HP Gone Mad
Today, I replaced Hufflepuff with a question mark. Literally, I am afraid. Having been in charge of putting together a Harry Potter sorting game, I found out that my employer, while a very lovely, kind fellow, is rather poor at math... I was given three of each letter representing each of the four Hogwarts Houses to paste into separate boxes, as well as three question marks, the point of the process being to toss a ball - where it lands is the house of the tosser. If the ball happens to land on a question mark, that lucky soul can then choose the house of their choice.
There was one small problem with this; the stand containing the boxes for people's sorting pleasure was 4x3... in other words, it contained only 12 boxes.
This means that if all three letters for each house were to be included, there would be no room for a question mark. No question mark, and the matter of ending up in the house of choice turns into a 100% game of skill VS chance. (The chance is there because little do people know, but the ball being used has a habit of bouncing into the box below it... but only about 60% of the time :) )
At least one question mark was thus imperative... the question thus became, which house should have one less chance of gaining fresh recruits? Well... the answer to this question should be fairly simple... Gryffindor should have had one of its letters removed, as that is the most likely house for people to pick, given a choice. Not everyone would want to pick gryffindor, mind you, but many would. It is portrayed in the books as being the best of all the houses; bravery is obviously a trait which the author admires. It appears as a highly vaunted characteristic in the books, and, initially at least, gryffindor appears to have turned out all of the worlds best wizards; after all, it is Harry's house, and must therefore be the best, especially because of the way in which the other houses are mentioned.
My readers already know I have picked Hufflepuff as the removed letter, though. Why is this? People from hufflepuff are no less people, and even if a certain amount of contempt is placed upon them, it is not for a good reason. The founder responsible for that particular house believed in equal opportunity; it was not about teaching the bravest, or the most intelligent, or those of pure blood or, for that matter, pure ambition. Hufflepuff values the type of characteristics which make people decent human beings; loyalty, among them; friendship, another. Likely also kindness, and generosity. If you happened to be a mean-spirited creature of unpleasant nature, chances are you would still be welcome in Hufflepuff even if another house would not take you, because that echos the beliefs of its founder.
Oddly enough, I am surprised no one else has noticed an odd twist in Hufflepuff characteristics.... they are loyal, forgiving, and noble people by nature.... but it requires a certain amount of bravery to stay true to a person through thick or thin. My dear readers could argue this point; loyalty and acceptance should have nothing to do with bravery or courage, no? However, it takes bravery to be fearless in the face of the unknown, and that is something required for acceptance, occasionally. Arguably, a person could face fear of the unknown, and still be accepting... this requires courage. So why are hufflepuffs not in gryffindor...?
This answers the question as to why Hermione is not in Ravenclaw. Houses are chosen by the sorting hat for a person, not by there attributes... but by their values. Gryffindors see bravery as a worthwhile attribute, even if they themselves might seem to lack it. They look up to those who are brave, and, in turn, find courage. Then again, perhaps they do not... Peter Pettigrew being a fine example of a Gryffindor turned nasty because he required the protection of someone more powerful than himself, rather than relying on his own bravery.
And thus, hufflepuffs are hufflepuffs because they value friendship and perhaps nobility (And I am referring to honor here, not blood-lines), ravenclaws are ravenclaws because they value intelligence and probably enjoy learning - this, you may note, does not automatically make all ravenclaws geniuses (Or even smart, for that matter...). They are just those that enjoy thinking more than bravery or honor. Ravenclaw tends to be the second-most favorite house, as not only does Harry have good relations with the Ravenclaws, and they are put in a good light in general, but it is the sort of house which attracts more bookish folk, which make up a large portion of the HP fanbase - go figure, what with it being a series of books, and all. So, again, Ravenclaw could have taken the fall as the replaced house... but as this would be the same - if weaker - reason for reason for replacing Gryffindor with a question mark, Ravenclaw was left with its full complement of letters for the sorting game.
We are left, of course, with Slytherin. Now then; who would want to be in Slytherin? They are the lowest of low, and the source of all the world's most evil Witches and Wizards, after all! Who would willingly want to be in Slytherin?
...
...
...
Actually, Slytherin isn't a bad house. It seems truly awful because that is Harry's opinion of it, and we see this world through Harry's eyes.... but honestly? So what if Voldemort was a Slytherin? (And... er... Slytherin's heir... *cough*) that doesn't make the house bad! Salazar split hogwarts due to a pureblood mania that, at the time, was semi-reasonable. (I am NOT arguing that it still is... Slytherin did not want to teach those with any muggle parentage because, at the time, this was extraordinarily dangerous. Muggles were very afraid of wizards and witches, and likely to react very badly at even the slightest notion that magic is in the air. Fully grown witches and wizards were immune to witch burnings, in the Potterverse... but muggles and wizard children? The muggles who knowingly married the witches, or the children who have no adult wizards to protect them? Or, worse, a muggleborn child comes to the school, and tells their muggle village about it, causing Hogwarts to be invaded by pitchfork-waving mobs...?
