Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. Hagrid is introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a half-giant and half-human who is the gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, the primary setting for the first six novels. In the third novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hagrid is promoted to Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and is later revealed to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Character development

Hagrid was among the characters that Rowling says she created "the very first day". She has explained the source of his name as "another old English word, meaning – if you were hagrid – it’s a dialect word – you’d had a bad night. Hagrid is a big drinker – he has a lot of bad nights." In her article "Harry’s Fame", Rosemary Goring notes the Forest of Dean is an influence on Rowling’s work, and Hagrid is the only character that is "directly drawn from the Forest of Dean". According to Goring, Hagrid’s "dropped word-endings are a Chepstow speciality." She also claims that Hagrid is physically "modeled on the Welsh chapter of Hells Angels who’d swoop down on the town and hog the bar, 'huge mountains of leather and hair".