House Elf

From Absit Omen Lexicon

A house-elf is a magical creature loyal to a person designated as their master. They typically serve wixes in the context of old wizarding families, and feel compelled to obey their keepers unless they are freed. A house-elf can only be freed when their master presents them with clothes.

House-elves primarily live and exist in Europe and - through colonisation - North America. They are also found in Turkey although house-elf culture there differs. They are rarely found in other places

Physical appearance

Dobby-illustration.jpg

House-elves are between two to three feet tall, with spindly arms and legs and oversized heads and eyes. They have pointed, bat-like ears and high, squeaky voices. Rather than conventional clothing, house-elves wear discarded items like pillowcases and tea-towels.

Magic

House-elves have their own particular magic which allows them to perform tasks, such as Apparating where wixes cannot. More than a mere housekeeper they are ruthless protectors of their masters.

However, like other Beings, they do not utilise wands. House-elves do not require wands to perform their magic. What they do require is permission from their masters to use it. Doing so without permission is treated as a sign of transgression. This may lead a remorseful house-elf to inflict injury on themself.

Loyalty

House-elves are bound by the power of their own belief and magic to obey their masters. As a result, wixes think that house-elves are innately unable to disobey them. Even within this paradigm, a house-elf may find loopholes to subvert authority.

Service is typically pledged to a master’s family or household. A particularly loyal house-elf may torture and maim themself as punishment or if they think it will please their master.

House-elves take pride in their loyalty and cannot be set free unless presented with clothes by their master. As such, they usually wear makeshift clothes made with found objects such as pillowcases and rags.

In general, house-elves enjoy feeling productive and being of service to their masters. Most will feel insulted by attempts of payment, pension or reward. It is considered the mark of a good house-elf that they do all the work but their existence is not even noticed.

European House-elves are so intensely loyal to their masters that they will not allow themselves to be set free unless their master presents them with clothes. In 1995, when Hermione Granger began hiding clothes in Gryffindor Tower in an attempt to free the house-elves of Hogwarts, the house-elves felt rather insulted, and everyone except Dobby refused to clean the Gryffindor common room in protest. Winky was absolutely loyal to the Crouch family, and when she was dismissed for failure to keep Crouch Jnr under control, she suffered a mental breakdown, thinking that her release was the ultimate disgrace to her family.

This loyalty, in and of itself, is something akin to a code of honour among their kind such that it was not uncommon for a house-elf to carry out their imperatives to the best of their ability, and at great personal risk, even if at the cusp of death. Unfortunately, this can also mean that they were left utterly helpless if ordered to be by their masters, even if the elf wished otherwise.

Legal Rights

For hundreds of years, house-elves have often received brutal treatment with no rights whatsoever. House-elf rights started being introduced by the Ministry of Magic in the late 20th century.

In the 1990s guidelines on house-elf welfare existed as a set of regulations passed by the British Ministry of Magic regarding the treatment of house-elves. Despite this, the guidelines were not enforced by the Ministry of Magic and therefore many wizarding households such as the Malfoys and the Blacks mistreated their elves. This led wizards such as Albus Dumbledore and Hermione Granger to personally work to improve the lives of these creatures.

Since the late 1990s it has been illegal to physically abuse a house-elf or request for a house-elf to harm itself. Masters cannot enter into a relationship with a house-elf, nor engage in sexual acts.

The Ministry Being Division handles all matters to do with the treatment of house-elves, including receiving complaints from house-elves themselves.

History

Going back far enough in history, the relationship between wixes and house-elves has not always been one of undying loyalty.

Medieval British Isles

House-elves were known as helpful beings who enjoyed being productive and were eager to please others. This meant they were often tricked into contracts of service, their natures taken advantage of.

Treatment of house-elves varied across the board. They were not known for undying loyalty or acts of self-flagellation at the time. Many house-elves resented their treatment despite honouring contracts of service.

When Helga Hufflepuff introduced House-elves to Hogwarts in the 11th century, it was seen as a safe environment in which they would not be abused or tricked.

Ancient Rome

Magical historians have found evidence of house-elves in Ancient Roman society, largely through records still in existence in modern day Istanbul. The house-elves were presumably integrated after Roman rule of the British Isles.

When making Byzantium/Constantinople his capital, Constantine the Great brought over house-elves as cooks, servants and entertainment. Records show they were treated as second class citizens but were entitled to their own time and space, and cultivated communities away from their keepers.

It was customary to dress a house-elf in fine clothing to reflect one’s own wealth. A healthy, content house-elf indicated a prosperous family. This tradition carried on through Ottoman conquest (15th century) - with the clothing becoming even finer and more ostentatious.

Ottoman Empire

In Europe, the threat of this new empire inspired revulsion for Ottoman habits. Insomuch that it became fashionable to mock the tradition of finely dressing one’s house-elves, among other customs.

Wealthy and powerful families in European kingdoms began dressing their house-elves in rags. It indicated a rejection of Ottoman values, which they intended to portray as weak and frivolous in nature.

Loss of Rights

With the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire, this treatment of house-elves became fully adopted as their natural treatment. The rejection of Ottoman values was cover for normalising and regulating a class of Beings as indentured service.

For house-elves this was a terrible era in which their communities were forcefully divided and fragmented, their free time curtailed. Their love of service and usefulness was used as a means of conditioning them to pledge utter loyalty.

With no community to support them, house-elves grew increasingly dependent on their masters.

In Turkey however, Ottoman tradition and treatment of House-elves persisted until the early 20th century.

Modern Day

Due to the efforts of house-elf rights awareness, conditions have gradually begun to improve for house-elves in Europe. House-elves who have become aware of their history and condition are slowly developing communities with or without consent from their masters.

The Hag Market has become a popular gathering space for such house-elves.

House Elves at AO

List of all house elf characters

At Hogwarts

House-elves work the kitchens, preparing feasts for the entire school. They move trunks and baggage and clean.

Elsewhere

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