Nearly Headless Nick, or Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington was born in the British Isles to the de Mimsy-Porpington family of nobles. It is believed that Sir Nicholas studied at Hogwarts and was sorted into the Gryffindor House during his teenage years. He was also openly friendly to Muggles of his time and was knighted by King Henry VII. However, he had to be eventually beheaded after he promised to use magic to straighten Lady Grieve’s teeth. His charm backfired, and she was left with large tusks instead of teeth. He was sentenced to death by beheading and was taken into custody.
Eventually, despite being beheaded, Nearly Headless Nick’s head did not wholly come off his torso due to the blunt blade that was being used for beheading. He died an excruciating death and later decided to remain as a ghost in Hogwarts. He haunted the castle as a Gryffindor ghost and was named Nearly Headless Nick due to the beheading mishap. He was close to Harry Potter and several other students from Gryffindor House. He was the only ghost to be petrified by the Basilisk when the Chamber of Secrets was opened.
Early Life
Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington was born in the British Isles to the noble De Mimsy-Porpington family in the fifteenth century. After turning eleven, he joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Gryffindor House. He was known not to excel in Charms, as was evident from the cause of his execution in later life. It was only after his death that he came to be known as Nearly Headless Nick.
Life as a Courtier
After graduating from Hogwarts, Sir Nicholas openly mingled with Muggles. He was knighted by the king of that time, King Henry VII, who also asked Sir Nicholas to be a courtier in his court, possibly since he was a noble. Sir Nicholas was a respected man in British high society. However, this respect would eventually decline due to a bunch of unsavory acts that he performed as an attempt to put his magic to good use. Despite possibly starting as the wizard of the Royal Court, Nicholas faced execution like many other witches and wizards of his time. However, since his wand was confiscated, he was unsuccessful in escaping his fate.
Sir Nicholas was known to wear a doublet, which usually had a ruff, which he continued to wear when he became the house ghost of Gryffindor, possibly because he wanted to keep his partially decapitated neck from showing. He is said to have sometimes worn a tunic, too.
Death
One evening, Sir Nicholas met Lady Grieve in a park while walking by. He offered to straighten her otherwise crooked teeth using magic. However, his charm failed to do so, and instead, Lady Grieve grew a tusk. The outcome enraged her, and his act was a massive insult to her appearance. He was taken away into a dungeon and imprisoned there. Soon after, he was sentenced to death for insulting Lady Grieve. Since his wand was taken away, he couldn’t escape the cell he was imprisoned in despite knowing magic.
On the following day, at dawn, a priest came to his dungeon cell and tried to comfort him. He was eventually escorted to the site of the execution. He had become despondent and kept asking for forgiveness, even claiming that he would undo his mistake with Lady Grieve’s teeth. However, since he had made several such mistakes in the past, presumably due to his lack of expertise in magic, the public was all in favor of executing him. It seemed to have no empathy for him whatsoever.
He was signaled to kneel before a block, and the execution occurred soon after. However, since the executioner’s axe was blunt, and oddly enough since the grindstone used to sharpen it had been misplaced, it took a total of 45 hacks before Sir Nicholas was killed. However, the blade wasn’t sharp enough to completely behead him, and half an inch of skin and sinew held his partially decapitated head still attached to his body. This mishap caused for him to be known as Nearly Headless Nick.
Ghost of Gryffindor
Shortly after his death by partial decapitation, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington appeared in the Gryffindor castle as a ghost. When Harry asks Nicholas about Sirius Black possibly appearing in Hogwarts as a ghost, he claims he is afraid of death and, therefore, chooses to be a ghost in the castle. He claimed that people rarely opt to be a ghost, but his fear of death made him do so.
Sir Nicholas was given the nickname Nearly Headless Nick after he appeared in Hogwarts, possibly by the other ghosts. Nick became the ghost of Gryffindor as he had previously been sorted into Gryffindor when he studied there. The other house ghosts included the Fat Friar, Hufflepuff, The Grey Lady, Ravenclaw, the Bloody Baron, the ghost of Slytherin, Moaning Myrtle, and the Poltergeist Peeves.
By 1890, a bust was carved in honor of Nicholas and placed near that of Phineas Nigellus Black. Within a year, this bust seemed to be gathering a lot of dust, and Nick asked the house-elf Scrope to clean it, but to no avail. He had to manipulate him to do it eventually.
Appearances in the Harry Potter Series
Nearly Headless Nick first appeared in the Harry Potter series during Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when the first-year students, including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, were brought into the Hogwarts Castle and waited in the hallway. The ghosts, including Nick, discussed whether Peeves the Poltergeist should be allowed for the Start of Term Feast and the Sorting Ceremony.
