Was Lockhart a fraud?

Yes. He found witches and wizards who had done impressive things, interviewed them, then wiped their memories and wrote the stories as his own.

What happened to Gilderoy Lockhart?

He tried to wipe Harry and Ron's memories in the Chamber of Secrets with Ron's broken wand. The spell backfired and erased his own memory. He was taken to St Mungo's.

What books did Lockhart write?

Books in the series include Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, Year with the Yeti and his autobiography, Magical Me.

Gilderoy Lockhart: Character Profile and House

Who is Gilderoy Lockhart?

Gilderoy Lockhart is a famous wizard author with a dazzling smile, wavy blond hair and an endless supply of lilac robes. His books describe his heroic adventures with banshees, ghouls, vampires and werewolves, and they’re bestsellers.

In Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore hires him to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. It quickly becomes clear he can’t actually do any of the things he writes about.

Why Lockhart was sorted into Ravenclaw

Lockhart’s sorting surprises many readers, because his main trait seems to be vanity. But he was genuinely talented at one thing: memory charms. He was also clever enough to build an entire career around stealing other people’s stories.

He shows Ravenclaw’s shadow side: intelligence without honesty or wisdom, used to win admiration rather than understanding. Read the Ravenclaw guide.

Personality and traits

Lockhart is vain, self-obsessed and relentlessly cheerful. He signs photographs of himself, sets class tests about his own favourite colour and talks about himself constantly. He’s charming on the surface, but he’s also a coward who abandons students the moment he faces real danger.

Magical abilities and skills

Skill	Details
Memory charms	Genuinely skilled; the basis of his whole career.
Self-promotion	Exceptional.
Duelling	Poor. Snape disarmed him in seconds at the Duelling Club.
Defence Against the Dark Arts	Almost none. His pixie lesson ended in chaos.
Healing	Removed all the bones from Harry’s broken arm instead of mending it.

Lockhart’s story

Moment	What happened
Flourish and Blotts	Holds a book signing; pulls Harry into a photograph for the Daily Prophet.
First lesson	Releases Cornish pixies and flees, leaving students to deal with them.
Quidditch accident	“Fixes” Harry’s broken arm by removing its bones.
Duelling Club	Is blasted off his feet by Snape.
Chamber of Secrets	Tries to escape; is forced into the Chamber; attempts to wipe Harry and Ron’s memories with Ron’s broken wand; the spell backfires.
Afterwards	Lives at St Mungo’s, still happily signing autographs.

Key relationships

Character	Relationship
Harry Potter	Lockhart treats him as a fellow celebrity and a rival for attention.
Ron Weasley	Ron’s broken wand ends Lockhart’s career.
Hermione Granger	Adores him at first, hearts drawn around his timetable entries.
Severus Snape	Humiliates him at the Duelling Club.

Strengths and flaws

Strengths: charm, confidence and real skill with memory charms.

Flaws: vanity, dishonesty, cowardice and a willingness to ruin other people’s lives for fame.

Lockhart in the books vs the films

Kenneth Branagh played Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets. Hugh Grant was the first choice but was unavailable. The film keeps most of his comic moments but cuts his later appearance at St Mungo’s in Order of the Phoenix.

Why Lockhart matters to the story

Lockhart is comic relief, but he also makes a serious point about fame. Harry, who hates being famous, meets a man who would do anything for it. Lockhart’s fate shows what happens when someone values reputation over truth.

Debates and fan questions

Why did Dumbledore hire Lockhart?

The Defence Against the Dark Arts job was cursed and hard to fill. J.K. Rowling has said Dumbledore knew Lockhart was a fraud and hired him partly so the school could see what he really was, and partly because nobody else would take the post.

Did Lockhart have any real talent?

Yes: memory charms. He was skilled enough to wipe the memories of experienced witches and wizards without being caught for years. The tragedy is that he used his one gift to steal from others.

Did he ever recover his memory?

No. In Order of the Phoenix he’s still in St Mungo’s, delighted that anyone wants his autograph and recovering only fragments of who he was.

Fun facts

He won Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile Award five times.
His favourite colour is lilac.
In Order of the Phoenix, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny meet him at St Mungo’s, where he happily signs autographs.
He hired a team of grumpy dwarves dressed as cupids to deliver Valentines around the school on 14 February. One of them delivered a singing card to Harry.

Are you like Lockhart?

Let’s hope not. But you can still find out where the Hat would put you: take our house quiz.

Gilderoy Lockhart