Hogwarts Legacy has been thrilling players ever since its release, featuring many of the beloved elements of Hogwarts School and the surrounding Wizarding World. Players have been able to learn spells, get sorted into their Hogwarts house, and fly around on a broom, but they also get to interact with some of the more intimate elements of the school.
Hogwarts is infamous for not just being filled with witches, wizards, and magical creatures, but also ghosts. While not every ghost which appears in the Harry Potter movies is present in Hogwarts Legacy, the majority of them make an appearance, with some notable additions. While a lot of these characters may not have a lot of substance, they are fun additions to the game.
8 Professor Cuthbert Binns
While there are an awful lot of ghosts in Hogwarts for a school, most of them aren’t actually all that useful. While most are floating about, harassing students, or just crying all the time, Professor Binns is actually a lot more useful as the 'history of magic' teacher. Having taught the class since he was alive, Binns may not be very exciting, but he is useful and probably doesn’t require any payment.
Having never made an appearance in the Harry Potter movies, Professor Binns has been restricted to a book character until the release of Hogwarts Legacy. While Binns and his class may not be the most exciting part of the game, compared to classes like Defence Against the Dark Arts, quite an amusing joke is made out of it as he describes what he calls “truly thrilling events” in his dull, monotone manner.
7 The Bloody Baron
Quite a fascinating, even sinister appearance, but the house ghost who makes the least impact in the game, The Bloody Baron is the designated ghost of Slytherin House. Players can find him infrequently wandering about, in surprisingly good spirits despite the terrifying past associated with him, including various dark arts that make him seem rather villainous.
Originally, the Baron in life was desperately in love with Helena Ravenclaw but ended up committing a murder-suicide. This dark history hasn’t stopped Hogwarts Legacy from presenting him in a relatively light-hearted manner, but he remains less interesting than the other house ghosts in the game.
6 The Gray Lady
The ghost of Ravenclaw house and a notable presence from the Harry Potter movies as she had an important role to play in the destruction of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, The Gray Lady is a very sad presence in Hogwarts Legacy, which makes for less exciting gameplay than many of the intriguing mods the community has already created.
Spending her time in Ravenclaw house halls in floods of tears, the lady, also known as Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena, is a fascinating character. While players have found Easter Eggs regarding her past in Hogwarts Legacy, any actual interaction with her is relatively brief.
5 The Fat Friar
A very cheerful ghost who represents Hufflepuff house among the dead, the Fat Friar was only briefly in the Harry Potter movies, there not being much of a focus on Hufflepuff in those movies. Always friendly towards students and very present in the Hufflepuff common room, the Fat Friar is a notable ghostly presence.
There are no quests involving him and his speaking interactions can get a bit repetitive after some time spent in the common room. But the Fat Friar is jovial and fun to hang around with for a while in Hogwarts Legacy nonetheless.
4 The Dueling Ghosts
While the Dueling Ghosts are not a significant presence in the game, their randomly generated appearances do make quite an impact. Two ghosts, who seem intent in their own words on dueling for all time, dance in fencing poses around the castle laying into each other, but not really, because they’re ghosts and can’t kill each other.
Nevertheless, these two playful characters continue to duel in what easily could be eternal combat through the halls. Players can stand in baffled awe and watch them for a few moments while they let out various exclamations before disappearing again. While not a major point of interest, it's one of the small Hogwarts Legacy details that make it amazing.
3 Peeves
The infamous poltergeist of Hogwarts, Peeves doesn’t get to shine with his mischievous glee in the Harry Potter movies. But he was always around, causing mild trouble for students, in the books. He finally gets his on-screen debut in Hogwarts Legacy though and is one of the most commonly appearing ghostly presences in the game.
All players can see Peeves, and he doesn’t take long to start causing mild irritations to other characters in the game. While the player character doesn’t get picked on by Peeves, he does cause trouble by ratting Sebastian out to the librarian while he and the player are sneaking around in the restricted section. Peeves is one of the great secrets of Hogwarts, albeit a rather loud secret.
2 Nearly Headless Nick
Definitely, the best of the house ghosts as they are shown in Hogwarts Legacy, Nearly Headless Nick is easily recognizable from the Harry Potter movies, where he was played by John Cleese. In Hogwarts Legacy, Nick makes an appearance and is as friendly as ever.
Additionally, Gryffindor players receive the surprising joy of getting to join Nick on a side quest in the game. “The Hunt For The Missing Pages” is a quest that every player must engage in one form of, this is just the Gryffindor version. Whereas Hufflepuff players engage with the portrait of Eldritch Diggory or Ravenclaw players speak to Ollivander, and Slytherin players begin with a house elf. His inclusion in this house-exclusive quest makes Nick by far the most well-used house ghost in the game, which is filled with other exciting missions and events.
1 Fastidio
Fastidio is one of the most curious and unique ghostly presences in Hogwarts Legacy. Like Peeves, Fastidio is a poltergeist, but he has two significant differences from the mildly antagonizing presence of Peeves in Hogwarts Legacy. Firstly, Fastidio haunts Hogsmeade and the haunted shop there instead of any location in Hogwarts itself.
Secondly, Fastidio is a little more menacing than Peeves. While the poltergeist of Hogwarts is a frustrating presence for some students, Fastidio outright terrorizes anybody who comes in his direction. Fastidio appears during a side quest called Minding Your Own Business. Unfortunately, this quest is PlayStation Exclusive and a long one that feels right out of a horror game. It proves that Wizarding World ghosts can actually be terrifying presences.
Hogwarts Legacy is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is set to launch on April 4, 2023, on the PS4 and Xbox One, while the Switch version is due to debut on July 25, 2023.