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They, possessing the qualities of Slytherin, would most likely lie about their blood purity to achieve social status. That is a very Slytherin thing to do. And it is mentioned and shown that plenty of “pure-bloods” are actually just marking out their family tree, so I am sure the whole blood status thing is not THAT important when selecting Slytherins. In the event others find out, it’s not like they can do much. You can’t uns-sort somebody. Can’t pick another house. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the muggle-born Slytherins have made their own little clique.
As it is, we only get Harry’s/Ron’s view of Slytherin. The book seems very biased towards Gryffindor’s point of view since that is the house the main heroes are in. We also don’t get many named Slytherin. We have the likes of Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and a few others. It’s almost as if a few bad apples are seen as representative of their house. Not only that, but the only times we really see the Slytherins is when they are in conflict with our heroes which in turn automatically paints them in a negative light as the villains
Interesting. But is that because the point of view of the main character…or because Slytherins are just generally unsavory people.
Wow. That sounds mean and prejudice. But yeah, no, looking at the qualities of a slytherin as opposed to the qualities of all the other houses, its quite easy to see how the majority of them or the average slytherin might not be the most benevolent, fair, “good” person. Am I wrong in thinkin that? Now of course, I am not saying there are not good Slytherins. But I think the majority of them are not people who we would want as our bestfriends.
*Ironically…..my bestfriend was sorted proudly into Slytherin on Pottermore. Lol.
This is actually a question I have and have raised in the past: does the Slytherin reputation stem from *just* the recent past or has it been the house of ill repute (so to speak) since the beginning? I mean, Godric Gryffindor and the other two seem to have no qualm about setting up an entire school with Salazar Slytherin.
I think it has always been like that, personally. Doesn’t Hagrid say something like: “There isn’t a wizard or witch who went bad who wasn’t from Slytherin” so it’s not like Voldemort was the only bad apple of the group. It would seem the history of slytherins being bad goes back way far. And judging from what we learn in CoS, Slytherin and the others probably didn’t have problems until after they had built the school to which Slytherin left when they disagreed with him about teaching only purebloods. And not just left. But left a MONSTER inside the school to kill MUGGLE BORNS. And this is known to all the other houses as a legend! So, yeah, I think Slytherin has just always had a bad reputation for centuries.
[adrotate group="5"]"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGICWow. That sounds mean and prejudice. But yeah, no, looking at the qualities of a slytherin as opposed to the qualities of all the other houses, its quite easy to see how the majority of them or the average slytherin might not be the most benevolent, fair, “good” person. Am I wrong in thinkin that?
Ahhhh but remember that Harry has those exact same qualities! The Sorting Hat thought he’d do well in Slytherin. Is Harry an unsavory individual? Not really, right? We’d all agree that while he can make mistakes, he’s a walking #HeroArchetype. Being cunning, resourceful, and ambitious aren’t negative traits except when carried to an extreme. Then it’s called being ruthless. BUT any trait taken to extremes is negative.
What’s bravery in the extreme? Recklessness.
What’s intelligence taken in the extreme? Arrogance.
What’s kindness taken in the extreme? Passivity
And *that* might be the difference between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the extremity to which they carry those traits. Harry is still cunning, ambitious, and resourceful but not to a ruthless extreme. However, there are time when he’s brave to an extreme (reckless).
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Just a point to add to this debate but at the end of Deathly Hallows Harry’s son is worried about being sorted into Slytherin much like his father 26 years earlier. However this time Harry reassures him that it’s okay to be in Slytherin and that the bravest man he knew (Snape) was from Slytherin.
Slytherin is still being treated as the worst house 26 years later but as Harry points out, your choice counts. You can be in Slytherin and still be a good person. All the “dark” witches and wizards may have been in Slytherin but that doesn’t mean all Slytherins are going to turn into dark witches or wizards. It is all a matter of choice. However it is the generalisation from other houses that Slytherin is the “bad” house and people’s attitude towards Slytherin students that can in turn inadvertently put them on the path to darkness.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixThey, possessing the qualities of Slytherin, would most likely lie about their blood purity to achieve social status. That is a very Slytherin thing to do.
