Basilisk (Harry Potter)

> Of the many fearsome ***beast***s and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.
>
> *Most Macabre Monstrosities*, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The **Basilisk** was a giant serpent, also known as the **King of Serpents**. It was a magical ***beast*** that was usually bred by Dark wizards. ***Herpo the Foul*** was the first to breed a Basilisk. Herpo accomplished this by hatching a ***chicken*** ***egg*** beneath a ***toad*** which resulted in the ***creature*** known as a Basilisk.Template:Creature
Basilisk breeding was banned in Medieval times, a regulation that has not changed. The practice could be hidden when the ***Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures*** came to check by simply removing the egg from the toad.
Looking a Basilisk directly in the eye caused instant death, but an indirect look would merely render the victim Petrified. It was also the mortal enemy of ***spider***s. Spiders refused to speak of the Basilisk, could intuitively sense their presence, and would flee whenever they sensed them.
The Basilisk had a classification as an XXXXX creature, meaning it was a known wizard-killer that couldn't be domesticated due to its immense powers. However, since the Basilisk was still a serpent, a Parselmouth might communicate with it and potentially place the creature under their influence.
This obedience depended on the relationship between the Basilisk and the Parselmouth. Tom Riddle was the only one who could command Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, while Harry Potter had no control over her, as he had been warned.

## Nature

### Physical appearance

> The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.
>
> Description of the snake skin, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:Chamber-of-secrets-basilisk skin.jpg
The Basilisk could grow up to fifty feet in length, were a dark green or a colour with a lighter green underbelly. They also possessed rows of incredibly sharp poisonous fangs and large yellow eyes. These eyes had the power to instantly kill anyone who looked into them.
Basilisk skin was armoured like that of a ***dragon***'s, which deflected spells cast upon it. For example, Stunning Spells would have no effect on the deadly beast. The Basilisk shed its skin at intervals, like all other snakes, when it grew.

### Ecology

 File:Slytherin's Basilisk.jpg
Basilisks could live a natural life of at least nine hundred years, though Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lived for approximately a thousand years. This was accomplished by using Parseltongue to put the creature into a deep sleep that prevented it from ageing, similar to suspended animation.
Their mortal weakness was the crowing of a ***rooster***. Basilisks fed off vertebrate animals, but it is unknown how much they ate at one time. The Serpent of Slytherin survived on rats. The male could be distinguished from the female by a single scarlet plume on its head.
A ***Basilisk egg*** was the egg of said creature. They were chicken eggs hatched beneath a toad, thus creating the deadly King of Serpents. It is unknown if a Basilisk could lay live eggs of its own.

### Abilities

#### Deadly gaze

When a live victim looked directly into the Basilisk's eyes, it resulted in instant death, making it even more dangerous than an ***Acromantula***. Although looking at the eyes through camera lens or a ghost's transparent body would dampen the lethal effects, looking through a pair of glasses did not offer the same protection, because glasses still allowed one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes.

Myrtle Warren was such an unfortunate person, as her wearing glasses did not save her from death when she looked directly at the Serpent of Slytherin's eyes.
Ghosts could look directly into the serpent's eyes without suffering death, as the dead couldn't die again; however, they would suffer Petrification. Should a camera be reflected onto the serpent's eyes, the lens and film would be melted. A phoenix was immune to the Basilisk's gaze, whether directly or not, as the ***bird*** is immortal.
If the Basilisk's eyes were damaged (thus rendering it blind), it took away the lethal ability as well.

#### Petrification

Main article: Petrification

> Dark Magic of the most advanced kind.
>
> Albus Dumbledore regarding Petrification, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

   When a victim looked indirectly at the Basilisk's eyes, such as its reflection, they would merely become Petrified, similar to the stare of a Gorgon. This was the case with Hermione Granger, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Colin Creevey, Nearly Headless Nick and Filch's cat, Mrs Norris. Myrtle Warren (commonly known as Moaning Myrtle) was not so fortunate and looked directly into the Basilisk's eyes, which resulted in her immediate death.

 File:Justin petrified COS 1.jpg  A way of surviving a Basilisk's gaze was by seeing it through another object. An example mentioned above was when Colin Creevey saw it through his camera, resulting in his Petrification and his camera lens becoming melted. Justin Finch-Fletchley saw the Basilisk through the translucent ghost Nearly Headless Nick, and was Petrified. The already deceased Sir Nicholas became Petrified as well, although he did look at the beast's eyes directly.
Hermione Granger was Petrified, while gathering information on the Basilisk. She discovered she was the monster in the Chamber of Secrets and that the serpent travelled through the pipes in the school. Hermione was Petrified after seeing the Basilisks' eyes in a hand mirror.
Petrification seemed quite powerful, as the legendary Albus Dumbledore concluded that the only way to reverse the effect was through the use of the ***Mandrake Restorative Draught***. ***Spider***s were terrified of Basilisks, described them as their enemy and fled before them. Spiders (such as the ***Acromantula***) also refused to even speak of it or mention its name. Rubeus Hagrid asked Aragog "many times" to name the monster, but Aragog refused to say her name, or even speak of her.

#### Basilisk venom

Main article: Basilisk venom
Template:Dialogue a-b

   Though its eye gaze alone could potentially kill its victims, basilisk venom was an extremely poisonous substance that only had one known antidote: phoenix tears. Basilisk venom was so powerful that it could kill a person within minutes, making the person drowsy and blurry-visioned before they died. It had a very long lasting effect which still remained potent even up to five years or more after the snake had died.
It could also damage inanimate objects so thoroughly that they were impossible to restore, and thus it was one of the few substances powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux.
When Harry Potter slew the Serpent of Slytherin with the Sword of Gryffindor in 1992, the sword became imbued with the Basilisk's venom, giving it the ability to destroy a Horcrux. However, the venom was not poisonous simply by touching it. When Ron Weasley extracted a Basilisk fang with his bare hands in the Chamber, he did not die.

