Being cunning can easily be fitted into Ravenclaw and self-glorification can be related to Gryffindor. The third Slytherin quality, however, is being pure-blood, which is akin to racist ideology. That is why it should be disbanded, to eliminate using this as grounds to accept students. The solution would be to sort all the Slytherins into the remaining 3 houses, or, if they don't want that, ship them off to Durmstrang.
I think you are confusing cunning with intelligence. Ravenclaws are known for valuing intelligence and being witty and fair (beauty wise. Cunning is completely different.
cunning
cun·ning Audio Help /ˈkʌnɪŋ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhn-ing] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile.
2. adeptness in performance; dexterity: The weaver's hand lost its cunning.
–adjective 3. showing or made with ingenuity.
4. artfully subtle or shrewd; crafty; sly.
5. Informal. charmingly cute or appealing: a cunning little baby.
6. Archaic. skillful; expert.
witty
wit·ty Audio Help (wĭt'ē) Pronunciation Key
adj. wit·ti·er, wit·ti·est
Possessing or demonstrating wit in speech or writing; very clever and humorous.
Characterized by or having the nature of wit; funny or jocular: a witty saying.
Quick to discern and express amusing insights or relationships.
Entertainingly and strikingly clever or original in concept, design, or performance: a witty sculpture; witty choreography.
Slughorn and Snape were the only good Slytherins in the series, every other Slytherin is pretty much a dickhead. Snape was only good because he loved a Gryffindor, i.e. in spite of his house. And think about this: if every Death Eater came from Slytherin, why don't they disband this house? It's akin to having a Neo-Nazi group in your or your child's school, would you like that? JK made us dislike Slytherins by making all of them (except Snape and Slughorn) act like dicks. There is nothing good to come out of this house, if you look at it realistically, since Snape and Slughorn had to go against their house principles to be good people. Maybe if JK had put some non-Slytherin Death Eaters into the books, I might think that this house is not a cancer to the school, but clearly it is, and why they do not disband Slytherin is beyond me.
and i bet there are also other slytherins that arent that bad either
but even those two (snape and slughorn) arent that great, they both had many many flaws _________________
You are up there!
The fact still remains that there is no example of a non-Slytherin Death Eater in the series, which is a big shame and which originally fuelled my argument in favor of disbanding the house. Although now that I think of it, Antonin Dolohov is Russian, so he was likely educated at Durmstrang, wasn't he? But this is hardly a counter-argument since Slytherins are known to love Durmstrang Institute as well.
The fact still remains that there is no example of a non-Slytherin Death Eater in the series, which is a big shame and which originally fuelled my argument in favor of disbanding the house. Although now that I think of it, Antonin Dolohov is Russian, so he was likely educated at Durmstrang, wasn't he? But this is hardly a counter-argument since Slytherins are known to love Durmstrang Institute as well.
Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail was a Gryffindor. _________________
Was he? But he was a complete wuss! Did it ever say in the books he was a Gryffindor? Or is that just assumed because he hung out with 3 Gryffindors? There is no way someone that wussy could ever get into Gryffindor, even Neville wasn't as pathetic as Wormtail. Remember in PS when Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed? Wormtail would have pissed his pants and run away if he'd been in that situation.
Was he? But he was a complete wuss! Did it ever say in the books he was a Gryffindor? Or is that just assumed because he hung out with 3 Gryffindors? There is no way someone that wussy could ever get into Gryffindor, even Neville wasn't as pathetic as Wormtail. Remember in PS when Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed? Wormtail would have pissed his pants and run away if he'd been in that situation.
I think he could have been a true Gryffindor at first, and then, unfortunately, changed over the course of time. Do you think the other Marauders would be friends with a Slytherin back then? No way.
Was he? But he was a complete wuss! Did it ever say in the books he was a Gryffindor? Or is that just assumed because he hung out with 3 Gryffindors? There is no way someone that wussy could ever get into Gryffindor, even Neville wasn't as pathetic as Wormtail. Remember in PS when Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed? Wormtail would have pissed his pants and run away if he'd been in that situation.
He was sorted into Gryffindor.
DH ch 33, pg 672 (US ed)
Harry watched Lupin, Pettigrew, and his father join Lily and Sirius at the Gryffindor table.
