Merula Snyde (2024)

Merula Snyde was awitchwho began attendingHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardryin1984and wassorted intoSlytherin.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Merula's mother and father were Death Eaters who supported Lord Voldemort. At some point, Merula witnessed them in an "incident" with an Auror which led to the death of the latter or a bystander, which allowed her to see Thestrals.

During her tenth birthday, Merula received a broom as a present from her parents, for which she was thrilled. Since she was still a bit young to ride a broom on her own, her parents took turns taking her on the broom, with Merula clinging to their backs while she flew and joyfully laughed. Merula considered this the happiest memory she had and used it to attempt to cast the Patronus Charm.

After the Dark Lord's demise in 1981, Merula's parents were captured and sent to Azkaban between 1983 and 1984. Merula witnessed their trial, which greatly upset her. Merula’s mother, who was a member of the Frog Choir during her time at Hogwarts, used to sing Merula to sleep before she was arrested and taken to Azkaban. After her parents were sentenced to Azkaban, Merula was raised by her aunt, Verucca Buckthorn-Snyde, who forbade her from owning any pets. Victims of her parents sent threats to their house, resulting in her aunt spending as little time with her as possible and Merula staying almost entirely indoors. Merula claimed to have attended every Quidditch World Cup since she was born.

Hogwarts Years (1984-1991)[]

Year One[]

Merula and the Main Character were in the same Potions class and Flying class. At the beginning of her first year, Merula left the Main Character locked in a room with Devil’s Snare. She spent most of the year bullying the Main Character out of jealousy. Even as first-year, Merula showed she was a capable duellist. She often used the Knockback Jinx to bully her fellow classmates. However, she is defeated every time by the Main Character.

Year Two[]

Merula became so desperate to sabotage the Main Character that she framed them for theft in their second year, though the Main Character could get away without difficulty if they had a high enough Knowledge Attribute. Merula boasted to the Main Character that she was working with someone on finding the Cursed Vaults. Later, the Main Character learns that this person was Tulip Karasu. Merula and Tulip stopped working together before their third year started.

Year Three[]

Merula began taking Care of Magical Creatures as an elective during her third year. During this year, Merula outright refused to torture the Main Character for information and decided to work together with the Main Character in their search for the Cursed Vaults. Also during her third year, Merula auditioned for the Frog Choir. She wanted to join because her mother was a member.

Year Four[]

Patricia Rakepick took an interest in Merula for her skills and took her on as one of her apprentices. During this year, Merula wanted to become Prefect. Merula became more tactful towards the Main Character when they searched through Jacob’s secret room and realize there was a chance Jacob was alive.

Year Five[]

Merula would claim to be knowledgeable about various hexes during Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Merula became noticeably less antagonistic towards the Main Character. She could be observed having casual, and sometimes even friendly, dialogue with them. Even Rowan Khanna noticed, saying, “Is it just me, or is Merula being friendlier lately?”

Year Six[]

At the end of her sixth year, it's revealed Merula had joined 'R' for reasons unknown.

Year Seven[]

It's revealed that during the summer before her sixth year, Merula’s aunt tricked her into making the Unbreakable Vow, forcing her to “stay loyal to her true family” in exchange for the strength to defeat Patricia Rakepick without revealing her true identity until it was too late. It also turned out that Merula’s aunt was actually ‘R’’s Director.

Year Seven marked the first time Merula showed up in Potions class as someone to talk to during lessons. Merula took Muggle Studies despite finding it incredibly boring.

Beyond Hogwarts[]

TBA

Physical Appearance[]

Merula had short and messy dark brown hair, with an orange patch in her bangs. She smoothed down her hair in rare occasions, including the Celestial Ball, and once changed her orange patch to pink for Valentine's Day. She had thick, furrowed eyebrows and used a charm to turn her eyes lavender. Merula also smelled like cloves, nail polish, and some other elusive scent.

She wore Slytherin robes with a loosened tie and stockings with a hole around her left kneecap, as well as black combat boots, rather than the shoes one would see other witches wearing. She occasionally wore a more casual outfit consisting of a green plaid button up shirt and black jeans. In their third year, the Main Character privately described her as "strangely cute."

Personality[]

Merula's moral standing was not always clear. Merula is a strong-willed, egotistical, mean-spirited, and cruel girl. She was also a talented young witch who exemplified many of Slytherin's traits, such as cunning, determination, and ambition, as well as the negative stereotypes of Slytherin, such as prizing pure-blood supremacy and extreme arrogance. Merula was also highly rebellious, sad*stic, and petty, and was prone to bullying those around her, especially wizards from Muggle or half-blood families. Her greatest trait, however, was her ambition to prove she is the best, which was her primary motivation for seeking out the Cursed Vaults and the major reason for being in constant conflict with the Main Character.

