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I was revisiting Rowling (and Yudkowski) and it occurred to me that the professors teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in the first six Harry Potter books all had hidden identities… except for Dolores Umbridge maybe?

  • Quirrinus Quirrel: Hiding part of Tom Riddle's soul, which had occasion to come out and play.

  • Gilderoy Lockhart: Hiding the fact that he was a fraud, a myth, with little actual skill in defense against the dark arts.

  • Remus Lupin: Hiding the fact that he was a werewolf.

  • Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody: Is hiding the fact that he is really Bartemius "Barty" Crouch, Jr. in disguise, who has kidnapped the real Mad-Eye.

  • Dolores Umbridge: ??? After leaving the position she makes attempts to hide her status as having one Muggle parent, but I don't know if that fits.

  • Severus Snape: Hiding the fact that he is a triple agent, by pretending to be a double agent giving the pretense of spying on Dumbledore and Potter for Tom Riddle.

Two questions:

  • Does Dolores Umbridge break this pattern? She's certainly a hypocrite in many ways, but just just comes off as vile and sadistic, more than hiding her identity while the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor.

  • Has Rowling written or spoken anything about the nature of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship or its curse pertaining to individuals with hidden identities? Did she intend "hidden identity" as a literary conceit for all the professors of the cursed position?

Lexible
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    What constitutes a hidden identity can be subjective, especially for the way in which you define it. A better statement would be to say "All defense professors during the seven years were outliers". – Simpleton Apr 18 '20 at 04:28
  • Umbridge hides the fact that she is a criminal. She sent two dementors after Harry and was about to use the Cruciatus on him – Simpleton Apr 18 '20 at 04:31
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    @Simpleton "Outliers" is ridiculously subjective. :) But thank you for the reminder about the dementors. Wanna make an answer around that? – Lexible Apr 18 '20 at 04:55
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    I think your question already has most of what a sufficient answer would contain. You've already analysed what the defense professors were hiding, and stated that they all had the common characteristic of hiding something. My own contribution about Umbridge hiding her criminal status seems too trivial to make a complete answer. And I haven't been able to find anything regarding the last bullet point i.e. Rowling's view on these professors. Without that my answer would be incomplete (IMHO) – Simpleton Apr 18 '20 at 06:33
  • Is it possible that Umbridge could have been a Death Eater? I doubt we'll ever know one way or the other – SpacePhoenix Apr 18 '20 at 09:02
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    @SpacePhoenix - She wasn't a Death Eater – Valorum Apr 18 '20 at 10:36
  • I would argue that Umbridge's "secret" was that she was really at Hogwarts to be a ministry watchdog rather than to be a teacher. It was kind of an open secret, but those were her true motives for being there. – Alarion Apr 18 '20 at 13:33
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    Amycus Carrow doesn't seem to have a hidden identity. But Tom Riddle certainly has and he applied to the position, which afterwards became "cursed". – Polygnome Apr 18 '20 at 14:38
  • @Alarion That wasn't an open secret, because it was made explicit from the get go? – Lexible Apr 18 '20 at 14:47
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    Where's it say Umbridge had a Muggle parent? – Nu'Daq Apr 18 '20 at 16:35
  • @Polygnome Amycus Carrow wasn't a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Neither was Voldemort, despite applying for the job. – Anthony Grist Apr 18 '20 at 21:57
  • @AnthonyGrist I never said Voldemort was, I said he applied. Amycus Carrow certainly was, despite a change of name of the class. The book heavily implied that it was a continuation of the same class. – Polygnome Apr 18 '20 at 22:32
  • I would argue that Lockhart's "secret identity" is not of the same class as the other secrets you wrote, so it breaks the pattern as well. Lockhart's and Umbridge's secrets are of the same class which you might expect to find with any teacher, or indeed any person. – Gnudiff Apr 20 '20 at 15:52
  • @Gnudiff That's a fair point. Do you think I should edit my question to include an "or is this pattern inaccurate?" option of sought/acceptable answer? – Lexible Apr 21 '20 at 03:01
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    Related – Ben Apr 23 '20 at 09:41

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