Nick later appeared next to Harry Potter during the feast and patted Harry’s hand for getting sorted into Gryffindor. He introduced himself as the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. Further, when Seamus Finnigan asked about the origin of his name, he showed all the Gryffindors sitting at the table why he was called Nearly Headless Nick by detaching his partially decapitated head from his body. In the same year, he was also seen conveying to the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, that Harry Potter had been made the Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
During Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, Nick tries to be a part of the Headless Hunt but is denied admission by Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore, who only accepts ghosts with fully decapitated heads for the hunt. Nick was sorrowful and tried to find other ways to convince the “fully decapitated Podmore” to let him participate. A few days later, on a stormy day, Harry was caught by Argus Filch for dirtying the corridors by dragging in mud from the Quidditch field after practice. He was detained in Filch’s office and asked to complete a write-up claiming his wrongdoing. However, Nick helps Harry by asking Peeves to drop the Vanishing Cabinet, thereby distracting Peeves from Harry.
Later in the year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were invited by Nick to his Deathday Party on 31 October 1992. The trio didn’t want to go as this would mean missing the Hallowe’en feast in the Great Hall. However, they reluctantly attended Nicks’s Deathday Party but did not have fun, primarily since it was attended chiefly by ghosts and all the food was rotten and spoilt. The trio eventually left the party after Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore and his Headless Hunt party participated in the feast and started becoming the center of attention, much to his sadness.
Later in the school year, Nick was petrified along with Justin Finch-Fletchley by the beast in the Chamber of Secrets, later revealed to be a Basilisk. Initially, nobody seemed to know how to carry Nick away from the place he was petrified as a ghost. Still, eventually, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan and asked Ernie Macmillan to waft him slowly toward the Hospital Wing. He is soon cured after Professor Sprout’s mandrakes are used to make the refreshing draught to bring back those whom the Basilisk petrified.
During Harry’s third year at Hogwarts, all the ghosts, including Nick, provided entertainment and performed a synchronized formation gliding bit during the Hallowe’en feast at the Great Hall. In the following school year, due to not letting Peeves for the school feast another time, he caused turmoil in the kitchens, dropping soup and scattering cutlery. During the feast, Nick told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that the food for the feasts was cooked by many house-elves, eventually leading to Hermione learning more about house-elves and wanting to free them.
During Harry’s fifth year, during the Sorting Ceremony, the Sorting Hat sang a song warning everyone of the dangers lurking around and that they should be together. Nick later told Harry that the Sorting Hat sang such songs even before to warn everyone of the possible risks surrounding their time. The same year, Harry conversed with Nick about the possibility of Sirius Black, Harry’s recently deceased godfather, appearing as a ghost. Nick claimed that he chose to remain as a ghost because he was afraid of death and that it was unlikely that Sirius would do the same.
The following year, Harry’s status as the Chosen One increased Nick’s popularity among the other ghosts as they seemed to want information about Harry. However, Nick claimed to Harry that he was loyal to him and would never divulge any information about him to anyone else. When Harry was trying to enter the Gryffindor Common Room after searching for Albus Dumbledore to show the memory of Horace Slughorn he had procured from the latter, Nick told him that the Bloody Baron had just claimed that Dumbledore had returned to Hogwarts and was in his office.
Witch Hunting and Related Deaths in the Muggle World
Hunting down people who were accused of performing dark magic and sorcery has been a common occurrence in the Muggle world for quite a long time. There have been several instances of mobs executing people they suspected of being witches or wizards, and several of those cases have been very popular, including the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts.
According to Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, many wizards and witches escaped these trials and could not be executed due to their magical abilities. However, Sir Nicholas could not escape his fate as his wand was removed. Furthermore, his lack of supernatural abilities, or his mediocrity, got him executed in the first place.
FAQs
Did Nearly Headless Nick ever join the Headless Hunt?
No, Nearly Headless Nick was never permitted to join the Headless Hunt because he was partially decapitated and had already died and become a ghost by the time the execution had commenced. Furthermore, Sir Patrick Delaney Podmore was already known for being very strict with the rules of the game, and it was, therefore, a certainty that he would never allow Nearly Headless Nick to ever be a part of the Headless Hunt.
What did the basilisk do to Nearly Headless Nick?
The Basilisk was the beast in the Chamber of Secrets that was constantly causing trouble at Hogwarts after the Chamber of Secrets was opened. It was revealed that looking directly into the eyes of the Basilisk would cause a person to die immediately. However, since Nearly Headless Nick was already dead and a ghost, he could not die again. Since he was a ghost, when he saw the Basilisk and looked into its eyes, he was petrified.
Is Nearly Headless Nick a ghost?
Yes, Nearly Headless Nick was a ghost. He was a ghost of the Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts. He was known as Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington before he died when he lived as a courtier in the court of King Henry VII. After his death, he chose to be a ghost rather than die without a trace. He, therefore, became the ghost of Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
