Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Sphinx

Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Magic
Sphinx
Type	Magical creature
Features	Human head, feline body
First Appearance	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Overview

Prevalent enough that it has made it into Muggle folklore as well as being a Magical creature, the Sphinx is a creature with a human head on a feline body. In Muggle literature, it first appeared in ancient Egypt. It is intelligent and is very fond of puzzles.

Extended Description

The only appearance of a Sphinx so far in the series is as one of the creatures guarding the Triwizard Cup in the maze that forms the Third Challenge in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Sphinx poses a question that Harry must answer before he can proceed.

The same sphinx is mentioned again in passing in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In discussion with the Muggle Prime Minister, Cornelius Fudge mentions that they had informed the Muggle government two years before when they had imported dangerous magical creatures into England for a Wizarding competition: three dragons and a Sphinx.

Analysis

The Sphinx, though intelligent, is a disinterested party; one gets the idea that it is all the same to her whether the wizard gets by or not, but she has been given the job of setting a puzzle at that passageway, and she will carry out that job. This is identical to the way the Sphinx has behaved in Muggle mythology.