Why Dumbledore HIRED Gilderoy Lockhart - Harry Potter Explained

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video we’re going to be discussing Hogwarts, the role of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, and none other than Gilderoy Lockhart.

Defence Against the Dark arts was perhaps one of the most important parts of the curriculum at Hogwarts- a course that focused on teaching students how to defend themselves against aspects of the dark arts. During the time that the trio attend Hogwarts, Voldemort and his followers were very much on the rise. Some doubted it (Fudge), but others knew that it was inevitable, and fortunately one of the people who knew it was going to happen was Dumbledore.
A resurgence of Voldemort and the death eaters meant a resurgence of dark magic, and so it made sense that students would need to be able to properly defend themselves against such magic. Avada Kedavra, Crucio, Imperio- the students needed to know about these spells so that they could defend themselves- at a certain point understanding these spells became a matter of life or death. But, this just makes the question even more potent- why on earth was Gilderoy Lockhart ever hired? Let’s take a look at the man that became the 92-93 school year’s defence against the dark arts professor.

Gilderoy Lockhart was a british half-blood wizard born in the year 1964 to a witch mother and muggle father. His parents had two other children, two girls, but Lockhart proved to be the only one that was magical, which (whether she would admit it or not) made him his mother’s favourite child. Lockhart was a clever, good-looking boy, and when he realized quite early on that he was magical it only went to his head, and inflated his already massive ego even further. In 1975, Lockhart began attending Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, 4 years after notable characters like Severus Snape, Sirius Black and James Potter, to name a few. When Lockhart first walked through the doors of the school, he was met with disappointment, as he came to the crushing realization that at a school for witches and wizards- he was just another magical young boy. In the muggle world, Gilderoy was exceptional, but here he didn’t stand out, and that’s all he ever longed for. It’s been expressed that as a young boy, Lockhart did possess slightly above-average abilities, but nothing particularly noteworthy, and his lack of attention only fuelled the fire inside of him to be successful. Lockhart was eventually sorted in to Ravenclaw house, which is not entirely befitting of him in my opinion, and narrowly avoided being sorted in to Slytherin.

Even in school, Lockhart loved to brag and inflate his own ego, even going as far as to blatantly lie if it meant that it would positively change someone’s perception of him. It was ingrained in him since childhood- he wanted to be great- he wanted to be the man that people talked about in legends.


However, there was actually quite a sinister side to Lockhart that I feel wasn’t addressed to the extent that it should have been in the books/films. You see, Lockhart was a memory charm master, and this was one of the reasons that he had been able to falsify his..well..existence. Lockhart actually wasn’t a troll conqueror or dragon tamer, he was a phony, and all he did when he travelled around the world was hear the stories of genuinely accomplished wizards, wipe their memories, then claim the accomplishment as his own. Though Lockhart is eventually found out and stripped of his titles, I don’t think that the severity of wiping people’s memories without their consent was ever properly addressed to the extent that it should have been. However, Lockhart paid his dues when his own memory charm backfired on him- effectively erasing all of his memories and causing him to become a permanent resident of St.Mungos Hospital.

So, this man, this phony. How could he have ever become a professor at Hogwarts- surely Dumbledore must have been able to see right through him, right?



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