The Queen (Wizard's Chess Piece)

• Type: Wizard's Chess Piece
• Owners: Players of Wizard's Chess. A notable owner of a chess set with a vocal queen piece is Ron Weasley. The giant chess set protecting the Philosopher's Stone was enchanted by Professor McGonagall.
• Maker: Unknown. The pieces are magical constructs.

The Queen is a piece used in the magical game of Wizard's Chess. Like other pieces in the game, the Queen is animate and appears to be sentient to some degree. The appearance and size of the pieces can vary from set to set. For example, the pieces in Ron Weasley's personal chess set are small enough for a standard board, and his Queen is noted for giving him advice. A more formidable version is the life-sized Queen from the giant chess set that served as one of the enchantments protecting the Philosopher's Stone. This Queen was carved from white stone and was described as particularly terrifying. When activated, she would rise from her stone chair to move across the board. Notably, she had no face beneath her crown. When attacking an opposing piece, she would use her stone arms to physically strike and destroy it.

The Queen in Wizard's Chess follows the same rules of movement as its Muggle counterpart: it is the most powerful piece on the board, able to move any number of unoccupied squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The primary magical property of the Queen piece is its animation and sentience. Players command their pieces by calling out moves in algebraic notation. The pieces then move of their own accord. They can also communicate with their player, as seen with Ron Weasley's set. When a piece is captured, the attacking piece violently destroys the captured one, smashing it to pieces on the board. The Queen, being a powerful attacking piece, is particularly brutal in its captures.

The history of the Queen piece is intrinsically linked to the history of Wizard's Chess itself, a popular pastime in the wizarding world for centuries. The specific, giant chess set encountered by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger was created as part of the defences for the Philosopher's Stone during the 1991-1992 Hogwarts school year. This particular set was the work of Minerva McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor and Transfiguration professor.

The Queen piece plays its most significant role in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. As one of the final obstacles guarding the Stone, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are forced to take the place of black chess pieces and play a life-or-death game against a white set controlled by an unknown enchantment. During the game, Ron's strategic genius becomes evident. He identifies a path to victory but realizes it requires him to sacrifice his piece—a knight—to the White Queen. Understanding the stakes, Ron directs Harry, who is playing as a castle, to checkmate the king after the sacrifice. The White Queen then moves across the board and violently strikes Ron's knight, knocking him unconscious with a heavy blow from its stone arm and dragging him off the board. This act of bravery and strategic sacrifice allows Harry to win the game and proceed to the next chamber, demonstrating Ron's loyalty and courage.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the design of the giant chess pieces, including the Queen, was heavily inspired by the historical Lewis Chessmen, a set of 12th-century chess pieces discovered in Scotland (film).
• The film's depiction of the Queen's attack is highly dramatic; she lifts a sword from the arm of her throne and stabs Ron's horse, causing it to crumble and throwing Ron to the ground (film).