Marauder's Map

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

"Besides, you're saying it wrong. It'sLeviosa, notLeviosar." The title of this article intentionally uses incorrect spelling or grammar, or American English, or a different language, as this is how it is stylised in acanonical source. Any attempt to change the title to its "correct" spelling or grammar, or British English, or from the original language to English will be reverted, unless another canonical source stylises it correctly.

The Marauder's Map

TheMarauder's Map was amagical document that revealed all ofHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only did it show every classroom, hallway, and corner of thecastle, but it also showed every inch of the grounds, as well as all thesecret passages that were hidden within its walls and the location of every person in the grounds, portrayed by a dot.^[1]

It was also capable of accurately identifying each person, and was not fooled byAnimagi,Polyjuice Potions, orInvisibility Cloaks; even the Hogwartsghosts orPeeves were not exempt. Nor were animals, such as thecaretaker's cat.

One of the map's possible flaws was that it did not differentiate people who had matching names (if a son was named after his father, the names were not given a Junior or Senior at the end). Also, it did not seem to showunplottable rooms, as it wasDobby and not the map that revealed the existence and location of theRoom of Requirement.

TheChamber of Secrets never appeared on the map either because the creators never knew of it or it was unplottable as well, since when Ron and Hermione were in it collectingBasilisk fangs, they did not appear on the map similar to the Room of Requirement.

History[]

Creation[]

The Marauder's Map was created byRemus Lupin (Moony),Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail),Sirius Black (Padfoot), andJames Potter (Prongs) while they were attendingHogwarts. The creation of the map started by1974^[3] and was finished between1975 and1978, because the titles on the map refer to the nicknames of these men in theirAnimagus forms, and, in Lupin's case,werewolf form.

The four created the map via the usage of theHomonculous Charm, a powerful and advanced charm that enchanted the map to track the movements of everyone in the castle, as well as acharm to insultSeverus Snape. The ability of Sirius, Peter, and James to becomeAnimagi enabled them to explore the castle grounds by night undetected. The interior of the castle, meanwhile, was mapped over time with the help of James'sInvisibility Cloak.^[4]

This artefact proved quite useful to the foursome (commonly termed "theMarauders") through the years, until it was confiscated byArgus Filch in their final year. The Marauders were never able to steal it back.^[4]

Locating the Cursed Vault[]

At some point by1988, the map was stolen fromFilch's office.^[5] The thief left a mess in the office.^[6]

In the1987–1988 school year,Patricia Rakepick looked for the map in Filch's office, but noticed that it was no longer there. She askedRosmerta ifJacob had left the map in theThree Broomsticks Inn, and Rosmerta responded that she did not know what Rakepick was talking about.^[5] In the1988–1989 school year, when coming up with a plan to locate the fourthCursed Vault,Merula Snyde toldJacob's sibling to get the Marauder's Map. In order to find out where the map was, Jacob's sibling gave Filch a cake, which put him in a good enough mood to reveal that the map had been stolen from his office and he suspected the thief to bePeeves. With this information, Jacob's sibling andJae Kim went to talk to Peeves. Peeves refused to reveal the location of the map, as a friend of his who hatedJacob andpotions had told him not to help Jacob's sibling.^[6] The map had, at some point by late1988, ended up in the possession ofMundungus Fletcher. The map was later stolen from him, and he did not know who the attacker was.^[7]

Jacob's sibling andJae Kim found the Marauder's Map in theIcy Corridor along withScabbers. Jacob's sibling did not think much of the parchment, but took it toPatricia Rakepick, who knew what the Marauder's Map was.^[8] Jacob's sibling and Rakepick later discussed the map on theTraining Grounds. Rakepick told Jacob's sibling the words to unlock it as well as the words to hide its secrets. Jacob's sibling planned to use the map and talked about what they saw on the map. They mentioned a person moving so quickly that they couldn't read the person's name. After this mention, Rakepick took the map, saying that the person was the one who attacked Mundungus Fletcher and that keeping their name a secret was to protect Jacob's sibling.^[9] The map was returned to Filch's office at some point later that school year or in the following school year.^[10]

Fred and George Weasley[]

Fred andGeorge Weasley stole the map fromFilch's office in theirfirst year atHogwarts. They had been taken to his office for letting off aDungbomb and saw a drawer marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous". George dropped another Dungbomb, while Fred stole the map from the drawer.

