gaunt, to play Gobstones and hang out. Ominis considered this place very special to him, and he was disappointed when Sebastian later revealed the existence of the Undercroft to another student. When not at Hogwarts, Ominis would retreat to the Sallow home at Feldcroft, shying away from his own family, but developing a strong connection to the Sallows. The first time Sebastian and Ominis practised the Blasting Curse, they singed their eyebrows.

Ominis had quite a playful nature, often taunting first year students by pretending that mermaids could be seen outside the Slytherin common room windows, keeping them "*on the lookout for hours*".

#### Fifth year

##### Meeting Philomena Halen

"*You breathe a word about this place to anyone and not even your precious Professor Fig will be able to help you. My father is friends with the Headmaster and I'm not afraid to exploit that connection if I need to.*"
— Ominis Gaunt's threatening introduction to the new fifth-year student
He also became more acquainted to a new student who had joined late in their fifth year due to their ability to see and use ancient magic. If this student was a Slytherin, then Ominis would have met them in the Slytherin common room on 2 September; otherwise, they had a thorny introduction when Ominis caught them sneaking out of the Undercroft. Sebastian often wanted to enlist Ominis's help with Dark Magic to help his sister Anne, which he was deeply uncomfortable with due to his intense childhood experiences.

Later in the year, when the new student disguised themselves as Phineas Nigellus Black using Polyjuice Potion, they accosted Ominis Gaunt in the hallways, demanding to know where he was going. Ominis made a quick exit by stating that he was headed to the Hogwarts greenhouses to research for his essay on dittany and its uses, afterwards murmuring that the Headmaster was acting strangely.

##### Helping Sebastian Sallow

**Ominis Gaunt**: "*You're a liar, Sebastian. I heard everything. You swore you'd never engage in anything to do with Dark Magic again.*"
**Sebastian Sallow**: "*No I didn't. I said I understood you wanting that. I'd never swear to give up on finding a cure for Anne.*"
— Ominis and Sebastian's primary disagreement
Eventually, he was pressured into breaking into Slytherin's Scriptorium under Sebastian's promise that it would be their last encounter into Dark Magic, though Ominis was distressed throughout the whole venture, especially as he came face-to-face with the bones of his late aunt Noctua.

Sebastian did not stop his journey into the Dark Arts; by the winter of 1890, he followed Sebastian and the other fifth-year student to the Catacomb outside Feldcroft, which they had just infiltrated, and was disgusted to find they had not only been practising the Imperius Curse, but also looking for a lost relic, infused with Dark Magic, to cure Anne's illness. Ominis did not even register Sebastian's existence in this encounter, finding it too uncomfortable to see him as a friend anymore. The fifth-year either persuaded Ominis to let them go, or went so far as to use the Imperius Curse to force Ominis to stand aside.

Later that year, Ominis was present at the Feldcroft Catacomb again, as Sebastian used the relic to summon Inferi. Solomon Sallow had sworn to alert Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black the next time Sebastian used dark magic, so Ominis ran to the Headmaster to tell him that the event was simply an exaggerated argument. In his absence, Sebastian murdered Solomon, which convinced Ominis that he could no longer stand by and watch his friend's descent into darkness, and that it was time to turn Sebastian in.

##### Deciding Sebastian's fate

"*I don't want to lose Sebastian, but I don't think we have a choice.*"
— Ominis Gaunt
Ominis asked their mutual friend to turn him in, which the friend possibly did. After this, Sebastian was possibly expelled and put on trial at the Ministry of Magic; likewise, it was possible that the friend refused to turn him in, and the incident in the catacombs was kept a secret, with Ominis being tasked to convince Anne to keep quiet. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that Ominis maintained his relationship with Sebastian since this event.

After the defeat of Ranrok in the battle for the final repository, Ominis's friend possibly informed him at the memorial ceremony for Eleazar Fig that it had been Victor Rookwood that cursed Anne Sallow, not the goblins as they had originally believed. After receiving this information, Ominis possibly informed both Anne and Sebastian. Alternatively, if Sebastian was given the chance to amend on his own, their mutual friend told him directly about Rookwood being the one who cursed Anne.

### Later life

It is known that the last living Gaunts by the summer of 1925 were Marvolo and his children Morfin and Merope. It follows that Ominis had already passed away by that date; he either did not have any offspring or, if did, they must also have already died by that date.

## Magical abilities and skills

* **Dark Arts**: Ominis was once forced into casting the Cruciatus Curse by his family. However unlike his family, he grew to detest the Dark Arts and opposed their practice.
* **Parseltongue**: Ominis was a Parselmouth, meaning he could magically talk to snakes, an ability which resided in his family tree.
* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Despite being blind, Ominis was still capable of defending himself against the Dark Arts, managing to beat off waves of Inferi in the catacombs of Feldcroft. It is unknown exactly how he managed this, but as his wand was described to be "*sentient*", his skill may have been linked to that.
* **Love**: Though certainly not one of Ominis's most obvious qualities, he held a great amount of deep, brotherly care for his close friend, Sebastian Sallow, as well as fear for the dark path that he was going down. Even though he understood Sebastian to be manipulating him, he still felt a duty to try to stop his descent into darkness as the only person that he trusted. Furthermore, after the traumatic experiences of his childhood, he made a genuine and radical attempt to distance himself from his family and their culture of the Dark Arts.

## Relationships

### Family

"*My family on my father's side are direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin – one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Not something I'm especially proud of, mind you. He was obsessed with blood status. A pure-blood maniac. Unfortunately, most of his descendants do not fall far from that tree.*"
— Ominis Gaunt on his family
Ominis had a strained relationship with his father, mother, and older siblings as they were all Dark wizards with a history of brutally torturing both himself and countless innocent Muggles. He was additionally disgusted by their Pure-blood supremacy. On the other hand, Ominis stated that his father was friends with the headmaster, and threatened to exploit this if he wished on at least one occasion. It is therefore unclear exactly how fragile their relationship was.

### Sebastian Sallow

"*He never confides in anyone – but he trusted me since the day we met.*"
— Sebastian Sallow on their friendship
Sebastian Sallow was Ominis's oldest friend. However, their relationship became more tenuous in their fifth year with Sebastian's continued exploration of the Dark Arts, which Ominis regularly advised against. In the end, their relationship suffered so badly that Ominis found it difficult to consider Sebastian a friend anymore, even though he did continue to worry about him greatly.

### Unidentified fifth-year friend

"*I know we had a bit of a rocky start, but you've proven yourself – as a friend.*"
— Ominis Gaunt to this student
This student was Ominis's new friend, who started late in their fifth year. They had a rocky beginning when Ominis caught them outside of the Undercroft, which they had been shown by Sebastian. Ominis attempted continuously to convince this student to help curb Sebastian's descent into the Dark Arts, and had come to trust their wisdom a great deal. By the conclusion of the 1890–1891 school year, he considered this student a friend: a rare honour, as Sebastian had been his only true friend before.

## Behind the scenes

* Ominis Gaunt is voiced by Jacob Edwards in Hogwarts Legacy.
* Chronologically, Marvolo Gaunt could be one of the elder siblings who tortured Ominis with the Cruciatus Curse.
* Ominis is related to Lord Voldemort. Voldemort's mother, Merope Gaunt, was also a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.
* His name may be a reference to the twelfth verse of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", in which the Raven is described as "this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore".
* He might have been named in honor of his Aunt Noctua. Noctua literally translated as "night bird" otherwise known as an Owl and in some cultures the bird can be seen as omen, which Ominis translates as.
* Ominis' blindness may have been caused by his family's generations of inbreeding.

1. ↑ Template:HL