Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Orion Black

Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character
Orion Black
Gender Male
Hair color Unknown
Eye color Unknown
Related Family Black Family; wife Walburga Black, sons Sirius Black, Regulus Black
Loyalty Purebloods

Overview

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Orion Black was a pure-blood wizard, husband of Walburga Black and father of Sirius and Regulus Black. He lived in the house on Number 12, Grimmauld Place, his ancestral home.

Role in the Books

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The day after Harry arrives at Grimmauld Place, he is assisting the Weasley family with cleaning Doxies out of the sitting room. When they stop for lunch, Sirius shows Harry a tapestry of the Black family tree, explaining that this was emblematic of the Black family beliefs; to the Blacks, genealogy was paramount. The fact that they could trace their family back to the earliest wizards was a source of family pride, and anyone who did not agree was expunged from the tree. Sirius shows the burn mark that had replaced his name, and the one for Andromeda Tonks' mother, who had married "a Muggle," Ted Tonks. He also said that he had escaped from this house because his parents were possessed by pure-blood mania. Both his father and his mother agreed with Voldemort's plans for the purification of wizarding race, though they didn't seem to play a part in it.

Later, as they clean up the house, Sirius finds that Kreacher is trying to carry away a large golden ring. Sirius takes it from him and throws it away, saying it had been his father's, and that Kreacher was not as loyal to him as to Walburga.

Strengths

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We are told that Sirius' father did enhance the magical protection on the house. As the house must have been standing for many years at that point, and the existing spells should have been reasonably strong, we expect that he must have been a reasonably strong wizard.

Weaknesses

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Relationships with Other Characters

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Orion was proud of his son Regulus because he was true to the family's Pure Blood beliefs. We are led to believe that both Orion and Walburga were proud of his becoming a Death Eater, and being in Voldemort's inner council. By the same token, Orion must have been disappointed in Sirius' pro-Muggle leanings. However, Sirius notes that it was Walburga who burned people off the tapestry of the family tree; Orion may have held out some hope of reconciliation.

Analysis

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Questions

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Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here.

  1. Did Orion treat Kreacher well, or not? If not, why would Kreacher try to retrieve Orion's ring?

Greater Picture

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Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.