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Blood purity is a central concept in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling. Wizards who have four magical grandparents are known as pure-blood; those who have one or more Muggle (non-magical) grandparents are known as half-blood. Those with two Muggle parents are known as Muggle-born, or, pejoratively, as "Mudblood". Among pure-blooded families, a division exists between those who accept and appreciate those of mixed or Muggle parentage, such as the Weasley family, and those who consider such people inferior, such as the Malfoy and Gaunt families. A blood traitor is a derogatory term employed by the latter group for a pure-blood who fails to maintain the proper prejudices against non-pure-bloods (i.e., people who enjoy the company of and/or help Muggles and Muggle-borns). This label has been applied to the Weasley family, Sirius Black, and Merope Gaunt

Pure-blood supremacists consider blood purity a measurer of a wizard's magical ability; this is not the case, however. Hermione Granger, for example, is Muggle-born, yet she is consistently at the top of her class, and is by all accounts a highly-skilled witch. It is especially true when one considers that some of the most powerful characters are half-bloods (Voldemort, Severus Snape, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore).

The establishment and maintenance of pure-blood dominion over the wizarding world is the prime motivation for many of the series's evil characters. As critic Colleen O'Brien notes, the wizards who see themselves as superior because of their heritage, are the books' villains, while Harry Potter and his friends disagree with this ideology.^[1]

Contents 1 Concept and creation 2 Pure-blood 2.1 Pure-blooded families 2.1.1 The Black family 2.1.2 The Crouch family 2.1.3 The House of Gaunt 2.1.4 The Lestrange family 2.1.5 The Longbottom family 2.1.6 The Malfoy family 2.1.7 The Potter family 2.1.8 The Prewett family 2.1.9 The Weasley family 3 Half-blood 3.1 Part-humans 4 Muggle-born 5 Squibs 6 References 7 External links

Pure-blood wizards claim to have no Muggle blood at all in their genealogical pedigree. In response to fan questions, Rowling has said that to be considered pure-blood, all of one's grandparents must have been wizards: some of the more severe schools of thought may require several more generations of wizards to be considered pure-blood. She has also said that true pure-blood wizards do not exist in the Harry Potter universe (if they ever did exist in the past), and that they merely erase Muggles and Squibs off their family trees.^[2]

Notable pure-blood families include the Black family, the Malfoy family, the Longbottom family, the Crouch family, and the Weasley family. These and the few other remaining families are all interconnected by marriage.^[3] Over the course of the series, some prominent families have died out. The Crouch and Gaunt lines have become extinct during the course of the series, and there are very few known lines left. The Weasleys are the only known pure-blood family with more than one male heir.

Some of the strongest advocates of blood purity are not pure-blood themselves. A notable example is Lord Voldemort, a half-blood whose mother was a pure-blood witch of the Gaunt family, who were descended from Hogwarts founder Salazar Slytherin. At the same time, some pure-blood wizards are not themselves advocates of blood purity: both the Weasleys and Longbottoms are old pure-blood families; all the known members of these two families reject notions of blood purity.^[4][5][6]The Black family also seems to have produced one or two such black sheep in every generation.^[3]

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix it is revealed that pure-blood families intermarry with each other.^[5] It is confirmed that at least the Blacks and the Gaunts inbred into their own families by marrying their cousins.^[5][7] It is notable that, especially in the Gaunt and Black families, individual members have a certain amount of mental instability and emotional problems.^[7] The Gaunts were known for their violent nature, most notably Lord Voldemort's uncle, Morfin Gaunt, and Lord Voldemort himself.

Most of the members of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black were advocates of blood purity, and many were involved with the Dark Arts. The Black family home at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London, contains many artifacts of dubious origin and/or dangerous ability. The family motto is Toujours Pur, which is French for "Always Pure".

The Blacks intermarried with several other pure-blood families, including the families of known Dark (or at least, malicious) wizards such as Flint, Bulstrode, Malfoy, Crabbe, Rosier, Yaxley, and Lestrange, and also non-Dark families such as Potter, Crouch, Longbottom, Macmillan, Prewett, and Weasley. The last several generations of Blacks all trace their ancestry back to Phineas Nigellus Black and Ursula Black (née Flint).

The Blacks believed in Voldemort's idea of "purifying the wizarding race", but many, such as Sirius' parents, refrained from outwardly supporting him once they saw what he was willing to do for power. Sirius' brother, Regulus Black, was a Death Eater, but later had a change of heart after Voldemort tried to kill the house elf Kreacher. To weaken Voldemort, he stole, with the assistance of Kreacher, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes and, in the course of this, was killed by Inferi.

