Ravenclaw

"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind, Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind."

- The Sorting Hat

Ravenclaw is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, founded by Rowena Ravenclaw. Members of this house are characterised by their wit, learning, and wisdom. Its house colours are blue and bronze, and its symbol is the eagle. The house ghost, who in life was the daughter of the house's founder Rowena Ravenclaw, is the Grey Lady. Many great wizards and witches have come from this house, including Filius Flitwick, Garrick Ollivander and Luna Lovegood.

Ravenclaw roughly corresponds with the element of air.

Common Room


The Ravenclaw common room is in one of the castle's towers and is wide and circular. You have to climb a tight spiral staircase to get there. It has graceful arched windows, and the walls are hung with blue and bronze silks. The domed ceiling is painted with stars, which are echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. Tables, chairs, and bookcases cover the expanse of the floor, and a white-marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw sits next to the door that leads to the dormitories above. Harry Potter entered the common room in 1998 while searching for clues to the location of one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Unlike the other common rooms in the school, a logical riddle given by a bronze eagle-shaped knocker must be answered to enter. This could prove troublesome as anyone with enough intellect could intrude into the dormitory, as is shown in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Professor McGonagall had no trouble entering by answering the riddle correctly (though she was a hat stall between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw). However, Hermione stated in her first year that most wizards and witches do not have much sense of logic, which might be something that Ravenclaw noticed herself and decided to use riddles instead of passwords.

Traits
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

- Rowena Ravenclaw

Ravenclaw House prizes Learning, wisdom, and wit in its members. Thus, many Ravenclaws tend to be academically motivated and talented students. Hermione Granger, an extremely intelligent witch and the top student in her year, was sorted into Gryffindor, though she admitted that the Sorting Hat had seriously considered placing her in Ravenclaw.

Ravenclaw House appears to have little rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch (in which case it is most fiercely competitive with Hufflepuff). Harry Potter believed that they tended to side with Gryffindor in its rivalry with Slytherin, as did Hufflepuff house. However, during the 1994 Triwizard Tournament, Ravenclaws supported Hufflepuff Champion Cedric Diggory over Harry. This may indicate that Ravenclaw tends to have a closer relationship with Hufflepuff house or simply be a result of the widespread belief that Harry had cheated in order to get his name in the Goblet of Fire. Notably, many Ravenclaws joined Dumbledore's Army and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts along with Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

Behind the scenes

 * The Ravenclaw colours in the films are blue and silver. In the books, Ravenclaw colours are blue and bronze. Likewise, Ravenclaw's symbol is an eagle in the books and a raven in the films.
 * Eagles are a symbol for a broader vision and strength of mind and heart. They're also associated with beginnings and interestingly enough Ravens are associated with death, but at the same time both are simply transitions of one state to another of the mind. So that is the result in gathering of knowledge for the sake of enlightenment and awareness. Eagles representing a higher mind, hence, wisdom.
 * Ravens and crows are associated with trickery and it's probably not something that is rather valued of Ravenclaw house members as highly adaptive intelligence that Ravens are. However Gilderoy Lockhart had used trickery to try to achieve his aims.
 * It is revealed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that the Sorting Hat had originally considered putting Hermione Granger in Ravenclaw, due to her intelligence, but ultimately decided on Gryffindor. This may have been due to either her Gryffindor traits being stronger, or it may have been a matter of personal choice on her part.
 * Basil Fronsac was likely a Ravenclaw.
 * Gilderoy Lockhart was a Ravenclaw, based on his Quidditch robes from a picture of his past while in Hogwarts.
 * In the Romanian version, the Ravenclaw house is changed to "Ochi-de-soim", literally "Eye-of-Hawk", possibly because ravens are better known as signs of death or danger, and the members of the house have a broader way of thinking, being smart and witty, thus the name of the house.
 * In the original Italian edition of first three books, the Ravenclaw's house name was changed in Pecoranera (black sheep). Subsequently, the name was changed in Corvonero (Black crow or Black raven)
 * It hasn't escaped notice that for a House which commands intellect, creativity, and wit above all else; a majority of those under Ravenclaw all happen to be noted as quite attractive as well (this includes its very founder).
 * Due to the Common Room not appearing in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, we still get to view the stairwell inside the Tower and briefly you can see the Common Room's door.

Notes and references
Ravenclaw Ravenclaw Serdaigle Ravenclaw Когтевран Korpinkynsi Ravenklauw Corvinal