Summary
Hogwarts Wizarding World has the rare ability as a franchise to capture the hearts and minds of all ages and the 2023 release ofHogwarts Legacycould not have been more highly anticipated. New fifth-year witches and wizards choose their own path and handle the awesome responsibility of ancient magic as they choose, all within the open-world backdrop of Hogwarts,the iconic Hogsmeade, and surrounding wizarding villages.
Wonderfully, there are numerous characters in this timeframe who have direct, and oft-stated, connections to prominent wizarding families and professors to link forward to Harry’s timeline. Not only that but there is a whole host of engaging and intriguing background characters who most definitely deserve their thirty seconds in the spotlight.
8Gerbold Ollivander
The Wand Chooses The Wizard
No family is as well-respected, nor admired, in the entire Wizarding World than the Ollivanders and inHogwarts Legacy, players let ‘the wand choose the wizard’ early on in the game. The main quest ‘Hogsmeade Village Visit’ tasks players with heading to Ollivanders and customizing their own wand, picking its level of flexibility, core, and type of wood. Gerbold Ollivander is a pure-blood wizard who was the grandfather of the famous Garrick Ollivander in the Harry Potter timeline. Gerbold’s son, Gervaise Ollivander, married a muggle-born witch who he quickly became utterly besotted with after she came to him for a new wand.
Gerbold was the originator of the belief, which all subsequent Ollivanders shared, that it is impossible to get the best of any witch or wizard whose wand is made from cedar wood. Gerbold also firmly believed that anyone who waschosen by a wandwith fir would be saved, as many times as necessary, from mortal peril whereas other wand-carriers with different woods would never survive.
7Eldritch Diggory
A Pioneer of Aurors
Eldritch Diggory’s portrait hangs inside the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and players can interact with him should they be sorted intoHufflepuff houseat the beginning of their game. Eldritch used to be the Minister of Magic, wielded a wand made from poplar tree, and was the very first Minister to introduce and fully support the Auror Recruitment Programme.
The descendants of Eldritch, his son Amos, and his grandson Cedric, are featured prominently in the Harry Potter timeline. Somewhat intriguingly, the name ‘Eldritch’ means of supernatural or alien origin.
6Poppy Sweeting
Gerald’s Biggest Fan
No character in Hogwarts Legacy adores and cares for beasts like Poppy Sweeting. Poppy is a kind and quiet Hufflepuff student who has an incredibly unique affinity and connection with the myriadbeasts players encounterinHogwarts Legacy.The core reason behind Poppy’s intense love for beasts is that her parents, Violet and Angus, were notorious poachers. Poppy grew up in various poacher camps and as such, developed a supreme hatred for the abuse and suffering wizardkind inflicted on defenseless beasts.
Even though Poppy Sweeting is involved, in some capacity, in various quests, the player is always the one in control and leading each expedition. Poppy is, however, the one who initially helps players learn how to groom and feed magical creatures and introduces them to their first Hippogriff. If you listen carefully, during the walk to Hogsmeade for the first time with either Sebastian or Natsai, a group of Hogwarts students spot Hippogriffs in the sky and comment that Poppy will no doubt also be present.
5Nerida Roberts
The One Connection To The Merpeople
Hogwarts Legacyplayers encounter Nerida Roberts if they choose to help her quest to retrieve the gift she has been bestowed by the Merpeople, aMermaid Artefact.
Unfortunately, players do not get to meet any members of the Merpeople community in the game. However, there are several references to them, namely the moving statue display in the Central Hall and arguably, in the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Nerida, then, serves as the only connection between the player and the underwater world of Mermaids and Mermen and many have expressed disappointment that more is not shown of this fascinating race.
4Aesop Sharp
Enigmatic Potions Professor
Professor Aesop Sharp is a true enigma. Without his help in thefinal battle against Ranrok, the fighter troll would definitely get the better of even the most adaptable and skilled player. Before Professor Sharp became Potions Master during the timeHogwarts Legacywas set, he worked in the Ministry of Magic as an esteemed auror. This change in career was entirely instigated by a failed assignment whereby Sharp suffered a serious leg injury and his partner was killed by dark magic.
A humble and endlessly brilliant man, Aesop Sharp fights two fighter trolls together with Eleazar Fig (RIP) in the Keeper’s Caverns during the final battle and keeps on defending wizarding kind until Ranrok is eventually vanquished.
3Chiyo Kogawa
Accomplished Flying Instructor
Simultaneously impressed and professionally more than a little displeased with the player after a wayward flying lesson. Professor Kogawa is a determined and strict flying teacher, reminiscent of Madame Hooch. Trust and honor are the two rules Kogawa lives by every day and after having served her time in the Japanese Ministry of Magic, she commenced her teaching at Hogwarts.
The lack of Quidditch games and quests inHogwarts Legacyis infamous and, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek move, Kogawa stands up for the players' annoyance and protests Quidditch’s cancelation. Professor Kogawa is an extremely accomplished flying instructor and treats her brooms with respect, even talking to them and thanking them for their compliance.
2Garreth Weasley
Red-Haired Potions Major
The Weasley family is easily the most-loved family in the Harry Potter timeline and inside the lore ofHogwarts Legacy, players get to meet not one but two Weasley members:Professor Weasleyand Garreth.
Players will encounter Garreth first inside the Potions Classroom. In the same way as Fred and George Weasley always loved to bend the rules, Garreth tries to corrupt the player by stealing a fwooper feather to aid his secret experiment. Nephew to Professor Matilda Weasley, Garreth quickly developed an obsessive interest in potions, and his red hair and cheeky attitude bear many resemblances to the Weasleys in the Harry Potter timeline.
1Dinah Hecat
Not At All What She Appears
Professor Dinah Hecat is an exceedingly knowledgeable and talentedDefense Against the Dark Artsaficionado. As the events inHogwarts Legacytake place before the reign of Lord Voldemort, it is assumed that she is able to hold her posting longer than the cursed one year.
Born in 1847, Dinah Hecat is easily the most philosophical character inHogwarts Legacy.During her time working in the Department of Mysteries as a mysterious Unspeakable, the personification of time itself aged her body considerably. Even though Hecat appears to players as an elderly and infirm woman, she is actually much, much younger.
