Although the witches and wizards we encounter across the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at 11 years old, Harry grew up thinking he was just a regular Muggle, as his mean-spirited aunt and uncle kept his true nature a secret.
Without much understanding of the wizarding world, Harry first considered his ability to speak Parseltongue just part and parcel of being a wizard, and was surprised to see how much his fluency shocked those around him. As a magical language that’s primarily associated with the biggest twist in the entire Harry Potter franchise.
What Exactly Is A Parseltongue In Harry Potter?
Parseltongue Is The Language Of Snakes
Parseltongue is the ability to speak with snakes, and although it was one of the first pieces of magic we ever saw Harry utilize in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, this ability was actually a rarity in the wizarding world. While Hogwarts students regularly studied topics like transfiguration, charms, and potions, the ability to speak to snakes was not a standard curriculum topic. Through hissing sounds that mimicked the language of serpents, only the speaker and the snake can understand what’s being said when a wizard is communicating using Parseltongue.
While Parseltongue is known as the language of snakes, it can also be used to communicate with other magical serpentine creatures, like the Runespoor and Basilisk.
As an uncommon skill set that’s almost exclusively hereditary, nearly all known Parselmouths were descended from the House of Slytherin founder, Salazar Slytherin, with Harry being a notable exception. Not only does Parseltongue allow its speakers to communicate and understand snakes, but its s also appear to be able to influence the will of serpents. To communicate in Parseltongue, s often have to face a snake or a snake-based object like a carving.
How Harry Potter Is A Parseltongue
Harry’s Ability Hints At His Connection To Voldemort
While Parseltongue is traditionally ed down from one generation to the next, Harry Potter was an unusual example of a wizard without any snake-speaking ancestors inexplicably being able to converse in the language. This was because Harry’s ability was an accidental consequence of the Avada Kedavra curse that Voldemort used to try to kill Harry when he was just a baby. Due to the love of Harry’s mother, Lily, this spell failed, and a fragment of Voldemort’s soul latched onto Harry, who became an unintended Horcrux.
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With Harry and Voldemort now intrinsically linked in ways neither could have imagined, Harry inherited Voldemort’s Parseltongue ability. There was a piece of Voldemort within Harry during all his years studying at Hogwarts, and it was for this reason that the Sorting Hat sensed his potential as a Slytherin before accepting his request to be put into the House of Gryffindor. With Voldemort being a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, it’s not surprising that Harry unwittingly also gained the ability to speak Parseltongue. After finally defeating Voldemort in The Deathly Hallows, Harry lost his ability to speak to snakes.
Other Harry Potter Characters Who Have Spoken To Snakes
It’s Not Just Parseltongues Who Have Communicated With Snakes
There have been several confirmed Parseltongues within Harry Potter, such as the infamous Herpo the Foul, the ancient Greek wizard who created the Basilisk and was the first known creator of a Horcrux. The Slytherin-descended Gaunt family that Harry encountered through Pensieve’s memories, like Marvolo, his son Morfin, and daughter Merope, were all also known to have been Parseltongues. With Merope being the mother of Tom Riddle, these family lines highlight a direct link to Voldemort and Harry’s Parseltongue abilities.
Ginny was possessed by Tom Riddle’s diary, and this connection to one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes temporarily gave her the ability to speak Parseltongue.
However, it was not just Parseltongue who spoke with snakes in Harry Potter, as both Ginny and Ron Weasley interacted with serpents under exceptional circumstances. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny was possessed by Tom Riddle’s diary, and this connection to one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes temporarily gave her the ability to speak Parseltongue and open the Chamber of Secrets. After some failed attempts, Ron also repeated a fragment of Parseltongue he heard Harry speaking verbatim, and this allowed him to open Salazar Slytherin's Locket.
The Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander also hinted that there are likely Parseltongues out there who were completely unrelated to Salazar Slytherin. Newt wrote that information about the three-headed snakes known as Runespoors was based on the writings of African Parselmouths who likely had no connection to any of the confirmed speakers in Harry Potter.
Why Parseltongues Are Associated With Dark Wizards
Parseltongues Have A Bad Reputation In The Wizarding World
Based on its s alone, it’s clear why Parseltongues are so heavily associated with dark wizards. Through a mix of history, fear, and bloodline associations, much of the wizarding world was already wary of Parseltongue even before Lord Voldemort thrust the magical world into chaos during the First Wizarding War. As a mostly inherited ability, the rarity of Parseltongues also echoed the prejudicial and exclusionary views of many dark wizards, who believed in pure-blood supremacy and the persecution of Muggles, squibs, and Muggle-born witches and wizards.
"Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic and are historically associated with evildoers."
An anonymous member of the Dark Force Defence League once stated when asked regarding the matter by Rita Skeeter (via Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 31: “The Third Task”.)
However, Dumbledore did point out that Parseltongues were counted among the great and good of the wizarding world, although the prejudices of Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge were clear when he said of Harry, “The boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?”
With Harry as a notable exception, the use of Parseltongue has traditionally been associated with the Dark Arts, and practitioners like Voldemort with his sinister snake Nagini only further entrenched the belief that those who speak with snakes were not to be trusted. While Harry Potter was full of fascinating uses of magic, the ability to speak in Parseltongue stands among the most intriguing and misunderstood, as talking to snakes in and of itself should not automatically label someone a dark wizard.
- Created by
- J.K. Rowling
- First Film
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- First TV Show
- Harry Potter
- Cast
- Mads Mikkelsen
- TV Show(s)
- Harry Potter
- Movie(s)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
