Quirinus Quirrell

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Character
Name: Quirinus Quirrell
Occupation: Hogwarts teacher
Relationships: Voldemort (master)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Other: portrayed by Ian Hart in the PS/SS film
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Quirinus Quirrell, known only as Professor Quirrell in the books and films, is a Harry Potter character. He is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Quirrell is best known for being revealed, in a plot twist at the end of the first book, to have Lord Voldemort sticking out the back of his head.

Canon

In Philosopher's Stone, Quirrell is described as a "young man,"[1] but his precise age is unknown. His age is in some debate especially in relation to whom he attended Hogwarts with as a student. (For example, Severus Snape could have been his schoolmate, his teacher, or both.) He is usually assumed to be in his early or mid-twenties.

Fan Response

Most Quirrell-related fan activity took place surrounding the release of the first film in late 2001, and into 2002. Several Quirrell fansites were created at that time.

Although Quirrell's character and motivations are occasionally discussed, Quirrell enjoys relatively little fan attention. melannen wrote in 2003:

Quirrell is an amazing character, sadly neglected. He's better at Dark Arts than Snape, better at forestry than Hagrid, better at sniveling the Pettigrew, almost better at scheming than Dumbledore. I'd been meaning to write some Quirrelfic for a long time; particularly since I'd read [Arkady's] Go East, which is the only Quirrell there seems to be on FictionAlley.[2]

Quirrell commonly comes up in debates about what is and isn't canon, such as the second-hand information about his first name and the technicalities of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse.

Early on, the most common pairing for Quirrell was Snape/Quirrell, although even that was very rare. Even more infrequently, he has been paired with Gilderoy Lockhart,[3] Harry Potter,[4] or in an assortment of other rarepairs.

Quirrell saw renewed interest upon the release of A Very Potter Musical in 2009. The fan musical features a fluffy, happily-ever-after Voldemort/Quirrell storyline and led to a surge of interest in the pairing.

Common gen topics of fanfiction featuring Quirrell include AUs/canon divergence set during the first book, pastfic of Quirrell finding Voldemort in Albania, or missing moments from when Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort in the first book.

Debate & Speculation

Quirinus vs. Slatero

Although the name "Quirinus" has since been confirmed as canon on Pottermore after first appearing in the Harry Potter Trading Card Game in March 2002, at that time, the canonicity of the Trading Card Game was uncertain, and the alternative name "Slatero" was given some months previously on the IMDb page for the first film. Although IMDb has since been discredited as a canonical source, the name was adopted by many fans especially before "Quirinus" was widely known. (For example, see Quirrell's 2004 page at the Harry Potter Lexicon).

Tenure at Hogwarts

Philosopher's Stone implies that it was not Quirrell's first year at Hogwarts or even his first teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, but the DADA curse should mean that it was. JKR said that he was previously the Muggle Studies teacher (BLC interview) but that doesn't completely clear things up.

Other Quirrell Meta

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Other Fanworks

Quirrell-centric Fansites & Communities

Fansites:

Yahoo! Groups:

Other Links & Resources

References

  1. ^ J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), Chapter 5: "Diagon Alley" and Chapter 7: "The Sorting Hat".
  2. ^ Author's note at In Which Quirrell Gets Some by melannen at LiveJournal, posted 27 April 2003. Updated with live link to "Go East".
  3. ^ For example, see the Quirinus Quirrell/Gilderoy Lockhart thread at FictionAlley Park's ...cruisin'... forum and Gilderoy Lockhart/Quirinus Quirrell tag at Archive of Our Own.
  4. ^ Harry Potter/Quirinus Quirrell tag at Archive of Our Own.
  5. ^ mctabby at LiveJournal, Here, kitty kitty kitty..., posted 21 April 2003. References Poll #126352, opened 21 April 2003.
  6. ^ Aranxta at The Cult of (Saint) Quirrell, archived 06 August 2009 by the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quirrellfangirls/ linked from The Cult of (Saint) Quirrell, archived 06 August 2009 by the Wayback Machine. Site also states: "I'm well aware that there are other groups in and outside of Yahoo! dedicated to Quirrell"