First and foremost, House Elves are extremely loyal, often to their own detriment. They are literally bound to their masters for life, unless accidentally presented with clothes. The miniature statured, large- eyed little buggers are easily distinguishable due to their disproportionately large heads, bat- like ears, and long fingers. Blessed with a magical ability that does not require wands and supersedes most wizards’, House Elves are extremely powerful albeit under appreciated beings.

I want to specifically delve into three different House Elves that are of varying popularity in the Harry Potter universe but all represent an interesting facet of society. Dobby, Kreacher, and Hokey are the three that I have chosen because they best represent that broad spectrum of elvish tendencies. Dobby is one that escaped slavery and died a free elf, something he always aspired to be, and the best known. Kreacher is one that just wanted to serve a master that had his same ideals, but eventually changed his allegiances to the light side of the force (or the Potterverse equivalent), and commonly known amongst most Potterheads. Hokey is the most important House Elf because she represents a victim of circumstance that is dealt an injustice and, due to her lack of high standing in society, is powerless against it. House Elves tell us a lot about subjugation.

A house-elf must be set free, sir. And the family will never set Dobby free… Dobby will serve the family until he dies, sir….

– Dobby

I will never forget the first time I read Harry Potter and absolutely hated Dobby. Don’t worry, I am reformed now, but at first little third grade me just saw him as an annoying pest that meddled where he didn’t belong. To me, Dobby was the Jar Jar Binks of Harry Potter. The more I read and studied the series, the more I realized that Dobby was just bound the the nature of his species, and his annoying tendencies were actually loving and sacrificial.



Fight, fight for my master, the defender of the house-elves! Fight for master Regulus! Fight!

– Kreacher

Interestingly, the character named “creature” is not an open, loving, cuddly being. He is spiteful, racist, originally unhappy with Harry’s ownership of him, and downright rude. All of that never stopped Hermione from continuing her efforts of S.P.E.W. (Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare). One may argue that yes, Kreacher did help Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Deathly Hallows but he only did so due to the sick ties of loyalty servant has to master.

Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry. Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby’s. He was forced to do Sirius’s bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher’s faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher’s lot easier.

– Dumbledore

Above all else, I pity Kreacher because he was bound by magic to give allegiance to a family (the Black family) that support the gross subjugation of his kind and many other similar kinds. The worst part of the situation is that he didn’t even appear to mind too much.

Hokey was falsely accused of murdering her master, Hepzibah. The Dark Lord paid the duo a visit and murdered the witch because she had Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and Salazar Slytherin’s locket. Poor Hokey, her memory was altered and she was wrongly convicted. To many witches and wizards, the loss of a House Elf matters not for such creatures are disposable. How many times in history has of group of people cast down another and used that injustice to get away with unspeakable crimes?

Let us not forget the House Elves that fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. The slaves of the castle still defended it. That’s sweet in a sickening way.

Don’t abuse power, instead put it to good use and love everyone equally. Those in positions of power need to love instead of hate and be an example for their people.