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In both Dobby’s Wikia page (I know it's not the most reliable piece of canon), and also his Wikipedia page; there is no mention of Dobby's age or birthdate. And I'm sure that no mention of his age was made in the Books (IIRC).

Is there any other information? Has JKR told us? Is the information in Pottermore?

I would like to know; How old is Dobby?

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    I’m fairly sure there’s nothing in Pottermore about this, unfortunately.
    – alexwlchan
    Commented May 13, 2014 at 6:41
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    @alexwlchan Perhaps there will be when we get to the scene where dobby dies. Commented May 13, 2014 at 8:50
  • I think he is at least 1000 years old Commented Jun 3, 2014 at 9:17

1 Answer 1

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As I said in the comments, we don’t have an exact age, but I’ve tried to pull together the scraps.

A few years ago, JK Rowling’s website listed the birthday of several characters, including Dobby. Sadly, she neglected to include a year, but we know he was born on 27 June, of an unknown year.

The other thing we get is this snippet from Dobby in Chamber of Secrets, when Dobby visits his hospital bed after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match.

“If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elfs were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir,” he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase. “But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

This takes place before Christmas that year, which means the year is 1992, about twelve years after the fall of Voldemort. This means that Dobby is at least a teenager by this point in the books.

Another six or so years pass before his death in Deathly Hallows, which means he was at least a late teen when he died. But he must have spent a few years alive under Voldemort’s reign, so I think he’s probably older than that.

So he’s at least twenty, maybe older.

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    Maybe much older
    – Valorum
    Commented May 28, 2014 at 14:16
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    House elves are often said to serve wizarding families, this implied to me at least that their lifespans are much much longer than their masters'
    – Liath
    Commented May 28, 2014 at 18:12
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    An important point to consider here is that Kreacher, another well known elf must be very vey much older than the age you predicted. And, in the movies, both Dobby and Kreacher look similarly aged to me (umm, maybe Kreacher is a bit older). So, certainly, @Richard is right. He must be very very very much older than 20... Commented May 29, 2014 at 6:42
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    @AwalGarg In the books, Kreacher is described as being very much older than Dobby. And Winky, who appears to be roughly around the same age as Dobby in appearance/description, gives the distinct impression (though never in so many words) that she has cared for the Crouch family at least since Barty Jr. was born and has known him his entire life. Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 7:09

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