Mrs Figg

Sat Dec 15 23:23:36 UTC 2018

No: HPFGUIDX 193223

I remember when first reading about Mrs. Figg, many years ago (or at least several years ago and many readings of the Harry Potter books!) I wondered mildly why she was "Mrs." Figg. Rowling seemed to use a lot of standard English literature concepts. The boarding school, the orphan boy, the aunt and/or uncle who don't understand him, etc. And in my experience of English literature, mad old ladies who live alone and keep cats were somewhat more apt to be never married than to be widows (or divorced). But it wasn't a major issue. Mrs. Figg just kept cats and broke her leg just in time for Harry to get to go to the zoo and talk to the snake. She also kept an eye on Harry while the Dursleys were getting Dudley his Smeltings uniform, and got knocked down by Dudley while he was riding his racing bike. She seemed like a useful plot device.

 Then came Goblet of Fire. In Chapter 7 we are reminded of Mrs. Figg again, as Harry remembers staying with her when the Dursleys had gone on holiday. And the shabby two man tent, that was a three room flat inside, was "furnished in exactly the same sort of style as Mrs. Figg's; there were crocheted covers on the mismatched chairs, and a strong smell of cats." An interesting point.

 After Cedric's death and Fudge's refusal to accept the truth, Dumbledore sends Sirius on a mission. "Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher -- the old crowd." And in an interview, when a reader asked JKR if Arabella Figg was the same as Mrs. Figg, the answer was "well spotted." The reader knew that there was more to Mrs. Figg than met the eye.

 In The Order of the Phoenix we learn quite a bit more about Mrs. Figg. Interestingly, she isn't mentioned as being in Moody's photo of the original Order of the Phoenix and she never seemed to show up at Grimmauld Place. I will first refer to the ministry hearing, before going back to the dementors attack.Mrs. Figg appears at the Ministry of Magic to testify in Harry's defense. I wonder how she got to London and the ministry? Dumbledore must have arranged it somehow. She, like Dumbledore, is there several hours ahead of the originally scheduled hearing. It is noted that she is wearing her carpet slippers. Fudge asks her: "Full name?" She replies: "Arabella Doreen Figg." So, her name has grown. In Philosopher's Stone she is "Mrs. Figg." In Goblet of Fire we learn that she is also "Arabella Figg". Now she is "Arabella Doreen Figg." But no maiden name is given.

 When Fudge asks how she can live near Harry Potter, since there are no other witches or wizards registered as living there, she replies that she is a squib and therefore not registered. Fudge replies: "We'll be checking on that. You'll leave details of your parentage with my assistant Weasley." This brought my original question of why JKR created her as a "Mrs." back to my mind. And although we must assume that she gave her parents' names to Percy, and thus he knows her on last name from before her marriage, Harry and the reader don't get this information. Why?I assume that it is because it is a name which would mean something to Harry and to the reader that JKR wants to reserve for a later time. I assume that Mrs. Figg is related to some major character.

 I have three candidates to propose.The first is "Perkins at the office", who loaned the tent that was decorated like Mrs. Figg's house to Mr. Weasley. However, I don't think this is likely, as this wouldn't be an important enough connection to keep secret and I can find no other support for this suggestion.

 To support my other two suggestions, I go to part of Mrs. Figg's conversation after the dementor attack. She is trying to get Harry and Dudley to hurry. She says: "But come on -- I'll be no help if they come back, I've never so much as Transfigured a teabag."Now, as far as we know the only defense against dementors is to use the "Expectro Patronum" spell. Why would Mrs. Figg refer to her lack of Transfiguration ability? I propose that Transfiguration is the wizarding world skill that Mrs. Figg has heard the most about from her closest wizarding world family member. Who do we now who is important in the books and expert at Transfiguration?

 PROFESSORS DUMBLEDORE and MCGONAGALL!!  If Mrs. Figg were related to one or the other of these two characters it would be a major issue to both Harry and the reader and a worthwhile plot twist for JKR to introduce in a later book. Here are the reasons I believe that Mrs. Figg as a sister to MaGonagall is the more likely alternative.Dumbledore, when speaking to Sirius, referred to her as "Arabella Figg", not "my sister". When he had spoken to Hagrid about his brother Aberforth, he referred to him as his brother. More to the point, in her post dementors conversation with Harry she several times refers to "Dumbledore"; "what's Dumbledore going to say?" and "Of course, I know Dumbledore, who doesn't know Dumbledore?" If Albus Dumbledore is her brother, than Aberforth Dumbledore is ALSO her brother. The staff and students at Hogwarts, ministry officials, headmasters of other schools, etc. all often refer to the best known Dumbledore by his sir name alone, as he is the one they remember. But, to a sister, both men would be naturally thought of and referred to by first name.

 Also, in JKR's books people are far more likely to have siblings of the same gender than of the other gender. The Creevey brothers, Sirius and Regulis plus their cousins Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda. The Patil Sisters. Hermione's potential sister that JKR decided will probably not appear. Many more examples exist. The only exceptions that I can recall are Molly Prewett Weasley whose two brothers were killed by the death eaters and Ginny Weasley who as six brothers. (This was written before HBP. That and the Black Family Tree do give us a few more examples of families with mixed gender siblings, the sisters whose young brother was killed by Grayback for one, but still same gender siblings are far more common in the books.) 

 So, statistically, based on the family data we have to date, McGonagall is more likely to have a sister than Dumbledore.In addition, Mrs. Figg likes cats and McGonagall is an Animagus who transforms into a cat.And finally, when Mrs. Figg comes panting into sight at the end of the Dudley Demented chapter, she is "halfway out of her tartan carpet slippers." And we know that McGonagall wears tartan plaids a lot. She wears tartan dress robes to the ball in Goblet of Fire, and several times appears in a tartan dressing gown. She even has a tartan tin of biscuits in her office, which she offers to Harry in Order of the Phoenix.In conclusion, I am certain that we will eventually learn that Mrs. Figg is related to some major wizarding family. I believe that we will learn that Minerva McGonagall is her sister.

 (The only new mention of Mrs. Figg in the Half Blood Prince is her attendance at Professor Dumbledore's funeral.)

 Page By Jerri, all but last sentence written in the summer of 2004, just after publication of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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