Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’ll be discussing the topic of whether or not the House of Slytherin and
its students are inherently EVIL.
First off, I’d like to address…why would Slytherin House be EVIL?
Well, throughout the centuries, Slytherin hasn’t always had the best reputation.
In fact, it started off with a pretty poor one almost as soon as it was founded.
This is, of course, because the founding wizard of Slytherin House, Salazar Slytherin had
what we might call a rather … “limited” view of what it meant to be a TRUE witch or
wizard.
In fact, as one of the four founding members of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
Salazar Slytherin indeed advocated for the school to ONLY admit pureblood pupils.
He believed that Muggle-born or half-blood witches and wizards were “less than” and
shouldn’t be permitted access to a magical education such as the one the founding members
were offering at Hogwarts.
Now, while these views certainly suggest that Salazar Slytherin was a rather prejudiced
and narrow-minded wizard, they don’t necessarily mean that he was an EVIL man.
However, Salazar Slytherin did do a great many other things that bring his character—and
inherent evilness—into question.
One of the most obvious examples being his creation of the Chamber of Secrets.
I mean, what good and sane person puts a gigantic, incredibly dangerous Basilisk with a fatal
stare and sideways glance that petrifies people right beneath a school full of chil*dren?
What good could possibly come out of that?
And speaking of snakes, there’s also the fact that Salazar was a parseltongue, meaning
that he had the ability to speak to snakes and serpent-like creatures.
This alone certainly doesn’t make him evil—but if you add the fact that almost every parseltongue
that we’re aware of was pretty evil—like Voldemort and the Gaunt family— it definitely
doesn’t do Salazar Slytherin any favours in supporting his character.
Another incredibly obvious reason to question the inherent qualities of Slytherin and its
students is the sheer number of evil witches and wizards who were once sorted into that
house.
In fact, Rubeus Hagrid even said to a young, impressionable Harry in The Philosopher’s
Stone, “There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.
You-Know-Who was one.”
And, as we discover throughout the remainder of the series, Voldemort was in good company,
with MANY once-Slytherin students going on to do a great number of terrible things.
While there are obviously too many to recount in today’s video, a few of the more famous
and well-known examples include the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange, Dolores Umbridge,
the House of Malfoy—including Lucius and Draco—the Houses of Black and Gaunt, the
student-torturing Carrow twins, and just about EVERY SINGLE Death Eater we are ever introduced
to.
So, while Hagrid wasn’t necessarily lying in saying that evil witches and wizards came
out of Slytherin, he also wasn’t entirely correct either, for there have also been a
number of other incredibly EVIL wizards who have come from other Hogwarts’ houses as
well.
To start with, there was Peter Pettigrew, Gryffindor student, former best friend of
James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin—and murderous traitor.
As you may recall, Peter—more often referred to as Wormtail—committed the ultimate act
of betrayal against his supposed closest friends, breaking the effect of the Fidelius Charm
after being chosen by the Potters as their Secret Keeper.
Wormtail did this by sharing the location of James, Lily and little baby Harry with
Voldemort, who wanted to hunt the family down and kill them.
And as despicable as that was—Peter didn’t stop there, no.
Indeed Wormtail went on to betray yet another “best” friend almost immediately after
that, framing Sirius Black for the betrayal of the Potters, as well as Peter’s own murder—a
death which, of course, Peter faked.
As a result of Wormtail’s actions, James and Lily were killed, Harry became an orphan,
and Sirius was falsely imprisoned in Azkaban for a decade.
Yet another example of an evil wizard from a Hogwarts house other than Slytherin is Professor
Quirinus Quirrell, who was actually a former Ravenclaw student.
While it’s arguable that much of Quirrell’s evil actions were a result of Voldemort having
possessed him, it was indeed his hubris and intention of learning the Dark Arts to become
a great and powerful wizard that got him into that situation in the first place—he wanted
to learn what had become of Voldemort and return from his tour around the world with
knowledge powerful enough to make a name for himself.
There’s even the rumour that Barty Crouch Jr., the wizard who captured and impersonated
Mad Eye Moody AND killed his own father, was a student of either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff—NOT
Slytherin.
