Location from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The wizarding prison, a fortress on a desolate island in the North Sea, formerly guarded by Dementors who fed on prisoners' happiness and drove most inmates to madness within years.
Azkaban is less a prison than a slow execution. The Dementors who guarded it didn't just prevent escape — they consumed every happy memory, every hope, every reason to live, leaving inmates as hollow shells within months. Most prisoners stopped eating. Some stopped screaming. Sirius Black survived twelve years by clinging to the knowledge that he was innocent — not a happy thought, so the Dementors couldn't take it — and by transforming into his dog Animagus form, whose simpler emotions were harder for them to feed on. Bellatrix Lestrange survived through pure fanatical devotion to Voldemort. Barty Crouch Jr. was smuggled out by his dying mother using Polyjuice Potion. After the Second Wizarding War, Kingsley Shacklebolt removed the Dementors permanently. The fortress remains, but the horror has diminished.
A triangular stone fortress rising from a bare rock island in the frigid North Sea. No windows on the lower levels. The upper cells have narrow slits that let in howling wind and gray light. The walls are perpetually damp and coated in a thin layer of ice. When Dementors guarded it, a supernatural cold and despair pervaded every corridor — prisoners could hear nothing but their own worst memories replaying endlessly. After the war, human guards replaced the Dementors.
Also known as: Azkaban, Azkaban prison, the prison