6. Dementor

De'ment: To deprive of reason; to make mad. Derived from the Latin dementare. Also dementate (n. dementation). Forms the root of Dementor, one who dements.
- F&B Wizarding Dictionary, 1986 ed.

Dementor. A creature that sucks the happiness out of anyone in its close vicinity. Employed at Azkaban prison for its ability to dampen or, in extreme cases, completely obliterate the magic of wizards and witches subjected to its influence.
- Encyclopedia Magica, De-Dr, 1972 ed.

Of all the monsters outlined in this book, the Dementor is perhaps the most unforgivably evil. Its one defining motivation, its sole reason for existing, is to prey on the happiness of others, to create discord and fear and feed on the filthiest of emotions: hate and mindless fear. In extinguishing every last spark of hope, the Dementor turns its victim into a state beyond mere life or death; a state of existence so pitiful that even the cruellest of physical torture would be less demeaning.
The further the victim sinks into this state of anti-life, the weaker its magic will become and it will lose the very last hope for survival: the Patronus charm. Having thus debilitated its victim, the Dementor devours the final ragged remnants of that lost soul and leaves behind an empty shell, a demented body that cares not for survival and wastes away in the most degrading way conceivable.
Still, it cannot be said that the Dementor takes any perverse joy in these killing kisses. Its very coldness, its inability to feel any sort of compassion, its very repulsion of all the finer emotions is what makes the Dementor perhaps the foulest creature ever to walk the earth.
- Frederick Fallswipe, Musings on the Monster, 1912

The Empty Ones rose from the dirt
To topple Evil from his throne,
But not to battle, maim or hurt:
They sucked the souls from flesh and bone;
They spread the Emptiness around
And then returned to the ground.

A man came wand'ring from the woods,
As empty as a hollow tree
His back still bore the stolen goods,
They'd hearkened to the peasants' plea;
They spread the Emptiness around
And then returned to the ground.

The Empty Ones came into town
To from its folk their payment wring.
They cast the gold into a crown
To put upon their shining King;
They spread the Emptiness around
Without returning to the ground.

The Empty Ones did rule the land;
For many years their threat'ning Kiss
Did make the scoundrel stay his hand
For fear of that most foul abyss;
They rose to form a force renowned
And then returned to the ground.

- from the Song of the Empty Ones, modern text, from an incomplete thirteenth century manuscript