They had to experiment with it in order to learn how to get it to work, but it gave them clues, "flickering into life here and there" when they came close to the activating phrase, until finally they got it exactly. Because of this map, the twins memorised the secret passageways of Hogwarts, which they used for quite a few of their many pranks.^[1][11]

InHarry Potter's third year at Hogwarts, Fred and George gave him the map. It was a mark of their high esteem for Harry, and their belief that he stood in need of assistance with a destiny none of them yet fully understood, that they later gifted the map to him, unwittingly passing it on to the child of one of its creators.^[1][4]

Harry Potter[]

Harry used the map throughout his time as a student atHogwarts, especially during histhird year, when he tried to find his way intoHogsmeade.^[1] Then, he used theOne-Eyed Witch Passage, which led into theHoneydukes cellar. ProfessorRemus Lupin caught Harry with the map (afterSeverus Snape found it while interrogating Harry), and subsequently confiscated it.^[12]

The map was the real reason Lupin discoveredPeter Pettigrew was still alive, leading him to conclude it was indeed the latter that had betrayed Harry's parents, while in the process framing their old friendSirius Black for the crime.^[13] This would go a long way towards repairing the rift between the two co-creators of the map.

Lupin would return the map to Harry before leaving Hogwarts at the end of the year. He saw no regret in doing so since he was no longer a teacher. He also stated that he had no further use for the map himself. He firmly believed that the map would prove invaluable to Harry in the years to come.^[14]

During hisfourth year, Harry used the map to help him as he sneaked into theprefects' bathroom to work on his clue for the Second Task of theTriwizard Tournament. On his way back, he dropped the map, and it was almost taken by Snape. Harry was saved byBarty Crouch Jnr, disguised asProfessorAlastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, who pretended it was his.

Due to the map's flaw, it could not differentiate between the Junior andSenior Crouches. Crouch later asked to borrow the map from a reluctant Harry. After Crouch was unmasked, he noted that the map nearly ruined hismaster's plan, but managed to turn it into an advantage by keeping track of his father's arrival.^[15] Harry later retrieved the map from the empty office used by Crouch.^[4]

In Harry'sfifth year, he started teachingDefence Against the Dark Arts to a variety of students, some even older than him, as part ofDumbledore's Army. This organisation was illegal, as it went directly againstDolores Umbridge's rules and, if caught, punishment was unavoidable. As such, Harry would often use the map during D.A. meetings as a means of keeping track of theInquisitorial Squad and Filch.

Nigel Wolpert (who liked to stay next to Harry during meetings) also assisted him by acting as a look-out as the students left the Room of Requirement at the end of the meetings using the map. Nigel was very committed to this task. The map played an instrumental role in keeping the members of the D.A. from getting caught by Umbridge, Filch, and her Squad ofSlytherin students.^[16]

During Harry'ssixth year, he used the map often when he spent a great deal of time obsessing overDraco Malfoy's daily activities. When monitoring Draco, Harry found he often disappeared off the map.^[17] The cause of this was not revealed until after he askedDobby to trail Draco to find out what he was doing when he disappeared from the map. Dobby discovered that Draco was disappearing into theRoom of Requirement, which was not on the map.^[18] Whether because it wasUnplottable or the Marauders never found the room is unspecified.

While on the run looking forHorcruxes, Harry would often look at the map to see whatGinny Weasley, hislove interest, was doing, which indicated that the map would work from any location.^[19]

Moments before the start of theBattle of Hogwarts, Harry briefly used the map to search forRon andHermione but he could not find them as they were, at the time, in theChamber of Secrets collectingBasilisk fangs with which they could destroy the last ofLord Voldemort's Horcruxes.^[20]

Harry Potter's legacy[]

After Harry's defeat of Lord Voldemort, the map would not have been used for many years. Eventually,James Sirius Potter probably stole the map from his father's desk.^[2]

The Calamity[]

During theCalamity, which happened throughout thewizarding world during the2010s, a mysteriousFoundable of the Marauder's Map appeared in the world, trapped in amagicalstormConfoundable. Volunteerwizards and witches who worked for theStatute of Secrecy Task Force had to free the map Foundable using thecounter-charmmeteolojinx recanto to stop the storm and return the map to its original place.^[21]

Alternate reality[]

In analternate reality accidentally created byAlbus Potter andScorpius Malfoy, Harry wanted to keep the two apart due to his prejudice against theSlytherin House, which Scorpius was sorted into. To this end, he forcedHeadmistressMinerva McGonagall to use the Marauder's Map to keep an eye out on the two boys, threatening to use the entire might of theMinistry against Hogwarts if she refused. Minerva reluctantly complied.^[22]

McGonagall carried out this order rather halfheartedly, using the map a few times, and on one occasion ignored the two as they were under theCloak of Invisibility, thus justifying that she did not see them together.^[23] She eventually returned the map to Harry, making it clear she wanted no part in ruining the friendship of the boy.^[24]

Usage[]

The map was normally disguised as a blank piece of parchment. To view the map, one would tap it with one'swand and recite, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The content of the map would then reveal itself.^[1]

To hide the contents of the map so the parchment appeared blank again, one would again tap it and recite, "Mischief managed."

