Summary
- Gilderoy Lockhart's false sense of self-importance stems from his pampered childhood and belief in his exceptional talent, which turns out to be untrue.
- Lockhart gained fame and popularity through fabricating and sensationalizing stories of his supposed adventures, erasing the memories of others to claim their feats.
- Dumbledore hired Lockhart as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to expose his fraudulence and create chaos, but Lockhart's ineptitude and narcissism become increasingly apparent.
J. K. Rowling once stated that she came across the name ‘Lockhart’ on a war memorial, and thought it to be “dashing” yet “hollow” — which is entirely befitting of the character she named it after in Harry Potter. Gilderoy Lockhart’s false sense of self-importance can be traced back to his childhood: as the only kid in the family who exhibited magical abilities, he was his witch mother’s clear favorite, and was pampered throughout his formative years. When he was accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he believed that everyone would be impressed by his exceptional talent or “naturally wavy hair” — neither of which turned out to be true.
However, that is not to say he was altogether useless; as a Ravenclaw, he actually seemed to be above average in intelligence and magical abilities. He only failed to nurture his potential as he was fixated on being more rather than actually doing more. He would be vocal in front of other students about his far-fetched ambitions of creating the Sorcerer’s Stone before graduating; becoming the captain of England’s Quidditch team and leading them to victory; and settling down as Britain’s youngest Minister for Magic. His evident narcissism and ignorance throughout the Harry Potter series make this question even more potent: why did Dumbledore even hire Lockhart?
How Did Gilderoy Lockhart Become Famous?
Shortly after graduating, Lockhart traveled around the world and authored several books on his supposed adventures, such as Gadding With Ghouls and Marauding With Monsters. He claimed to have encountered (and overpowered) many dark and dangerous wizards or creatures in far-flung areas, portraying himself as the conventional charming hero he always desired to be. He also released an autobiography called Magical Me, in which he highlighted “a life dedicated to the eradication of the dark forces”.
His exploits attracted publicity, and he soon became a highly popular figure in the wizarding world. He earned a reputation as a master duelist against dark wizards, a tamer of dragons and a conqueror of trolls. He even received the Order of Merlin, Third Class, and was invited to become an honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League. His former professors also started to believe that they may have misjudged him after all.
The truth, however, was that Lockhart’s stories were completely fabricated, exaggerated and sensationalized. As he was only able to perfect the Memory Charm (Obliviate), he would cast it on brave and accomplished wizards and witches after extracting information from them about their various feats. Erasing their memories enabled him to narrate their endeavors under his own name, without facing any consequences.
Why Did Dumbledore Hire Professor Lockhart?
Although Lockhart managed to hide his fraudulence, Dumbledore was able to deduce the real reason behind his success. As an acquaintance of two of the wizards whom Lockhart had stolen glory from, the Hogwarts headmaster intended to expose his misdeeds by appointing him as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. The prominence of this position in an ordinary school setting would inevitably allow for the chaos (and hilarity) to unfold. Although Lockhart was not keen at first to accept the job (seeing how illustrious his career was at that point), Dumbledore convinced him by insinuating that Harry would be attending his second year at Hogwarts, which could boost the professor’s fame.
The other teachers at Hogwarts were unaware that Lockhart had capitalized on others’ lives, but were still apprehensive about Dumbledore’s decision (regardless of Lockhart’s chronicles of valor and valiance) since they remembered him being an obnoxious student. Professor McGonagall directly questioned Dumbledore about his capabilities (or lack of), only to receive the following reply: “There is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be.”
As Lockhart’s magical abilities had deteriorated beyond repair at this point, his remarkable ineptitude became more and more apparent in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. His first class with the second-year students was particularly disastrous, when he opened a cage full of “freshly caught” Cornish pixies and was unable to control them. Subsequently, he resorted to just doing dramatic readings and re-enactments of his own books that he had assigned for the course. He continued to make a fool of himself when he made all the bones vanish in Harry’s broken arm instead of healing them after a Quidditch match. When the Dueling Club was set up, he failed to block Snape’s Disarming Charm as well as make a snake disappear. As Ron summed it up: “I haven’t learned anything from him except not to set pixies loose."
Lockhart also gave unsolicited advice to the rest of the staff members, and told them that he knew where the Chamber of Secrets was located and what Slytherin’s monster really was. When Hagrid was arrested for the attacks, Lockhart claimed that he knew he was guilty all along. When Ginny was taken to the Chamber, the other teachers tried to get rid of him by telling him to rescue her since he had previously stated that he “should have been given a free rein from the first”. In response, Lockhart attempted to run away from Hogwarts, but Harry and Ron caught him in the act and finally learned that he was a fraud the entire time. They forced him to accompany them to the Chamber of Secrets, where Lockhart grabbed Ron’s broken wand and attempted to cast the Memory Charm on them. He planned to tell everyone that the two lost their minds when they saw Ginny’s “mangled body”, whom he “was too late to save”. The wand ended up backfiring, striking Lockhart with his own spell and effectively erasing all his memories. Later, Dumbledore said to him quite sardonically, “Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!”
What Happened to Lockhart After the Chamber of Secrets?
Even though Dumbledore intended to uncover Lockhart’s secret, he chose not to make it public after he lost his memory as he believed that the charlatan had finally paid his dues. Doing so would have meant directing hatred towards a man who did not even remember the crimes he had committed. Hence, Lockhart remained blissfully unaware of his past and became a long-term resident of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in the Janus Thickey Ward, which was dedicated to patients suffering from permanent spell damage. In their fifth year, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny ran into him at the hospital, where a Healer named Miriam Strout told them that Lockhart never received any visitors (which could mean he had no family left), but got occasional fan mail as he was “quite well-known a few years ago”.
While he expressed surprise at the fact that he was a professor once, Lockhart immediately remarked that he must have “taught you everything you know”, and went on to offer the group autographs. His last book, Who Am I?, showed him bound in white straitjacket, implying that he had gone insane.