In addition to the fact that not all evil witches and wizards were once Slytherin students,
there’s also a substantial number of pupils who WERE Slytherins and who turned out to
be good—even GREAT—people.
The most obvious example of this is the famed wizard Merlin.
As one of the first students to go through Hogwarts, taught by Salazar Slytherin himself,
Merlin exemplified all of the positive attributes that are associated with Slytherin pupils.
He was ambitious, resourceful, determined and clever.
And his mark on the wizarding world was so great that the Wizengamot—an ancient governing
body that predates the Ministry of Magic—has given out annual awards known as the Order
of Merlin of the First, Second and Third Class since the 15th century.
In fact, the First Class Order of Merlin is a gold medal which hangs on a GREEN ribbon,
said to be a reflection of his house at Hogwarts.
Merlin was also an advocate of Muggle rights, proving that not all Slytherins were obsessed
with blood purity and elitism.
Then, of course, there is Professor Severus Snape who, at times, seemed to have mixed
loyalties but who inevitably showed his inherent goodness, a trait which seems clearly motivated
by his love for Lily Potter.
Two other former Slytherins who were also similarly motivated by love were Andromeda
Tonks and Leta Lestrange.
Both of these women took positive—and even HEROIC—action in the name of love.
Andromeda cut ties with her blood- purity-obsessed family—the House of Black—and married
Muggle born Ted Tonks, and Leta Lestrange sacrificed herself to save brothers Theseus
and Newt Scamander in the face of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
At the time, Leta was engaged to be married to Theseus and had a long-standing affection
for her chil*dhood friend, Newt.
There’s also Slytherin alumni Professor Horace Slughorn—who, yes, had a weird elitist
club with students who he believed would give him a sort of credibility—but who was certainly
NOT an evil wizard.
And lest we forget Regulus Black, who went against his family’s beliefs and stole Voldemort’s
Horcrux, understanding that its terrible and powerful nature must be stopped.
So, as you can see, the traits of Slytherin students—while often associated with self-absorbed,
haughty, and, yes, evil, witches and wizards—do NOT ALWAYS translate that way.
In fact, the qualities of a Slytherin student—ambition, resourcefulness, determination, and cleverness—don’t
seem all that bad or evil in nature to me at all.
And, is it just me, or do those traits kind of sound like a combination of Gryffindor
and Ravenclaw?
Two houses that absolutely no one associates with inherent evilness.
And yet—many Gryffindor students are actually quite reckless and loud in their attempts
to be brave or courageous.
This probably accounts for some of the less-than-okay actions of James Potter and his fellow Marauders.
As you may recall, the group bullied a feeble and substantially less popular Severus Snape
on many occasions during their time as students together at Hogwarts.
In fact, the Gryffindor boys even magically lifted Severus in the air and dangled him
upside down by his feet while taunting him with petty name calling—a pretty terrible
thing to do to another pupil, and one that you may have been quick to associate with
Slytherin, not Gryffindor.
One could also argue that some of the Ravenclaw values could lead a witch or wizard down the
wrong path.
Take the ghost of the Grey Lady, for example—her real name being Helena Ravenclaw, the daughter
of Hogwarts’ founding member, Rowena Ravenclaw.
So obsessed with stepping out of her mother’s enormous shadow and becoming more well-known
for her intelligence than Rowena, she stole her mother’s magic diadem and ran away,
sharing with Harry in The Deathly Hallows: “I stole the diadem.
I sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother.
I ran away with it.”
Tragically, this act of betrayal and vanity inevitably cost Helena her life—which again
seems more a tale of a Slytherin, rather than a Ravenclaw.
And yet, it’s not.
Finally, I’d like to provide you with an example or two of a few Hufflepuffs who…oh,
wait.
Nevermind!
No Hufflepuff—with their strong sense of justice, loyalty, patience, and a propensity
for hard work—has ever been EVIL!
Ha!
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video!
What did you think?
Do you believe that the House of Slytherin is evil?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to
the channel!
Until next time…remember
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."