Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
discussion
"Slytherins, to the dungeon!" and so they went
date
newest »
newest »
Exactly me too! I was in a harry potter club at my old school, and I was put in slytherin (i liked the black potion that gives you hallucinations :3) and I hate how everyone assumes all slytherin's are evil. I mean, I know that every DE was in it, but Snape was too, and he turned out to be one of the best, most bravest of them all.
Ellie wrote: "Am I the only one SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED in the role of Slytherins overall in the series? They're set up to be these big time BAs and then the last book it was like one Slytherin says to do the LOGI..."
I thought Malfoy was in the end of the book! LIke the rooom of requirement, ect,
I thought Malfoy was in the end of the book! LIke the rooom of requirement, ect,
SAME! Thanks, thought I was the only one who felt like Slytherins were set up to be the bad guys, needlessly almost. There are bad Gryffindors (like Peter freaking Pettigrew!!) as well, and good Slytherins, like Snape, Slughorn, Malfoy to an extent, and Regulus Black, who SACRIFICED HIMSELF AT THE AGE OF 17 to destroy a Horcrux, keep his family safe, and defeat Voldemort.
I guess that when Slytherins are bad, they're horrible, but when they're good, they're really awesome.
I guess that when Slytherins are bad, they're horrible, but when they're good, they're really awesome.
Crabbe and Goyle were pretty bad... they just died. Everything needs it opposite.
Yeah it really annoys me that all Slytherins are shown to be evil, so everyone thinks they are. I think there should have been some good Slytherins, I mean I know there's Snape and Regulus but they were evil to begin with. The only nice Slytherite is shown to be Slughorn and he is still not a regular nice guy. Its just in general they're all shown to be pretty bad. And they aren't necessarily.
Ellie wrote: "Am I the only one SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED in the role of Slytherins overall in the series? They're set up to be these big time BAs and then the last book it was like one Slytherin says to do the LOGI..."yeah - malfoy is one stupid twat.
What would Hogwarts be without Slitherin? it'd be a pretty boring school. and there would be no chamber of secrets.
Ellie wrote: "Am I the only one SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED in the role of Slytherins overall in the series? They're set up to be these big time BAs and then the last book it was like one Slytherin says to do the LOGI..."no i'm with you on that one. SLYTHERINS ARE JUST IDIOTS.
Same! It is like they never were thought of as anything but evil until the end with Snape and that still did not really change anything. It was like the book forgot the Slytherin was not just for the bullies(Those are in every house) But for the cunning and determind.
Jasny~Ghost wrote: "... I hate how everyone assumes all slytherin's are evil. I mean, I know that every DE was in it, but Snape was too, and he turned out to be one of the best, most bravest of them all. '..."Actually, not all Death Eaters were Slytherin. For example, Wormtail was Gryffindor.
I'm a Slytherin, and all the time people say, "Oh you can't be a Slytherin, you're too nice." NOT ALL SLYTHERINS ARE EVIL! I agree, they're set up to be disliked. To Rula (Comment 9) no, we are not idiots, we're ambitious, and mostly smart. :)
I have maybe a different perspective of the Slytherins depicted in the books. If we take the characteristics of each house and make them into a person, we have four types of people typically found in school:The Brain (Ravenclaw)
The Jock (Gryffindor)
The Wallflower (Hufflepuff)
The Show-off/Bully (Slytherin)
These are huge generalities, but let's image for a moment that these four houses represent these types of people at school. What is at the heart of the Show-off/Bully? Cowardice. When the chips are down and the motivations of the Bully are challenged, they would be compliant and defeated.
Some Slytherins I think turned out pretty great: Horace Slughorn, Andromeda Tonks, and--Merlin!
Also, I am not, in any way, putting these statements to any HP fan that is in house Slytherin--I am both a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin!
I <3 Slytherins! I like how they are known as evil wahaha, but I am puzzled, there should be just a few with a good rep in Harry' s generation in the DA or as a crush or Something, anything. It drives me crazy:)!!!! All the other houses had at least a some good and bad, And even though there are some adult Slytherins that are ' good' just about all of them did something really bad that haunts them forever.
Muhuhuhuh...this topic reminds me of that bit in the movie:
QUIRREL: Troll! Troll in the dungeons!
DUMBLY: Everyone to the common rooms!
And WHERE is the Slytherin common room?
Heh heh heh.
QUIRREL: Troll! Troll in the dungeons!
DUMBLY: Everyone to the common rooms!
And WHERE is the Slytherin common room?
Heh heh heh.
Anastasia Inkyfingers, Shadowhunter wrote: "Muhuhuhuh...this topic reminds me of that bit in the movie:QUIRREL: Troll! Troll in the dungeons!
