Harry Potter: 10 Questions We Still Have About Arabella Figg (2024)

Mrs. Figg is one of those characters (or just names) mentioned inHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone who comes back to play a much larger role in later books. Remember how Hagrid admits to borrowing his flying motorcycle from someone named Sirius Black? That's the kind of introduction we get to Mrs. Figg who usually watches Harry when the Dursleys go out for special occasions, like Dudley's birthday.

RELATED: Harry Potter: How Each Character Is Supposed To Look

Harry then gets to spend the day hearing the life stories of all of her many cats. But inSorcerer's StoneMrs. Figg has broken her leg and Harry must accompany the Dursley's to the zoo. While we learn later on (particularly inOrder of the Phoenix) that there is far more to Mrs. Arabella Figg than meets the eye, there are still some questions about her past and her identity.

How Can a Squib Guard The Boy Who Lived?

Dumbledore sets Arabella Figg to watch over Harry as he grows up with the Dursleys on Privet Drive. She doesn't do much more than making sure that the boy is alive, though undernourished and emotionally abused, but what could she have done?

What if the Ministry or Voldemort had shown up (whether or not they were able to detect the Dursley's house)? What could a squib, who knows the dangers but has none of the magical abilities to fight them, supposed to do in any situation of actual danger?

When Did She Learn She Was A Squib?

We learn from Neville that his family thought he was a squib for most of the years leading up to his acceptance to Hogwarts. His Uncle Algie proves his magical ability only when he accidentally drops Neville out a window.

What about Arabella Figg? Did her family hold out hope until she was eleven and no owl from Hogwarts ever came? Did they know long before that due to some accident that magic should have saved her from? There are so few squibs in the Harry Potter stories (really just Arabella and Mr. Filch) that not much is known about how they are identified.

Did She Notice Harry's Hogwarts Letters?

InHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stonequite a few owls bring quite a few letters and hang out for quite a long time around 4 Privet Drive. Did Arabella Figg (the only person near Privet Drive who would have known that owls deliver mail) notice this new goings-on?

RELATED: Harry Potter: The Most Badass Women In The Movies, Ranked

Was it the owls or Arabella Figg who let Dumbledore know Harry wasn't getting his letters and that Hagrid, or someone, had better be sent after the boy to hand-deliver his invitation to school?

Could She Have Been More Fun?

InHarry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixMrs. Figgapologizes to Harry for not being more accomodating or fun when he was under her care as a child. If he had too much fun, she knew, the Dursleys would never allow him to visit again.

But couldn't she have been just a little bit kinder? Feed him slightly better cookies? Let him watch a little bit more television? It wasn't as if Harry was going to go home and brag to the Dursleys about the afternoon he'd had with Mrs. Figg and her cats.

Who Were Her Magical Family?

Squibs do not have magic. What makes them different from muggles, however, is the fact that they are born to magical parents. One has to wonder where Arabella Figg's magical family was. Did they abandon her to the muggle world as soon as they knew she was a squib as a child? Being old herself, had the rest of Mrs. Figg's relations already passed?

There are no clues in the books or films for us to focus on, but it doesn't make the whereabouts of her family (or Filch's for that matter) any less intriguing.

Did She Move When Harry Was Placed At The Dursleys?

Did Arabella Figg already live in Little Whinging when Harry was placed with his aunt and uncle? Or did she have to move houses to take up her post as Harry's guard?

RELATED: Harry Potter: 10 Times Luna Lovegood Was The Smartest Character

Even if she did have to move, was this a move from house to house or did she have to move from the wizarding world into the muggle one? Like Filch, not all squibs automatically transfer to the muggle world as soon as their magical abilities fail to appear. What was the story with Arabella herself?

Why So Many Cats?

Mrs. Figg, it was later revealed by J.K Rowling, was a breeder and dealer in crossbred cats (a cat crossed with a kneazle). A kneazle is an aggressive, intelligent animal that is highly attuned to disturbance and deceit, they also look a lot like house cats. This, however, does not explain why she had so many cats in her own home.

If she was such a successful breeder, then cats should have been whisked out her door to happy clients and customers on a much more regular basis. Why then, other than as an older woman stereotype, did she keep so many on hand?

How Did She Join The Original Order Of The Phoenix?

We know Arabella Figg was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix because Sirius, in the book version ofThe Goblet of Fire, is instructed by Dumbledore to "round up the old crowd" and Mrs. Figg's name is dropped.

We don't know who her magical family was, so it's hard to say exactly how Arabella, a squib, ended up fighting against Voldemort, in the first wizarding war.

Did She Know Dumbledore Before Joining The Order?

Harry is shocked to learn inThe Order of the Phoenixthat Mrs. Figg knows Dumbledore.

But how did she meet him? As a squib, she would not have attended Hogwarts, and Dumbledore owns a phoenix, not a cat (cross-bred or otherwise). How Arbella met a younger Albus would be quite an entertaining story if it were ever told.

Why Can't She Use Magic To Heal Her Leg?

InHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Mrs. Figg breaks her legs tripping over one of her cats. Later, she is seen in the neighborhood on crutches, and Dudley knocks her down while riding his new bike.

Why couldn't she have reached out to the magical community she was obviously in contact with for some magical aid? As it took ministry officials to deflate Aunt Marge we know there is a president for wizards to help non-magical persons, so why not a known squib?

NEXT: