It is incredible how much has seemingly been shown so far from Hogwarts Legacy, and yet it is still difficult to explicitly piece the details together in a way that ruins its surprises. For example, information about characters players will interact with has been relatively tight-lipped, and there are myriad creatures fans have seen briefly in previous trailers that will be exciting to encounter. Companion quests will develop relationships between players and their Hogwarts Legacy peers, but conversations with others may be fruitful as well.
One of the game’s many magical features is its ghosts that occupy the school grounds. In Harry Potter, ghosts are individuals who posthumously linger around the castle and are commonly kind and well-meaning. Hogwarts Legacy’s Peeves seems to have been revealed, but it is unknown if other poltergeists and Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions will appear. Rather, ghosts have since been confirmed and may play an important role in Hogwarts Legacy, whether that is in the capacity of its main narrative or on players’ extracurricular adventures.
Ghosts May Have a Hand in Mandatory Classes and Optional Side Quests
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Hogwarts Legacy’s State of Play gameplay trailer introduced ghosts, if only for a couple of fleeting moments where their importance was teased. Indeed, ghosts are first discerned as part of what may be more familiar to fans in the iconography of Hogwarts Legacy’s 1800s castle.
One particular instance concerns a cemetery full of mild-mannered-looking ghosts that Hogwarts Legacy’s protagonist and Nearly Headless Nick casually stroll through. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington can be heard referring to an event dubbed the Headless Hunt, which may suggest that even more ghosts will be seen if there is a questline of his to follow. It is unknown if meeting Nick and discovering this cutscene are optional encounters or part of the main story, but it is still clear that at least a couple of ghosts will be instrumental to Hogwarts Legacy. Further, a shot of a classroom also suggests that one of students’ professors may be Professor Binns, who is a ghost himself.
Binns being one of the player’s professors would ensure his importance in the narrative, depending on how detailed and significant his class is—although from the glimpse of Binns’ classroom that is seen in the trailer, it looks like students are all terribly bored during his lecture. Of course, as Hogwarts’ professor of History of Magic, what Binns teaches to NPC students may be dreadfully dull, but incredibly intriguing to players.
Ghosts May Be Important for Players Who Wish to Learn about Hogwarts
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Thus, it seems like ghosts will have at least a minimal role in the story. However, there is a chance that these two ghosts may not be the only ones players can interact with, and their presumed role in the story may be larger than fans think. There may be random ghost NPCs who cannot wait to share some tidbit of lore about the school they inhabit. Like how the miserable Moaning Myrtle serves a similar function in Harry Potter, it is possible that Hogwarts Legacy will have its own benign ghosts that can offer interesting lore or hushed secrets. This could be a fascinating way for players to inadvertently learn about hidden passageways or rewards throughout the school.
If a ghost does appear in a single area, it may be best to try to interact with them and see if there is anything to learn about or discover nearby. Similarly, animated portraits could also be interactive for the same purpose. Either way, interacting with ghosts in Hogwarts Legacy will hopefully be interesting and rewarding.
Hogwarts Legacy releases February 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A Switch version is also in development.
