Dobby
Dobby is also a common reference to the game tag in the Midlands in the UK. Dobby is also a trade term used to refer to the strip of closely-woven material often seen on towels (and much less commonly on washcloths). This use refers to a type of loom originally used to create a more intricate weave. See dobby loom.
Dobby (birthday June 28)Template:Fn is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series, inspired by the brownies of folklore. His name is another name for a brownie in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Dobby was a House-Elf, who unlike Winky and most House-Elves, wanted to be freed. He was forced to guard many dark secrets.
Dobby first appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where he was a central character in the story. The elf served the Malfoy family and its current head Lucius Malfoy. He knew of Malfoy's plans to reopen the Chamber of Secrets using Tom Riddle's (later known as Lord Voldemort) school diary for months before it happened. As an attempt to discourage Harry Potter from returning to Hogwarts, Dobby began to intercept the letters that Harry's friends sent him. Dobby later sneaked out of his home to tell Harry of the danger of returning to Hogwarts and attempted to persuade him to stay away so he would be safe from harm. Nevertheless, Dobby unintentionally let slip some details, for which he had to punish himself. When Dobby's attempts failed to persuade Harry, the elf dropped a large dessert on Vernon Dursley's dinner guests in an attempt to get Harry expelled from Hogwarts for practising magic outside of school. Vernon then punished Harry by barring his window to keep him from returning to school. (All the Dursleys saw was Harry apparently levitating the dessert.) This undertaking might perhaps have been successful, but Ron, Fred and George Weasley were able to rescue Harry in their father's flying Ford Anglia.
Dobby later tried to keep Harry away from Hogwarts by magically sealing off the hidden entrance to Platform 9¾, but Harry and Ron foiled that plot by piloting the flying car back to their school, a feat that nearly got them expelled. Dobby also enchanted a Bludger to chase only Harry; it managed to knock the young man from his broom, sending him into a spill that broke his arm. Gilderoy Lockhart's attempt to heal it resulted instead in the disintegration of all its bones, and the teen had to spend the night in the hospital wing while new ones grew in their place. While there, Harry saw a petrified Colin Creevey brought in, and was visited again by Dobby.
When Harry discovered that Dobby's master was Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, the boy tricked Malfoy into setting Dobby free. A grateful Dobby has remained devoted to Harry ever since.
Because Dobby thereafter demanded to be paid for his services, he found it difficult to find employment. But he later obtained a post at Hogwarts, the only paid elf on the staff.
Since Dobby began his paid job at Hogwarts, he has helped Harry several times, though he had been less destructive than previously. For example, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dobby helped Harry with the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, and in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he showed him the hidden Room of Requirement, which Harry used for his D.A. meetings.
Dobby was also the only House-Elf who cleaned Gryffindor Tower since Hermione Granger began trying to set the House-Elves free, to further her Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare, because the House-Elves found the clothes insulting.
According to Albus Dumbledore, Dobby's existence under the Malfoys was as miserable as was that of Kreacher under Sirius Black.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry inherited Kreacher and ordered him to work in the Hogwarts kitchens with the other House-Elves. At Hogwarts, Kreacher's loathing of Harry came into conflict with Dobby's fondness for; the two elves quarreled, much to Peeves's delight. When Harry needed somebody to follow Draco Malfoy to find out where he was disappearing to, he was helped unwillingly by Kreacher and willingly by Dobby. Both returned with the important information that Malfoy was in the Room of Requirement.
Dobby constantly refers to himself in the third person, for instance: Dobby has your owl, sir! (OotP)
Dobby was realized as a computer-generated creature voiced by Toby Jones in the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets film.
Trivia
- Supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin have accused the makers of the Harry Potter films of modeling Dobby after Putin [1].