## Within the wizarding world

Basilisk breeding was banned in **Medieval** times. The ***British Ministry of Magic*** had said that all chicken coops in the wizarding world were subject to police inspection in order to thwart Basilisk breeding. However, the ban was quite easy to evade, by simply removing the egg from underneath the toad whenever the ***Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures*** came to check. A more natural and effective limit on breeding was the simple fact that the creatures were uncontrollable except by Parselmouths, and therefore every bit as dangerous to Dark wizards as to other wizards and Muggles. For this reason, the serpents remained mercifully rare; in fact, until the incident in 1943 described below, there had been no confirmed reports of Basilisks in Britain since the ***16th century***.
Salazar Slytherin was responsible for the construction of the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts dungeons. It was specifically created for the purpose of purging the school of all ***Muggle-born*** students. The Chamber contained a Basilisk, which could be controlled only by his own true heir, and use her to rid the school of all those he considered unworthy to study magic. In 1943, when heir Tom Marvolo Riddle opened the Chamber he used the Basilisk to attack Muggle-borns.
In the late ***19th century***, a ***Cornish wizard*** was suspected of Basilisk breeding by the ***Wizengamot***, after inspectors from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures found ***toad*** infestations in all five of his chicken coops.
The Basilisk actually killed one girl by the name of Myrtle Warren. In 1993, Riddle opened the Chamber again, through the use of one of his seven Horcruxes. Using the bit of his soul encompassed by the diary, he took partial control of Ginny Weasley. While she was not entirely aware of it, he forced her to do his bidding, which included writing frightening messages on the walls and strangling the school's roosters. During this second opening of the Chamber, numerous Muggle-borns were Petrified. They were petrified due to catching a glimpse of the Basilisk's reflection.

Riddle's ultimate goal was to lure Harry Potter into the Chamber and kill him. Harry Potter ultimately slayed Slytherin's Basilisk by stabbing her through the roof of the mouth with the Sword of Gryffindor. The sword came out of the Sorting Hat, which had magically appeared in front of him. The hat was originally delivered to him by Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. The sword was then impregnated with Basilisk venom.

## Etymology

The Ancient Greek *basil(eus)* means "king", with the suffix *-iskos* being a diminutive, the whole having the sense of "princeling" or the like, purportedly for the crown-like white spot on its head.

## Behind the scenes

 File:Basilisk Pop.jpg
* The Basilisk is often confused with the ***cockatrice***, but the Basilisk is born from a chicken's egg hatched beneath a toad, while the cockatrice is hatched by a chicken's egg incubated by a serpent. The cockatrice is also usually depicted with wings, while the Basilisk is not. Due to this, it can be assumed that J.K. Rowling either had the two confused, or decided to combine the two. A cockatrice is the product of an egg laid by a cock (a male chicken) and incubated by a toad or a snake, can kill by looking at a person, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them, and was slain instantly by a rooster's crow.
* Although an average Basilisk is said to have an average lifespan of 900 years Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lived for approximately 1000 years, being there since Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets around that time.
* Wearing glasses will not protect a person from the fatal effect of the Basilisk's stare, because glasses still allow one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes, unlike looking in a mirror or through a camera.
* It has been theorised that spiders fear Basilisks because arachnids can see nearly 360-degrees around them and cannot shut their eyes, leaving them extremely vulnerable to the monster's killing gaze. However, this theory does not explain why other species, such as frogs and dragonflies, are not similarly described as fearing the Basilisk, since their vision also nears 360-degrees.
* In Template:COS, Harry watches the Basilisk by its shadow on the floor.
* It is unknown why there are male and female Basilisks, as they are produced by a chicken's egg hatched by a toad. However, it's possible that Basilisks are capable of reproduction as Moody had a present that "he thought was a well-disguised Basilisk egg", suggesting that Basilisks can lay eggs.
* Despite written physical descriptions and imagery, it appears Basilisks can grow horns (like its distant American relative the Horned Serpent; but seems to have shared a trait with European horned serpents of mythology, i.e. Template:W).
* Quite ironically, the way of hatching a Basilisk - in the nest of a chicken - is also fatal to a Basilisk if there is a rooster around, which there would be if the chickens are used for breeding.
* As described by Pliny the Elder, Basilisks don't get very large: only the length of "twelve fingers". However, in nature, snakes don't stop growing until they die, so it could explain why a Basilisk, which can live over 900 years, would get so huge.
* In addition to a rooster's crow, the smell of a weasel is also unbearable and practically fatal to a Basilisk in mythology.
* In mythology, it's said that a Basilisk can actually kill itself by looking at its own reflection.

## Appearances

Template:Imagecat

* Template:COS Template:1st
* *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* (film) Template:Mention Template:Flashback Template:C
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1* Template:Mention
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2* Template:C

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist
Template:Creatures-By-Classification

## See also

* Serpent of Slytherin
* Chamber of Secrets
* Salazar Slytherin
* Basilisk venom
* Tom Riddle
* Parseltongue
* Dark Arts
* Petrification

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Template:COS
2. ↑ Template:COS
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Template:COS
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 [1]16 July, 2005 press conference at Accio Quote!
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:COS
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Template:COS
7. ↑ Template:COS
8. ↑ Template:See image