Deaglan McDonough
 | |
| Deaglan Cillian McDonough | |
|---|---|
| Biographical Information | |
| Born | 19 January 1915, 103 |
| City of Birth | Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Blood status | Muggle-born |
| Physical Information | |
| Gender | male |
| Height | 5'9" |
| Hair Colour | White |
| Eye Colour | Green |
| Skin Colour | Pale |
| Magical Characteristics | |
| Wand(s) | |
| |
| Education | |
| School | Hogwarts |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Class of | 1933 |
| Occupation | |
| Character Information | |
| Playby | Ian McKellen |
| Mai | |
Deaglan McDonough is a kind, good natured older Irish Traveller wizard who moves freely between Great Britain and Ireland as well as between the wizarding and muggle worlds. He continues to live a nomadic lifestyle. In the muggle world, he's known as a woodcrafter who sells quality, hand-crafted wooden bodhrans and trinkets. In the wizarding world, he's a wandmaker who sells or trades his wands to those who are looking for alternatives to higher classed Ollivander wands.
Basic Facts
- Occupation: Wandmaker and Travelling Woodworker
- Current Place of Residence: N/A - Nomadic
- Date of Birth: January 19, 1915
- City & Country of Birth: Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland
- Bloodstatus: Muggle-born Pavee Wizard
- Alma Mater: Hogwarts
- House: Gryffindor
Wand
14 5/6 in. Yellowheart with a head hair and mane hair from the Dullahan
Inherited from his mentor, this long and flexible wand is punchy and unpredictable. But, despite its temper, Deaglan is quite fond of his wand.
Appearance
Build/Body type: Tall and sinewy Estimated Height/Weight: 5'9 (175cm) / 123# (54kgs) Hair color: White Eye color: Green Skin color: Pale
At about five foot, nine inches, Deaglan isn't an exceptionally tall man though, at a distance, his thin and wiry build give the casual looker the misperception that he's taller than he actually is. Even in his youth, through the combination of a humble diet and constantly being on the move, Deaglan rarely carried around much in the way of extra weight. While still quite strong and physically capable, age has started to render his muscles smaller and sleeker. Years of finding amusement in the world has left a virtual canyonland of laugh lines around thin, though frequently smiling lips and startling green eyes.
Grey and (admittedly, primarily) white has replaced much of the brilliant red color his head of hair once sported though Deaglan is quite grateful that the receding hairline fairy never seemed to catch up to him during his travels. At least, that's the explanation he sticks to. Rather than decreasing in quantity, his hair seems to have met old age with a will to become more unruly and resistant to control. It's been about ten years since Deaglan officially capitulated and left his hair to do whatever it chose to do with minimal intervention on his point. While the declaration of peace has left Deaglan unlikely to win any beauty contests, the cease fire seems to have suited both parties involved.
Never having been susceptible to the temptations of vanity, Deaglan choses his mode of attire for practical purposes. During Hogwarts and for several years following his school days, Deaglan was more prone to donning wizarding robes and clothes more suitable to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. But, more blatantly 'wizarding' clothes slowly began to work their way out of his wardrobe as Deaglan began reintegrating with muggle populations. Again, the transition was more for practical purposes - there was only so many articles of clothing his vardo could accommodate and, while muggle clothes could be worn amongst both muggles and wizards alike, "wearing dresses" amongst muggle populations was prone to raising questions. And, let's face it, the long tails of wizards robes aren't the most practical when trying to harness a horse.
As most of his days have been spent out, exposed to the elements, durable, weather-resistant fabric is a common pattern in his clothing. Wool trousers and shirts, leather vests, sheepskin or fleece outerwear, boots and a wool cap are Deaglan's typical choice of dress.
Personality Description:
Since he was a child, Deaglan has been inflicted with an insatiable curiosity and desire to explore. It is, of course, impossible to say whether this tendency was a byproduct of his culture and upbringing but there's no doubt that it matched well to the nomadic lifestyle of his childhood. To a young energetic Deaglan, rocks were [i]meant[/i] to be looked behind. Lone, quiet barns in an empty field were put there for the sole purpose of exploring. Old minds remained, carefully protected, in the skulls of the older generation to allow youngsters (like himself) to ask for the same story to be told over and over and over again.
There's no doubt that he owed much of his deep-rooted sense of resourcefulness to his culture and upbringing. A tendency to take liberties with the law is, in many ways, a component of the resourcefulness - though rarely to the blatant detriment of others. Disregarding private property or snatching the odd loaf of bread or other crimes of necessity were, usually, the extent of any illegal activity. As he began to learn to control and direct his abilities as a wizard, his new abilities only proved to enhance his resourcefulness. He viewed his ability less as an opportunity to make things easier for himself but more as an additional tool to take advantage of whatever situation he might find himself in.