But who wants to hide who she or he really is? That is no way to live. Plus, I don’t know if students even could hide their parentage, even if they wanted to do so. The Sorting Hat knows all and can read minds. In book 2, “Hogwarts Four”: (Chamber of Secrets, 317) – The Sorting Hat sang about the history of the Hogwarts house
Said Slytherin, “We’ll teach just those
Whose ancestry’s purest.”
…
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning just like him.”According to the Sorting Hat, originally the founder of Slytherin only accepted “pure-blooded” witches and wizards. Of course, eventually House Slytherin came to admit students who have only one magical parent. But, whether a full muggle-born witch or wizard has ever been sorted into Slytherin by the Hat is a mystery to me.
Supposing that a muggle-born witch or wizard even were to be put in Slytherin, she or he would have to hide her or his true identity, much like the Jews had to in Germany in the 1930s to survive. A lot of them converted to avoid persecution. I’m not sure that muggle-born student would’ve had a good time there prior to the Battle for Hogwarts. Maybe things changed after book 7, but I’m not so sure.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
Plus, I don’t know if students even could hide their parentage, even if they wanted to do so. The Sorting Hat knows all and can read minds. In
They wouldn’t need to hide it from the hat, just their peers. If I recall correctly, the hat speaks to them inside their minds when it is on their head (in the books) and only talked outwardly to sing the songs and announce the house placement. Other than that, the conversation between the student underneath the hat happens in the head. The other students would never know if the hat called the student on being a muggle born.
But who wants to hide who she or he really is? That is no way to live.
These are Slytherins. Its a trait of their to be cunning and ambitious achievers. If being looked at more highly in society is as simple as saying both your parents and their parents are pure-blooded, I think plenty would do it and not think twice. Just speculation but Draco seems the type.
Ya know it just hit me….. Throughout this entire series…. Does Harry gain even ONE Slytherin friend?"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGICThey wouldn’t need to hide it from the hat, just their peers. If I recall correctly, the hat speaks to them inside their minds when it is on their head (in the books) and only talked outwardly to sing the songs and announce the house placement.
We don’t actually know that, though. The Sorting Hat either sits for a long time on the students head (but whether or not it’s a tet-a-tet like with Harry–and it seems to some extent Hermione when it came to Ravenclaw–we don’t know). It could be that the Hat just sits there and muses and mulls things over. Harry is the only Sorting we “hear.”
OR, the other option, the Sorting Hat is barely placed on the students head before it makes a decision, like Draco. It barely grazes his hair before it yells out Slytherin.
Whether or not a fully born Muggle has ever been sorted into Slytherin we don’t know, but I’d wager that it’s a rarity, but I won’t go so far as to say that it’s totally outside the realm of possibility. I brought up Petunia and Dudley and Vernon in this regard maybe a page back..but where we would sort them? None of them would go into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, that’s for sure. None of them seem particularly clever, and Dudley in particular seems rather dense. But Vernon is ambitious (he went from being a junior man to running the department), Petunia is cruel and cunning and haughty (but on the other end of the spectrum, she thinks Muggles are better than Wizards/Witches…though, she’s an interesting case as we know when we get to book 6 and 7) and Dudley is cruel, the Muggle born version of Draco. Would they go into Slytherin, even though they aren’t pure born?
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"is cruel and cunning and haughty (but on the other end of the spectrum, she thinks Muggles are better than Wizards/Witches…though, she’s an interesting case as we know when we get to book 6 and 7)
Well for Petunia, I think it’s safe to say she is a Slytherin.
@RainDragon182 Not all Slytherins think they're racially superior. But all those who do are Slytherins.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 8, 2015
I hope that tweet worked. Anyway, yeah. Dudley is….difficult.
