Hogwarts Legacyis Avalanche’s upcoming Wizarding World RPG, and with its visual style clearly based on the movies, many fans are excited to dive in and experience the school of witchcraft and wizardry first-hand.
While theHogwarts Legacyreveal trailer focused on the new title’s game world, little has been announced by the developer so far about the game’s story. However, it has been revealed thatHogwarts Legacytakes place at some point in the late 1800s, which could mean that it will be set during the fascinating tenure of Hogwarts' least popular headmaster.
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Phineas Nigellus Black
The Black family has a huge presence in theHarry Pottertimeline. Its most famous member, the Animagus Sirius Black first introduced inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, has a huge role to play in the books and films. However, the Black family is one of the most long-lived pure-blood families in the Wizarding World, with the family tree shown at 12 Grimmauld Place dating it at least as far back as the middle ages.
Phineas Nigellus Black lived inthe Wizarding Worldbetween 1847 and 1925, and was made headmaster for a time in the late 1800s, whenHogwarts Legacytakes place. However, the exact dates of both the game’s setting and his tenure as headmaster have not been revealed.
Professor Black wasSirius Black’s great-great-grandfather, and Sirius described him as the “least popular headmaster Hogwarts ever had.” The Professor was disliked for a few key reasons. First, he was a pure-blood supremacist, and even his own son and namesake Phineas Black was blotted out from the family tree for going against his father on the topic of Muggle rights. Much of Professor Black’s personality can be gleamed from his portrait, which hung in Dumbledore’s office during the events of the books to dispense wisdom alongside the other portraits of previous headmasters.
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Professor Black as Headmaster
Professor Black, whothe Sorting Hatput into Slytherin like most members of the family when he attended Hogwarts himself, was extremely unsympathetic to most of his students. InHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, his portrait dispensed this advice: “Never try to understand the students. They hate it. They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in self-pity.”
He was born among a particularly grim generation of the Black family. His sister Elladora founded the family tradition of beheading indentured house-elves who were now too old to fully carry out their duties, while his other sister Iola was disowned for marrying a muggle. During the quest to destroyVoldemort’s Horcruxes, Phineas Nigellus Black’s portrait even had to be hidden away by Hermione to stop him from reporting their actions to Severus Snape.
Phineas Nigellus Black, or, if he is not headmaster at the time, his legacy, could have a huge impact onHogwarts Legacy. Professor Black was the opposite ofDumbledorein a lot of ways, while other headmasters like Armando Dippet who are also key contenders for the role of headmaster in the game could risk feeling too similar in character to the school’s most famous headmaster.
Black’s distain for muggles and wizards and witches with muggle blood could play a big role if players are given the option to choose their own origins as well. It could also help encourage players to form relationships with some of the othercharacters they’ll meet inHogwarts Legacy. Either way, Phineas Nigellus Black’s troubled tenure could helpHogwarts Legacytell a very distinct story from the main franchise.
Hogwarts Legacyis in development for the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
