I've been curious about this teacher ever since the first book. Is it somewhat possible that Proffessor Binns could be of use to Harry? He is the history teacher and seems to know his facts well, besides the fact that he is an extremely boring teacher. I was just thinking that Proffessor Binns is the most unique teacher, considering he is the only ghost teacher. Also, has it ever occured to you that maybe his death wasn't just of old age, but maybe something that has to do with the history of Hogwarts, which involves Voldemort and the horcruxes or the four House Founders. This could be a completely wrong theory, but JKR does tend to make things seem less important then they truly are. Take Scabbers for instance, Ron's "boring" rat, until we found out he is a major character in the book. What about the trio's "boring" history teacher, dicovered to be the answer to all their questions? Just a thought.

I've always thought that there was going to be something more to do with Professor Binns. I've said in many of my posts, JK hardly ever mentions anything just for the heck of it. I know she's mentioned Binns quite a few times throughout the book, but there's no real point to him. I've always thought that we've yet to see the point of Binns being around... so I agree that it might be possible he will play some part in helping Harry on his way to defeating Voldemort.

binns has always struck me as odd. it could just be an addition to the books however i had this thought:

R.A.B-_._.Binns

now i know its very unlikely but i dont think we ever found out his first name or exactly when he died. could it be possible??

and please dont turn this into an RAB thread it was just a thought so make sure you contine discussing binns thanks

I am not sure.
Proffessor Binns is ODD. we can say that officially. but i never thought to much of hi because he would just float through his wall and start reading out of a textbook and holding a signifcantly boring class. But what happened during the times of his classes were more significant. Like when Harry ron and hermione would chat about stuff.
i dunno....

At this point, Rowling is finshing the last book in the potter series and i do not think that she can introduce anymore twists and ties because she already has so much to conclude and adding another twist with Proffessor Binns seems highly unlikey...and since he already is dead, i am not sure what she would do with him!! lol!!

I've always been curious as to the way he died. It says in the first book that he just went to sleep one night, woke up as a ghost, and continued teaching. Its not a rumor by the students, its in the narration.

Could it show how someone can die without knowing it? Or how someone can believe one thing and not know it?

He never had a choice to become a ghost, or at least thats what I gather from him just waking up as one and teaching again. Maybe people dont' have choices.

I've lost my train of thought but maybe you guys can take it further...or not.

It is highly likely that Binns might know something more. After all, he did tell the class about the chamber of secrets.
We don't know how he died, we also don't know when he died. He may have been around during Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts, in which case he probably taught him..

thats true, he probably did teach tom riddle (whether alive or dead) which would mean he knew him and could have given him some information relating to the history of the hogwarts houses and salazar slytherin. also binns could know about horcruxes, he seems to know a lot in general.

i think he knew about the chamber of secrets because he taught when it was opened. i think all the teachers would have known about it however wouldnt have talked about it. maybe binns knew more than others about the chamber or maybe its just common knowledge it your over 50 years old.

what house was Binns in anyways..? ravenclaw probably, id on't remember it ever saying anywhere..that mgiht answer some q's because if he was in the slytherin house then he would probly tell voldemort alot of m"extra" stuff......

Perhaps a look at his name will provide some clues, since JKR chooses them carefully:

According to some early notes by the author, his given name could be

CUTHBERT
Gender: Masculine

Usage: English

Pronounced: KUTH-burt [key]

Derived from the Old English elements cuæ "famous" and beorht "bright". Saint Cuthbert was a hermit who became the bishop of Lindisfarne, an island off the coast of England. He was known as performer of healing miracles.

And as for his surname

Binns
English (Yorkshire): patronymic from the Middle English personal name Binne, Old English Binna (of uncertain origin).
Altered spelling of German and Swiss Binz.

Binz
German: variant of Benz.

Benz
South German: (in Alemannic areas) from a short form of the Germanic personal name Berthold, or to a lesser extent of Bernhard.

BERTHOLD
Gender: Masculine

Usage: German

Pronounced: BERT-hawlt [key]

Means "bright ruler" from the Germanic element beraht "bright" combined with wald "rule".

