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harry potter - Was Ariana Dumbledore an Obscurus?


Obscuri (Obscuruses?) are described in the wiki as



the repressed energy of a child, known as an Obscurial, who is forced to repress their magical talent through physical or psychological abuse.




Usually this becomes a large black blob which kills the Obscurial and people near him/her. My question is--is this what happened with Ariana Dumbledore? She was obviously magical in some way, but her power was suppressed--everyone thought she was a Squib.


Aunt Muriel says of Kendra



Kendra died before Ariana — of what, nobody ever seemed sure



and Aberforth says this of Ariana:



“It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless."




It seems to me that what happened was that for some reason, Ariana became an Obscurial, and this power killed Kendra and later, herself. It maybe that this was why



Grindelwald was so interested in the Obscurus in the first place, since he witnessed her death.




Answer



We have never come across the word Obscurial/Obscurus in Harry Potter. But here's what is said about Ariana.



"It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again," Aberforth said. "She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless."


"[If] the Ministry had known what Ariana had become, she’d have been locked up in St. Mungo’s for good. They’d have seen her as a serious threat to the International Statute of Secrecy, unbalanced like she was, with magic exploding out of her at moments when she couldn’t keep it in any longer."




Unless we hear it from the horses mouth (JKR), we cant be 100% sure, but here are some points about Ariana that resonate with the description of an Obscurus:



  • the repressed energy of a child? Yes

  • forced to repress their magical talent through physical or psychological abuse? Yes. She forcefully stopped herself from using magic

  • it turned inward and drove her mad

  • it exploded out of her

  • [she] couldn’t control it

  • if the Ministry had known what Ariana had become, she’d have been locked up in St. Mungo’s

  • serious threat to the International Statute of Secrecy

  • with magic exploding out of her



If you look at all of these points, she looks like a classic example of an Obscurus, from what we know about Credence or the little girl from Sudan. It looks very much like Ariana was an Obscurus.


On a side note, I feel this is what drove Grindelwald towards Dumbledore apart from the Hallows.


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