You don't have to be brave to be in Gryffindor, you just have to value the trait. A part of benig sorted are the choices a person makes. And as DD says, perhaps we sort too soon. _________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
No specific death eaters from other houses were mentioned, but maybe that's because the slytherins are typically the most ambitious ones.
There were some from other houses, though. Jo said so herself.
ES: It's gotta be a bad idea to stick all the Death Eaters' kids together in one place.
[All crack up again ]
JKR: But they're not all — don't think I don't take your point, but — we, the reader, and I as the writer, because I'm leading you all there — you are seeing Slytherin house always from the perspective of Death Eaters' children. They are a small fraction of the total Slytherin population. I'm not saying all the other Slytherins are adorable, but they're certainly not Draco, they're certainly not, you know, Crabbe and Goyle. They're not all like that, that would be too brutal for words, wouldn’t it?
ES: But there aren't a lot of Death Eater children in the other houses, are there?
JKR: You will have people connected with Death Eaters in the other houses, yeah, absolutely.
ES: Just in lesser numbers.
JKR: Probably. I hear you. It is the tradition to have four houses, but in this case, I wanted them to correspond roughly to the four elements. So Gryffindor is fire, Ravenclaw is air, Hufflepuff is earth, and Slytherin is water, hence the fact that their common room is under the lake. So again, it was this idea of harmony and balance, that you had four necessary components and by integrating them you would make a very strong place. But they remain fragmented, as we know.
Well she certainly did lead us to believe that if you are Sorted into Slytherin, you will become a Dark witch or wizard. Thanks for clearing that up. We only ever meet the kids of Death Eaters throughout the series, though. And it seems that Harry believes that every Slytherin is destined to become a Dark witch or wizard.
Well she certainly did lead us to believe that if you are Sorted into Slytherin, you will become a Dark witch or wizard. Thanks for clearing that up. We only ever meet the kids of Death Eaters throughout the series, though. And it seems that Harry believes that every Slytherin is destined to become a Dark witch or wizard.
Well, that's sort of the point isn't it, to lead us to believe one thing, since we are seeing the story from Harry's point of view. There is a prejudicey against the Slytherins from Harry's point of view that is very parallel to the prejudices against the Gryffindors or muggle-borns from the Slytherin's point of view. But then, finally, we meet Slughorn who is very intrigued by power and ambition, but is in no way evil. Harry sees that later in life, after he's already been led to believe that Slytherins are bad.
As JKR said, there are good Slytherins. But we never see Harry come in contact with any at first. Most likely they get overshadowed by the bad Slytherins. It's always that way, isn't it... the bad kids ruin it for the good kids. _________________ Blame it on a simple twist of fate. ~ Bob Dylan "To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." ~ Anya <3
well habs4life9, even if we didnt have the example of peter the fact remains that just because all DEs (not persuaded by the threat of dead) are from slytherin it doesnt mean that all slytherins are going to be future death eaters, slughorn certainly wasnt one was he? so we couldnt just eliminate them (no matter how much we may wish to do so ) _________________
You are up there!
The Slytherins were the ones to make the series interesting. Bullies, Voldemort, etc... Otherwise, there would be just about no point in the series. But I do agree, they were rather annoying in this book and most likely will always be. _________________ Yas and Simmy - Putting Luna on catwalks since 2008!
I really think that the behavior of the Slytherins under Umbridge is actually pretty illustrative of the Slytherin mindset, and if you look at it from an objective point of view (i.e not from harry and the other Gryffindor house) it actually makes a lot of sense.
Umbridge, as it was pretty obvious, had a lot of power. It was also pretty obvious that she used everything in her power to make those against her miserable. One of the defining traits of Slytherin is a great interest in self-preservation. Obviously if Umbridge was interested in recruiting the help of the Slytherins (probably due to Draco's father's influence in the ministry) the only possible reaction of the Slytherins were to either actively work with her (thus saving their own necks any sort of pain and embarrassment) or to keep their heads low and do their best to stay on her good side.
Slytherins are "cunning folk" whom will do pretty much anything to achieve their ends. Following the orders of an individual whom they don't necessarily like or agree with...but can be a powerful ally, is merely another way of furthering their own interests.
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