This is what Slytherin feared. A situation of the like could probably have been fixed with a couple of good obliviate charms for memory modification, but still... while I am not even certain as to whether a muggle could even find Hogwarts, for its time, this would have been a relevant fear. So, Slytherin wanted to teach purebloods, or those with cunning, or ambition. Or, more relevantly, those who prised cunning and ambition, or Percy Weasley would have been a Slytherin for certain, with his desire to move up in ranks at the ministry of magic.
Later on, the pureblood fixation became something else; its became a misguided desire to preserve the purity of magic by restricting its education to those who were 100% magical in there background... which, as has been stated multiple times by various sources within and without the books, is absolutely ridiculous. If the original Slytherin himself believed in pureblood mania to this degree, there would be no half-bloods in his house; Snape and even Slytherin's heir are a testament against this.
Why didn't I scrap Slytherin for a question mark? Multiple reasons. I am personally of the belief that far more people belong in Slytherin than place themselves there. The house seems to carry an undesirable stigma within the books which people with ambition or cunning do not wish to be associated with. It is a sort of self preservation (Which is certainly something Slytherins are good at...) to avoid being seen as a Slytherin. Imagine a job interview questionnaire which asks which Hogwarts house you belong to; a Slytherin would probably not pick slytherin offhand, unless they had a worryingly honest streak they didn't seem to notice, or a certain self confidence that it is the correct move to make. This does not make them evil. Simply cunning.
Others who tend to associate themselves with Slytherin include Snape fan girls, who (truthfully...) scare me. Snape is my favorite character, because of his ambiguity, but I have no desire for a personal detention with him. That is slightly creepy. The snape fan girls who are fond of Alan Rickman are slightly more understandable, but, for the record, I do not fall amongst their ranks.
So, in the end, Hufflepuff received the question mark, and the reason as to why is this; A true hufflepuff, upon receiving that question mark, would pick the house that they belonged in anyways, so it would be as if the ball had landed on Hufflepuff all along. And if not... after reading this, I would hope that some of you would find it in there hearts to see Hufflepuff, and all of the houses, for what they really are, and not what they are rumoured to be, and give Hufflepuff a fair chance.
There was one small problem with this; the stand containing the boxes for people's sorting pleasure was 4x3... in other words, it contained only 12 boxes.
This means that if all three letters for each house were to be included, there would be no room for a question mark. No question mark, and the matter of ending up in the house of choice turns into a 100% game of skill VS chance. (The chance is there because little do people know, but the ball being used has a habit of bouncing into the box below it... but only about 60% of the time :) )
At least one question mark was thus imperative... the question thus became, which house should have one less chance of gaining fresh recruits? Well... the answer to this question should be fairly simple... Gryffindor should have had one of its letters removed, as that is the most likely house for people to pick, given a choice. Not everyone would want to pick gryffindor, mind you, but many would. It is portrayed in the books as being the best of all the houses; bravery is obviously a trait which the author admires. It appears as a highly vaunted characteristic in the books, and, initially at least, gryffindor appears to have turned out all of the worlds best wizards; after all, it is Harry's house, and must therefore be the best, especially because of the way in which the other houses are mentioned.
My readers already know I have picked Hufflepuff as the removed letter, though. Why is this? People from hufflepuff are no less people, and even if a certain amount of contempt is placed upon them, it is not for a good reason. The founder responsible for that particular house believed in equal opportunity; it was not about teaching the bravest, or the most intelligent, or those of pure blood or, for that matter, pure ambition. Hufflepuff values the type of characteristics which make people decent human beings; loyalty, among them; friendship, another. Likely also kindness, and generosity. If you happened to be a mean-spirited creature of unpleasant nature, chances are you would still be welcome in Hufflepuff even if another house would not take you, because that echos the beliefs of its founder.
Oddly enough, I am surprised no one else has noticed an odd twist in Hufflepuff characteristics.... they are loyal, forgiving, and noble people by nature.... but it requires a certain amount of bravery to stay true to a person through thick or thin. My dear readers could argue this point; loyalty and acceptance should have nothing to do with bravery or courage, no? However, it takes bravery to be fearless in the face of the unknown, and that is something required for acceptance, occasionally. Arguably, a person could face fear of the unknown, and still be accepting... this requires courage. So why are hufflepuffs not in gryffindor...?
