Quirinus Quirrell

Character
Name:	Quirinus Quirrell
Occupation:	Hogwarts teacher
Relationships:	Voldemort (master)
Fandom:	Harry Potter
Other:	portrayed by Ian Hart in the PS/SS film
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

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," 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.

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, Harry Potter, 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

• "Turban Legend: A Different Perspective on P-p-poor P-p-professor Quirrell" by Susan Miller, published in Phoenix Rising: Collected Papers on Harry Potter (Apr 2008) (preview available on Google Books)
• Quirrell's Leave of Absence by Melissa Erin Friedline (Aug 2004)
• Assumptions of Quirrell by kerylr (Apr 2006)
• The Quirrell Debacle by Red Hen (original version 2004 or before; updated post-Deathly Hallows)

Example Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• Weakness and Power by ThreeOranges (Dec 2001-Jun 2002). "After the events of PS/SS Snape reflects on Professor Quirrell." Explores Snape and Quirrell's relationship from when Quirrell was a student through the first book. A rare chaptered Snape/Quirrell novel, 45,000+ words. It was still a WIP as of 2005, and was later deleted from FanFiction.Net.
• Quirrell Does DaDA by melannen (Apr 2003). "In Which Quirinus Quirrell Gets Some." Written for mctabby's Blame Each Other challenge for a prompt by wired_lizard. Pairs Quirrell with Barty Crouch Jr, Remus Lupin, Gilderoy Lockhart, Alastor Moody, and Arabella Figg.
• Queer by arbor_vitae (Apr 2008). "Snapshots of Quirinus Quirrell's life." Written for hp_beholder. Contains Snape/Quirrell and Quirrell/Voldemort.

Quirrell-centric Fansites & Communities

Fansites:

• Garlic, Trolls, and Eccentric Headwear (2002, offline as of 2009). "The FIRST Quirrell site, and exhaustively comprehensive."
• Professor Quirrell's Chambers (2002-)
• The Cult of (Saint) Quirrell (2002-2003, offline as of 2009)
• The Turban Within (2002-?, offline as of 2009)
• The Turban Returns (2002 or 2003-?, offline as of 2009)

Yahoo! Groups:

• PoorStutteringQuirrell (Jan 2002-)
• Quirrellfangirls (2003 or before, offline)

Other Links & Resources

• Quirinus Quirrell at Archive of Our Own
• Q. Quirrell character filter at FanFiction.Net
• The Lead > Professor Quirinus Quirrell fic listing at FictionAlley Park
• Special Edition: Quirinus Quirrell at daily_snitch (Oct 2009)

• Quirinus Quirrell at Wikipedia
• Quirinus Quirrell at the Harry Potter Lexicon
• Quirinus Quirrell at Harry Potter Wiki
• Explore the Story: Quirinus Quirrell and Writing by J.K. Rowling: Professor Quirrell at Pottermore
• Professor Quirrell at Pottermore Wiki