Heirs of Ravenclaw & Hufflepuff was Re: Why the Potters?

[David Burgess]

No: HPFGUIDX 58434

> David Burgess went out on a limb and wrote:
> <<<Has anyone but me noticed that Hermione and Ron
> seem to be in the wrong
> houses? Clearly, these two should have been sorted
> into Hufflepuff and
> Ravenclaw (respectively? I don't have my books handy).

Proving once again that if you can make a mistake in a public forum, you
certainly will.  So, out onto the limb, saw in hand....

I can never keep the traits of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw straight.

How's this - Exchange Hufflepuff for Ravenclaw and vice versa.

Once you've done that, you can still ignore the whole thing - it's just me
thinking out loud.

>
> <snippity snip>
>
> <<<Yes, I am suggesting that Ron (who comes from a
> pureblood family that
> could easily go back to a certain Miss Ravenclaw) is
> the heir of that
> bloodline. I'm still a little how Hermione ended up
> here (coming from a
> Muggle family) but it does seem to follow that she's
> either the heir, or
> the image of, Miss Hufflepuff.>>>
>
> And now me, that is Odile, peers up from the the
> bottom of the tree to write:
>
> Er, how is that you came to believe that Ron is the
> possible heir of Ravenclaw?  And that Hermione is the
> heir of Helga Hufflepuff?  Their first initials?
> <--not to be snerky, honest!

I guessed.  I didn't have the books handy, and didn't have the resources
available to check at that moment: Murphy's law.

>
> I ask because, according to the hypothesis?-
> hypothosis?- er, *theory* of the whole heir issue,
> Harry Potter may be Godric Gryffindor's heir because
> GG and HP share similar traits (bravery, daring,
> etc.); just as Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort is Salazar
> Slytherin's heir (cunning, general nastiness, etc.)
>
> Ravenclaws are the intellectuals - the air signs, if
> you follow the astrological association; just as
> Hufflepuffs are the earth signs: loyal, steadfast,
> "down to earth."  (Gryffs would be the fire signs &
> Slyths the water signs, to finish the thought.)
>

Hermione is certainly an intellectual.  She is educated and smart (I
differentiate the same way I do for "stupid" and "ignorant").

We've seen enough of Ron to see that, while he is as loyal and down to
earth, bravery isn't actually his strong suit.  He's not craven, by amy
means, but his fears do get in the way sometimes.

The one thing about this heir theory that I'm shaky on is how Hermione
(from an apparently completely Muggle lineage) manages to be the "heir" of
Ravenclaw.  Even I'm interested to see how I resolve that one. :-)

> So, I am interested to know how you came to think of
> Ron as Ravenclaw's heir when he is not exactly a star
> pupil and Hermione as Hufflepuff's heir when, although
> she is indeed loyal, she is also brave and daring
> enough for Gryffindor.
>

I don't see Hermione's actions as brave and daring as much as I see them
as the logical response to a given situation.  She analyzes the situations
and proceeds with the clearest course of action, in the understanding that
she is ready to roll.  While that certainly takes courage, it takes far
more trust in one's intellect.

Ron, on the other hand, is much more emotional and much less logical.  We
see it over and over again - The Devil's Snare is the example that
immediately comes to mind.  Ron isn't brave, but will 'body guard' Harry
and Hermione to a fault ("eat slugs" is the best example I have right
now).  Ron's whole family seems to be like this; even Jinny Weasley is
like this - she stands up to Draco in Flourish and Blotts the second or
third time we see her in the series.

The one place that I really see Ron shining is his grasp of strategy. 
(Movie contamination possible here)  Ron spends most of SS/PS trying to
teach Harry Wizards chess.  We've seen that Harry is a quick study, and in
the challenges, he sees what is going to happen before the end of the
chess game.  Ron probably knew quite a while before Harry did, but Harry
was able to see what was going to happen in the next couple of moves once
Ron prodded him.

My background is professional military, and one of the things that has
I've noticed over time is that the most effective leaders rely on great
strategists to come up with their plans, which the leader implements.  I
see Ron and Harry's relationship evolving the same way.  With one or two
exceptions, the great Generals have relied on great planners to come up
with truly great solutions to tactical and strategic problems.  Great
plans rely on great intelligence.  Hermione is a great correlator of facts
and information, and provides the intell the rest of the group needs to
make good decisions.

So, once again, I ask "Are Ron and Hermione in the right houses?"  Now
that we have that little bit of house name confusion out of the way, the
real question still stands.

Ron is a terrific lieutenant, but isn't the born leader that Harry is.   I
still see Ron and Hermione as being in the "wrong" houses (as far as the
traits of the houses go).

There are two possible canonical explanations, as far as I'm concerned. 
The first is the simple one - the Sorting Hat doesn't actually care much
about which house you go into an selects the students' houses pretty much
capriciously.  It might have a vague idea about what you're like, but it's
more interesting in sorting 35 students into each house every year.  The
second (much more palatable, I assure you) is that the Hat is actually up
on current events and knows what's going on.  It doesn't sort the houses
based on the students' abilities, but on the "best mix" to protect the
school, and by extension, the WW.  If this was true, then each of the
non-Slytherin houses would have a mix of what we would call "true
Ravenclaws, etc.".  We've seen this before, in the Pettigrew fiasco from
James and Lily's time at Hogwarts.

Of course, the real reason (the literary craft reason) is that Harry needs
a good Hufflpuff and Ravenclaw to make the adventures work, and it's just
too hard to get this from the houses they belong in.

-- 
Dave Burgess
Bellevue, NE 68123