Harry Potter · Character
Sybill Trelawney
Also known as Professor Trelawney
- Supporting
- First seen · Book 3 · Ch. 5
Sybill Trelawney is a supporting character in Harry Potter (Book 3).
- Gender
- female
- Age
- indeterminate (appears middle-aged)
- First appears
- Book 3 · Ch. 5
- Books
- 2
Sybill Trelawney, Hogwarts's eccentric Divination professor, first appears in Prisoner of Azkaban as a glittering, insect-like figure whose enormous magnified eyes and theatrical gloom make her the object of student skepticism, especially from Hermione and Professor McGonagall. Beneath her melodrama, though, lies genuine if rare power: she delivers a true prophecy foretelling Voldemort's servant rejoining his master, a prediction fulfilled when Peter Pettigrew escapes. In Goblet of Fire she settles into a recurring role at the margins of school life, her relentless predictions of Harry's death becoming a running source of both unease and dark comedy.
Description
A fair-skinned, very thin woman with a spindly neck and build reminiscent of a large glittering insect or oversized dragonfly. Her most striking feature is a pair of enormous eyes magnified dramatically to several times their natural size by her large glasses, which gleam in firelight and give her an intense, otherworldly stare. She is draped in a gauzy spangled shawl, adorned with innumerable chains and beads around her neck and long emerald earrings, while her arms and hands are encrusted with clinking bangles and rings; she moves with a smooth gliding step and frequently gestures theatrically with glittering hands at her heart or while lowering her face in dramatic poses. Trelawney is a very thin woman whose face is dominated by enormous glasses, magnifying her eyes until they seem far too large for her features. She wears layered shawls and a profusion of beads, chains, and bangles that give her an ornate, rustling silhouette. The book offers no specific details about her height, skin tone, hair, or eye color. Her delicate frame and lavish accessories combine to make her presence feel both theatrical and otherworldly.
Connections
Family & partnersFriends & mentorsRivals
Harry PotterTeacher / student
Trelawney fixates on Harry as a doomed figure, predicting his death from his first lesson onward; Harry views her with skepticism and irritation, yet witnesses her one undeniably real prophecy, leaving lingering unease.
Hermione GrangerAntagonistic teacher / student
Hermione's logical mind rejects Trelawney's vague art, culminating in her walking out of Divination for good in her third year.
Ron WeasleyTeacher / student
Ron stays in her class alongside Harry, contributing invented misfortunes to their homework to please her appetite for doom.
Minerva McGonagallColleague
McGonagall openly doubts Trelawney's abilities and dismisses her habit of predicting a student death each year.
Story so far
BOOK 3Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Greets her new third-year students in her stuffy, perfumed tower classroom and predicts that one of them will leave by Easter
- Sees the Grim in Harry's tea leaves, foretelling his death and unsettling the class
- Clashes with Hermione, who storms out of Divination in frustration with her methods
- Falls into a trance during Harry's exam and delivers a genuine prophecy that the Dark Lord's servant will break free and return to his master
- Her prophecy comes true when Peter Pettigrew escapes after being unmasked
BOOK 4Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Continues teaching Divination to Harry and Ron, who invent gloomy predictions to satisfy her
- Repeatedly forecasts Harry's death with unwavering conviction
- Interprets planetary positions to warn Harry of danger, deepening his unease
- Remains a theatrical, peripheral presence at Hogwarts as darker events unfold
Appearances
Meet Sybill Trelawney in Bookworm
Meet Sybill Trelawney in your EPUB — spoiler-safe to the book you're on.