Merpeople

"*The oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens (Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaids more frequently depicted in Muggle literature and painting. The Selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland are less beautiful, but they share that love of music which is common to all merpeople.*"
— Newton Scamander, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*[src]

**Merpeople** were sentient magical beasts that live underwater. They are found all over the world. Their customs and habits were mysterious, and, like the centaurs, were offered the being status but refused in favour of beast, as they did not want to be placed in a status with Hags and Vampires. Merpeople could breathe above the water for a time, but it was unclear if they can ever truly leave their habitat.

## Contents

* 1Description
	+ 1.1Physical appearance
* 2Society and culture
* 3History
	+ 3.1Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
* 4Wizarding relations
* 5Behind the scenes
* 6Appearances
* 7Notes and references

## Description

### Physical appearance

"*Here and there at the dark windows, Harry saw faces...faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the mermaid in the prefects’ bathroom... The merpeople had greyish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks.*"
— Harry Potter compares the selkies of Black Lake to a their warmer watered cousins[src]

Merpeople were creatures resembling half-human, half-fish hybrids (though they are not, in actuality, half-breeds). Like humans, Merpeople came in a variety of appearances. For instance, the majority of the Black Lake Merpeople colony had green hair, yellow eyes, and grey skin. They also had mainly silver tails. It is very unlikely a human, or even other types of merpeople, would resemble that, proving that mermaids have individuality in their looks and races and subspecies, just like humans.

Merpeople also seem to be taller than humans, with seven feet appearing to not be an unusual height, at least for a selkie. Harry encountered one in the lake near Hogwarts who was seven feet tall with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs, carrying a spear.

Merpeople were divided up into various sub-species or races, depending on where they live. The earliest merpeople lived in Greece, and were known as sirens. In modern times, merpeople living in warmer waters take on a more beautiful appearance, while those in colder waters, such as the selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland, are less attractive.

## Society and culture

Merpeople are a sapient species, and would qualify for full being status if they did not, as a race, reject the classification. Although their exact level of intelligence as compared to humans is unknown, they possess many traits beyond those of mere animals, as they have a developed language, Mermish, and have even created music (which they are known, as a whole, to be fond of).

Evidence that the Merpeople have a thriving culture is that they live in highly organised communities, some containing elaborate dwellings made of stone, and have been known to domesticate creatures such as the Grindylow, Hippocampus, and Lobalug (the latter being used as makeshift weaponry). Other signs of their intelligence include jewellery and weapon making, production of art (both paintings and statues), and an ability to understand basic human communication via gestures.

## History

The merpeople dated back to ancient Greece, where they were first known as sirens. By the modern era, however, merpeople had spread worldwide.

The history of merpeople's relations with wizardkind, or at least the wizarding British government, were somewhat rocky. Chief Elfrida Clagg refused to accept merpeople as beings under her definition of the term as those who could "speak the human tongue". She thought Mermish to be inadequate as it could not be understood by creatures above water. Her decision upset both the merpeople and their allies the centaurs.

Though they were allowed being status under Minister Grogan Stump's revised 1811 definition of the term, they would eventually request to be classified as beasts once more, objecting to the fact that dark creatures such as Hags and Vampires also claimed that status.

Despite being considered beasts at the time, a delegation of merpeople were persuaded to attend the 1692 summit of the International Confederation of Wizards, where they would help decide what to do on the matter of hiding the existence of various magical creatures from Muggle comprehension.

At some point in the 1800s, Mirabella Plunkett, a witch, fell in love with a merman living in Loch Lomond. When her family disapproved of their marriage, she Transfigured herself into a haddock and vanished.

During Dolores Umbridge's career in the Ministry, she suggested that Merpeople to be rounded up and tagged, as her irrational revulsion to anything that have a part-human appearance. However, the ludicrousness of such an act caused it to never be put into effect.

### Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

*Main article: Great Lake Merpeople colony*
A colony of merpeople lived in the Black Lake on the grounds of Hogwarts Castle.

They played a role in the Second Task of the 1994 Triwizard Tournament. They agreed to keep four people in an enchanted sleep in their village for an hour, and protect them until the champion sent to save them arrived. They watched the champions swim around, with spears clutched in their hands, and tried to stop Harry Potter when he tried to save more than one person.

