The Black family tree shows the members of one of the oldest magical families, and their links with many other magical families in the Harry Potter fantasy books. The details of this extended family tree were revealed in January 2006 when author J.K. Rowling donated a version she had created to the International Book Aid charity auction.
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
This is not a complete family tree - the Black family extends back to the Middle Ages. However this tree shows the last few generations before the line ended.
Disowned Blacks
The names in bold are members of the family who have been disowned for bringing disgrace to the family name, usually by marrying Muggles, Muggle-borns or blood traitors. They were stricken from the tapestry chronicling their common bloodline.
- Isla Black of the first generation shown was disowned for marrying "Muggle Bob Hitchens".
- Phineas Black of the second generation shown was disowned for supporting Muggle rights.
- Marius Black, third generation son of Cygnus and Violetta Bulstrode Black, was disowned as he was a Squib.
- Cedrella Black, also third generation and cousin of Marius, was disowned for marrying blood traitor Septimus Weasley.
- Alphard Black of the fourth generation shown, was disowned for giving gold to his "runaway nephew", Sirius Black.
- Sirius Black of the fifth generation shown, ran away from home to the Potters' and was subsequently disowned.
- Andromeda Black, cousin of Sirius Black, was disowned for marrying "Muggle Ted Tonks" (a muggle-born wizard).
Analysis
Although J.K. Rowling did include some birth and death years on the original tree, they have led to much controversy. For example, Pollux Black is listed as living from 1912-1990, however his eldest child, Walburga Black is listed as living from 1925-1985, making Pollux a father at the tender age of 13. The same issue applies to Cygnus Black (1938-1992) and his daughter Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black) (born 1951.) Coincidently, five Blacks die within months of one-another: Pollux (1912-1990), Arcturus (1901-1991), Cassiopeia (1915-1992), Lucretia (1925-1992), and Cygnus (1938-1992). J.K. Rowling has always freely admitted that mathematics is not her best subject, and most errors in her writing are mathematical.
The Black family also appears to have something of a curse of short life, as many members, with a few exceptions, die in their 50s and 60s, when, as wizards, they would probably have lived for about another century.
Dorea Black has proved to be of particular interest to many observers. Dorea (1920-1977) married Charlus Potter and bore one son, who many have speculated to have been James Potter, husband of Lily Evans and father of Harry Potter (though his connection to Lily would have meant he would not have been acknowledged by the Blacks). In support of this is the fact that Rowling has stated that James was an only child, and the indications in the story that James' parents must have died before 1981, as the Dursleys are Harry's only living relatives. The death date of 1977 fits in reasonably well in this regard. Also, JKR has also stated that the Potters were old by wizarding standards when James was born. Considering Harry was born when James and Lily were 22 in 1980, Draco was born when Narcissa and Lucius were 25, Molly and Arthur Weasley were in their early 20's when they started having children, etc... one could conclude that 40 would be old by wizarding standards for someone to bear a child. However, one could also conclude that "old" by Wizarding standards would be judged by Wizard lifespan, as 40 is often considered old by human standards. In this interpretation, known wizard ages of over 100 would have to be taken into account. Dorea Potter would have been 38 in 1958 when James was born. One problem with the theory is that James and Sirius would probably have known they were cousins, especially considering how close they were (although Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy give no indication of their confirmed relationship via their Black relatives). The issue is addressed in the article, "Relatives of Harry Potter".
Orion Black
Orion Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. His name has not appeared in the actual text of the series but was revealed on J.K. Rowling's drawing of the Black family tapestry in 2006. Orion is named after the constellation Orion (The Hunter).
He was born in 1929, to Arcturus Black and Melania Black née Macmillan as the younger of two children. His elder sister was Lucretia Prewett née Black, and he is, by blood, a member of the House of Black. His paternal aunt and uncle were Lycoris Black and Regulus Black (the elder). Later, he married Walburga Black, who was also his second cousin. He was the father of Sirius Black and Regulus Black (the younger), and brother-in-law of Ignatius Prewett, Alphard Black, and Cygnus Black. Walburga seems to have been the dominant personality in their marriage, as their house-elf Kreacher was always more devoted to her, and she was the one who blasted "blood traitors" off the family tapestry.
Weasley - Potters
If Dorea Black was Harry's grandmother, this would leave Harry as the third cousin of the Weasley children, and second cousin of Narcissa Malfoy: although, since James Potter was a Pureblood, Harry is likely to be related to all the Purebloods and their off-shoots in other forms. This leads to the eyebrow-raising point that if Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter ever had children, the offspring would be mildly inbred. However, the fact remains that most, if not all, purebloods are inbred, mildly or otherwise.
Name etymologies
The name etymologies of Phineas Nigellus, Walburga, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, Sirius, and Regulus can be found in their articles.
- A very large number of the Black family are named after stars, constellations and other heavenly objects (for example, Sirius, Arcturus, Alphard, Regulus, Pollux and Bellatrix are stars, while Andromeda is a galaxy, and Orion, Cassiopeia, and Cygnus are constellations, as Ursula comes from the constellation Ursula Minor/Major.
- 'Isla' is Spanish for "island" and also a girl's name in Scotland derived from the name of the isle of Islay.
- 'Ursula' is Latin for "small female bear".
- 'Belvina' means "beautiful wine" or "beautiful vine" in Latin.
- 'Hesper' is similar to the more common name "Hester" and also brings to mind the Hesperides, a set of nymphs in Greek mythology, however there is a god in Greek mythology named Hesperus who was the Guardian of Constellations; this would go along with the naming patterns of the Black family though she is not blood related as far as we know
- 'Violetta' obviously comes from "violet", or possibly "violent" given the family in question.
- 'Lycoris' is Greek for "twilight" and also a genus of flowers in the Amaryllidaceae family.
- Lycoris is also Welsh for "Licorice" - which is black in colour
- 'Callidora' means "gift of beauty" in Greek and is also the name of a parasite of moths.
- 'Charis' is Greek for "kindness" (hence, the word 'charity') and the name of one of the mythological Graces.
- 'Melania' is Greek for "darkness" or "blackness," which would be appropriate for a member of the Black family.