MYRTLE WARREN & THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH RISKS

Today, The Weasleys have discovered the sad story of Myrtle Warren, the Muggle-born witch, who was killed by the Serpent of Slytherin and became a ghost who haunted the second-floor girls' bathroom at Hogwarts.

Also known as Moaning Myrtle, this young witch suffered bullying in Hogwarts. 

Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, more commonly known after her death as Moaning Myrtle, is a Muggle-born witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Ravenclaw house.

She was killed by the Serpent of Slytherin, under Tom Riddle's orders. After the incident, she became a ghost who haunted the second-floor girls' bathroom and occasionally other bathroom facilities at Hogwarts.

Myrtle was a witch born circa to a Muggle mother and father, making her a Muggle-born.

More information: Wizarding World

She started her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When she arrived at Hogwarts she was Sorted into the house of Ravenclaw. While at Hogwarts she was unable to make any friends and was constantly teased and bullied because of this and her physical appearance, which included glasses and acne.

In 1943, sometime into Myrtle's education, the Chamber of Secrets was opened for the first time. The Chamber of Secrets was a legendary chamber built by Salazar Slytherin and inside was a beast that only his heir could control.

It was believed that Gryffindor student, Rubeus Hagrid had opened the Chamber because he was caught raising Aragog, an acromantula, but it was actually Tom Marvolo Riddle, a Slytherin student.

Hogwarts was soon facing closure as Muggle-born students were being mysteriously attacked by the mythical beast thought to be down inside the Chamber.

On her final day of life, Myrtle was teased by student Olive Hornby. She had made fun of Myrtle's glasses and, as a result, left Myrtle sobbing. Myrtle then ran into one of the bathroom's stalls and started crying. Shortly after Myrtle had entered the bathroom, Tom Riddle entered and started speaking in Parseltongue in order to open the Chamber of Secrets, the entrance of which was hidden behind the sink in front of the very stall occupied by Myrtle at the time.

The Monster of Slytherin, a basilisk, then emerged from the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. The monster had been using the pipes as a means of transportation, as to not be seen and therefore never being caught.

Myrtle, still in one of the stalls, recognised the voice as being that of a boy. Opening the stall's door, she was about to yell at Tom Riddle to go away. On Tom Riddle's command, the Basilisk stared at Myrtle and her eyes met with the monster's.

Since looking into a Basilisk's eyes is a fatal act, Myrtle was killed instantly and her body fell to the bathroom floor, becoming Tom Riddle's first victim. Tom Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort, used her murder to make his first Horcrux: the Diary.

Myrtle's body was later found by Olive Hornby, something that Hornby would not soon forget.

Myrtle's body was removed from the school after its discovery and, following her death, Myrtle returned as a ghost so she could haunt student Olive Hornby in revenge for her bullying. Olive Hornby went to the Ministry of Magic to restrain Myrtle, who was thereafter obliged to remain at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Ever since, Myrtle haunted the bathroom where she had died, although she was sometimes seen in other bathrooms, and was even flushed into the lake occasionally. As a result of her haunting, her lavatory grave was rarely used, and was thus available for clandestine activities, such as forbidden potion-brewing, as long as one did not mind the company.

More information: Must Be Undead

The true importance of Myrtle's bathroom was that it contained the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the home of the basilisk of Salazar Slytherin. The Chamber was opened again, fifty years after its previous opening, by a Gryffindor first year, Ginny Weasley, who was possessed by the diary of the earlier opener, Tom Riddle. The diary was a Horcrux, though it was described as a memory at the time. Myrtle later flooded her bathroom in a fit of pique when Ginny tried to dispose of the diary by flushing it down the toilet in Myrtle's stall.

Hermione Granger used Myrtle's bathroom to brew Polyjuice Potion, which Harry Potter and Ron Weasley used to impersonate Slytherin students Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe. Thus disguised, they entered the Slytherin common room to interrogate Draco Malfoy about the Chamber of Secrets. They learned only that, according to Draco's father Lucius Malfoy, the last time the chamber was open a Mudblood was killed and that, contrary to their suspicions, Draco was not the Heir of Slytherin.

Harry and Ron later learned from Aragog the Acromantula that the murdered student had been killed in a bathroom, and Harry realised that the student must have been Myrtle.

Myrtle was flattered by Harry's request that she tell the story of her death, the manner of which was one of the most important and interesting events of her short life. It is possible that Harry was the first person to treat it as something worth asking about.

Myrtle remembered only having seen a pair of enormous yellow eyes, but neither Harry nor Ron recognized this as a clue that the monster was a basilisk.

Hermione had already deduced the monster's nature by library research before she was petrified, so Myrtle's clue was of no practical importance.

During the 1994–1995 school year, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry hosted the Triwizard Tournament. Before the second task, the champions had to solve the mystery behind their golden eggs, which, when opened, emitted a harsh screeching sound. The secret was that the noise became speech when heard underwater.

One champion, Cedric Diggory, decided to meditate upon the clue in the prefects' bathroom. Myrtle spied on Cedric in the tub, admitting to Harry that it took Cedric a long time to figure it out; nearly all the bubbles in the bath were gone by the time he cracked it.

Cedric later suggested to Harry Potter that he take his egg the prefects' bathroom. With Myrtle's hints, Harry was able to decipher the riddle.

Myrtle also appeared to Harry whilst he was in the Black Lake, and pointed him in the right direction to find the village of the merpeople, thereby helping him to reach the Tournament hostages before the other champions.

Myrtle was a squat student with pimples and thick glasses. She died in 1943 and became a ghost, wearing her school uniform, as well as her glasses, for eternity.

Myrtle was constantly bullied during her education at Hogwarts, for both her physical appearance and her personality. Myrtle hardly ever smiled and took great offence at the smallest slight, crying rivers of tears and wailing, hence her nickname Moaning Myrtle. She was often upset so badly that she tried to kill herself until she realised that she was already dead.

More information: 5 Interesting Facts About Moaning Myrtle

Myrtle did tend to be happy when something bad happened to other students, like when Hermione Granger accidentally gained cat fur, ears and a tail after taking a contaminated Polyjuice Potion. The only time she seemed to enjoy herself was when she recalled the moment of death, describing the event with relish.

She did, however, seem to warm to some male students, including Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Myrtle also appeared to be a desperate flirt; she constantly flirted with Harry Potter, and showed her desperation to find love by spying on students such as Cedric Diggory whilst he bathed in the prefects' bathroom. Myrtle liked to take bubble baths when she was alive, due to all those pretty bubbles.

Myrtle is a type of evergreen shrub that is often overlooked because of its plainness, native to southern Europe and north Africa.

Myrtle is a variety of the colour green. It is immoderately dark, slightly more so than the colour spinach.

It is possible she was named Myrtle to continue J.K. Rowling's tradition of naming characters after flowers.

It is also possible she was given the middle name Elizabeth and surname Warren as a reference to two characters from Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Elizabeth Proctor and her young servant Mary Warren, both of which are accused of being witches at some point.

More information: Looper

 

 

 No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!

My life was nothing but misery at this place

and now people come along ruining my death!

 Don't you think I know what people say behind my back

-fat Myrtle, ugly Myrtle, miserable…?

 Myrtle Warren