Although there are several living Black family members throughout the series, all are either female, female-line distaff Black descendants, or descendants of disowned family members, and none of them has the name of Black. The last known surviving bearer of the family name, Sirius Black, is murdered by his cousin Bellatrix in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Nymphadora Tonks and her husband Remus Lupin also die during the final battle at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, leaving behind an infant son, Teddy Remus Lupin to be cared for by his grandmother Andromeda Tonks.

The family tree is described in the fifth book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it came more directly to public attention in January 2006 when the author donated a version she had hand-drawn to a Book Aid International charity auction. The tree shows the members of one of the oldest magical families, and their links by marriage to a number of other families whose members also appear in the books. The tree described in the books extends back some 700 years, but the version drawn by Rowling only covers approximately 150 years. Exact details of the tree were kept secret during the charity auction by publishing only incomplete or partially blurred images of the item for sale. However, a number of people attending the auction made notes which were used to confirm the details upon it, and a compilation of the details was published. This was later amended by further information from another copy of the tree incorporated into the film set for Order of the Phoenix where the tree appears displayed in the Black family house, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

The tree caused a considerable stir amongst fans as it provided new information about elements of the plot of the series in between publication of volumes six (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and seven (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). It was eventually purchased for £30,000 on behalf of British actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter in the film series.^[8]

Rowling made a similar donation before the book launch of Order of the Phoenix, when she gave a card with notes about the book to be auctioned for the same charity in 2002.^[9]

The following is not a complete family tree—the Black family extends back to the Middle Ages. However, this tree shows the last few generations before the line ended. It shows the oldest generations on the left and the younger ones on the right.

Arcturus Black

Lucretia Black

Melania Macmillan

Ignatius Prewett

Sirius Black

Lycoris Black

Orion Black

Sirius Black

Hesper Gamp

Regulus Black

Walburga Black

Regulus Black

Phineas Black

Sirius Black

Pollux Black

Alphard Black

Bellatrix Black

Phineas Nigellus Black

Irma Crabbe

Rodolphus Lestrange

Cygnus Black

Cygnus Black

Remus Lupin

Ursula Flint

Cassiopeia Black

Andromeda Black

Ted Lupin

Violetta Bulstrode

Druella Rosier

Nymphadora Tonks

Elladora Black

Marius Black

Ted Tonks

Isla Black

Dorea Black

Narcissa Black

Male Potter

Draco Malfoy

Bob Hitchens

Charlus Potter

Lucius Malfoy

Scorpius Malfoy

Male Burke

Callidora Black

Male Longbottom

Belvina Black

Fleur Delacour

Victoire Weasley

Male Burke

Harfang Longbottom

Female Longbottom

Herbert Burke

William Weasley

Other Children

Female Burke

Cedrella Black

Bilius Weasley

Charlie Weasley

Arcturus Black

Septimus Weasley

Arthur Weasley

Percy Weasley

Lysandra Yaxley

Charis Black

Molly Prewett

George Weasley

Fred Weasley

Caspar Crouch

Male Crouch

Fred Weasley

Female Crouch

Rose Weasley

Ronald Weasley

Female Crouch

Hugo Weasley

Hermione Granger

James Potter

Ginevra Weasley

Albus Potter

Harry Potter

Lily Potter

The names in bold are members of the family have been stricken from the family tree tapestry chronicling their common blood. for various reasons:

• Isla Black of the first generation shown was disowned for marrying Bob Hitchens, a Muggle.
• Phineas Black of the second generation shown was disowned for supporting Muggle rights.
• Marius Black, third generation son of Cygnus and Violetta Black, was disowned as he was a Squib.
• Cedrella Black, also third generation and cousin of Marius, was disowned for marrying a blood traitor, Septimus Weasley.
• Alphard Black of the fourth generation shown, was posthumously disowned for leaving gold in his will to his "runaway nephew", Sirius Black.
• Sirius Black of the fifth generation shown, ran away from home and was subsequently removed.
• Andromeda Black, cousin of Sirius, was disowned for marrying "Muggle-Born Ted Tonks" (who had in Order of the Phoenix been said by his daughter Nymphadora to have been a Muggle-born wizard).

The Crouch family figures prominently in the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They are a once-great and respected family of wizards completely destroyed because of Lord Voldemort. Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior was the head of the family, a powerful figure in the Ministry of Magic. His son Barty Crouch Junior was one of the Death Eaters who tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity. He was tried by the full Wizengamot (judicial committee), conducted by his furious father. Mr. Crouch sentenced his son and accomplices to the wizarding prison, Azkaban, for life. This devastated his wife, who was ill and dying at the time. She convinced her husband to allow her to trade places with her son. Mrs. Crouch and her son drank Polyjuice Potion to take on each other's appearance. She died shortly thereafter in Azkaban, having managed to maintain the deception, and was buried by outside the walls, under her son's name.

