Harry Potter · Character

Gilderoy Lockhart

Major
First seen · Book 2 · Ch. 3

Gilderoy Lockhart is unmasked as a fraud in Harry Potter (Book 2).

Gender: male
Age: adult
First appears: Book 2 · Ch. 3
Books: 2

Gilderoy Lockhart arrives at Hogwarts as the dazzling, best-selling Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, all turquoise robes, gleaming teeth and walls of winking self-portraits, but his celebrity proves entirely hollow. Exposed as a fraud who built his fame by stealing other wizards' deeds and wiping their memories, he attempts the same trick on Harry and Ron in the Chamber of Secrets, only for a backfiring broken wand to erase his own memory instead. By the time of the Triwizard Tournament he survives at Hogwarts only as a memory, his former office still plastered with the beaming portraits that once defined him.

Description

A male wizard with wavy golden hair, blue eyes, and large, gleaming white teeth. He wears flamboyant, carefully coordinated wizard’s robes and hats; his hair may be less sleek after a sleepless night. His expression can become weak and frightened, and after the Memory Charm backfires he appears placid and confused. The text provides no physical description of Lockhart, so his height, build, complexion, hair, eyes, facial features, and clothing cannot be established. He is visually associated with numerous portraits of himself, each beaming or winking. Those images make self-display the clearest impression attached to his appearance.

Connections

Family & partnersFriends & mentorsRivals

Harry Potterteacher-student
Lockhart treats Harry as a fellow celebrity, exploiting him for publicity and accusing him of fame-seeking, while Harry finds him insufferable. Their relationship ends when Harry sees through his fraud and Lockhart tries to wipe his memory in the Chamber, only to lose his own.
Hermione Grangerteacher-student admirer
Hermione begins as an ardent admirer of Lockhart's books and defends him, but his exposure as a fraud ultimately undermines her adoration.

Story so far

BOOK 2Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Holds a book signing at Flourish and Blotts and announces he will teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, dragging Harry into a publicity photo
- Releases Cornish pixies on his class and fails to control them, revealing his incompetence
- Runs the Duelling Club, where Snape disarms him and Harry's Parseltongue is exposed
- Botches mending Harry's broken arm, vanishing all the bones in it
- Is unmasked as a fraud who stole others' achievements; his memory charm on Harry and Ron backfires through Ron's broken wand, erasing his own memory
BOOK 4Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Remembered through his former office, still covered in portraits of his beaming, winking face
- Appears only as a lingering presence via self-portraits, with no active role in events