Seers were known to use the gift of their Inner Eye to predict events of the future, usually in the form of prophecies. Most Seers were known to practice the art of Divination as it helped them use sources that predicted the future. In the Harry Potter series, Sybill Trelawney was perhaps the most familiar Seer to the readers, although her abilities as a Seer were mostly very ambiguous.
Although considered a phony and fraud by many, she had aptly predicted some of the most significant events in the Harry Potter universe, including the one that gave rise to all the events that occurred in the Harry Potter series. She once predicted to Albus Dumbledore that a boy who defeats the Dark Lord would be born and that prophecy is what led to Lord Voldemort murdering Harry’s parents and Harry Potter stopping Lord Voldemort.
History
Seers were believed to exist since the existence of magic itself. It was customary for people to consult a Seer or an Oracle, as in the case of Greek Mythology, to predict the future. However, only some gifted Seers were known to give very accurate predictions about the future. Also, true Seers were believed to be very rare as was explained by Professor McGonagall to Hermione Granger.
In the Harry Potter universe, the Trelawney family was believed to be blessed with the gift of seeing. Specifically, Cassandra Trelawney, the great-great-grandmother of Sybill Trelawney, was particularly known for being a very gifted Seer. Cassandra Trelawney may or may not have been Cassandra Vablatsky, a very famous Seer and the author of the Divination textbook, Unfogging the Future. Since they both have the same first name and lived at the same time, it is possible that Cassandra Trelawney married into the Vablatsky family and took her husband’s surname.
Centaurs were also known to be gifted Seers as they were specifically interested in Astronomy and Divination, which they used to predict the future and the events that would occur in the future. However, their methods were very different from that of wizards and witches, and they closely guarded their gifts and rarely shared them with the wizarding community.
Divination and Seers
Divination was one of the most apt disciplines studied by Seers, sometimes to understand their Inner Eye better or to teach others about this subtle art of foretelling. Professor Trelawney taught Divination at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Firenze, the centaur from the Forbidden Forest, also taught Divination for a short while in Hogwarts, although his style of teaching, as well as the methods of foretelling, were very different from that of Professor Trelawney.
Divination was an important subject because it gave some insight into what it was like to possess the Inner Eye or be able to foretell events. However, nothing could possibly compare to actually possessing the Inner Eye and being a Seer, as it was a natural process without any study or discipline needed to make predictions.
Seers in the Harry Potter Universe
One of the most familiar seers in the Harry Potter Universe is Professor Sybill Trelawney. However, there existed other seers as well, including her great-great-grandmother Cassandra Trelawney and the author of Unfogging the Future, Cassandra Vablatsky, who is possibly the same as Cassandra Trelawney. Even Gellert Grindelwald was a seer on some occasions as is shown in the Fantastic Beasts movie series. He used different tools to even project his visions to the other people. However, not even all of his visions came true. One of his visions was that Albus Dumbledore would be killed by an Obscurial but that never came true as Dumbledore was killed by Professor Snape on the former’s orders in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Other seers include the group of centaurs in the Forbidden Forest who were capable of predicting the future.
Sybill Trelawney was considered to be a fraud by many as she did not always predict events in the future with great accuracy. However, it was undeniable that she had the gift of the Inner Eye, which manifested itself sometimes because, on rare occasions, she would go into a trance and make very grave yet important predictions.
It was she who predicted that a boy who challenges Lord Voldemort had born, setting the fates of many on course and the events of the Harry Potter series in motion, as her prophecy was made to Albus Dumbledore in the Hog’s Head but was heard by Severus Snape who in turn warned Lord Voldemort. This prophecy could have been referring to either Neville Longbottom or Harry Potter, but Voldemort decided to mark the latter as his equal and went to his house to kill him. However, he ends up killing Harry’s parents, and when he tries to kill Harry, the curse rebounds and causes Voldemort to disappear. Professor Snape was appointed as a teacher in Hogwarts by Albus Dumbledore after this incident.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, during Harry’s third year, Professor Trelawney starts teaching Divination to third-year students. Although she starts teaching predicting the future through the position of tea leaves in the teacup, after an exam, when Harry goes to her, she suddenly makes a prediction to Harry that the Dark Lord will return and soon enough, at the Riddle graveyard, using a ritual Voldemort comes back to his physical form.
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna go to the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries to help Sirius who was in danger. However, it happens to be a trick, and it is revealed that it was a plot by Voldemort to get Harry to come there so that he can retrieve the prophecy made about Voldemort and him by Sybill Trelawney from there. All the prophecies made about the wizarding world are recorded in crystal balls and stored in this hall.
Seers in the Muggle World
Despite the art of “Seeing” being a pursuit for someone gifted with the Inner Eye and well versed with magic, there are several “Seers” in the Muggle world as well. Most of these seers claim to possess the gifts required to predict the future or to predict situations or the whereabouts of missing people. The general term to refer to these people is psychics.
Psychics, although known to use a wide variety of techniques like cold reading, hot reading, and prior research, mostly claim that they are capable of accessing higher planes of thought. Like Sybill Trelawney, many of these psychics have been outed for being frauds and yet, there exist several people who believe them and pay them for their work.
FAQs
What is a Seer in Harry Potter?
A Seer is a person who is capable of predicting the future and events that may occur in the near future. While authentic Seers are said to possess the “Inner Eye” which is a very powerful gift of being able to predict the future, many Seers also use other methods like Divination and Astronomy to predict different situations. Methods in Divination include looking at the patterns formed by tea leaves and gazing into a crystal ball.
How rare is a Seer in Harry Potter?
It is considered very rare for a Seer to exist in the world of Harry Potter. While there existed many Seers who could predict events from the future based on Astronomy and Divination, it was considered very rare for a Seer to possess the Inner Eye. Furthermore, according to Sybill Trelawney, the possession of the Inner Eye skipped three generations in her family, which is why her great-great-grandmother before her, Cassandra Trelawney was the only one other than her in a long time to possess the Inner Eye.
What are the abilities of a Seer in Harry Potter?
The most important ability of a Seer is that they are capable of predicting major events from the future. Furthermore, Seers were known to possess the Inner Eye, which made it possible for them to make exceptional predictions to great precision in the form of prophecies. Other abilities of Seers include being able to use disciplines like Divination and Astronomy to predict important events that may occur in the future.