Sibyll (Sybill) Patricia Trelawney
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Appearance
Eyes: huge glasses that enlarge
her eyes, making her look rather like an insect.
Voice: soft and misty.
Manner: spooky.
Distinguishing features: very thin, even spindly-looking.
Clothing: gauzy, spangled shawl, many chains and
beads, bangles and rings.
Name associations
First name meaning? In ancient times a Sibyl was a prophetess who, in a state of ecstasy and under
influence of Apollo, prophesied without being consulted (EM). Sybil was also the title of a famous 1973 book about a child who developed
multiple personalities as a response to horrific child abuse.
Middle name: Patricia (WBD) .
Last name meaning? Names that begin with "Tre" usually
indicate Cornish ("West country") ancestry. "Tre" means
homestead. There is a very small village named "Trelawne" in
Cornwall near Looe and Polperro (it is also near a town called Crumplehorn).
A Bishop famous for his independent thinking shares her surname:
Sir Jonathan Trelawny (1650-1721), Bishop of Bristol, Exeter
and Winchester (1911
Ency).
*NOTE: The spelling of Trelawney's
first name seems to be different in the British version than it is
in the U.S. version. The British version has "Sybill" while the U.S.
version has "Sibyll."
Family
Family: Great-great-granddaughter of the "very famous, very
gifted" Seer Cassandra Trelawney (OP37). Cassandra=Trojan seer gifted
with true prophecy, but cursed by Apollo so that no one would ever
believe her. The people of Troy ignored her warnings not to allow the
Trojan Horse within the city's walls, a mistake that allowed the Greeks
to capture Troy (EM).
Ancestry: Unknown.
Trelawney at Hogwarts
Hogwarts: on staff since 1979 or 1980.
Field: Divination, a position she now unwillingly
shares with Firenze the Centaur (HBP9).
Office: she lives and has her classroom at the top
of North Tower.
Habits: reclusive because she doesn't want to "cloud
her Inner Eye"; superstitious.
Drink: sherry, apparently, since she drank an entire
bottle of it after being sacked (although getting into the cooking
sherry is a stereotype image of someone who is losing it...).
Profile
Sibyll Patricia Trelawney is the Divination professor at Hogwarts. She is the
great-great-granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney, a very gifted, very famous
Seer (OP37). Hermione considers her to be nothing but an old fraud, but Trelawney has her moments.
Trelawney, according Dumbledore, has made exactly two accurate predictions since coming to Hogwarts. In 1979, Dumbledore went to interview her at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. He was not particularly impressed until, to his surprise, she apparently fell into a trance and spoke these words:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." (OP 37).
Severus Snape was eavesdropping on this conversation and he reported the first part of the Prophecy to the Dark Lord. Voldemort immediately began searching for this threat, and centered his attention on the child of Lily and James Potter (OP 37). A record of this Prophecy was kept in the Department of Mysteries ever since.
Many years later, in June of 1994, Trelawney again fell into a trance. This time she said:
"IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT. THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT... THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANTS AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT... BEFORE MIDNIGHT...THE SERVANT...WILL SET OUT...TO REJOIN...HIS MASTER...." (PA)This second prophecy came true that evening when Peter Pettigrew, who had been masquerading as a rat, escaped and went to Albania to find the vanquished Voldemort.
True prophecies those may be, but Trelawney doesn’t even remember making them. Her version of Divination is fortune telling. She likes to start off her classes by predicting the death of someone in the class. She teaches a variety of Divination methods including reading tea leaves and reading the crystal ball, all in a tower classroom that is overheated with a perfumed fire and filled with stuffed furniture and little tables. Harry hates her class and Hermione actually quit taking it in disgust. McGonagall has little use for Trelawney's brand of magic, and quite honestly Dumbledore doesn't expect much of it either.
Not everyone would be so protective. During the 1995-6 school year, Hogwarts High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge inspected all the teachers' classes and teaching methods. She first put Trelawney on probation, then fired her. In a move probably meant to intimidate the rest of the Hogwarts staff, Umbridge further humiliated Trelawney by evicting her from Hogwarts with the students looking on. At that point, Dumbledore stepped in, announced that he had found a new Divination teacher, and that Trelawney could still consider Hogwarts her home.
The next school year Trelawney was teaching again, but had to share the position with Firenze, whom she peevishly resented. Her complaints and warnings went unheeded by Dumbledore or anyone else in the school. At one point she was walking around with Tarot cards, talking about the Lightning-Struck Tower card, which was prescient indeed, but no one noticed.
During the Battle of Hogwarts, Trelawney found a good use for her stock of crystal balls. She used her want to fire them from the balcony above the entrance hall, smashing them spectacularly onto the heads of Death Eaters. She flattened Greyback this way (DH36).
TRELAWNEY
in the MOVIES
In the movies "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Trelawney is played by Emma Thompson [imdb].
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