Sorting hat and houses

[Jonathan Pessin]

No: HPFGUIDX 52971

Andrea wrote:

> You see, I have my own pet theory on the Hat. The
> Hat's song in GOF said the Founders "put some brain in me so I could
> choose instead." My own theory is that the Founders used their OWN
> brains; that is, a preserved memory (like the diary) of each of the
> four Founders still lives inside the Hat. 

Morgan replied,

> And I nod: I had the same idea. I was under the impression that the
> four founders had created a unique personality from a sort of 
magical
> merging of part of their minds. So in a way, the Hat would *be* the
> living mind of the founders. Therefore, he must know many of the
> secrets we're all dying to learn. 

And aldrea put in:

> The Hat has then given itself it's own personality, or maybe 
> just it's own voice(for obvious reasons, I would think). I can just 
> see the kids faces if McGonagall were to put the hat on their head 
> and suddenly they have four voices jabbering at them, trying to 
> figure out where they belong.  I think Slytherin in particular might 
> have had a few choice words for Harry if he had been listening to 
> Harry's "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin.." pleading. =P

I respond:
I don't think the founders' personalities THEMSELVES are in the hat; not only is there no canon to support this IMO, but this type of system would make things much more complicated; I can imagine each sorting taking hours if all 4 of the founders were stuck in the hat.  I think it's much more likely that the founders created a separate personality for the hat, possibly possessing characteristics of each founder, and POSSIBLY gave it certain memories from each.  Thus, the hat could give us useful, founder-related info, without any schitzophrenic tendancies.  Or perhaps it just knows stuff from being around for the last 1000 years; I'm guessing one learns things over that much time, even if one is only a hat.   

I agree, it'd be interesting to see the founders in action, but I somehow doubt the Sorting Hat is where we'll do it.  (Hmm... maybe for the next Comic Relief, Rowling should create Hogwarts: A History for us muggles...)

Hobbit-guy, who is already hoping for some more Hogwarts historical info