A Study of The Common House Elf

A/N: Okay, I guess I’m on crack or something, because this just wouldn’t go away. Parts of it are gleaned from elf behavior in the books, others are just dribbles from my overworked and malfunctioning brain. Please leave a comment? Pretty please?

*** A Study of the Common House Elf ***

A message from the Offices of S.P.E.W:
While this study is by no means comprehensive, it is hoped that it will give a clearer picture of the lives and functions of these magical creatures whose lives are so closely intertwined with those of our own. We here at S.P E. W hope that by promoting a better understanding of House Elves, it will be possible to improve the overall conditions under which they live and work.


1. Elfin history:

• The origins of House elves are unknown at this time. One theory is that they are an artificial magical species created thousands of years ago by the High Elves of legend.

• They were intended as servants, child minders, and care-givers for the elderly, farm laborers, and sometimes as pets.


• Service seems to be literally programmed into their DNA. They must have a purpose or they undergo a shattering of identity and self-destruct. (Winky)

• It is not known when the first elf began to serve human wizard-kind. The association is of such long standing that the first elf-human oath has long been forgotten. Even the Hogwarts elves have no memory or legend of the beginning, and their collective oral history is the most complete in Europe, as their lines are the longest, unbroken for over a thousand years. The most common theory is that a High elf probably gave a young or surplus elf as a gift to a wizard or witch; either as a gesture of friendship or to acknowledge some extraordinary service or debt.

2. Elfin Intelligence

• Although fairly intelligent, their minds are limited to that of an average adolescent human.

• Frequently there is a deficit in long-term planning skills or the ability to recognize the consequences of an action.

• Their psychology is dependent, with rare exceptions, needing to be needed by those around them. Even Dobby, with his unusual independent streak, still had a powerful compulsion to serve.

• They seem to be constantly thinking either in the present, as evidenced by their speech (elves tend to speak in the present tense only, using a very convoluted sentence structure) or only in the very near future, at most a few days ahead for such things as planning daily tasks.

3. House-elf magic

• The magic of an elf is quite powerful, but they are unable to fully control it alone.

• They need a joining of their magic to the person or family they serve in order to maintain the stability of their minds and magical flow.

• This joining or bonding provides the necessary limitations and sense of purpose that cannot be provided by their own intellectual capacities.

• Without that joining, the magic turns inwards and destroys the elf (Winky). This was apparently a safety feature built into them when created, to prevent the new species from running amok like a Frankenstein.

4. House-Elves are Extremely Loyal.

• House elves will often demonstrate a blind loyalty to their masters, even to the point of self-harm. The Black elf, Kreacher, continued to obey the orders given by the portrait of his former mistress in the absence of any other authority, until the return of his only surviving master, Sirius Black. Dobby, while engaged in illicit activities not authorized by his master Lucius Malfoy, felt compelled by that loyalty to punish himself for those actions.

• Elves will protect any and all secrets held by their families, whether those secrets are outside the common bounds of wizard law or not. Winky, who once served the Crouch family, was actively engaged in the illegal act of hiding and restraining an escapee from Azkaban. She found no conflict in this, as her orders from the head of the family took precedence.

• Even when mistreated they will serve well, although they may try various ways to either improve their working conditions (short of harming their masters) or in extreme cases, will try to find a way to break their bonding and find a better situation.

• These actions are limited by the exact terms of the master-elf vows, which vary from family to family.

5. Binding vows can vary widely.

• Elf-human binding vows range from a simple declaration and acceptance of service to complex oaths of slavery and subservience.

• The most common in Britain is one that leaves only one escape clause: the presentation of clothing, indicating the elf is now independent. This has become customary, but is not necessary.

• The binding vow is usually to the family and its heirs, given the extremely long lifespan of elves, surpassing even that of Wizards. Because of their peculiar psychology, freeing an elf is often tantamount to a death sentence and is used as a last resort only.

6. Discipline and Punishments: (This is a sensitive subject among many families who see it as a violation of privacy and the secrecy entailed among elves for their master’s business.)

• It is known that punishments range from physical (I.e.: Beatings, slamming fingers in oven doors, flogging, ironing of hands, twisting of ears, etc.) to simply ordering the elf to spend a few days doing lower-status chores (A house elf ordered to do farm or stable work) for a minor infraction.

• In Britain, the presentation of clothing is a final severing of the elf’s servitude and would be equivalent to firing an unsatisfactory employee, done rarely as the elf has often literally been born in the household and is considered a part of the family, no matter how badly it may perform its’ duties.

• In the case of Dobby, who once worked in the Malfoy household, his punishments cannot be seen as the norm, since his unusual desire for personal freedom was in direct conflict with his need to serve, resulting in his self-infliction of extreme punishments for his own disloyalty, as he perceived it. Had he not found service at Hogwarts School, it is entirely possible that Dobby may have gone into a deep depression and committed suicide.)

