King Ragnuk the First (fl. 11th century) was the king of the goblins during the lifetime of Godric Gryffindor. As the king of the goblins was also their finest silversmith, he was commissioned by Gryffindor to forge a sword of pure goblin's silver, with rubies set into the hilt. By the time Ragnuk had finished the sword, however, he liked it so much that he sought to steal it back from Gryffindor. He sent a group of his subjects to retrieve the sword, but they were all fought off by Gryffindor, who was a skilled duellist. Gryffindor bewitched the goblins to return to Ragnuk and inform him that, if he tried such a thing again, Gryffindor would use the sword to kill him and all his subjects.[1]
Ragnuk made no further attempt to take the sword, however, a legend persisted in the goblin community that Gryffindor had stolen the sword, a myth perpetrated by the fact that goblins consider passing goblin-made possessions onto others without further payment to the maker, as Gryffindor would go on to do, as theft.[1] In fact, this myth was so prevalent in the goblin community, that it was the cause for one of the bloody Goblin Rebellions in the 17th and 18th centuries, around six-hundred years after the Sword was fashioned.[2]
Appearances[]
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
- J.K. Rowling's Official Site (First mentioned)
- Pottermore (Mentioned only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pottermore - New from J.K. Rowling: "The Sword of Gryffindor"
- ↑ This piece of information comes from the third W.O.M.B.A.T. featured in J. K. Rowling's Official Site. Question 2 (Part One - Magical History) is "Which of the following did NOT provoke one of the bloody goblin rebellions of the 17th and 18th centuries? Choose ONE", and one of the possible answers is "The allegation by goblin king Ragnuk the First that Godric Gryffindor had stolen his sword". As one of the other answers is known for certain to be false ("The imprisonment of the notoriously violent Hodrod the Horny-Handed, who had attempted to kill three wizards " — the Daily Prophet Newsletters reveal that Hodrod the Horny-Handed was indeed imprisoned for attempting to kill three wizards, but this happened in 1999, during the Chipping Clodbury riot), then all of the other answers must be true, including the one about Ragnuk's theft accusation.