Crouch Jr., impersonating the famous Auror Alastor Moody by means of Polyjuice Potion, attempted to kill Harry Potter. This forced him to reveal himself and tell his story through the truth potion, Veritaserum; he revealed that he had killed his own father. Barty Crouch Jr. later had a Dementor's kiss performed on him (had his soul sucked out through his mouth) and the Crouch bloodline ended.

See Also: Lord Voldemort#The Gaunt Family

A once proud, wealthy and influential wizarding family, the Gaunt family was reduced to poverty generations before Marvolo Gaunt's times by their own reckless mismanagement of their considerable wealth, and borderline insanity brought on by inbreeding. At the time of Merope and Morfin Gaunt, the last known members of the ancient clan were living in a miserable, dirty little cottage near the Muggle village of Little Hangleton. Most of the area was owned by the local landowner, Thomas Riddle, who lived with his wife Mary and his son Tom in The Riddle House. The Gaunt family was ruled by Marvolo, who treated both of his children with contempt and viciousness, but reserved his bitterest scorn for his daughter Merope. Merope showed little aptitude for magic and Marvolo called her a Squib, but her lack of magical ability was attributed by Albus Dumbledore to her complete domination and verbal abuse by her father.

The Gaunts were fanatical believers in blood purity and therefore as a rule married only their cousins and other pure-blood wizards. They were not only concerned with maintaining their pure-blood, but even more concerned with maintaining their Slytherin lineage. The continuous inbreeding and what appears to have been severe isolation led to a diminished family of very disturbed and antisocial individuals.

The importance of the Gaunt family is through their last living descendant, Lord Voldemort. Marvolo never knew his grandson, but the bitterness he expressed in his treatment of his own children led indirectly to Voldemort's broken childhood and his later revenge against them. The family story is told in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The question of the Gaunts' education is unresolved. Although Merope learnt to make a love potion—a sixth year potion—the sheer squalor of the Gaunt household suggests that they were at least unaware of basic household charms (or unwilling to use them). At some point,Bob Ogden, Head of the Ministry of Magic's Magical Law Enforcement Squad, visited the Gaunt home to summon Morfin to a court hearing on a charge of attacking a Muggle, but instead found himself in a fight against Marvolo and Morfin. He returned very soon with reinforcements, with the result that both Marvolo and Morfin were arrested. Marvolo spent six months in Azkaban for assaulting Ministry officials, and Morfin was sentenced to three years for the assault of Ministry officials, as well his record of offences against Muggles.

The imprisonment of her brother and father finally left Merope free to live her own life. By means of a love potion, Merope married the handsome Muggle Tom Riddle, whom she had pined over, which resulted in the birth of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The death of Lord Voldemort resulted in the extinction of the family.

The Lestrange family consisted of Rodolphus, his wife Bellatrix (née Black), and his brother Rabastan. There is no mention in the Harry Potter series or on the Black family tree regarding Rodolphus and Bellatrix having any children, except in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where Bellatrix mentions having no sons.

After their torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom, all three Lestranges were tried, convicted, and imprisoned in Azkaban until their escape in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bellatrix is defeated during the Battle of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, leaving Rodolphus and Rabastan as the last known living Lestranges.

Known living members of the Longbottom family include Neville Longbottom, his grandmother Augusta, and his parents, Frank and Alice who are in a special ward for permanent residents at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after having been tortured until insane at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

The Longbottoms are not as poor as the Weasleys, and they seem to be considered a more respectable family in pure-blood circles: Cedrella Black was disowned for marrying Septimus Weasley, but her sister Callidora, who married Harfang Longbottom, remains on the Black family tapestry.

The Malfoy family is one of the last pure-blood and most wealthy wizarding families in the Harry Potter story. Abraxas Malfoy died before the series begins and was a friend of Professor Slughorn. His son Lucius was a Death Eater during both wizarding wars. His wife Narcissa was born into the Black family and was the cousin of Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather. Their son Draco was the first member of the family to be introduced in the series. He is Harry's nemesis at Hogwarts, and became a Death Eater at just 16. Narcissa's sister Bellatrix married Rodolphus Lestrange because of both his blood and economic status^[10].

