Many of us grew up with characters from Joan Rowling's books, including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger themselves. However, some characters still remain a big mystery to us. One of these puzzles is Cry Myrtle. She lives in the Hogwarts women's closet, and for most of us, that's all we know about her. This is a stocky ghost with runny hair, acne, wears glasses with thick glasses. She rarely smiles, and if, for the slightest reason, she is offended, she immediately begins to cry with the river and scream out loud.
The truth is that Myrtle is actually much more interesting, her ghost hides a rich past, and she undoubtedly deserves her place in the book and films. She not only helped Harry find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, but also told him to lower the Golden Egg into the water.
Who played Crybaby Myrtle in Harry Potter? What is the secret of her death? You will find answers to these and other questions in this article.
1. A young student at Hogwarts is played by an adult actress
The crybaby Myrtle in Harry Potter was played by British actress Shirley Henderson. She became the only adult actress to play the role of a young student at Hogwarts. When she first played Plax Myrtle in the second Harry Potter movie The Chamber of Secrets, the actress was 37 years old. And when Henderson returned to this role in the “Goblet of Fire”, she was 40 years old. The actress is now 51 years old and has successfully starred in various TV shows and films, such as On the Needle 2 and Dirt.
2. What is Myrtle blood purity?
Myrtle was born around the end of 1928 and the beginning of 1929. The girl’s parents were not wizards, which makes her muggle-born. When the girl entered Hogwarts, the Hat assigned her to Ravenclaw School. She studied at the school of sorcery and magic only three years, from 1940 to 1943, until she was killed in the women's toilet. She was only 14 years old.
3. The murder of Myrtle led to the creation of the first crucifix
Myrtle's death was not an accident. The girl became the target of Tom Riddle due to the fact that she was a muggle born sorceress. Tom Riddle ordered the Basilisk to kill her, as he was the true heir to Slytherin. After Tom killed Myrtle, he split his soul and created his first crucifix - the diary of Tom Marvolo Reddle, which Lucius Malfoy later threw into the textbooks of Ginny Weasley. Harry Potter destroyed this crucifix with a Basilisk's fang in the second book of the series.
4. She reassured Draco
When Draco Malfoy felt a great deal of pressure when he became a death eater, he told Myrtle that he had been elected to kill Professor Albus Dumbledore, and how much this frightened him. The ghost of the girl reassured Draco because she understood him, although her situation was very different.
5. After death, she pursued those who mocked her
Entering Hogwarts, the girl could not find friends, she was constantly bullied and teased because of her appearance. One of those bullies was Hogwarts student Olivia Hornby, who constantly teased Myrtle because of her glasses. On the day that Myrtle died, Olivia brought her to tears in the women's toilet. After her death, Myrtle began to pursue Olivia every day until she filed a complaint with the Ministry of Magic. The ministry forbade Myrtle from leaving the walls of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
6. We found out her last name in 2015
The surname Myrtle was unknown until 2015, when one fan asked Rowling on Twitter. The writer replied that the surname Myrtle is Warren, which means her full name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. Later, when heated discussions began around this tweet, Rowling added that Myrtle’s initials had nothing to do with current US Senator Elizabeth Warren. And also, that “Elizabeth” is just one of the classic British second names.
7. She has not told anyone about her death for almost 50 years.
Myrtle did not tell anyone about how she died. Only in her second year at Hogwarts, Harry managed to get her this information. This makes you wonder why she never told the director Armando Dippet or Albus Dumbledore about it. But if you think about it in the Chamber of Secrets, she told Harry that she was confused that day because she was being bullied; how deeply upset she was at Olivia’s mockery, and how frightened she was when she was killed by Tom Reddle and Basilisk. That's why she never told the director of Hogwarts and Albus Dumbledore about that day.
Myrtle was hiding in the toilet because she was being bullied by Olivia Hornby. She heard someone enter the toilet and start talking. From the voice she understood. that it was a boy, so she looked out of the booth to ask him to leave the women's toilet. But looking out, she found herself face to face with Basilisk. Many hours passed before someone found her body.
Finally
Crybaby Myrtle is a good ghost. She helped Harry and Draco in many ways, despite the fact that over the decades spent in the women's toilet (usually hiding in the toilet and filling the toilet space with her loud howls and groans), she got the name of the most miserable ghost in Hogwarts.