Cadmus Peverell

**Cadmus Peverell** (4 December 1210 - 13 September 1261) was a pure-blood wizard, the middle of the Peverell brothers. Cadmus, like his brothers, was skilled in the magical arts, but personally was described as being an "arrogant man". Cadmus and his brothers were the inspiration for the *The Tale of the Three Brothers* and thus the original masters of the Deathly Hallows. Cadmus was said to have possessed the Resurrection Stone, though the exact circumstances of this are unknown.

## Biography

### Early life

Early in his life, Cadmus married Honora Gard, with whom he fathered a son, Maximus Peverell. Honora, however, died during childbirth, leaving Cadmus heartbroken. Years later, he fell in love with a woman, and the two were engaged to be married. However, she died before this union could take place.

### Meeting Death

In *The Tale of the Three Brothers*, Cadmus was walking along a lonely, winding road one night with his two brothers. The trio reached a river too wide to cross under normal means, and conjured a bridge to cross it. At this, Death appeared before them, angry that they had so easily crossed a river that many usually died on while crossing. However, he pretended to be impressed, and offered each brother a gift. Cadmus, seeking to further humiliate Death, requested a stone that would have the power to bring the dead back to life, which Death provided for him.

An alternative and more logical version of this story proposed by Albus Dumbledore was that Cadmus was merely a very skilled wizard who had created the Resurrection Stone himself.

### Using the Resurrection Stone and death

Regardless of how the Resurrection Stone was created, Cadmus returned to his home with it and used it to revive his dead lover. However, he soon found she had not been truly revived; she appeared sad and cold, and he felt as if a veil still separated them. Driven mad with longing, Cadmus committed suicide so as to truly be reunited with his lost love.

### Post-mortem

Cadmus apparently fostered an heir before his death, as the Gaunt family were direct descendants of Cadmus.

Following his death, Cadmus was laid to rest in the churchyard by the Parish Church of St. Clementine, in Godric's Hollow, along with his brothers Antioch and Ignotus.

The Resurrection Stone would go on to be set into a ring, which would be passed down through the Gaunt family, and eventually be turned into a Horcrux by Tom Riddle II, a distant descendant of Cadmus.

After the ring's destruction, the stone was given to Reign Black another descendant of Cadmus. As of 2021, the stone remains in the Black family, located in the family manor.

## Personality and traits

According to Beedle the Bard, Cadmus was arrogant as when offered a gift by Death, he chose an object that he believed would further humiliate Death. He was also incredibly devoted to his fiancée even after she died, as he tried to use the Resurrection Stone to bring her back to life, and eventually killed himself to be with her.

According to Reign Black, a descendant of his, Cadmus was a "noble and admirable" man. Reign has stated that it was his devotion to his fiancée that led him to choose the Resurrection Stone as a gift. That it was in fact not to further humiliate Death. She stated that it is because of his noble personality that the spirits summoned by the Resurrection Stone are capable of protecting its users from Dark creatures' influence.

Reign explained to Harry Potter that his respect for his brothers is the reason the symbols of his brothers' specific creations (the Elder Wand and the Cloak of Invisibility) along with his own creation are etched into the stone.

## Magical abilities and skills

* **Transfiguration**: Cadmus, along with his two brothers, was capable of creating a long and stable bridge out of thin air. This was Conjuration and is a very difficult branch of magic.
* **Owner of the Resurrection Stone**: Cadmus was the first owner of the Resurrection Stone which would later become one of the famous Deathly Hallows. Cadmus used the stone effectively but was overly dependent of it, letting its powers bring about his own death.
* **Magical manufacturer**: Cadmus created the Resurrection Stone.

## Etymology

The name Cadmus may have been taken from the legendary ancient Greek Cadmus, founder of the city of Thebes. In the myth, he marries the minor goddess Harmonia, the daughter of Ares. Harmonia later comes into possession of a beautiful necklace, but this item in truth is cursed and causes great pain among Cadmus's descendants (a possible allegory for the Resurrection Stone, the cause of Cadmus Peverell's death as well as the object of a curse many years later or to the Opal Opal Necklace in Borgin and Burkes).

Also worth noting that, in Greek Myth Cadmus created life by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth. This is somewhat ironic when one considers that, the Resurrection Stone he was given (or created himself), brings back the dead (thus "creating life" in a manner of speaking), and the final fate of the stone is to be buried in the earth and lost.

## Credits

All rights to this character belong to JK Rowling (or whomever you give credit to for the Harry Potter Universe). However, I (MidgardianofAsgard) created some of the information in this page myself.