Cadmus Peverell

Cadmus Peverell was a pure-blood wizard from the Middle Ages and the second of the three legendary Peverell Brothers. He is best known from the wizarding fairy tale, The Tale of the Three Brothers, as the original owner of the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows. Described as an arrogant man, Cadmus sought to humiliate Death by bringing a loved one back from the grave. His story serves as a cautionary tale about the folly of defying the natural order of life and death. He is a direct ancestor of the House of Gaunt and, consequently, Lord Voldemort.

According to the legend recounted by Xenophilius Lovegood and written in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Cadmus and his two brothers, Antioch Peverell and Ignotus Peverell, were powerful wizards who once “cheated Death” by magically creating a bridge to cross a treacherous river. An angered Death pretended to congratulate them and offered each a prize for their cleverness. Cadmus, an “arrogant man,” decided he wanted to humiliate Death still further and asked for the power to recall others from the grave. Death picked up a stone from the riverbank, gave it to Cadmus, and told him it would have the power to bring back the dead. This became known as the Resurrection Stone. Cadmus returned home and used the Stone to call back the spirit of the woman he had once hoped to marry, who had died an untimely death. She appeared before him, but she was sad, cold, and separated from him by a “veil.” She did not truly belong in the mortal world and suffered greatly. Seeing her misery, Cadmus was driven mad with hopeless longing. Unable to truly be with her, he killed himself to properly join her in the afterlife. Albus Dumbledore later theorized to Harry Potter that the Peverell brothers were not met by a literal personification of Death, but were instead “unusually gifted and dangerous wizards who succeeded in creating” the Deathly Hallows themselves. In this interpretation, Cadmus was the brilliant but tragic creator of the Resurrection Stone.

The books provide no physical description of Cadmus Peverell. His personality, as described in The Tale of the Three Brothers, is primarily defined by his arrogance. His desire was not simply to see his lost love again, but to possess a power that would make him a “master of Death”. This pride led to his tragic downfall. He was also clearly a man ruled by deep-seated grief and an inability to accept loss, which ultimately consumed him.

• Powerful Magic: Cadmus and his brothers were exceptionally powerful wizards, capable of advanced magic such as conjuring a bridge over a dangerous river with a single wand stroke.
• Magical Artefact Creation: If Albus Dumbledore's theory is correct, Cadmus was the brilliant creator of the Resurrection Stone, an object of immense and unique power, making him a master of magical item creation.

• The Resurrection Stone: Cadmus's most significant possession. After his death, the Stone was set into a signet ring which was passed down through his descendants, the House of Gaunt. The ring, bearing the Peverell coat of arms (the symbol of the Deathly Hallows), eventually came into the possession of Marvolo Gaunt and later Lord Voldemort, who turned it into one of his Horcruxes, unaware of its true nature as a Hallow.

• Family:
  • Antioch Peverell: His elder brother and the original owner of the Elder Wand.
  • Ignotus Peverell: His younger brother and the original owner of the Cloak of Invisibility.
  • Descendants: The Peverell bloodline continued through Cadmus's line, eventually leading to the House of Gaunt, a family known for its instability and obsession with blood purity. His most famous descendant is Tom Marvolo Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort.
• Other Figures:
  • Fiancée (unnamed): The deceased woman whom Cadmus loved. His attempt to resurrect her led to their mutual misery and his eventual suicide.
  • Death: The allegorical figure who, according to legend, gifted Cadmus the Resurrection Stone.

• Cadmus: In Greek mythology, Cadmus was the founder and first king of Thebes. His story is filled with tragedy and loss, including the deaths of his children and grandchildren. He and his wife were ultimately transformed into serpents out of grief. This mythological connection to a life defined by tragedy and a dark fate aligns well with Cadmus Peverell's story.
• Peverell: An ancient Norman surname, associated with nobility in medieval England. The name lends an air of historical weight and antiquity to the family, fitting for a lineage that produced both Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

• In the film *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1*, the story of the three brothers is depicted in a distinct, highly stylized animated sequence. In this animation, Cadmus is shown as a gaunt, somber figure who receives the Stone and is ultimately seen hanging himself from a tree after his resurrected love fades away (film).