Merula's parents being imprisoned in Azkaban, an experience that very much hardened her feelings, may have contributed to this need for attention. Compounding these feelings, her aunt seldom showed up whenever Merula came home during summer breaks. Another curious quirk to her personality was her irreverence towards the Dark Lord, as she often referred to him as Voldemort, much to everyone's chagrin. Merula was a loner ostracized by even her house for her behavior, sits at the bottom of the wizarding social hierarchy due to her imprisoned parents, must earn everything with nothing but her talent, and gave off a punk vibe. Merula picked herself up and continued to challenge the Main Character and search for the Cursed Vaults with the same zeal no matter how many times she failed. Merula will break rules and taboos, purposely lose house points, use slurs, and do whatever it takes to get under everyone's, not just the Main Character's, skin. The best example of her tendency to provoke others by critiquing them and being annoying, is flippantly using Voldemort's name, greatly discomforting everyone around her. She believes that unlocking the Cursed Vaults’ secrets will ensure that nobody doubts her prowess.

Merula's hatred for the Main Character pushed her to go to great lengths to sabotage her rival, by either attempting to get them expelled or badly injured. Indeed, Merula often went out of her way to seek out the Main Character in classes, either to taunt them about Jacob or to generally be a nuisance. Merula was always eager for a fight with the Main Character and never backed down from a challenge. Even though she deserved it almost every time, absolutely nothing ever seemed to go her way whenever the Main Character was involved. She always ended up being upstaged by the Main Character, which only contributed to her resentment of them. However, despite her aggressive nature, Merula did demonstrate a strong work ethic and could often be seen studying alone in the Library and was noted to be a genius witch by many of her peers, especially in Potions class. Despite her unpleasant attitude and relationship with the Main Character, Merula has shown to have some standards. Most of her antagonism was just school-level rivalry and a desire to be the best. She didn't share her friend Ismelda Murk's obsession in the Unforgivable Curses and told her to shut up about it. Merula was also not so cruel as to be willing to completely ruin someone else's life.

As the years passed, Merula seemed to become less resentful and more cooperative when dealing with the Main Character. Her classmates described her as "not all bad," hinting at a softer side, which she demonstrated from showing concern at Beatrice Haywood's predicament, while working tirelessly on finding a way to free her. Over time her relationship with the Main Character also mellowed, her once cruel taunts becoming more like friendly jabs. By her sixth year, she was more or less on good terms with the Main Character and their friends and formed close cooperation with them. As they became closer, the Main Character came to realize that at least part of Merula's aggressive nature was a front to avoid being seen as vulnerable. Due to her life experiences, she was insecure about herself and feared being vulnerable or alone. Their friendship allowed Merula to let go of those fears to an extent. Merula was so used to being scorned by everyone that being helpful or kind to her left her flabbergasted.

Abilities and Skills[]

• Magizoology: Merula appeared to have a general interest in magical creatures and in Magizoology.
• Potions: Merula was highly skilled and knowledgeable in the art of potion-making. She earned an 'Outstanding' on her O.W.L. exam in Potions and continued the subject at N.E.W.T.-level. Professor Snape even deemed her Wiggenweld Potion to be "flawless."
• Duelling: Merula was known to be a fierce and resourceful duellist.
• Charms: Merula was shown to be highly gifted with charm-work. She was capable of casting the rather advanced Disillusionment Charm to disguise herself, and was capable of producing a non-corporeal Patronus, which is a highly impressive magical achievement given the difficulty of casting the charm.
• Astronomy: Merula earned an O.W.L. in Astronomy and continued the subject at N.E.W.T.-level.
• History of Magic: Merula earned an O.W.L. in History of Magic and continued the subject at N.E.W.T.-level.
• Flying: Merula showed an aptitude for flying and was capable of mastering advanced flying techniques. However, she initially had difficulties with raising her broomstick and sometimes struggled during other techniques in Flying class.
• Muggle Studies: Merula earned an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies and continued the subject at N.E.W.T.-level.
• Transfiguration: Merula earned an O.W.L. in Transfiguration and continued the subject at N.E.W.T. level.
• Herbology: Merula earned an O.W.L. in Herbology and continued the subject at N.E.W.T.-level.
• Magical Aptitude: Merula was often described as a talented witch by her Hogwarts peers and faculty. Indeed, her skills had been personally praised by Professor Snape and Rita Skeeter. Patricia Rakepick took interest in Merula for her skills and took her on as an apprentice during her fourth year.
• Wandless and Nonverbal Magic: Merula was proficient in casting nonverbal magic and wandless magic.
• Dark Arts: Merula showed a keen interest and skill in the Dark Arts, mostly in utilizing jinxes and hexes on her enemies. Merula also claimed to be knowledgeable of various unpleasant hexes, such as the Knee-Reversal Hex. Merula was also knowledgeable about the Unforgivable Curses. She was even able to produce Fiendfyre, extremely destructive cursed fire, but she lacked the ability to adequately control it. Despite this however, she was surprisingly and disturbingly proficient with dark magic.
• Singing Skills: Merula was a good singer.

Trivia[]

• Merula's favorite sandwich is bacon and pickled eel.
• Her parents taught her the Killing Curse before they went to Azkaban.
• Merula is one of the characters available as a Romance option for all the relevant Achievements. She is one of the characters available for Dating.
• If the Main Character is sorted into Slytherin, Merula will appear in additional Side Quests revolving around plotting revenge against Gryffindor for defeating their house in Quidditch.
• Merula's eyes dart from side to side when she lies. Snape says she's an atrocious liar, particularly for a Slytherin.

Gallery[]