Lucius, Narcissa, Draco, and later Bellatrix Lestrange, resided in a manor house in the southern English county of Wiltshire. They were previously served by a house-elf, Dobby, before Lucius was tricked into freeing him by Harry Potter^[11]. The Malfoy manor was used as headquarters by the series' main antagonist Lord Voldemort, on at least one occasion, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The three Malfoys seemed quite displeased by this use of their manor as Voldemort himself stated; only Bellatrix appears to be pleased he is there. During the Deathly Hallows novel, several prisoners are being kept in the basement on Voldemort's orders, including Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Griphook the Goblin, and Mr. Ollivander. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured by Snatchers, they are brought to Malfoy Manor. They escape with the other prisoners thanks to Dobby's help. The four residents of the manor are then placed under house arrest by Voldemort, and at the end of the final installment go to fight with other Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts. Rowling has stated that a scene featuring Draco and Theodore Nott talking in the manor's garden was cut from two of the seven books.

Lucius Malfoy was respected because of his influence on both Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic due to his monetary donations to the Ministry and St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, until he was first removed from his post of governor of the school at the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and later imprisoned after the break in at the Department of Mysteries at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

At the end of both wizarding wars, the Malfoys managed to avoid being imprisoned. The first time, Lucius claimed himself being under the Imperius Curse. After the second and final battle, the three Malfoys were reformed and succeed in getting themselves out of trouble again.^[10] In the epilogue of the final book, it is revealed that Draco has a son named Scorpius.

The Potter family was a very wealthy, pure-blood wizarding family, and the last pure-blood scion of that house was James Potter. Although the Potter line survives through James' son Harry, Harry's mother was a Muggle-born, making him a half-blood.

Molly Weasley's family, the Prewetts, were also a pure-blood family. Both of Molly's brothers died heroic deaths while fighting Voldemort's supporters. As all of the sons of the family are dead, and as it is unclear whether Molly has any male Prewett cousins, the family may be considered extinct. Molly does have a living male second cousin, but he is a Squib and his surname is never mentioned. Ignatius Prewett was a paternal uncle of Sirius Black. He and his wife Lucretia Black died childless.

Main article: Weasley family

The Weasley family was a pure-blood wizarding family, but were considered blood traitors by some other pure-bloods as they did not demonstrate proper respect for and pride in their blood purity.

Arthur Weasley's mother was a member of the Black family, and his wife Molly (née Prewett) is related to the Black family via the marriage between Ignatius Prewett and Lucretia Black. Therefore the Weasleys and the Blacks and the Malfoys are distant cousins: the seven Weasley children are Draco Malfoy's third cousins, once removed.

Ron and Ginny Weasley develop strong friendships with and ultimately marry Muggle-born Hermione Granger and half-blood Harry Potter respectively. The children of Ron and Hermione's marriage (Rose and Hugo) are therefore half-blood.

Another Weasley son, Bill, marries Fleur Delacour, who is part Veela. By the end of the series, it is revealed that they have had children^[12] but only their eldest daughter, Victoire, is explicitly referenced.

George Weasley, according to Rowling in an on-line chat, marries and has a son who he names in honor of Fred Weasley, his deceased twin brother^[13].

Half-blood wizards are not Muggle-born, but their heritage includes one or more Muggle ancestors. Half-bloods are the most common kind of wizard (Rowling has stated that of the Hogwarts annual intake, 50% are half-bloods. Half-bloods include people that have one parent who is either a Muggle or a Muggle-born and have one who is a wizard/witch (i.e. a "literal" Half-Blood). They also include any wizards or witches with any other combination of Muggle and Wizard blood (i.e. a "technical" Half-Blood). Blood purity fanatics regard half-bloods as inferior wizards, though they think of half-bloods as superior to Muggle-born wizards. However, four of the main characters, Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, are all half-bloods and presented as amongst the most powerful wizards of the series.

While Lord Voldemort is a half-blood, he desires blood purity in the wizarding world.

Some half-bloods are products of unions between human wizards and magical creatures of human intelligence ("beings" in wizard parlance). Known beings with the capacity to interbreed with humans include goblins, giants and Veela. Rubeus Hagrid is half-giant; Beauxbatons Headmistress, Olympe Maxime, is also suspected to be half-giant (a suggestion which she vehemently denies, claiming she merely has "big bones"). Filius Flitwick is part-goblin, and Fleur Delacour is at least one-quarter Veela.

Prejudiced wizards (such as Dolores Umbridge) often use the insulting term "half-breed" to describe someone of mixed-species parentage. This term is sometimes incorrectly extended to people such as werewolves, whose breeding has nothing to do with their affliction, and to creatures like merpeople and centaurs, who are pure bred within their species, not a mix between human and non-human.^[HP5]

Muggle-borns are witches and wizards who have Muggle (non-magical) parents or Muggle grandparents. According to Rowling, in order to be considered pure-blood, one's parents and grandparents must be wizards. Their magical abilities do not seem to be affected by their parentage.