I agree, Dudley and Draco are very similar….and so I think Dudley would be a Slytherin. But like Draco does eventually, Dudley does become a better person later on. Slytherins, even if they don’t start out that way, can change. Just like Neville being very cowardly at the start becomes a warrior in the end! It’s just interesting."I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGICVery interesting tweet from JKR. So if you think that Pureblood is better than Muggle born then you automatically go to Slytherin? What if you believe that, but it’s not your defining trait? What if you believe that but you have no intention of ever acting on it or even vocalizing it? What if you’re actually really smart–top of your class even? (We’re back to RG’s persistent problem with the Sorting Hat–it doesn’t take the whole person into account).
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Chapter 9: The Mirror of Erised
<p style=”text-align: left;”>“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”
Summary:
Christmas was coming. While most of the other children, including Hermione, would be returning home for the holidays, the Weasley children and Harry would be staying at Hogwarts (something Harry was very excited about). The school is a bustle with preparations, and Ron, Hermione and Harry use most of their spare time trying to find any information about the elusive Nicolas Flamel.After everyone has left and break had begun, Harry and Ron spend their time eating, lounging, playing wizard’s chess, and plotting ways to get Malfoy expelled. On Christmas morning, Harry was genuinely surprised to see that he has presents from Hagrid, Hermione, Ron’s mother, and even more shocking, the Dursleys. There was also a strange gift with a note that said: “Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.” The note wasn’t signed, but inside was a beautiful, but rare and valuable, invisibility cloak. It was Harry’s best Christmas ever.
Harry uses the cloak that very night, to try and sneak into the restricted section of the library, but is almost caught by Filch and Snape patrolling the corridors. He manages to sneak into an empty, unused classroom where he finds a large mirror with an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi (I show not your face but your heart’s desire). Curious, Harry steps in front of the mirror and instead of seeing only himself, he sees a group of people behind him. He soon realizes that he’s looking at his family, including his mother and father, for the first time in his life. The next night, Harry drags Ron with him to the mirror, but Ron doesn’t seem to see the same thing. Instead, he sees himself as Head Boy, with the house cup, and as captain of the quidditch team.
When Harry returns to the mirror for a third time, he is surprised to find Albus Dumbledore waiting for him. Professor Dumbledore explains that the mirror shows your deepest, most desperate desires, and that many men have wasted away before it. He tells Harry that the mirror will be moved to a new location, and asks him to not go looking for it again. Before Harry sneaks back to the common room, he asks Professor Dumbledore what he sees in the mirror to which he replies “I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.” Harry was not quite sure if he was telling the truth.
ANALYSIS:
“And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I your glass
will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.”
– William ShakespeareA large part of this chapter is more slice of life moments, but woven between these is the idea that “family doesn’t end with blood” (forgive my Supernatural reference). Harry is building a family out of love and loyalty, and we as readers start to see that he is already considered an adopted Weasley, not just by Ron and his brothers, but by his mother as well. Yes, she probably feels sorry for Harry and sends him a sweater because she knows that it may be the only gift he receives (and apparently puts more effort into it according to Fred and George), but we know that as the books progress, she truly thinks of him as a son, and this is just the beginning. Fred and George make Ron and eventually Percy put on their sweaters and they all celebrate together, because “Christmas is a time for family,” and that includes Harry.
So it’s extremely poignant and heartbreaking that when Harry looks into the mirror, all he sees is his family surrounding him. It’s the one thing his heart (or soul), truly desires, and even his new burgeoning family unit can’t quite fit the hole in his heart from losing his parents. J.K. Rowling has even stated that:
“The Mirror of Erised is absolutely entirely drawn from my own experience of losing a parent. ‘Five more minutes, just please God, give me five more minutes.’ It’ll never be enough. After five minutes of telling her all about Jessie and, you know, because she – she has a grandchild whom obviously she never saw, and then I’d just be trying to tell her about the books and then I’d realize that I hadn’t asked her what was it like to be dead. Fairly significant question. But I can well imagine that happening. But it would never be long enough.” –J.K. Rowling, November 2002
It haunts him so much that he, twice, risks sneaking out to the empty classroom just to see his parents again (parents who, up until now, he had never even seen a picture of). As readers, we see how desperate this boy is for affection, for family, for belonging. And he is willing to stay there alone, all night, just for that feeling of being with his family.
