Several times during The Chamber of Secrets a message is written on a wall in blood. We learn at the end that this was Ginny Weasley's doing while under Tom Riddle's control.

What is never explained, at least in the movie version which I just watched, is where that blood comes from?

  • 8
    I think it's chicken's blood, which is why Hagrid says several chickens have been killed during the term, and he goes to Dumbledore to ask permission to put a protective charm around the chicken coop. And Ginny writes in Tom Riddle's diary that she's coming out of her trances covered in feathers and she doesn't know how the feathers got on her. – Slytherincess Jan 24 '13 at 0:13
  • I thought Hagrid mentioned the mutilations in the movie, as well? It came from whatever it was he had penned up. I'm tempted to say "chickens", but that seems too tame for Hagrid. – Izkata Jan 24 '13 at 0:13
  • 1
    @ASlytherin, Ok that makes sense. The bit about Ginny & feathers wasn't in the movie, and I didn't make the connection to the chickens without it. I haven't read the books since they came out and am only now watching the movies. Please add it as an answer with a quote if possible. – Drew Jan 24 '13 at 0:45
  • 3
    I'm not sure if it was actually blood - they just thought that, but Hagrid's roosters do get killed. This could serve two purposes - provide the blood for the writing and eliminates the rooster whose call is deadly to the basilisk. It is meant to be a clue about what the monster is for those who pay attention to cryptozoology. – balanced mama Jan 24 '13 at 4:01

It wasn't blood, it was paint, from The Chamber of Secrets (emphasis mine):


  • 3
    It's not unknown for the books and movies to disagree on minor points. Plus, blood is waaaaaay more dramatic. – rsegal Jan 24 '13 at 4:37
  • 6
    I always interpreted this as Ginny not knowing it was blood, thinking it was paint instead... – Jonathan Pitre Jan 24 '13 at 14:09
  • 4
    @NathanSabruka, Ginny grew up with Fred and George. Accidents would have been a way of life. I'm betting Ginny would know blood when she saw it. – Joe White Jan 25 '13 at 3:44
  • 1
    @JoeWhite Wow... I never thought of it that way... haha! – Jonathan Pitre Jan 25 '13 at 13:50
  • 1
    Ginny might be in denial — calling it paint even if she is certain it's blood — so that she doesn't have to face something horrible about what she can't remember doing, and so that her trusted friend and confidant Tom won't think the worst of her. – Gaultheria Oct 26 '18 at 23:51

Okay, since your question is specifically about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets the movie, I'm going to answer based only on the film and plot points from the film.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover the first message written on the wall, when Filch's cat is petrified, Hermione says, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware. It's written in blood." Two things: Hermione is rarely wrong and the writers needed the audience to know the messages were written in blood. In the movie there is no mention of paint.

Enemies of the heir beware

This is your basic answer according to movie canon. It was written in blood; it doesn't say what kind or from whom/what the blood is coming from.

A couple other tidbits from the movie Chamber of Secrets that might be relevant:

In a deleted scene¹, Hagrid meets up with Harry after Harry overhears the Hufflepuffs discussing him as being the Heir of Slytherin in study hall. Hagrid is holding a dead chicken; Harry asks what's going on and Hagrid gestures with the chicken and says (paraphrase), "Second one killed this term. Figure it's got to be a fox or a Bogalug Bear, so I thought I'd ask Professor Dumbledore if I could put a little charm around the hen coop."

In the movie, when Harry and Tom Riddle are facing off in the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle says, "It was Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the wall." He doesn't address the dead chickens or what kind of blood the messages were wrote in. Nor does he address feathers.

So, it's blood. We don't know what kind. However, I don't think it's much of a stretch, based on the movie facts only, to assume Ginny wrote the messages in chicken's blood. In the movie.

¹My copy of Chamber of Secrets is the Ultimate Edition, which comes with both the theatrical and extended versions of the film.

  • 1
    You're basing the fact that it is blood on the fact that Hermione said it. In the movie she is standing at least 8 feet away and the writing is at least 8 feet in the air as well. This added to the fact that she is clearly frightened, makes her assertion that it is blood dubious at best. The book explicitly says that it is paint, not blood. Also the "evidence" that it could be dead chickens doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since Hagrid would no doubt immediately be suspicious if that much blood was missing from their bodies. -1 – NominSim Jan 24 '13 at 13:48

Though it does not explicitly say so, the book implies that it was red paint. The mortal enemies of Basilisks are roosters; a rooster's crow is fatal to a Basilisk. So the roosters were killed in order to protect the Basilisk, not necessarily to use their blood for writing.

Your Answer

