--- title: Harry Potter Fan Theory Says Snape Killed Hedwig description: Is this who really killed Hedwig? canonical: https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-08T12:12:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:55.234Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Here’s a New Theory About the Death Of a Beloved 'Harry Potter' Character og:description: Is this who really killed Hedwig? og:url: https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff7d1636bb3c381/69887449ab6d77c8806a778b/harryhedwig.jpg?branch=production&width=612&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 612 og:image:height: 344 og:image:alt: harryhedwig og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s a New Theory About the Death Of a Beloved 'Harry Potter' Character twitter:description: Is this who really killed Hedwig? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff7d1636bb3c381/69887449ab6d77c8806a778b/harryhedwig.jpg?branch=production&width=612&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here’s a New Theory About the Death Of a Beloved _Harry Potter_ Character > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: The Harry Potter Saga Continues In J.K. Rowling's New Play [Watch (HLS stream): The Harry Potter Saga Continues In J.K. Rowling's New Play](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8ESDAPTG.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2015-10-23. An 'eighth Harry Potter story' is coming from J.K. Rowling in the form of a stage play. Cue that Potter fan freakout._ by [Mary Sollosi / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Mary Sollosi / Entertainment Weekly Dec 8, 2015 12:12 PM UTC  Warner Bros by [Mary Sollosi / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Mary Sollosi / Entertainment Weekly Dec 8, 2015 12:12 PM UTC For those of you still mourning the many deaths of beloved characters in the second half of the _Harry Potter_ series (and let’s be honest, that’s basically all of us), there’s a new theory about one of them that might actually make you feel better. Spoilers ahead, Muggles! Tumblr user Jo Marie Walker has [posted a theory](http://jomariewalker.tumblr.com/post/133513873195/sooo-the-death-eater-that-kills-hedwig-is-actually) about the untimely death of Harry’s trusty owl Hedwig, who is killed by a Death Eater at the beginning of_HP7_. Like all _Harry Potter_ novels, _Deathly Hallows_ begins with our bespectacled hero in his childhood home (an admittedly generous term for the place), 4 Privet Drive. A small group from the Order of the Phoenix shows up on the eve of his 17th birthday, at which point the familial magic of the Dursleys’ house will cease to protect Harry, to remove him to a safe location — but they know that there will be Death Eaters trying to intercept him. So the Order brings with them a batch of Polyjuice Potion, adding a few of Harry’s hairs to transform Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus Fletcher into six Harry decoys, so that the Death Eaters won’t know which Potter is the real Chosen One. They leave Privet Drive, each Harry accompanied by a non-Polyjuiced member of the Order, on broomsticks and Thestrals — except for the real Harry, who is sharing his late godfather Sirius Black’s flying motorcycle with Hagrid. A crowd of Death Eaters, plus Voldemort himself, soon takes up the chase, and we’ve got an airborne wizard battle on our hands. George loses an ear, the Order loses Moody, and Harry loses his sweet snowy owl — whom Hagrid bought for him as an 11th birthday present in _Sorcerer’s Stone_ — to a curse from a masked Death Eater who was aiming for Hagrid. So here’s the theory: Since Hedwig’s proximity to Harry might have given him away as the real target, maybe it was _Snape_ who killed Hedwig, and did it on purpose; maybe he was trying to remove this indicator of Harry’s true identity so that the Death Eaters wouldn’t figure out it was him and continue to chase the decoys. What do you think? Does this theory read too much into it, or not add up? Or can Hedwig’s death be seen as additional proof that Snape was still sneakily protecting the offspring of the woman he loved — after all this time? _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/07/harry-potter-death-theory-hedwig-owl-snape) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/"},"headline":"Here’s a New Theory About the Death Of a Beloved Harry Potter Character","datePublished":"2015-12-08T12:12:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:55.234Z","description":"Is this who really killed Hedwig?","url":"https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff7d1636bb3c381/69887449ab6d77c8806a778b/harryhedwig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mary Sollosi / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ff7d1636bb3c381/69887449ab6d77c8806a778b/harryhedwig.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"harryhedwig","caption":"","creditText":"Warner Bros","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4140184/harry-potter-hedwig-death-jk-rowling/","name":"Here’s a New Theory About the Death Of a Beloved Harry Potter Character"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Harry Potter Saga Continues In J.K. 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