Monday, July 11, 2016

In Defense of Slytherin


**Kristin from Super Space Chick and Megan from The Nerdy Girlie are hosting Potter Month to celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on July 31st.   If you write any HP posts this month, make sure you stop by and LINK-UP :)**


If you know me at all, it's pretty obv that I'm a Slytherin.  The thing is, I'm proud of my house!!  I love the Emerald Green color.  I love the Snake Emblem.  I love ambition, and what's wrong with finding a way to get what you want??


**This is a quote directly from Pottermore, and the article is pretty interesting**


The thing is, us Slytherins get a bad rap!  Okay, okay a lot of the darkest wizards of all-time have come out of the house.  But, not ALL Slytherins are bad.  And not ALL dark wizards come from Slytherin.  Remember Peter Pettigrew??


I just want to remind you guys of these people:
  • Merlin
  • Horace Slughorn
  • Andromeda Tonks
  • Regulus Black
  • Severus Snape

So, okay not a HUGE list, but all awesome wizards who happen to be Slytherins.  Also, since Tom Riddle was a Slytherin, it seems about right that most of his following would be Slytherin.  After all, most of Harry Potter's D.A. came from Gryffindor.  Voldemort was a pretty influential fellow, so I'd say that the people he was living with on the daily would be the most at-risk of falling under his spell.  Basically, if you recruit out of your house, you're going to get mostly your house.  I didn't see Harry and his gang ask one single person in Slytherin to join the D.A., and I'm sure there was at least one or two worthy members... if they'd taken the time to look.

Let's be real-- I love the Harry Potter books, but we are getting the perspective of the wizarding world from a Slytherin-hating Gryffindor.  Someone who says "not Slytherin" to the Sorting Hat without even knowing much about the different houses.  He JUST learned that magic was real days before... how could he know what house he does or doesn't want to be in??  He's biased from day one, and that's the perspective we get through 7 books.

Come to think of it, for a book that has done so well in the world, it has a pretty overgeneralized view of people.  Ms. Rowling basically sets up the conflict to be the good wizards vs. Slytherin House.  And it's made people associate everyone in the house as evil, and that's just not true.  I'm not perfect, and I'm not sunshine and rainbows, but I think I'm a good person inside.  I know that I would NOT have been a Death Eater or hated Muggle borns.


So please be kind to your fellow Slytherins.  I swear there are a lot of good ones out there, even if J.K. Rowling doesn't want to share their stories.




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10 comments:

  1. I was sorted into Slytherin at Pottermore. It was kind of a surprise as I've always considered myself to be a Hufflepuff. But when I really thought about it, it made sense! I am very ambitious, and I always go after what I want. Two great qualities to have I think. :)

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    1. You could be the rare SlytherPuff!! They are rare, but I've also heard that those 2 houses are the best 2 to mix

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  2. Awww<3 Almost all of my best friends are Slytherins so I agree that they're good people! I wish we would be able to see more of the other houses in the books since Gryffindor and Slytherin are really the only ones spotlighted (and Slytherin, unfavorably). I didn't have a clear understanding of Ravenclaw (my own house) or Hufflepuff until much further into the series and I agree that it's a flaw to overgeneralize people. I stand by the idea of people fitting into two houses but having one that's dominant over the other, in which case I would be a Ravenclaw / Slytherin blend.

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    1. Sometimes I forget that HP is a book written by a real life person and that it has its flaws too. I feel the way the houses are in the book are one of them. You can't just throw all the baddies in one house. That's just not the way human nature works... even magical human nature!

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  3. I'm a Slytherin too! I never re-sorted myself the second time around like some did, but I'm still keeping my title. What's funny is my sister and one of my best friends are Slytherins too. I just think it means we're ambitious and want to achieve things in life. We're not bad people though!

    -Lauren

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    1. I would not think you are a Slytherin!! LOVE IT though!!! We're not bad people, we totally rock :)

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  4. I think the problem is that J K Rowling didn't put enough of the awesome people in Slytherin (or Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, let's be real). Wherever you've got binary oppositions there's bound to be some generalisations, sadly, but Slytherins rule :)

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  5. Hello fellow Slytherin!!! Thank you for posting!!! Slytherins need love too for sure.

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  6. perfect post! some of my favorite people are Slytherins!

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