Muggle-borns will have a witch or wizard somewhere on their family tree, but in some cases this is many, many generations back.

Pure-blood fanatics use the derogatory term "Mudblood" to refer to Muggle-born wizards, which is analogous to racial and ethnic slurs found in the non-magical world. The proportion of the wizarding population that is Muggle-born seems to be on the rise as the pure-blood families shrink in size and number (according to Rowling, of the annual Hogwarts intake, 25% are Muggle-born). Notable Muggle-born characters include Hermione Granger and Harry's mother, Lily Potter (née Evans), both exceptional witches from Muggle families.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, after the Ministry's take-over by the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort, a new law is issued saying that all Muggle-born witches and wizards are to register with the Muggle-born Registration Commission, headed by Dolores Umbridge. The new doctrine of the Ministry - supposedly based on Department of Mysteries findings - was that Muggle-borns were actually Muggles who had somehow "stolen magic" and wands from true wizards. This ideology is quickly overthrown after Lord Voldemort's defeat. Under the new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, those who were actively involved in supporting this ideology, such as Umbridge, are imprisoned for crimes against Muggle-borns.

A Squib is a person of wizarding heritage who lacks magical ability;^[14] Squibs are, in essence, the opposite of Muggle-born wizards.^[14] A Squib is a very rare anomaly;^[14] the only known Squibs in the series are the Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch; Arabella Figg, a neighbour of the Dursleys; an unnamed cousin of Molly Weasley, who works as an accountant; and Sirius Black's great-uncle, Marius Black (who was erased from the Black family tree). Voldemort's mother, Merope Gaunt, was believed by her father to be a Squib, but Albus Dumbledore speculates that her magical abilities were compromised by the mental abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and brother. Dumbledore's sister, Ariana, was also speculated to be a Squib; however, it is revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that she in fact possessed extraordinary magical abilities, but lost control of them following a brutal physical attack from three Muggle boys at the age of six. The Ministry of Magic does not keep records of Squib births.

Squibs share much in common with Muggles; unlike Muggles, however, they are aware of and comprehend the wizarding world. Filch attempts to acquire some measure of magical ability through the "Kwikspell" correspondence course, although Rowling has stated that this course never worked for him.^[14]

Things that are hidden from Muggles with spells (rather than by the very nature of the hidden thing) seem to be visible to Squibs, for example Filch is able to work at Hogwarts, which appears only as a dangerous old ruin to Muggles; Mrs. Figg, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, claims to be able to see Dementors, though this has been stated as untrue by the author^[15]. However, on the basis of her experience on the night that Harry saved his cousin Dudley Dursley from two Dementors, Mrs. Figg is able to describe their effect correctly, as at least one member of the Wizengamot agrees.

Squibs do seem able to enjoy magical relationships with animals: Filch and Mrs. Figg both have cats that appear to function as messengers. Mrs. Figg admits in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that she posted one of her cats under a car at Number Four, Privet Drive as a lookout. This cat is seen leaving when Mundungus Fletcher disapparates and Mrs. Figg later shows up to assist Harry after his battle with the Dementors.

According to Ron Weasley's Great-Aunt Muriel, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the custom with Squibs has been to send them to Muggle schools and encourage them to integrate into the Muggle world, which is "much kinder" than keeping them in the magical world, where they will always be "second-class." Muriel makes this comment in reference to Albus Dumbledore's sister Ariana, whom she incorrectly believes to have been a Squib.

v • d • e The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Philosopher's Stone	book • film • game • soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets	book • film • game • soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban	book • film • game • soundtrack
Goblet of Fire	book • film • game • soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix	book • film • game • soundtrack
Half-Blood Prince	book • film
Deathly Hallows	book
Characters	Harry Potter • Ron Weasley • Hermione Granger • Lord Voldemort • Albus Dumbledore • Severus Snape • Sirius Black • Rubeus Hagrid • Minerva McGonagall • Draco Malfoy • Ginny Weasley • Neville Longbottom • Luna Lovegood • James and Lily Potter • Weasley family • Dursley family • Hogwarts staff • Hogwarts students • Dark Wizards • Ministry Officials
Universe	Locations • Magic • Spells • Quidditch • Hogwarts • Ministry of Magic • Magical creatures • Chronology
Other	Influences and analogues • Politics • Religious debates • Legal disputes • Music • Fandom • Parodies • Translation • Cast members • The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Other Literature	Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them • Quidditch Through the Ages  • The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Other Games	Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup • Lego Creator: Harry Potter • Harry Potter Trading Card Game