Why A Goblin Was Made Into A Chocolate Frog Card In Harry Potter

One of the surefire ways you know you've made it in the wizarding world is to land your likeness on a chocolate frog card. All the most notable witches, wizards, athletes, and beasts have their own cards. We famously see Harry Potter get his first Dumbledore trading card in the Sorcerer's Stone. Ron Weasley has got about six of those ... at least, that's what he tells Harry. But there are a plethora of those trading cards in the Harry Potter universe, one of which features a famous goblin who is rarely discussed. 

If you've read the book series, you've likely heard of, but don't remember, Urg the Unclean. Urg was briefly mentioned in The Goblet of Fire when Ron named a few famous Goblin rebels. "Couldn't remember all the goblin rebels' names, so I invented a few.... It's all right, they're all called stuff like Bodrod the Bearded and Urg the Unclean; it wasn't hard."

But what did Urg do to land his own card? Goblins were often subjected to discrimination and disdain from wizards. This attitude culminated in several bloody goblin rebellions against their counterparts over the years. One of these was the Goblin Rebellion of 1752. Urg the Unclean was an activist who led that rebellion, which ended with the resignations of two separate Ministers for Magic and was eventually suppressed by an auror named Hesphaestus Gore.

We learn from a W.O.M.B.A.T test question from J.K. Rowling's website that one of the reasons the Goblin Rebellion of 1752 might have begun was because of a "public ducking in the village pond, by a gang of young wizards, of goblin activist Urg the Unclean."

It should be no surprise this kind of bullying took place from wizards. Rowling often tells of the wizarding community's prejudice against creatures. In addition to the discrimination Goblins often face, wizards have also shunned house-elves, who are enslaved from birth and werewolves, who Dolores Umbridge disparagingly calls "half-breeds."

Remus Lupin is the most notable werewolf in the series and is used as an example of how cruel wizards can treat those they don't understand. In Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, Rowling writes: "The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes."

These creatures, despite the prejudices against them, often work with Wizards. Goblins own the sole bank in the wizarding world, Gringotts. Lupin taught a year at Hogwarts, suppressing his lycanthropy with help from Snape, and house-elves like Dobby do their master's biddings until they are eventually (hopefully) freed one day.

But Urg the Unclean, and his activism, is a perfect example as to why wizards can only discriminate for so long. Rebellions will eventually rise in an attempt to change how different communities treat one another. It's no wonder Urg became one of the world's most notable goblins and earned himself his own card.