Bludger

Bludger
Date of invention	11th century
Purpose	Quidditch
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Last appearance	Quidditch Through the Ages

"The Bludgers rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms."

— Oliver Wood

A Bludger, originally called a "Blooder", is a ball in the wizarding sport of Quidditch. The ball is enchanted to zoom around the pitch trying to knock players off their broom. Each team has two Beaters who protect their players by knocking Bludgers away and hitting it towards the opposing team's players.

About

A Bludger is an iron ball about ten inches in diameter, enchanted to chase and knock players indiscriminately on the pitch. They will go for the player closest to them. The ball was originally a piece of rock that was carved into the shape of a ball a century later. Two centuries after that, metal Bludgers were tried before switching to lead. In the end, iron proved to be the best material for the Bludger. Any indentations in a Bludger will affect its ability to fly straight.

Bumphing is a foul in which a Beater deliberately hits the Bludger at the spectators to get the officials to rush over and protect them. This will halt the game. Beaters tend to do this when an opposing Chaser is about to score.

History

The earliest known form of the Bludger appeared in the eleventh century in one of the first records of a Quidditch game. Gertie Keddle observed the players enchanting rocks and boulders to chase them around and knock them from their brooms. A century later, these rocks and boulders had been called the "Blooder".

In the fourteenth century, the rocks were carved into balls. In the fifteenth century, beater bats were introduced which kept breaking the Blooder and causing pieces of gravel to chase and hit the players. In the sixteenth century, the material used for Bludgers was changed from rock to lead. However, they were too soft and the Beater bats kept denting them so they couldn't fly straight. Eventually, lead Bludgers were changed to iron instead. Years later, historian Agatha Chubb discovered old lead Bludgers when she was digging in Irish peat bogs and English marshes. These had indentations of Beaters' bats and the design was perfectly symmetrical with smooth lines. They flew around the study when Agatha opened the case.

In 1814, the Banchory Bangers deliberately let Bludgers fly away outside the confines of the pitch, breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. This is one of the reasons they were disbanded for by the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

In 1992, Dobby enchanted a Bludger to hunt Harry Potter and knock him down because he wanted to send Harry back home for safety.

Trivia

• Kennilworthy Whisp proposes in Quidditch Through the Ages that the inspiration for Bludgers was the ancient broom game, Creaothceann. In one the earliest recorded Quidditch games, a Scottish warlock was playing when rocks were enchanted for the first time to chase the players. Creaothceann is a Scottish game so Whisp suggests the warlock might have had the idea.