7. The elfish uniform.

• British house elves most often wear a tea-towel instead of clothing, but customs differ greatly from region to region.

• French elves wear simple peasant-style clothing and are generally treated with greater respect than British elves. The form of their oaths also differ greatly, allowing for more decision-making capability.

• Russian elves are allowed clothing and wands to allow greater efficiency in the performance of their duties.

• South American Elves carry weapons and are often used as hunters, trackers, basic security and bodyguards for children. This is in addition to the more common service functions of elves.

• In Wizarding China (well hidden from the Communist Government), tunic-clad elves are often employed as scribes and archivists, copying and caring for manuscripts, but not doing research.

• American and Canadian elves are uniformed and treated like a human servant in the nineteenth century: well cared for, but carefully supervised. There is a watchdog group, rather like the ASPCA, to prevent cruelty and harsh conditions.

• There is no information on elves in traditional German society, as most were killed defending their families during the war with Grindelwald. House elves in modern Germany are of French or American descent and largely follow those customs.

(S.P.E.W. hopes to commission a Study of House elves in Africa, but as that is an entire continent and contains over 140 different countries, not to mention thousands of tribes, moieties, clans, kinship groups and religous affiliations, the scope is a bit daunting at this time)

8. Family/Elf Identity.

• Generations of elves will often serve the same pure-blood family and identify themselves as “I is a Malfoy elf’ or as a Nott elf, a Black elf, etc.

• The Potter family elves were killed when Voldemort attacked their house in his ill-advised attempt to kill the infant Harry Potter; the line is now extinct.

• Hogwarts has several lines attached to the school itself, sworn to serve the headmaster and students. The school also takes in orphans and often finds new homes for those that are uncomfortable serving in an institutional setting.

(In fact, in the Post-war era, this became something of an unofficial function of the school and many orphaned elves were placed with various alumni, including Harry Potter, members of the Weasley family, the Longbottom and Lovegood households as well. The elves receive additional training if needed, especially in areas such as childcare and occasionally in home repair and maintenance. George Weasley has an elf that is specially trained at his and the elf’s request, in emergency medicine and fire-suppression spells. The elf is a constant companion when he is working on development of new WWW products. The elf’s name is Forge.)

9. The Social Structure of Elves

• As a subculture, elves have a fairly strict hierarchy among themselves: In a private setting, the head elf is usually the oldest or most experienced female, followed by her mate. These generally supervise any other elves and see to their training.

• Personal elves such as those that serve as valets or lady’s maids and nannies, are second in status as their duties require some specialization.


• Next in status (in multiple elf households) would be the kitchen head, followed by the butler, chief maid and cleaning staff, then laundry staff, gardeners, stable hands, and general work or repair elves.

• Free elves have no discernable status until a new position is acquired. A free elf is subject to scorn from other elves, being seen as incompetent or unruly, a major offense among elves.

• An orphaned elf, one whose master has died without heirs being designated, generally wears the insignia of its’ previous master until it can find another place to serve. Other elves see these individuals as unlucky or unfortunate, and will often try to help them find a new master.

• Institutional elves such as at Hogwarts or St. Mungo’s Hospital use a similar ranking, but the Chief Elf serves in a more formalized administrative capacity, answering to the human head of the facility directly, while having several departmental elf-heads under them.

• The departmental elf-heads are usually offspring or direct blood relatives of the Chief Elf. These supervise the lesser-ranking elves that do the actual work in the facility.

• Individual households will have only one or two elves in service, while a great manor or castle may have as many as thirty.

• Hogwarts School has over one hundred or more at any given time, whose duties must be carefully coordinated to care for the over 700+ humans that are in residence. The caretaker, Argus Filch, handles all additional duties not normally taken care of by the elves, and all maintenance elves answer directly to him.

10. Education and Training of a House Elf

• House elf education is informal and directly related to their function.

• Fewer than ten per cent of all house elves in Britain can read or write English, but it is suspected that there may be a system of recording information used among them. No elf will admit this to a human, however, and it may be that there are some things that they do keep to themselves, no matter what.

• A family elf will learn spells from its parents that allow them to perform their duties as quickly and quietly as possible. These are a different type of magic than used by humans, and can transcend house wards and anti-apparition jinxes. This magic has never been effectively studied and there are few explanations for it.

• Additional training may be sought in areas where an elf or its’ master may feel it is required, such as an elf needing to learn gardening or emergency response skills, better cleaning spells or some other function that the master desires the elf to improve. This training may be as simple as sending an elf to a friend’s house to be taught by one of their elves, or more formally by sending the elf to Hogwarts for lessons from the elves there. No human has ever participated in the training of an elf, due to the differences in the magics between the species.