DUMBLY: Everyone to the common rooms!
And WHERE is the Slytherin common room?
Heh heh heh."
Lol so true :-D Thanks for pointing that out! :-D
Laura Loves Luna Belle Pris wrote: "All the other houses had at least a some good and bad, And even though there are some adult Slytherins that are ' good' just about all of them did something really bad that haunts them forever."I like to think that after the war at Hogwart's the reputation of all the houses was altered a bit. Obviously, Albus S. Potter is stressing about Slytherin, but I think his older brother teasing him may have a bit more to do with that than a reputation that lingered. After all, Auror Harry was going to support him in whatever house he ended up-even Slytherin.
I would hope that a lot of the Slytherins from Harry's generation grew up to be less "severe" in their beliefs. After all, Harry and Draco were able to be non-hostile acquaintances as adults. They seemed to have come to some sort of understanding that allowed them to be tolerant of one another, at least. I hope all the Slytherin bad rep was more in the past by the time Harry's kids attended Hogwart's.
♥ Alexia -Team Malec ♥ wrote: "What would Hogwarts be without Slitherin? it'd be a pretty boring school. and there would be no chamber of secrets."
Laura Loves Luna Belle Pris wrote: "I <3 Slytherins! I like how they are known as evil wahaha, but I am puzzled, there should be just a few with a good rep in Harry' s generation in the DA or as a crush or Something, anything. It dri..."I think that the timing of the series has to have some effect on how we view the slytherin.
I'm actually a slytherin, according to Potterwhatever (much to my disappointment because I'm not too keen on an underwater window in my common room - big fear there) so I can hopefully say this without being too much of a dick.
But I think we need to consider the fact that Voldemort is actively making his comeback during the entirety of the series.
I think the events of the world really polarize the school (and the reader) on the topic. The kids in slytherin at this particular time are mostly under the thumbs of deatheaters due to the ruling traits of the houses. However this is not to say that in a normal time - when the wizarding world isn't on the brink of all-out war - the kids in slytherin are all bad. The percentage that are on Voldemort's side are the loudest among them (at the behest of their parents) while the kids with no ties or maybe even muggle borns with no true colours simply have no way to express themselves against the prevailing view. They are facing the prejudice of the rest of the school and, indeed, Dumbledore himself as well as McGonagle and other authorities. They are, of course, going to keep quiet to save their own skins.
I think that the "good guys" in slytherin are probably keeping a pretty low profile for most of the real-time of the novels just because they really have no venue to express themselves or their intentions.
This isn't to say that Rowling doesn't bear some measure of responsibility for portraying this prejudice without really underlining in, but according to the setting I think it fits right in. It just didn't make sense not to demonize the slytherins because the most active ones - those who targetted Harry - we're actually on the bad side.
To put it in context, we really didn't see much of the Hufflepuff or Ravenclaws either. At least, not in any great detail.
I think a good solution to this might be to have had a few kids in the other houses who were on Voldemort's side through their parents - rather than having them all be slytherins. But that still, no matter how severe the representation is, does not necessarily state that all slytherins are bad guys.
I am not really a huge Slytherin fan because well, we have had quite few nasty characters from that house, my apologies to all the Slytherin lovers, but yet again who says others can't be nasty, Sirius was to Snape and Kreacher, they deserved it few would say...but even then he was; and Pettigrew was...but I didn't feel bad about Slytherins not really participating in the war because not much was written about the characters from that house except for Draco and well most of them were mentioned in the passing to have some sort of death eater connection...so i guess it was okay for JKR to not write much about the house's representation...But I believe that a whole house cannot be bad, I would like to believe that few of them helped their fellow Hogwarts mates during the war, even if it is simply by tying some bandage to someone...I write fanfics and I sort of imagine some sort of reconciliation between the housemates during the war...because in the end I believe that though the sense of discrimination between Slytherins and muggles is really deep, but they all are young people, and their minds I like to believe is not completely clouded by misconceptions and prejudice. I feel they could see through the labels of muggles and Slytherins ...
I don't think they should have been set up as just bad, it was like only evil people could be picked for that house, or that once you were in you were labeled as evil. But not every single one of them could have been completely mean and black-hearted. This is stereotyping...
The way I understand it is that not all Slytherins are evil. I'm certain good people are in that house too. But the only Slytherin kids we learn about ie, Malfoy and his friends, are bullies, brats, mean etc. and I was bothered that not Once was a Slytherin student with a pure heart portrayed in the story. Even though I like the reputation the Slytherin house has, because it's fun, I wanted to see at least one student show they were involved in a positive way, even in a small role. This is maybe the only thing that bothered me in the entire series.
all houses have their great and bad moments, it just seems that most of them are from Slytherin.