## Wizarding relations

Oddly enough, Merpeople were not represented in the Fountain of Magical Brethren at the Ministry of Magic. This could not be simply because they have declined formal "being" status with the Ministry of Magic, because centaurs made a similar decision and were represented in the Fountain.

Merpeople's relationship with Wizardkind is said to be an unstable one. This could stem from a number of reasons, perhaps because certain people in the wizarding society look down upon merpeople and see them as inferior. That is a common occurrence in regards to sentient creatures that are not classified as human.

Despite the rocky relationship that does exist Merpeople are shown to help humans sometimes, such as agreeing to be a part of the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. They are also capable of showing respect to wizards who have earned it, during the funeral of Albus Dumbledore merpeople were present from within the Black Lake.

## Behind the scenes

* Stories of mermaids and, less commonly, mermen exist in the folklore of various cultures worldwide.
	+ In Homer's myth, the sirens were creatures capable of luring sailors with their sweet songs to death. In early Greek art, sirens were generally depicted as birds with large female heads, bird feathers, and scaly feet. However, the partly fish (mermaid) form characteristic became iconic in the medieval period, but actually, there have survived examples from the Classical period where the siren is depicted as mermaid-like.
	+ In the Orkney tradition, selkie is said to denote various seals larger than the gray seal; only these great seals are attributed the ability to change shape in humans and are called "selkie folk". Something similar is stated in Shetland tradition, that the mermaids prefer to assume the shape of larger seals, referred to as Haaf-fish.
	+ The merrow-maiden is like the commonly stereotypical mermaid: half-human, a gorgeous woman from waist up, and fish-like waist down, her lower extremity "covered with greenish-tinted scales". She has green hair which she fondly grooms with her comb. She exhibits slight webbing between her fingers, a white and delicate film resembling "the skin between egg and shell". Merrows wear a special hat called a cohuleen druith, which enables them to dive beneath the waves. If they lose this cap, it is said that they will lose their power to return beneath the water.
* According to W.O.M.B.A.T., it is possible that freshwater merpeople are less warlike than salt-water merpeople.
* In *LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4*, the merpeople actually attack, whereas in the film and book they only confronted Harry when he tried to take more than his own hostage, but even then they only threatened to attack.
* In the handheld versions of *LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7*, there are merpeople living in the Forest of Dean lake.
* In J. K. Rowling's original plan, the Merpeople were to first appear in *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, with Harry and Ron first meeting them when the Ford Anglia crashed into the Great Lake instead of the Whomping Willow. However, as the writing process continued, Rowling found it more satisfying and "less distracting" from the story for the Ford Anglia to crash into the Willow.
	+ The same chapter confirms that J.K. Rowling already had in mind the idea that Merpeople's appearance varied with water temperatures. This is confirmed by the last lines of Ron who mentions that perhaps in the warmer waters there could have been the pretty mermaids of the books, probably referring to the sirens.
* In some languages, the terms "mermaid" and "siren" are indistinguishable. For this reason, in some translations of the Harry Potter books, there is confusion between the mermaids (the females of the merpeople) and the sirens (the most beautiful races of the merpeople ).
* African mermaid hair is a magical substance used as a wand core. In an interview with Jessica Williams (who portrays Eulalie Hicks, the one who owns one of these wands), this type of wand core is referred to as a seeming homage to Mami Wata, a mythological African water spirit.
	+ Mami Wata (Mammy Water), or La Sirene, is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male. Mami Wata is often described as a mermaid-like figure, with a woman's upper body (often nude) and the hindquarters of a fish or serpent. In other tales, Mami Wata is fully human in appearance (though never human).

"*The oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens (Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaids more frequently depicted in Muggle literature and painting.*"
— Newton Scamander, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*[src]

The **sirens** were the earliest recorded race of merpeople. They lived in Greece. Like most merpeople that live in warm water, sirens were exceptionally beautiful as compared to colder water merpeople like selkies and Merrows. It is believed that these merpeople used their singing voices to lure unwary sailors into the water like in Muggle legend.