• Single-family elves will often have a multitude of skills in everything from cooking and cleaning to magical construction and defense of their family. A family elf is and must be a generalist, having to handle a wide variety of duties as they arise.

• Institutional or specialist elves (nannies, ladies maids, etc) may only have one particular area of expertise. This may be as simple as a St Mungo’s elf assigned to keep watch over the newborns in the maternity wing, or an elf belonging to a construction wizard that is skilled in the installation of plumbing or roofing.

11. There are few instances of elves causing deliberate harm to humans.

• The elfin offensive spells are particularly dangerous and cannot be blocked by most wizard methods.

• Sadly, their defensive spells are weak and many elves were killed during the last war in Britain. It is suspected that this weakness is deliberate, a flaw built in when they were created as a means to prevent a revolt.

• Their vows prevent them from harming their masters and families; outsiders can be harmed but not killed. The late Dobby’s attempts to injure Harry Potter during his schooldays can be seen as an extreme measure provoked by his need to ‘protect’ young Potter from a worse fate—the elf took the lesser of two evils as he saw it. Again, this is an example of the lack of foresight inherent in elf psychology. It may also be an example of Dobby’s own peculiar mind-set, as the actions taken were certainly not under orders from any member of the Malfoy family.

While from a human point of view, Dobby’s actions were brave, heroic and self-determinate, thus earning him a certain cachet among modern wizarding society, this is not the case among other house elves. To them, his actions display a terrible lack of decorum, and border on madness and treachery to his masters. It is almost impossible to get an elf to even mention Dobby’s name.

An exception to the ‘no harm’ rule would be the fierce defense of Hogwarts during what is popularly known as “the Last Battle”. Roused by Harry Potter’s elf, Kreacher, the staff elves acted as irregulars, reinforcing the wizards fighting the Death Eaters in the castle. Even then, they used kitchen knives and implements and for the most part avoided magical means. Several human survivors of that battle have reported experiencing nightmares after witnessing the ferocity of an elf defending its’ home from an invader, while others have stated that they find it comforting to know that their servants are capable of protecting their loved ones.

NOTE: the elf’s motivations played a large part in this instance. It is believed that Kreacher, a Black family elf inherited by Potter, wanted revenge against Voldemort for the death of his former masters. Since his desire for vengeance and his duty to protect Potter coincided, this may be the only instance known of an ‘elf vendetta’. His actions may also have stemmed from his interpretation of commands issued at the time his original masters were still alive, which may have taken precedence over current loyalties in his mind. This will never be clarified, since such things would fall under elf secrecy.

12. Mating Habits and Reproduction.

• During past times, elves were frequently bred rather like pure-bred dogs among Muggles.

• If an elf is female, when she is bred her young would continue to serve her family, such as the case of Winky, whose bloodline had served the same family for at least five generations.

• If a single-family elf is male, his services as a stud might be offered to another family that had a female elf of an age to reproduce, on condition that one of the elfkin would be given to preserve the line of the male elf. This elfkin is considered to be of the family of the male, not of the female, as he will serve in that household.

• This breeding process is voluntary on the part of the elves involved. If the female finds the male unacceptable, no mating will take place and the humans will be told that another candidate needs to be found. The same if the male is not attracted to the female. No order from their masters will compel an elf to take a mate they find unacceptable. It is the single area of total elfin autonomy.

• The standards by which elves judge the suitability of mates is not known and they will not speak of it.

• Elves are live-bearing, with a gestation period of four months, producing one elfkin. Multiple births are extremely rare and very dangerous for the female. The small size of females makes carrying twins extremely difficult and the birth will often be fatal to both mother and elfkin. Triplets are unheard of.

• Most elf females will only bear two or three elfkin in their lives, hence the very low population.

• Elves mate for life, and it is not uncommon to have mates in separate households, with the male serving one family and the female serving another. If they are lucky enough to serve in a manor or castle, both may be in service to the same household.

• Since the end of the Second Wizard War, a mature elf, whether male or female, will most commonly approach their masters with the request to be allowed to find a mate. If there is enough work for both, the mate may be brought back to serve there as well. If in service to another household, there may be some negotiations involved, but the request for mating is usually honored.

• Although it is seldom discussed, it is believed that the elf will finish its work and then spend what little free time it may have in the company of its mate, much like humans.

• Females are responsible for the raising of the young, who enter into training as soon as they can comprehend simple instructions.

• Males are responsible for completing the training of the young and for the protection of the young and the females whenever required. This includes sometimes taking punishments meant for their mates during the pregnancy, or assuming the burden of the females’ workload as well as their own. They also are present and assist in the delivery of their young.

• Elfkin mature quickly, and at the age of ten years are considered fully adult by other elves.