Deaglan is, generally, a rather optimistic and good-humored fellow though he does have a bit of the stereotypical short fuse of the celts. While the majority of his time is spent on his own, he likes the company of others when his travels offer him the opportunity. Though he thrives off of regular visits with old friends and family, he's equally as comfortable with long periods of solitude as he is in the company of strangers. He enjoys dancing, though he doesn't do so as much as he once did. His time on the road has offered him a fair amount of free time and playing music has been a common past time. He is fairly adept at the fiddle and bodhran.
While traveling with his parents and hearing the stories of other elders, Deaglan developed an insatiable fascination with his own culture. Once he started studying the world of witches and wizards, this fascination grew to include magical heritage. The dichotomy of growing up in a largely "muggle" culture that still held to many of the legends and myths of old and later discovering that there was, often, truth behind many of thes myths piqued Deaglan's interest considerably. He became infatuated with the stories of the wizards and mages in the past (most noticably Merlin) who integrated with muggle culture. Though his lack of education put him, initially, behind his fellow students, ironically, History of Magic quickly became one of his favorite subject.
While he remained, largely, within the wizarding world shortly after finishing Hogwarts, as he grew, he began to emulate the stories he'd heard in history. Taking advantage of the benefits of magic and his generally nomadic nature, Deaglan moves freely between Ireland and Great Britain and the magical and muggle worlds.
Like most individuals who are lucky enough to have watched the world develop over nine decades, Deaglan's personality has, of course, changed, grown and developed as he has matured. That's not to say any of the tendencies of youth have vanished - oh no. They are still there. Only matured and deepened. An old oak may continue to grow in the same direction that the young seedling had, but only with more branches. And more knots.
History
In the spring of 1909, a young Traveller girl named Aoife Banagher was wed to her betrothed. She left the familiarity of her own family and began traveling with her husband, a young tinsmith by the name of Cabhan McDonough. Living off of extremely meager wages, the young couple traveled throughout Ireland - sometimes on their own and sometimes in the company of other Travellers. Though her first two pregnancies were unsuccessful, in January of 1915, Aoife gave birth to a health baby boy. As a largely closed culture, wizards were few and far between amongst Travellers. By a stroke of luck, both Aoife and Cabhan proved to carry enough traces of magical genetic material in their heritages to produce a muggle-born.
Much of Deaglan's childhood was spent amidst the turmoil and challenges of early 20th century Ireland. Though their nomadic lifestyle allowed them to, frequently, avoid the dangers of the bigger cities, Deaglan was still exposed to the violence and turmoil of the struggle for Irish Independence, the rise of the Sinn Féin and the first world war. When he was five years old, the Irish War of Independence ended, paving the way for an independent Irish state. Evidence of violence, either directly or indirectly, were common place during Deaglan's childhood, just as much as the challenges of poverty and hunger that often takes hold in a violence- and war-torn society.
For much of Deaglan's childhood, pursing an education was out of the question. At least, that appeared to be the case until, in the spring of 1926, a strange old woman approached the McDonoughs to offer their son a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The following fall, laden with bartered hand-me-down books and supplies, Deaglan was sorted into Gryffindor and started his education. His first years at Hogwarts were awkward and rocky but he soon settled in and, admittedly, began to prefer the comforts of school to the hardships of life back home. When it came time to graduate, Deaglan was reluctant to return to his old life. He remained in England, letting a flat in London and holding odd jobs.
Despite the comforts of settled life in London, Deaglan began to grow restless. But, it wasn't until Britain went to war with Germany in 1939 that Deaglan left London. Fear of being drafted and forced to enlist motivated Deaglan to pack his things and return to neutral Ireland. He took to the road, again, and began traveling. By 1941, Deaglan was married to a young muggle woman by the name of Síomha McCree. Several years later, Deaglan crossed paths with an old Pavee wizard and wandmaker by the name of Ciarán Mac Cionaoith. He and Síomha began traveling with Ciarán while Deaglan apprenticed under him. The McDonoughs rejoiced the birth of their only child, a girl they named Sinéad, in 1945. To Deaglan's disappointment, Sinéad did not inherit her father's magical ability.
In 1951, Ciarán Mac Cionaoith passed away and Deaglan began practicing the craft of wandmaking independently. Shortly after Sinéad's twelfth birthday, in 1957, Síomha took ill. Due to her Traveller status, medical care was unobtainable and she passed away a few weeks later leaving Deaglan to raise his daughter on his own. Sinéad married young and she and her husband chose to settle in Dublin, leaving Deaglan to continue traveling in solitude. He continues to visit his daughter and her children frequently when he passes through Dublin.
