What Jo says about...
Rubeus Hagrid
Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.
- Though the setting was an influence on her work, only one character in the books is directly drawn from the Forest of Dean: Hagrid, the enormous Keeper of the Keys, whose dropped word-endings are a Chepstow speciality. In shape he's modelled on the Welsh chapter of Hells Angels who'd swoop down on the town and hog the bar, "huge mountains of leather and hair." [Read the exact quote from Scotland on Sunday, 1999]
- Hagrid is "a dialect word - you'd had a bad night. Hagrid is a big drinker - he has a lot of bad nights." [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
- Hagrid is a "West country" yokel, from the part of Britain where she grew up. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
- Hagrid and Voldemort are both in their 60s. [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
- The characters she created the very first day were Harry, Ron, Nearly Headless Nick, Hagrid and Peeves, then she developed Hogwarts. Conversations with JK Rowling, p.37-8
- Hagrid can legally do magic again since he became a teacher, but he will always be a bit inept. [Read the exact quote from the South West News Service interview, 2000]
- Riddle was lying when he said that Hagrid had raised werewolf cubs under his bed. [Read the exact quote from the Barnes & Noble chat, 2000]
- Hagrid was in Gryffindor. [Read the exact quote from the Barnes & Noble chat, 2000]
- Hagrid is supposed to speak in a West Country accent, which is where JK is from. [Read the exact quote from the BBC Blue Peter interview, 2001]
- Hagrid’s half brother is becoming a little more controllable, and we’ll find out what happens to him in book 6. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
- Hagrid "can do magic to a fairly basic standard and occasionally surprises everyone himself included) by bringing off more impressive bits of magic." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
- Hagrid’s “Keeper of the Keys” title simply means that he will let you in and out of Hogwarts. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
- Hagrid is definitely from the West Country. [Read the whole quote from BBC-Radio4, 2005]