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In spite of the fact that Georgia weather in February is certainly not the place for anything but cold weather, Thestrals are visiting South Gwinnett Myriad this winter. And these Thestrals are not the insect kind. For our readers who do not read the Harry Potter books, Thestrals are a type of winged horse from the fictional book and movie series: Harry Potter. They are very rare and carnivorous. To most people in this series, these creatures are invisible. Thestrals are said to mainly live in Europe. Specifically, their habitat included the British Isles and Ireland. In the books, they were also mentioned to have lived in areas of France. Thestrals prefer living in naturally dark environments such as forests.
When someone looks at a Thestral, usually their first thought is “Oh no.” Thestrals are thought of as sinister because they look very eerie. People also think about death when these horses are mentioned. Since the only people able to see them are those who have witnessed death, associating Thestrals with death is reasonable. Because of their anatomy, they can be lured by the scent of blood. At the same time, these critters are seen as signs of bad luck and even carry qualities of aggression. Thestrals’ bad reputation has caused the British Ministry of Magic to consider them to be dangerous. However, they are not at all like some characters believe in the Harry Potter books. Instead of aggression, they are actually very gentle. Some characters even believed Thestrals to be kind. They are not threatening to humans at all. Unsurprisingly enough, they are very clever creatures. Thestrals have a really interesting way of communicating. They use loud, odd, and high-pitched shrieking to communicate with each other.
After knowing what they look like, people’s initial thoughts on Thestrals seem reasonable. They have sharp fangs for seizing and slashing through their prey. Their heads are shaped like dragons’ heads. If someone looked into their unblinking eyes, all they would see is white. Thestrals also seem to have no muscles at all. Their smooth, skin sticks to the bones making them look like giant, black-covered skeletons. The skin is smooth, dark and a bit slippery to the touch. Their wings are stripped of feathers and look more like bat wings than bird wings. Thestrals have a lot of reptilian features, however, they still have horse-like features as well. Harry Potter, the books and the movies portray them to be about the size of draft horses or bigger with typically long manes. Depending on the particular Thestral, they may have long tails with either long flowing hair or a short nub of hair on the end. Even though their appearance gives many a heart attack, their first mentioning in the books was more factually based than fear-based.
In the stories, the first mentioning of these beasts was by Professor Wilhelmina Grubby-Plank. She mentioned them after Hedwig was found injured since Thestrals do eat birds. Harry was eventually able to see them in the year 1995. He could see them because he finally came to terms with his witnessing of the death of Cedric Diggory. Thestrals have been influencing the Harry Potter story even before Harry could actually see them, and they continued to do so long after. For one thing, these animals hold connections with wizards that descended from horse-loving Celtic Peoples. A herd, or flock, of Thestrals are used to carry Students from Hogsmeade station to the entrance of Hogwarts. The Order of Phoenix made use of them as well when they impersonated Harry Potter. On the other side of things, Thestrals were seen fighting Voldemort’s giants in the Battle of Hogwarts.
Now to wrap everything up: some insight into the author herself. For one thing, the author managed to come up with Harry Potter because of a stalled train she rode in the early 1990s. Something everyone probably knows is that J.K. Rowling is from the United Kingdom. She’s also someone in the Generation-X who grew up around books themselves. When she wasn’t writing Harry Potter, she wrote stories under the name Robert Galbraith. From the thorough description of their behavior, looks, and stereotypes, we can all keep a lookout for them this winter.
Sources:
Rowling, J K. “Thestrals.” Wizarding World, J. K. Rowling, https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/thestrals.
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