This answers the question as to why Hermione is not in Ravenclaw. Houses are chosen by the sorting hat for a person, not by there attributes... but by their values. Gryffindors see bravery as a worthwhile attribute, even if they themselves might seem to lack it. They look up to those who are brave, and, in turn, find courage. Then again, perhaps they do not... Peter Pettigrew being a fine example of a Gryffindor turned nasty because he required the protection of someone more powerful than himself, rather than relying on his own bravery.
And thus, hufflepuffs are hufflepuffs because they value friendship and perhaps nobility (And I am referring to honor here, not blood-lines), ravenclaws are ravenclaws because they value intelligence and probably enjoy learning - this, you may note, does not automatically make all ravenclaws geniuses (Or even smart, for that matter...). They are just those that enjoy thinking more than bravery or honor. Ravenclaw tends to be the second-most favorite house, as not only does Harry have good relations with the Ravenclaws, and they are put in a good light in general, but it is the sort of house which attracts more bookish folk, which make up a large portion of the HP fanbase - go figure, what with it being a series of books, and all. So, again, Ravenclaw could have taken the fall as the replaced house... but as this would be the same - if weaker - reason for reason for replacing Gryffindor with a question mark, Ravenclaw was left with its full complement of letters for the sorting game.
We are left, of course, with Slytherin. Now then; who would want to be in Slytherin? They are the lowest of low, and the source of all the world's most evil Witches and Wizards, after all! Who would willingly want to be in Slytherin?
...
...
...
Actually, Slytherin isn't a bad house. It seems truly awful because that is Harry's opinion of it, and we see this world through Harry's eyes.... but honestly? So what if Voldemort was a Slytherin? (And... er... Slytherin's heir... *cough*) that doesn't make the house bad! Salazar split hogwarts due to a pureblood mania that, at the time, was semi-reasonable. (I am NOT arguing that it still is... Slytherin did not want to teach those with any muggle parentage because, at the time, this was extraordinarily dangerous. Muggles were very afraid of wizards and witches, and likely to react very badly at even the slightest notion that magic is in the air. Fully grown witches and wizards were immune to witch burnings, in the Potterverse... but muggles and wizard children? The muggles who knowingly married the witches, or the children who have no adult wizards to protect them? Or, worse, a muggleborn child comes to the school, and tells their muggle village about it, causing Hogwarts to be invaded by pitchfork-waving mobs...?
This is what Slytherin feared. A situation of the like could probably have been fixed with a couple of good obliviate charms for memory modification, but still... while I am not even certain as to whether a muggle could even find Hogwarts, for its time, this would have been a relevant fear. So, Slytherin wanted to teach purebloods, or those with cunning, or ambition. Or, more relevantly, those who prised cunning and ambition, or Percy Weasley would have been a Slytherin for certain, with his desire to move up in ranks at the ministry of magic.
Later on, the pureblood fixation became something else; its became a misguided desire to preserve the purity of magic by restricting its education to those who were 100% magical in there background... which, as has been stated multiple times by various sources within and without the books, is absolutely ridiculous. If the original Slytherin himself believed in pureblood mania to this degree, there would be no half-bloods in his house; Snape and even Slytherin's heir are a testament against this.
Why didn't I scrap Slytherin for a question mark? Multiple reasons. I am personally of the belief that far more people belong in Slytherin than place themselves there. The house seems to carry an undesirable stigma within the books which people with ambition or cunning do not wish to be associated with. It is a sort of self preservation (Which is certainly something Slytherins are good at...) to avoid being seen as a Slytherin. Imagine a job interview questionnaire which asks which Hogwarts house you belong to; a Slytherin would probably not pick slytherin offhand, unless they had a worryingly honest streak they didn't seem to notice, or a certain self confidence that it is the correct move to make. This does not make them evil. Simply cunning.
Others who tend to associate themselves with Slytherin include Snape fan girls, who (truthfully...) scare me. Snape is my favorite character, because of his ambiguity, but I have no desire for a personal detention with him. That is slightly creepy. The snape fan girls who are fond of Alan Rickman are slightly more understandable, but, for the record, I do not fall amongst their ranks.
So, in the end, Hufflepuff received the question mark, and the reason as to why is this; A true hufflepuff, upon receiving that question mark, would pick the house that they belonged in anyways, so it would be as if the ball had landed on Hufflepuff all along. And if not... after reading this, I would hope that some of you would find it in there hearts to see Hufflepuff, and all of the houses, for what they really are, and not what they are rumoured to be, and give Hufflepuff a fair chance.
posted by Opaxia: star-nosed mole extraordinary | 12:15 a.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home