BERNHARD
Gender: Masculine

Usage: German

Pronounced: BERN-hahrt [key]

German form of BERNARD

BERNARD
Gender: Masculine

Usage: English, French, Polish

Pronounced: bur-NAHRD (English), ber-NAR (French), BER-nahrt (Polish) [key]

Derived from the Germanic element bern "bear" combined with hard "brave, hardy". This was the name of several saints, including Saint Bernard of Menthon who built hospices in the Swiss Alps in the 10th century, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century theologian and Doctor of the Church. Another famous bearer was George Bernard Shaw, a playwright and essayist from Ireland.

Furthermore, there may also be a connection to the word

bin
O.E. binne "manger, crib," from Gaulish, from O.Celt. *benna, akin to Welsh benn "a cart," especially one with a woven wicker body. The same Celtic word seems to be preserved in It. benna "dung cart," Fr. benne "grape-gatherer's creel," Du. benne "large basket," from L.L. benna. Some linguists think there was a parallel Gmc. form to the Celtic one.

I do think that Professor Binns has a small part to play. As I believe that Harry will probably return to Hogwarts he might learn that Binns has something important to tell him. I don't think he could be R.A.B. for he probably died long before Tom Riddle even got to the school. But then again maybe don't. But I believe it is Regulas Black. He might be able to provide Harry with something of great importance. But we won't no until the next book we will.

Well Binns is a ghost and so maybe he will help explain more why some people become ghosts and others don't.
Harry will need to get information from somewhere, but I don't think it will be Binns.
However, I think Binns could play a bigger part in the last book than the other books, least I hope he does. I'll be disappointed if he's hardly mentioned.
But, I msut say I love Flitwick the most

You've got a good point. Rowling does seem to make seemingly insignificant characters suddenly become significant (Scabbers/Wormtail) but Professor Binns doesn't even know Harry's name. I don't remember in which book it was but during his class, Harry says something to him and Binns calls him a completely different name. Also, didn't Harry drop History of Magic after O.W.L.s? It's possible that Binns will be somehow important, but I don't see how. Then again, that is part of Rowling's magic: doing the completely unexpected.

I have been wondering for some time about Professor Binns. It seems to me that the prophesy foretelling the vanquishing of Lord Voldemort is important. Please stay with me as I will not lead too far off topic. Harry defeating (not necessarily killing) Lord Voldemort will require much help, and it seems that the only other time a Dark Lord has been defeated has been long ago, Dumbledore vs. The Dark Lord Grindlewald. There are not many professors available from that age (please verify, as I believe none are left). Also, JKR has stated that the moving paintings in the headmasters room can offer advice to the current headmaster/mistress. She also alluded that their speech will be commonplace terms and not a direct "copy" of the person themselves. I must believe that Professor Binns will be a good source of information about the Dark Lord Grindlewald and his hold on the wizarding world during his reign. This may lead to further information regarding Horcruxes (let's face it, Grindlewald is probably the source of the Horcrux spell, and Lord Voldemort probably sought him out to learn it) as well as maybe the means of defeat (a good "Avada Kedavra) of evil from the past.

To end: "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

perhaps,
Prf. Binns is one of the victims
LV killed in order to obtain all 7 horcruxes?

just a thought.

<3 michelle

I thought Binn's would be important too... He obviously knows a lot about the school (it was him who, in the books, told the pupils about the Chamber of Secrets) But then it occured to me that he isn't in the films; I'm presuming that anything/anyone that is absoloutly crucial to the development of the story would need to be... Otherwise those who only watch the films and have never read a book would have no idea what was going on... Just a thought

As AFP said, he already told them about the Chamber of Secrets so that might have been his important part. However, as Miss Lily said he's not in the films, it's Professor McGonagall who tells them about the Chamber of Secrets.

Ok I know this is from a while ago but Lavender Brown said that


Well Lavander if you are still reading this I thought you might like to know that JK said on her site that Binns' first name was Cuthbert. She could have changed her mind since then becasue it was a while ago but...yea I just thought you might wanna know that. =)

I'm pretty sure Binns is like the token ghost teacher that was added to flesh out the fact that things are magical. From memory (no, I haven't read the books in a while) he was hardly mentioned for the past several books which suggests to me he is a gimmick.