Which brings us to Albus Dumbledore. This chapter marks the first time Harry and Dumbledore meet one on one, and it’s the first of many intimate, and odd, conversations they will have over the next 7 years. Dumbledore obviously cares about Harry very much as an individual, not just as a student, and he takes on a somewhat protective, fatherly figure role for Harry. It’s strange (even a little too coincidental) that he surprises Harry at a moment when he’s most vulnerable, searching for his heart’s (soul’s) desire, of knowing his family. His advice to Harry, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that,” is not only sound, but heartfelt (and deeply personal).
There’s a lot for us to discuss regarding their relationship, but there’s also a few points and/or questions I’d like to bring up from his exchange with Harry:
First, according to Harry Potter Wiki, the mirror had been housed in the Room of Requirement for approximately 100 years before Dumbledore moved the mirror to the empty classroom. He did this right before Harry started school (and let’s not forget how convenient it was that the door to this classroom was conveniently ajar, to allow Harry to hide from Snape and Filch). Second, Dumbledore says he doesn’t “need a cloak to become invisible”, and he knows not only what Harry sees in the mirror but Ron as well. One can only assume that he is either psychic and/or can read minds, OR he has been in the room the last 3 nights that Harry has visited (and if he was, was he there for himself, or because he knew Harry would go?). Third, Dumbledore’s explanation and advice to Harry regarding the mirror: It shows men their deepest desire, it shows neither knowledge or truth, and many have been driven mad, not knowing if what they see is real or possible. It will be moved and please don’t go looking for it. But, if you do ever happen to run across it again, you’ll be prepared. And lastly, we find out later in the book that Dumbledore is, in fact, the anonymous bestower of the invisibility cloak. So it’s safe to say that Dumbledore knew James Potter, who for some reason gave him the invisibility cloak before he died. Should we assume Dumbledore manipulated these events to ensure that Harry found the mirror, or was it coincidence? How much of these events throughout the series are orchestrated by outside forces, or is it fate?
POSSIBLE FORESHADOWING:
Harry’s father gave someone his cloak just before he died. It’s very old, and very rare.The mirror is moved to an undisclosed location, but not before Dumbledore gives Harry some advice.
Harry seems to think Dumbledore my be lying about what he sees in the mirror.
DISCUSSION POINTS:
Do you think that Dumbledore is lying about what he sees in the mirror, or is he able to control his desires so much that he can manipulate what he sees?
Why didn’t Dumbledore reveal himself earlier, if he had known Harry (and Ron) had been visiting the mirror?
What do you think you’d see if you looked into the mirror?
Keeper of the Cheshire Cat’s smile, Baelfire’s sword, Snow’s backpack, Robin Hood’s bow, Ariel’s purse, Ariel’s smile, Henry’s heart, Belle’s shoe collection
Going back to a topic a few pages ago, if Harry had befriended Draco rather than becoming enemies with him, what’s to say Harry’s influence wouldn’t have rubbed off on Draco rather than vice versa?
Spoilering just in case but apparently Draco’s views and opinions towards others stem from his father and when Draco had a son, he and his wife made sure the child did not spend too much time around Lucius so that the boy didn’t turn into another mini Draco
Whilst Draco’s actions towards others from book 1-5 can’t be excused, one has to wonder how different he would’ve turned out if he’d had a dad like Arthur Weasley rather than Lucius Malfoy?
Also going back to Draco calling Hermione Mudblood after Hermione accused Draco of buying his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch team and the reader being led to assume Hermione in the right, there may actually be evidence to prove that Hermione is wrong in her assumption:
1. Students aren’t normally allowed to join the house quidditch team until their second year. Harry was the exception.
2. When Draco stole Neville’s remembrall during the first flying lesson, he actually showed some good manouvering on the broomstick, dodging Harry when Harry flew at him.It is very possible that Draco earned his place on the team honestly, and Hermione was in the wrong to accuse him of bribing his way in. Though this does not excuse Draco calling Hermione “mudblood”, it could explain why he reacted in that particular way.
How different would the readers view Draco if the story had been told from his point of view rather than Harry’s?
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix
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