[HPforGrownups] Heir of Slytherin ... or NOT???

[rayheuer3 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 58068

bboy_mn at yahoo.com writes:

>>It would seem like just the thing that an insecure, low self-esteem,
>borderline psychotic with delusions of grandeur would create in his
>own mind to support his delusions and justify his actions. 

A wonderful theory, and a great direction to take, but, as has been pointed 
out, it is canon that Tom Riddle IS an heir of Slytherin.

Note that I say AN heir of Slytherin, because there is a small problem of 
what, for the purposes of the CoS, is an "heir":  If we use the usual, broad 
meaning, any descendant of Salazar Slytherin is an "heir". Since the four 
founders of Hogwarts lived 1,000 years ago, they probably have thousands of 
descendants scattered around the world, mostly in Britain. It's also more 
than likely that a given witch/wizard is descended from more than one (or 
even all four) of the founders. For that matter, it is possible that the 
"wizard gene" can go recessive ("squibs") and thus a muggle could be a 
descendant of one of the founders.

So what is an "heir", as opposed to a descendant?  And can there be more than 
one heir running around simultaneously? For example, let us assume that 
Lucius Malfoy is an heir of Slytherin. Does this mean that Draco Malfoy is 
ALSO an heir of Slytherin?

Now, if we say that there can only be ONE "Heir", with direct lineage in the 
manner of royal succession, Voldemort is the Heir of Slytherin and Harry 
appears to be the Heir of Gryffindor.  And the "Heir of Slytherin" that 
opened the Chamber of Secrets is not Ginny or Harry, but Riddle/Voldemort 
each time.

Prof Binns says that only "[Salazar Slytherin's] own true heir".  This avoids 
the question of whether there can be more than one at time, since in the 
course of 1,000 years, there must have been several.  My own interpretation 
of the phrase "true heir" would be that, in addition to being a descendant of 
Salazar Slytherin, the person would have to embody the actions and beliefs of 
the founder of the line.  I would not presume to say what these were, but 
they are certainly a factor in which House a person is sorted into.  The 
Sorting Hat, which certainly knows *precisely* what they are, would therefore 
put the "true heir" of Salazar Slytherin in Slytherin House, which I think 
precludes any argument that Tom Riddle was anything but a Slytherin.  The 
Malfoys probably embody these principles as well, but there's no way of 
knowing if they are blood descendants.

So my take on the matter is a matter of hair-splitting semantics.  Each of 
the Founders of Hogwarts has several (perhaps many) "heirs".  A person may be 
heir to one or all of the Founders.  Each has only one "Heir", and one always 
exists.  It is theoretically possible (but unlikely) for a given person to be 
Heir to more than one Founder.  Each has only one "true heir" at a time, and 
possibly not even that many. Since the Founders and their Houses encompass 
different philosophies, I don't see how one could be true heir to more than 
one Founder.

Most of the above is, of course, JMHO.

  --  Ray

Anyone have any idea of who the Ravenclaw master is?




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