Well.. seeing as Binns is a history teacher he may know something. But not knowing when or how he died can leave somethings confusing. I mean would he have taught Tom Riddle as a human or ghost or was he not teaching at that time.. But I think he might be a significant character in the 7th book. But then again Jo does have a lot of other things to answer let alone adding another one with Binnes. But i guess we will just have to wait and see.....

I don't think Binns will be that important just because I think that is one to many sub-plots. I mean there is only so much information you can put in one book. And inorder to really explain how and why Binns knows anything JK would have to get into alot of details about him that if she wanted to include she could have done in any of the past seven books.
~Ginny~

Cmon, Hes just a old ghost history teacher, whats he gonna do teach harry about ancient egypt.

Well, he's a history of magic teacher that didnt seem to notice much when he died, since he just continued on with his same teaching routine he had always done. That is, if he is really dead. In the lexicon, it says:


Even assuming that his departure from his body is a description of death, he is someone who can speak to the whole process of leaving a body behind, which might be an interesting thing in learning a little about what happened to LV when the AK backfired, and maybe some other things about splitting from the body (horcruxes, maybe). Just hate to rule him out, given how vocal he was in Magonagall's office after DD died. First time he's been interesting since CoS.

I had also thought that he was R.A.B. but then I learned that his real name is Cuthbert Binns. That was a good guess but research some before you post. One thing is that we don't know when he died. He may know something important.

Whoops, someone already put his name.

Binns is an interesting charector (if you are not in his class) it seems to me that he has an incredible amount of knowedge since he can teach without looking at his notes. He just lectures. ALso his death is peticuler. Also where did they get the Curbirth name from. I believe harry mihgt have to tap into binn's extensive knowelge for searching for hourcrux'as

I found it on Wikipidea. I know it's not the most reliable site so that information may not be completely accurate. Also, I'm pretty sure that I remember JK having said it in an interview. But again I could be wrong about it or she could have changed it since then or something. So yea...

~Ginny~

Could Binns be R.A.B.? It never says his 1st name unless I'm mistaken. Why would Binns really be brought up? Probaly just an extra or R.A.B?

I think that it says in the books he just died one day and left his body or something along those lines. I doubt he will be extremely helpful to Harry and he may see a horcrux as a myth or something like he saw the Chamber of Secrets.

Binns is just an extra, not R.A.B. JK said in an interview that his first name is Curbirth.
~Ginny~

I have to agree with whoever pointed out the fact that he is not in the movies as a rather strong indicator for an absence of importance in the last book. While I know that we should never base our theories on the movies because, quite honestly, next to the books they are, lacking, we shall say. Not to diminish the movies, no, just they are not exactly factual to the Harry Potter world as we know it to have already happened. They are made to make money from those who have and have not read the books. But, I digress. THe reason that we can probably take the lack of his presence in the movies as a pretty good indication of his lack of presence from the future book is because JKR has done a few interviews stating that one of the reasons she needs to exert a certain amount of control over the movies is to make sure that they don't cut anything out that might be critical to the story later, or put things in that will later be contradicted by the books. So, while he may play a minor part, I highly doubt it will be much to write home about.

That's true, I hadn't thought of that before. Since he's not in the movies then he probably, I'm never going to say it's impossible based on the movies, but it's most likely that he won't play a major role later, because what would they do if someone that they have never introduced in the movie's suddenly has a major role? How would they be able to work it in? JK must have oked the cutting him in the movie meaning that he wont be very important to the plot.

I like the idea of P. Binns being R.A.B. We do not know when he died so it could easily have been whenever or what he said he would when he wrote that letter(assuming it is him) and as I said in who will join the trio in the 7th book, well, what could be better than having a history of magic teacher embark on your journey with you? He would definetly know about all of this stuff that Harry, Ron and Hermionie are trying to figure out.

Yes I believe Binns is RAB for reasons that people have been stating for 3 pages. But, I've just found a connection I think is weird.

Why is it that the people we think nothing about know History?
-Fortescue (knew a lot about witch burnings in book 3)
-Binns History teacher

Why is it that History seems to have an interesting impact?

Heyy! Well, I love being different..but I don't think that Binns is R.A.B. hehe

First of all, we have no clue when he died, but we know he's been a teacher forever. It stands to reason that he was dead before Voldy ever got to Hogwarts.

