11

The last we see of Kreacher in the books is at the Battle of Hogwarts.

The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers, and at their head, the locket of Regulus Black bouncing on his chest, was Kreacher, his bullfrog voice audible even above the din: "Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!"
(Deathly Hallows, Chapter 36, The Flaw in the Plan).

I'm aware of this humorous tweet from J. K. Rowling about Kreacher's fate but I'm not sure it can really be taken seriously. I'm interested in if we can confirm whether or not Rowling has said anything else on what happened to Kreacher after the Battle of Hogwarts. Specifically, did Kreacher continue to serve Harry and the Potter family in later life? I'm conflicted on whether or not Harry would be OK with having a house elf as a servant. On the one hand, he wasn't as convinced as Hermione about opposing the practice of keeping house-elves. On the other, he did free Dobby from the Malfoys.

So has Rowling said anything else on this subject? If not, can we deduce with canon-based speculation whether, on the balance of probabilities, Harry would've kept Kreacher or not?

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    Ground up into elf-paté and served at the next meeting of the Order of Merlin.
    – Valorum
    Feb 28, 2017 at 12:27
  • It doesn't necessarily answer this, but you're aware of what Rowling said in an interview about house elves serving in Hogwarts at the time of the founders, right? See scifi.stackexchange.com/a/128258/4918
    – b_jonas
    Feb 28, 2017 at 12:31

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
5

Kreacher is mentioned towards the end of the Deathly Hallows when Harry wonders if he will make him a sandwich.

This seems to show he survived the battle and continued to serve Harry at least in the immediate aftermath.

Improve this answer
4

You provide Rowling's "joke" answer, but there's not much of a reason to consider it a joke. Usually, her tweets are considered canon.

Q:What happened to kreacher, the house elf after the books?

A:He died, aged 666.

That sure sounds zany... but we're talking about a children's series. It's also zany that Kreacher's ancestors were beheaded and mounted on walls and that Dobby wears unmatching socks and dozens of hats at a time. And we don't know how old House elves live.

We also know from Rowling's Twitter that the Weasley twins' birthday was April Fools Day and that Luna's was a Friday the 13th. We also know that Harry's parents were killed on Halloween, Harry was presumably conceived on Halloween (since his birthday is exactly nine months later). Voldemort was born on New Year's Eve. Grindelwald was defeated in 1945, Nick was beheaded in 1492. Nicolas Flamel was 665 years old in Philosopher's Stone. If he died shortly afterwards... how old would he have been?

Generally, Rowling likes to have fun with numbers and dates and ages. If you're looking for a "serious" answer, recall that in the series, numbers have magical meaning and strength and wizards study numerology.

Kreacher dying at 666 would fit well into the themes of the series.

Improve this answer
4
  • Also, IIRC Kreacher is not mentioned in Cursed Child, so at the very least Harry did not keep Kreacher as a servant.
    – Skooba
    Feb 28, 2017 at 14:03
  • 2
    It was tweeted as part of a response to someone accusing her of being the devil. I'd say it's chances of being a joke is about 100%. (Also, it goes against what Rowling had previously said concerning house elf life expectancy.)
    – ibid
    Feb 28, 2017 at 19:12
  • A lot of this answer is incorrect. The Weasley twins' birthday was revealed on Rowling's old website, not Twitter. A lot of the things she says on Twitter are not considered canon (such as her joke about house hybrids). House elf life expectancy was stated to be 200 years in the WOMBATs.
    – ibid
    Feb 28, 2017 at 22:42
  • 1
    His date of death doesn't really address whether he went on to serve the Potters, which is what I'm really curious about.
    – The Dark Lord
    Feb 28, 2017 at 22:50
0

It is most likely that Kreacher returned to Harry after the war and serve him along with the rest of his family since I don't think there's a point for him to work in the Hogwarts Kitchens nor being freed because like the average house elf, he likes to serve. I think Harry would ask him to come and live with him or to be freed and Kreacher would obviously choose to serve Harry as now his opinion of Harry has entirely changed for the better after Harry became kinder to him and gave him the fake locket of his former master. Harry also knew that Kreacher would rather serve him than to be freed so he would accept what Kreacher chose.

Either way, Kreacher would pass away shortly after due to old age since it was confirmed by Rowling that he died before the Cursed Child took place.

Improve this answer
1
  • Hi, welcome to SF&F. The question specifically asked for answers based on information from JKR or canon sources. Can you provide any references for this theory?
    – DavidW
    Dec 31, 2020 at 3:51
0

He died before the cursed child took place. He survived the 2nd wizard war.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Do you have any evidence of this?
    – DavidW
    Jan 18, 2021 at 1:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.