## Contents

* 1History
* 2Behind the scenes
* 3Appearances
* 4Notes and references

## History

A siren appeared in a portrait in the Prefects' bathroom on the Fifth Floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry inside Hogwarts Castle. It appeared to help the Triwizard Champions chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament in 1994, namely Cedric Diggory.

## Behind the scenes

* In mythology, the sirens were island-dwelling maidens that sung beautiful songs to travelling mariners to lure them into sailing closer and crashing on the treacherous rocks around their island homes.
	+ In the original myths, siren were half-woman and half-bird creatures, similar to a harpies. Despite the depiction similar to that of a harpy, over time the siren has undergone various interpretations that portrayed her as a mermaid-like creature or as a sea-nymph.
* In the film adaptation (or only in the magic stained glass window in the prefects' bathroom) the Sirens have a physiology inspired by sturgeons like the Selkies, even if they look more pretty than the latter. The hair is ginger coloured, compared to books which are blonde. Their tail is bright light green in colour and the skin is pale-white.

"*The oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens (Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaids more frequently depicted in Muggle literature and painting. The Selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland are less beautiful, but they share that love of music which is common to all merpeople.*"
— Newton Scamander, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*[src]

**Selkies** were Scottish merpeople, generally considered less beautiful than their warmer-water counterparts, and comparable to the Merrows of Ireland. Notable selkies included the Black Lake Merpeople colony.

## Behind the scenes

* Selkies are creatures appearing in Faroese, Icelandic, Scottish, and Irish myths. They live in the seas as seals, but shed their skin to come on land, often dancing and singing. The most common theme in myths with selkies is humans falling in love with them and stealing their seal skin in order to force the selkie to marry them. Such legends usually end with the selkie learning of where its skin is hidden, often inadvertently, and returning to the sea, regardless of their own feelings towards their human spouse and any children.
* For the film adaptation of the Selkies, the concept artists drew on the anatomy of the sturgeon for the animal side of the Selkies. Also, for the hair of the Selkies they were inspired by sea anemones. The Selkies from the films don't wear pebble necklaces like they do in the books. Their colour scheme also changes, in the books their appearance varied but most of the Merpeople had grey skin and dark green hair, in the films they have grey pale skin and yellow-orange hair .
	+ In the films we only see female Selkies, unlike in books where we also see males. Despite this, A concept art shows that initially there were supposed to be male Selkies, but then they were discarded for (probably) budget reasons.
* Harry and Ron were originally supposed to meet Selkie Mermaids in Black Lake in a discarded chapter for *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*. One Mermaid in particular was described as a woman with a cloud of hair of the deepest black tangled like seaweed floating around her. Her tail was large, scaly gunmetal fishtail; around her neck she wore ropes of coils and pebbles; her skin was a pale silvery grey and her eyes blazed in the headlights, dark and menacing.[*citation needed*]

"*The oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens (Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaids more frequently depicted in Muggle literature and painting. The Selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland are less beautiful, but they share that love of music which is common to all merpeople.*"
— Newton Scamander, *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*[src]

**Merrows** were Irish merpeople, generally considered less beautiful than their warmer-water counterparts, and comparable to the selkies of Scotland.

## Contents

* 1Physical description
* 2Behind the scenes
* 3Appearances
* 4Notes and references

## Physical description

Merrows were described as less beautiful than other forms of merpeople; rather taking a more humanoid, fish-like attribute.

## Behind the scenes

* Merrow is the Gaelic equivalent of the mermaids found in the mythologies of other European cultures.
	+ Merrows are the only Merpeople who come closest to their folkloric counterparts. In fact, the Sirens aren't half-bird hybrid maidens like in Greek mythology and the Selkies are not seal shifters maidens like in Scottish legends. The Merrows have a fish-like physiognomy, with the only difference that in the stories it was only the Mermans who were warlike, instead in the Wizarding World universe even the Mermaids Merrow share this characteristic.
* The Merrows are the only Merpeople who do not appear anywhere in the books (or films) dedicated to the Wizarding World. The only exception is Newton Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book, where they make their debut.