An added bonus was that, if the bearer of the map approached the entrance to a secret passage protected by apassword, the password would appear on the map (usually as a speech bubble that appeared close to the dot representing the map's holder).

Exceptions to use[]

In some rare cases, the map could not be used to the best of its ability. Heading out through the secret passage from theWhomping Willow to theShrieking Shack would make the person disappear, asSeverus Snape mentioned in the spring of1994, so the Shrieking Shack went off the edge of the map and was not included. It also did not show any person that was inside theRoom of Requirement, as the Room was unplottable and it itself did not show up on the map, or the Chamber of Secrets, as it was very unlikely that any of the creators of the map knew of its existence at the time that the map was made.

Additionally, the map did not distinguish between two people with the same name. This was the case with Barty Crouch Jnr, who was simply shown as "Bartemius Crouch" on the map (instead of "Bartemius Crouch Jnr"). This ledHarry Potter to believe thatBarty Crouch Snr was in Hogwarts, when he was actually at his own home at the time and under theImperius Curse.^[25]

Similarly, it identifiesAnimagi by their actual name even when they are in their transformed state.^[12] It was by this mechanism thatLupin was able to identifyPeter Pettigrew's presence atHogwarts despite Pettigrew being presumed dead.^[13]

Special abilities of the map[]

The map wasenchanted to insult Snape if he ever came into possession of it and attempted to use it. It did this when Snape confiscated the map from Harry and attempted to discover what information it contained, but it simply insulted him as an ugly git.^[12][4] Snape was able to make use of the map later during the1993–1994 school year after finding it abandoned in its activated state on the desk of Lupin who had left it upon spotting Peter Pettigrew in theShrieking Shack. It is not clear if Snape would have been able to activate the map himself, had he known how.

The map also showed how to access the sealed passages by showing the password required to unseal it (displayed as a minuscule speech balloon shown close to the dot representing the user of the map that appeared when the map's holder came close to the available passages).

More importantly, the map showed the name and location of every person within the Hogwarts grounds, even if they were wearing anInvisibility Cloak (as demonstrated when Lupin saw Harry,Ron Weasley, andHermione Granger sneaking toRubeus Hagrid's cabin under Harry's Invisibility Cloak), transformed Animagi (evidenced by Lupin seeing Pettigrew return to the school grounds from Hagrid's despite being disguised as the rat Scabbers at the time), or under the influence of thePolyjuice Potion (as demonstrated when Harry saw Barty Crouch Jnr, at the time disguised asAlastor Moody, ransacking Snape's office for more Polyjuice ingredients).

Behind the scenes[]

