The Mystery of Madam Hooch’s Eyes

Professor Rolanda Hooch is an instructor who coaches the students at Hogwarts in the flying classes. She makes her first appearance in Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone as Harry and his classmates have their first flying lesson at Hogwarts. She’s known for being an excellent teacher and a fair Quidditch referee at Hogwarts. The books describe her as having short, spiky, grey hair – and piercing yellow, hawk-like eyes. Does that sound strange to you as well? Is it mere coincidence that the teacher who flies on broomsticks in the sky has eyes that look just like a hawk’s? Today, we will conjure up theories to answer the question: “Why does Madam Hooch have yellow eyes?”

 

 

Theory 1: Madam Hooch is an Animagus.

Statement: This theory states that Rolanda Hooch underwent the process of becoming an Animagus, and her Animagus form may be a hawk.

 

 

Upside: This theory supports the connection between animal and human features.

Downside: Becoming an Animagus does not change your human appearance. Rather, the opposite happens – the animal form might have your characteristic features, such as McGonagall’s cat form having markings that imitate her spectacles.

Outcome: This theory is rejected, as the downside has more substance.

 

Theory 2: Madam Hooch is a Metamorphmagus.

Statement: This theory describes Madam Hooch as a Metamorphmagus, a witch or wizard who can change their physical appearance at will – including forms, gender, age, etc.

 

 

Upside: Unlike the Animagus theory, this is more plausible in terms of appearance. If Madam Hooch prefers herself with yellow eyes, there’s no reason she couldn’t have them if she were a Metamorphmagus.

Downside: Metamorphmagi are prone to changes in appearance along with their changes of feelings, their emotions affecting their ability to change their physical characteristics. We have witnessed no such incidents with Madam Hooch, even though we’ve seen her express strong emotions (such as her fury about dirty Quidditch fouls).

Outcome: Both the upside and downside have notable justifications, so this theory is possible. But it leans toward being false since we have no other indications that Hooch is capable of naturally changing her appearance.

 

Theory 3: Madam Hooch used a spell.

Statement: With the help of magic that might have included charms, human transfiguration spells, or potions, Madam Hooch permanently modified the appearance of her eyes and enhanced their features to help with her flying.

 

 

Upside: The wizarding world is literally the world of magic. With thousands of spells and potions, there must be a combination of them to modify your eyes.

Downside: Other Quidditch players could have done the same to improve their game, but we know of no other player with hawk-like or eagle-like eyes.

Outcome: This theory stands at 50:50. It could go both ways – just because we haven’t heard of another Quidditch player modifying their eyes doesn’t mean that no one else has. But given the number of Quidditch buffs in Harry’s story, it seems like a helpful modification like this might have been mentioned if a professional player or other notable figure had done it.

 

Theory 4: Madam Hooch just has yellow eyes.

Statement: This theory states that Madam Hooch has yellow eyes for no reason – they just are.

Upside: Described as the rarest, amber eyes contain large quantities of the pigment lipochrome, which imparts a golden yellow color and copper tinge to the eyes.

Downside: This theory lacks the flash and dash of magic (though eye color inheritance is also no less than magic!).

Outcome: This theory is inconclusive. We don’t have enough information to either prove or disprove it.

 

Theory 5: Madam Hooch’s eyes have adapted to the sky.

Statement: This theory suggests that Rolanda Hooch has been flying on brooms for such a long time that her eyes have adapted.

 

 

Upside: Just like the adaptation theory explained the lengthening of giraffe necks so they could better reach their food source, it might also be behind the adaptation of Madam Hooch’s eyes into hawk-like ones for better and clearer vision while flying.

Downside: Adaptation requires a long period of time. The process may differ for wizards and witches, but such a significant change is unlikely to occur during a normal human lifetime.

Outcome: This theory could be true if information on adaptation in wizards and witches were known. Until then, this theory sits with the rejected ones.

 

Theory 6: Madam Hooch has a non-human ancestor.

Statement: Hooch’s genetic lineage has a non-human ancestor, which gives her a unique and animal-like feature.

Upside: The theory supports her having hawk-like eyes. There might just be a flying ancestor in her heritage whose genetics have crawled in.

Downside: She’s not noted for displaying any other non-human features.

Outcome: Given that we know of several witches and wizards in the wizarding world with non-human ancestry, this one is possible and could be true.

 

The answer to the mystery of Madam Hooch’s eyes could be anything – either one of the theories mentioned above or one we haven’t considered. Which is most likely, in your opinion? Do you have any other theories? Let us know!