Isolt Sayre is a witch who founded Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Isolt was born in 1603 in Ilvermorny cottage to William Sayre and a mother who was a Gaunt. She spent the first years of her childhood growing up in Coomloughra, County Kerry in Ireland. She developed an affinity with the natural world, for which her father nicknamed her "Morrigan" after their ancestor. She had a happy and loving life with her parents and together they enjoyed helping their Muggle neighbours produce magical cures.[1]
However, her estranged aunt through her mother, Gormlaith Gaunt disapproved of her upbringing. A pure-blood supermacist, she was afraid that her friendships with her Muggle neighbours would lead Isolt into marriage with one. At the age of five, Isolt's parents were killed in a magical fire set by Gormlaith who "rescued" Isolt. She hoped that by bringing her up herself, she would teach Isolt to only associate with pure-bloods. She took Isolt to the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee where she spent the remaining years of her childhood.[1]
Life with Gormlaith[]
Isolt learned very early on how cruel her aunt was and eventually realised that she was her parents' murderer. Her cooperation was forced through the use of powerful Dark magic. Isolt was isolated by Gormlaith and their neighbours, once her friends, were too afraid to visit her. Gormlaith forced her niece to watch while she cursed or jinxed Muggles or animals that strayed near their cottage, and the local boys threw stones at her in the garden.[1]
At the age of eleven, Isolt received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Gormlaith had talked to her about Hogwarts a lot - albeit in a negative way because their ancestor, Salazar Slytherin had failed to purge the school of those who weren't pure-bloods. However, the school sounded wonderful to Isolt who craved an escape from her terrible aunt. However, her aunt refused to let her attend Hogwarts or have a wand of her own. She spent her teen years dreaming of Hogwarts.[1]
Escape to the New World[]
At the age of seventeen, Isolt finally escaped by stealing her aunt's wand which was a family heirloom which once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, and a gold brooch that had belonged to her mother. With no other choice, Isolt fled the country. She first moved to England but upon learning Gormlaith was catching up with her, she cut off her hair and took the identity of a boy called "Elias Story" to board the Mayflower to the New World. She was one of the first "Muggle" settlers to arrive in America but she decided to live on her own in the surrounding mountains of Mount Greylock. "Elias Story" was thought to have died during the harsh winter, leaving no trace of her for Gormlaith.[1]
Life in America[]
Alone in a new land and believing she was the only witch around for thousands of miles, she eventually stumbled onto two magical creatures. One was a Hidebehind who had captured a Pukwudgie. Isolt rescued the Pukwudgie by cursing the Hidebehind and picked up the Pukwudgie. She took him to her shelter and nursed him back to life. She had been unaware of how dangerous Pukwudgiea were but he was grateful and vowed to serve her until he could repay his debt. Feeling humiliated, the Pukwudgie groaned while he begrudgingly followed her around.[1]
Isolt did not mind for she needed the company and thought he was funny. They eventually developed a unique friendship and she gave him the name "William" for her father. Her new friend started introducing her to other magical creatures in the forest. After observing Hodags, fighting a Snallygaster and watching Wampus kittens playing, she met a Horned Serpent who lived by the creek.[1]
William considered the serpent a terrifying beast but Isolt realised she could understand the fascinating Horned Serpent, who liked to tell her things, and they developed a strange kinship with each other. Although she did not know the language because she had not been taught, she had inherited the ability to understand Parseltongue through her ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. William did not like it and thought it was concerning that she could apparently communcate with it, so she stopped talking to him about it. She started visiting the serpent on her own without telling William where she had been.[1]
The serpent kept giving her the same message, telling her until "I am part of your family, your family is doomed. She did not understand why it kept her telling this when she did not have a family and started to wonder if she was imagining the talking snake. But one day, she was foraging in the forest when she heard William telling her to stay where she is while he ran away into the trees withna poisoned arrow.[1]
Recognising that something was happening, she didn't listen to William's warning and ran after him. They discovered the Hidebehind had returned and had just killed a pair of humans. Nearby, their two young sons were injured and about to be the next victims of the beast. Isolt and William destoryed the Hidebehind and rescued the boys, but William did not care to carry on helping them. Isolt told him if he helped rescue one of the boys, she would consider his debt to her repaid. While she carried Webster, the Pukwudgie took Chadwick back to their shelter.[1]
Ilvermorny[]
With his debt now repaid, Isolt told William how she no longer needed him. William vanished after glaring at her, leaving her on her own with the two boys. While they recovered, she learned that the two boys were also wizards. She returned to bury their parents on her own only to run into a Muggle, James Steward, who was searching for them. After he discovered a wand on the ground, he gave it a wave and was thrown backwards, upon which he was knocked out.[1]
Isolt nursed him back to health and intended to Obliviate him once his concussion had healed. In the meantime, she grew fond of talking to him, they entertained the boys together and he helped construct a stone house for her on top of Greylock which she called "Ilvermorny" after the cottage she was born in. James had been afraid of magic at first but that soon faded away, while Isolt couldn't bring herself to Obliviate and lose him. After realising they had fallen in love, they decided to get married and adopt the two boys.[1]
Isolt started telling stories to Chadwick and Webster about Hogwarts. They dreamed of goijg there and hoped they could return to Ireland so they could receive their acceptance letters. She promised instead that when they were eleven, she would find wands for them and open their own school of magic in the cottage. She did not tell them about her aunt because she did not want to scare them. She was unaware that the boys had overheard her and knew about her aunt.[1]
Over the years, the boys thought of ideas for their magical school that were inspired by Hogwarts. They wanted to creatue four houses and after ruling out using their own names, the boys decided to name their houses after magical creatures. Along with Isolt and James, they each picked a creature for their house. Isolt still visited the Horned Serpent and because of their sense of kinship, decided to name her house after the serpent. James chose the Pukwudgie because of the funny stories she had told him about William.[1]
When it was nearly Chadwick's eleventh birthday, Isolt needed to procure a wand for him but she did not know how. She could not use materials from the wands of his deceased parents because they had shrivelled and died. The night before his birthday, she had a dream where she walked down to the creek to talk to the Horned Serpent. The snake rose up out of the water, bowed its head and let her taking a shard of its horn. When she awoke, she decided to go down to the creek and her dream became a reality.[1]
Now that she had a wand core, James helped her obtain the wood of an ash tree and together they made a wand - the first American-made, of incredible power. After this, their school began to grow with the addival of Native American two boys from the Wampanoag tribe and a mother and two daughters from the Narragansett. In return for wands and an understanding of how to craft them, they exchanged their own magical knowledge. She only wanted her adoptive sons to have wands wigh Horned Serpent cores and started providing wands with other cores, including Wampus hair, Snallygaster heartstring and Jackalope antlers.[1]
Isolt and James soon had two children of their own, twin girls called Martha and Rionach Steward. The school kept growing and new students arrived until they were able to hold inter-house competitions.[1]
Return of Gormlaith[]
The reputation of Ilvermorny preceded them and stories of its existence spread to the Old World. With details of the school, Gormlaith realised her niece was now in the New World. She travelled to America and tracked down Ilvermorny by winter, intending to slaughter Isolt and her non-magical husband and kidnap their daughters to carry on her family bloodline.[1]
Gormlaith put Isolt and James into an enchanged slumber and used Parseltongue to put Isolt's wand to sleep. However, despite the stories she had heard about Isolt, she did not know about Chadwick and Webster. Unlike the family wand with a Basilisk core that Isolt had taken, their wands with a Horned Serpent core did not go to sleep but were awakened. The wands sung the sound Horned Serpents make when there is danger, waking Chadwick and Webster who ran to rescue their adoptive parents.[1]
During their ensuing duel with Gormlaith, the twin daughters of Isolt and James cried in fear and awoke their parents. After screaming at James to get their daughters, she ran to face her aunt with her own wand but her wand was still sleeping and because she could not speak Parseltongue, she could not awaken it and help. Gormlaith drove her and her sons to the room of her crying daughters where James stood. Desperate for help, Isolt cried out for her dead father and drew the attention of William the Pukwudgie.[1]
William appeared on the windowsill and struck Gormlaith with a poisoned arrow. With her death, Isolt and her family were saved. William scolded Isolt for not saying his name for a decade and only calling upon him to save her. Isolt did not tell William she was calling for her father and he was flattered when he heard James had named an Ilvermorny house after him.[1]
William moved into Ilvermorny with Isolt and her family, and helped repair the damsge. In return for gold, Isolt hired him to be the school's caretaker. She also decided to bury Slytherin's wand on the grounds of the school, which grew into a snakewood tree. Her wizarding school continued to grow into a granite castle and she employed Professors to help her teach. The school was so famous that magical families all over North America wanted their children to be educated there.[1]
Legacy[]
Isolt and James both lived to be over a hundred years old. She was Headmistress of Ilvermorny until her death. A marble statue was built of Isolt and James and placed on the front doors of Ilvermorny Castle. The robes are blue and cranberry, with blue being chosen because it was Isolt's favourite colour and are are fastened by a gold Gordian Knot, in memory of her mother's brooch.[1]
Isolt's friendship with the Horned Serpent has grown into a legend in which she is correctly reputed to have understood the serpent. She is offered shavings from its horn to create the first American-made wand. The shavings where used for the wand core.[2]
Notes and sources[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 Wizarding World: Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by J. K. Rowling
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2017 edition): An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts (Horned Serpent)