Blast-Ended Skrewt

Warning! At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in:Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells &Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

Blast-Ended Skrewt

TheBlast-Ended Skrewt was amagicalhybridbeast bred byRubeus Hagrid in the autumn of1994 by cross-breedingManticores andFire Crabs.^[1][4] Whether Hagrid usedmagic or somehow got the two different species to mate remains unknown.

Description[]

Newly hatched Skrewts looked like pale, slimy, deformed ,shell-lesslobsters orscorpions. They had legs sticking out at odd angles. They were about six inches long and smelled strongly of rottenfish. Sparks flew out of their rear ends every so often, which propelled them forward a few inches. The males had stingers and the females had suckers on their body to suckblood.^[3] The skrewts did not hibernate during winter.^[2]

After about two months, Skrewts grew to about three feet long and became extremely ill tempered, making it hard to get close to one. They grew grey, shiny armour over their pale bodies and began to resemble a cross between giant scorpions and elongatedcrabs. The males held their stingers over their backs and were highly dangerous and repulsive.^[5]

After several months, Skrewts grew to about ten feet long and were incredibly dangerous (and probably quite lethal). They resembled giant scorpions with stingers curled over their backs. Their shiny armour deflected mostspells and they used their blasts to propel themselves at a foe. Their single undefended spot was their armour-less underside.^[6]

History[]

Hagrid began breeding the Skrewts at the beginning ofSeptember1994, ending up with several hundred.^[3] At some point, they became too numerous, so Hagrid relocated them to a makeshift nursery in theForbidden Forest ruins.^[7] By the followingJune, he only had a few left, some of which were later placed in theTriwizard Maze.^[6][8] Hagrid never discovered what they ate,^[9] although he did mention that he managed to get them to eatant eggs,Grass Snake, andfrog livers to start with, and had hisfourth-yearCare of Magical Creatures students feed the Skrewts frog livers at the start of the1994–1995 school year.^[3] They often killed each other off, so it is not surprising they died so quickly. It is unknown what became of the last Skrewt.^[8]

Rita Skeeter claimed that theDaily Prophet had azoological column every Wednesday and said that theBang-Ended Scoots could be the event that day if Hagrid gave an interview.^[2] However, the Skrewts never did feature in theDaily Prophet's zoological column.^[10] Several of these Skrewts were placed inside theTriwizard Tournament maze.Harry Potter defeated one of them by using theImpediment Jinx on its underside.^[6]

InJune1996, following the attack ofStunning Spells onMinerva McGonagall byDolores Umbridge and other corruptBritish Ministry of Magic officials,Ronald Weasley suggested feeding Umbridge to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts as an appropriate punishment. Harry Potter thought the idea "had its merits".^[11] In1997, Harry Potter felt that the idea of a teenageAlbus Dumbledore "was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupidHermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt".^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

• The Skrewts appeared to be massive violations of theBan on Experimental Breeding, butRubeus Hagrid was never charged for doing so. This may be because Hagrid eventually had some placed in themaze for theTriwizard Tournament, possibly indicating his intent to breed them for that purpose.
• In thevideo game adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Skrewts are encountered as enemies in several locations, rather than just being found in themaze during theThird Task. The Skrewts have sexual dimorphism: males and females are red- and orange-tinged, respectively. Also, they bear little resemblance to their description in the book, being of a more spherical shape and much larger.
• In the DS version ofLEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, there are some Skrewts trying to killBuckbeak, so the player has to castspells on them to make them go away.
• A Blast-Ended Skrewt appears inHagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure atThe Wizarding World of Harry Potter, promoted as a creature not seen in any of the films.
• Blast-Ended Skrewts appear inHarry Potter: Magic Awakened, which takes place in2008 and so on. It is unknown if Hagrid had bred more of them by then, or if they were included only for gameplay purposes, as players can fight them in the game.

Appearances[]

The Harry Potter Wiki has 34 images related toBlast-Ended Skrewt.

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)(Disc 2)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince(Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows(Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4(DS version)
• Pottermore
• HarryPotter.com
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened

Notes and references[]

Care of Magical Creatures
Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts
Hagrid's Hut ·Forbidden Forest ·Care of Magical Creatures Classroom ·Magical Creatures (club) ·The Paddock
Professors	Silvanus Kettleburn ·Rubeus Hagrid ·Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank (substitute teacher)
Textbooks	The Monster Book of Monsters ·Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Creatures studied at Hogwarts
Blast-Ended Skrewt ·Bowtruckle ·Chimaera ·Crup ·Demiguise ·Diricawl ·Doxy ·Dugbog ·Fairy ·Fire Crab ·Fire Dwelling Salamander ·Flobberworm ·Fwooper ·Glumbumble ·Gnome ·Golden Snidget ·Griffin ·Hippogriff ·Imp ·Jackalope ·Knarl ·Kneazle ·Moke ·Mooncalf ·Murtlap ·Niffler ·Occamy ·Porlock ·Puffskein ·Quintaped ·Streeler ·Thestral ·Unicorn ·Yeti