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Writer's pictureJohn Brewster

Known No-Maj(es): A Conquering Magical Prince

Updated: Nov 26, 2020

The one thing about magical bloodlines and the magical comminutes is that there is a certainty of Pure-Bloods, Half, non-magical (Muggles/No-Majes/Non-Magique), and Squibs. But out of every certainty, there is also the certainty that not one person is in fact a Prince.


When Hermionie asked Lupin about Princes in regarding the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, Lupin says straight out that there are no Princes who are of magical blood. Turns out that the Prince was in fact a name, Snape's name that is of him and his mother Eileen, the librarian herself, Eileen Prince.


In the first novel, in Professor Quirrel's class, he spoke about his confrontations with Zombies when an African Prince asked him for help. Given there are not actual royal princes who are of magical blood, that is what Lupin meant, then who is Quirrel referring to?


At the moment, when he told of this story, when asked how he defeated it he kept mum about it. So he may not have encountered a prince or a zombie. But the subject of a question in answering who this African prince is is the indication of Zombies. The professor was traveling the world when he encountered them, meaning the event is not in Europe. Take into account that Zombies are not part of the European Lore, where was he located?


He spoke about how he went to help this person from the dead as why he was hired, but Quirrel was being bullied for the reason why they came back from the dead was the prince himself for the rose them. He was bullying him. When Quirrel was in school he often bullied as well. Another note is he is an "African" prince, which means he hails from Africa. That along with Zombies... the incident would have taken place in North America and in the United States. Zombies are part of that nation's lore. Zombies are not the Inferi. Zombies are part of the Haitian lore and Haitians are in the southern states of America. A largely African territory, voodoo is often practiced.


From Pottermore: "zombies are not part of the British folklore (and, as such, would not be something a wizard would come across in Britain); secondly, there are some traditions that have it that the sorcerer that created the zombies uses their souls (or part of their souls) to sustain himself (Rowling wanted to distance herself from this, since it could potentially have implications in her Horcrux story); lastly, and perhaps more importantly, zombies have been such a big part of horror films and other media, that they had several associations that she did not see fit."


So the question remains who is this prince? Just because they aren't princes in Europe, doesn't mean there aren't any elsewhere. It could very well be different in Africa.


In the lore of the United States, there is one such prince that fits the description. A folk hero, an African Prince who was sold as a slave, his name is High John the Conquerer. John was a trickster who played tricks with his masters. To put this with Quirrel, the prince was playing tricks with him by constantly raising the dead. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore_of_the_United_States#Based_on_historical_figures)


Many stories regarding him including one were he fell in love with the daughter of Satan, Lilith. He had a task to cut 60 acres of land and grow corn. The Devil, however, was going to kill him and he and the Devil's Daughter stole the Devil's horses and flee by shapeshifting. It seems shapeshifting int anything from animals to plants. ( https://blog.luckshop.com/story-high-john-conqueror/)

"Whenever the powers should be needed you can summon them by picking up the root and evoking his name, High John the Conqueror!"


In the world of harry potter, the resurrection of zombies is one such tale. The information regarding this makes it the only piece in the series to make reference to a wizarding American society. Furthermore, this is an account that there is an actual prince who is of magical blood. Still, one can't say his story is true, and also it might not be in the United States as that ties to Africa as a point of origin from interest. Africa, in theory, is where magic was born.


The title is given to plants, a root. from wikia: "The root known as High John the Conqueror or John the Conqueror root is said to be the root of Ipomoea jalapa, also known as Ipomoea purga, an Ipomoea species related to the morning glory and the sweet potato. The plant is known in some areas as bindweed or jalap root. It has a pleasant, earthy odor, but it is a strong laxative if taken internally. It is not used for this purpose in folk magic; it is instead used as one of the parts of a mojo bag. It is typically used in sexual spells of various sorts and it is also considered lucky for gambling. It is likely that the root acquired its sexual magical reputation because, when dried, it resembles the testicles of a dark-skinned man. Because of this, when it is employed as an amulet, it is important that the root used be whole and unblemished. Dried pieces and chips of the root are used in formulating oils and washes that are used in other sorts of spells."


Maybe the folklore of the person was born of this plant but the person in the wizarding world was a trickster wizard.

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