Second, R.A.B. sounded like he knew he was going to die. Binns fell asleep, woke up, and went to teach his next class, leaving his body behind. I don't think he even knew hew was dead.

Also, I think I remember reading that his first name is Cuthbert somewhere...let me see if I can find it...I don't know where it went... anyways, it was on a list she made back when she was writing PoA. She could have changed it since then of course, but to the best of our knowledge she didn't.

Binns may be able to give some great info on some old magic, It just seems like he doesn't know who he's talking to half the time. He can't be RAB, he's a former death eater who isn't exactly spying for DD. No, if he is to play a role it will be for his knowledge. Who's to say he would help harry?

It's possible he could help Harry, but I just thought of something. Does Binns even know who Harry is?? I know that sounds ridiculous, everybody knows the famous Harry Potter and all...but think about it. On the rare occassion that he actually spoke to Harry, didn't he get the name wrong? How helpful can somebody who doesn't even know your name be?

as much as i would like to see professor binns having a bigger role, i dont think that he will. I remmeber an interview on a hp dvd (cant remember which one) in which it is stated that many things are cut out, but some small things are left in becuase they have a bigger part in later stories. Professor binns is not in the movies, which leads me to believe that he will not have a significant role if he wasnt in any of the first four movies.

Prof. Binns said one thing that will be absolutely vital in DH, and I can tell you exactly when he said it. It was when Hermione got distracted during a lecture in book 5, OotP, just about the only time she missed something he said.

It was something to do with the Goblin Wars, I think, but it may have been something about Giants or Elves during the Goblin Wars. My personal opinion is that it has something to do with the enslavement of elves, and their great magical abilities, but I have no evidence.




Prof. Binns is absolutely unecessary in the movies, since anything he has to say comes to Harry through the filter of Hermione, or can be put into the mouth of another teacher, as was the case with McGonagal and the Chamber of Secrets.

Oooh. I love it! Yes, I do beleive Binns is RAB. I never thought about it before now. Thanks!

I think he will play a huge role.

This is a very long theory, so I'll try to sum it up:

I beleive Harry is a horcrux. So, basically he has to kill himself (yes...*gulp*...suicide) in order to defeat the dark lord. after gaining this knowledge, harry wants to become a ghost when he kills himelf, after killing the real body of LV and all his other horcruxes. So, he goes to Binns and he tells Harry that you have to go to the "Deathly Hallows" which is a place you go to make yourself a ghost when you die.

I think I just about hit it all, if you want my whole theory, please PM me! : D

First of all Binns died a NATURAL DEATH he fell asleep in front of the teachers lounge fire and when he got up he left his body behind. Second of all I don't think that Harry is a horcrux. DD would have discovered it or Snape and they have never mentioned anything pertaining to this theory so I wanted to very clearly state my opinion on this as I find it a little silly.

Of course Professor Binns will help Harry! He'll bore Voldemort to sleepiness, and then Harry can catch him offguard.

Lol.

Really, though, I honestly don't think that Binns is R.A.B. He doesn't seem like the type to take heroic action. I could always be wrong, of course, but I still suspect that R.A.B. is Regulas Black.

i think he will, because he's a ghost, & ghosts can relate to each other sometimes! [: there is a possibility though, but there's always an UNpossibility.. ----

I think there is a good possibility that Prof. Binns will come in handy in DH. He was supposed to have been around during Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts. Maybe Tom attained info from Binns (like the founders or Grindelwald) that Binns will be able to relay back to Harry.

As for the possibility of Prof. Binns being RAB, I'd never say it was impossible, but it is highly unlikely. Binns first name is Cuthbert which doesn't fit with the initials. Sorry.

JKR uses all of her minor charactors in a big role in at least one book. Even crabe and golyle are implrtaint in CoS bvecause harry and ron thake their hair and interrogate malfoy lookong like them. If this is the case i am sure he will play an importain part in the next book. Also why did Umbgridge never GRADE BINNE'S CLASS this is one of those details JKR thows in so i think Binnes will have a huge part in DH

I know that JKR does tend to do that but Binns isn't in the movie's. Also Peeves is constantly written about in the books but he also has never been in the movies. I think this proves that P. Binns isn't going to be a major character in the last book. Also remember that Harry said he wasn't going back to Hogwarts so how would Binns help Harry if Harry wasn't there.