Jeni wrote: "I have maybe a different perspective of the Slytherins depicted in the books. If we take the characteristics of each house and make them into a person, we have four types of people typically found..."Wow, I never thought about that. Very interesting.
The thing about Slytherins at the end of book 7 was that they couldn't be trusted. Many of them, their families were on the dark side (no pun intended), and due to past track records, it was not clear where their loyalties would lie. One of them, at least, was willing to turn Harry in to save their own hide. When fighting to save Hogwarts and everyone in it, there couldn't have been any trust issues, or all would have been for naught.
First of all, in the book the Slytherins were not sent to the dungeons - they were evacuated from the school ahead of everybody else to get them out of the way. As for them not really being the bad guys they're made out to be... I think that's a very important part of the series. Stereotypes are powerful. They can affect how others perceive you, and they can affect how you perceive yourself. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So the members of Slytherin house would strive to maintain the reputation, even if they don't like it.
Slytherin house got a reputation for producing dangerous dark wizards. But it's far more likely that Slytherin house became a magnet for students that had an interest in dark magic. But the sorting hat works by sorting students according to the VALUES of the founders, not just their interests and practices. Slytherin had an interest in dark magic, but he also valued power, ambition and self-preservation. It's like Phineus Nigellus told Harry: Slytherins have plenty of courage, they just prefer to save themselves first. These are not - by themselves - evil qualities. An interest in dark magic might land somebody in Slytherin house, but so will those other qualities.
There's also the legacy effect. A child of Slytherins is expected to be in Slytherin house. If they ask the sorting hat to put them there, that's probably where they will go whether they fit or not.
So a student might be sorted into Slytherin house because they share enough values with Slytherin to pass; or they are related to a Slytherin alumnus; or they have a friend in Slytherin. But none of that precludes them from also having values that would fit with other houses. But once in Slytherin house, people have expectations. And it's natural for people to try to meet others' expectations, even the bad ones.
So on ordinary days those students act like jerks to perpetuate the stereotype. But when things get rough it's their own values that win. For many of them, it was their sense of self-preservation.
I also need to point out that the series takes place in between Voldemort's bids for power. The bad Slytherins joined him because they wanted to. Others did it because their friends/family did it. Others did it because they were afraid. Even after Voldemort was destroyed the first time, people that ran in the Slytherin crowd had good reason to be afraid of their old classmates. They had 13 years of peace, but I'm sure the friends of Death Eaters that escaped Azkaban were never quite comfortable; never quite sure of how they should behave around those friends.There were good Slytherins, but these people probably felt safer is they continue with the pure-blood line. And their kids would have done it as well.
I think that the Cursed Child, at least in part, refutes the idea that all Slytherins are bad. However, the two characters show no specific qualities that would have landed them in Slytherin, so it's not entirely clear what is meant to be the "virtue" represented by Slytherin. I guess a desire to excel and achieve is a good thing, but it doesn't really show up in the books as a good thing, (view spoiler)
lets just say that slytherins are usually jerks, but thats just because the traits that land u in slytherin are like wanting to be unique (or better than everyone) being deceptive and cunning and sly. so....yeah, i'm slytherin, and i'm not in jail yet or anything, but....alot of slytherins have no reason not to be jerks. i do. if i didn't......well, my life would be a lot different. all the same, I'm still going to bear draco's children. and no, we are not naming our son scorpius. thats a cool name, but scorpius was a let down. and draco may have been a total whip that never did anything, but that wasn't a screw up on the author's part, that is who draco is and that is one thing i love about him. i feel bad because he wants to do whats right, but he is evil sort of. born into an even family, raised evil....its not him to be brave and defy his parents and the death eaters. he is not in gryffendor for a reason. he is a coward. (i like that about him tho)
Part of the problem is that slytherins are very into tradition. Add ambition to the mix and the power to get what they want. Think of the blacks for a second- they want to keep magic in the family. Who has power? Voldemort. Who wants power? Slytherins for the most part.
Also our gyffindor representative is the big HP himself. Put him next to a jealous brainwashed Malfoy and our villain and it's hard not to say slytherins suck.
that is very true. draco is like the wimpiest guy ive ever loved.
all discussions on this book
|
post a new topic
And don't even GET ME STARTED ON MALFOY. How many times he had a chance to turn good or go against his parents anddddd.... nothing. Cry in the corner with mommy and daddy and do whatever they tell you. Sure, he showed evidence that he wanted to resist, but he had so many chances to REALLY do something, not just attempt, and they all failed.
So, yes. Slytherins were set up like this house that were severely misunderstood, especially a prodominant theme in Snape's background story, but ultimately they ended up being nothing but spineless. Am I the only one who hated the hype with no delivery?