• The Marauder's Map, along withhis wand, theCloak of Invisibility, and his firstGolden Snitch, is Harry's only remaining treasure from his time atHogwarts.
• According toJ. K. Rowling, Harry never gave the map toTeddy Lupin or any of his children, but his sonJames probably stole it from Harry's desk.^[2]
• The magical defences on Hogwarts have been mentioned several times, including Hogwarts beingunplottable. That implies that mapping Hogwarts is impossible, which is exactly what the Marauder's Map does. There are some possible loopholes for this: for example, making a place unplottable might simply make it impossible for it to be mapped with reference to somewhere else. As the Marauder's Map only covers Hogwarts, not its position relative to (for example)London, it would circumvent the theoretical unplottable charm.
• The claim that the map shows "every" corner of Hogwarts is likely an exaggeration, as there is no indication that it shows theChamber of Secrets or theRoom of Requirement. However, the map was created based on the Marauders' knowledge of Hogwarts and, as none of them wereParselmouths, they would not have been able to access the Chamber of Secrets. Considering that Fred and George had it during the opening of the Chamber, and the disappearance of their sister into it, it seems very unlikely it showed the Chamber or they would have mentioned it. Also, it is possible that theydid manage to find the Room of Requirement, but the room itself is unplottable as need be.^[18] However, it is not very likely the Marauders did discover the Room, asSirius never suggested it to Harry as a possible location for the meetings ofDumbledore's Army inHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is also possible that Sirius did not think about the Room of Requirement at the time. It likely would not show theCursed Vaults either as, while the Marauders undoubtedly knew of them, they did not know where they were located.
• In the books, the map is described as a single piece of parchment that could be laid on a desk in a classroom. In the films, the map is shown as a rather large, much-folded paper with several unfolding flaps within it.
• Also in the books, the characters shown in the map are represented by dots. In the films, the characters are represented by their footprints.
• In thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, one page is added to the Map, featuring the seventh-floor corridor.
• WhileHogwarts Castle is located on a large mountain in the films and video games, the map used as a prop still shows the Castle on level ground. In this, and in most other aspects, the design of the map's cover might be based on an illustration depicting thecity of Jerusalem in the 1485 Cologne edition of the Christian exegetical book "Postille" by Nikolaus of Lyra.
• In a deleted scene of thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the map showsDraco Malfoy's name as just "Malfoy". This is a mistake, as the map is supposed to show both given names and surnames.
• There is a toy version of the map in every copy of thevideo game version ofHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is an exact replica of the in-game map.
• A real-size replica of the Marauder's Map prop can be bought atNoble Collection.
• In thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,Moony is misspelled "Mooney" as an inside joke to the film's visual effects supervisor, Karl Mooney.
• In thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry was walking down one of the corridors one night, he sawPeter Pettigrew's name appear on the map before being caught by Snape, which was the first hint of Peter still being alive. This did not occur in the book.
• Also in thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, whileAlbus Dumbledore is pacing in his office, his name is spelled "Albvs Dvmbledore". This was most likely done simply to give the impression of age. During the Late Middle Ages, 'v' and 'u' were used interchangeably, with 'v' always appearing at the beginning of a word, and 'u' always appearing in the middle or at the end of a word.
• The map isDavid Thewlis's favourite prop from the series.^[26]
• In thehome consolevideo game adaptations ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,Draco Malfoy usesPolyjuice Potion to turn into Ron to trick Harry into following him into a trap while trying to findSirius Black. Despite the fact that the Map never lies about identity, it still names Draco as Ron.
• For theHarry Potter films, the Marauder's Map was hand-made byMinaLima Design with ink and paper.^[27]
• It is unknown if the map shows deceased people. However, as Lupin was surprised at Pettigrew being on it when he believed him to be dead, it would suggest it did not.
• Theglossary on theScholastic official website incorrectly claims that both Harry and Ron used the Marauder's Map to get to Hogsmeade.
• The order of the nicknames on the map "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" is actually in the reverse order of when the Marauders died. Prongs being the first to die (31 October 1981), and Moony being the last (2 May 1998).
• During the end credits of thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Robbie Coltrane's footprints are noticeably larger on the map. This is a reference to him portraying the half-giantRubeus Hagrid.
• Also during the end credits, in one of the corners in the castle as an Easter egg, there appears to be two feet belonging to two students who are either hugging or kissing.
• Newt Scamander's name can be seen on the map in an the easter egg in thefilm adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
• The name "Marauder's Map" is actually incorrect, as it implies there's only one Marauder. The correct name is actually Marauders' Map (the s and the apostrophe are swapped).
  • However, it is possible that the name Marauder was not meant to refer specifically to the group who created it, but rather it was a title or descriptor for one who uses it or for whom it was intended. Regardless, the name is generally taken to mean the former.

Author's comments[]

"The Marauder's Map subsequently became something of a bane to its true originator (me), because it allowed Harry a little too much freedom of information. I never showed Harry taking the map back from the empty office of (the supposed) Mad-Eye Moody, and I sometimes regretted that I had not capitalised on this mistake to leave it there. However, I like the moment when Harry watches Ginny's dot moving around the school in Deathly Hallows, so on balance I am glad I let Harry reclaim his rightful property."^[4]

Appearances[]

The Harry Potter Wiki has 194 images related toMarauder's Map.

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)(Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
• Pottermore
• HarryPotter.com
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• The Art of Harry Potter: Mini Book of Graphic Design
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World(Mentioned only)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• LEGO Dimensions
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened(Mentioned inHistory of Magic classes)
• The Magic of MinaLima: Celebrating the Graphic Design Studio Behind the Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts Films

Notes and references[]