Heir of other houses

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 84864

Troels wrote: 
> The conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin seems to me to
> represent, to some extend, the conflict between good and evil
> in the magical world.
> The conflict between good and evil might be said to, in the
> magical world, be fought by proxy through the inter-house
> conflict. In that respect the cause of Gryffindor might be
> just that; to oppose Slytherin. To the extend that there is
> an "Heir of Slytherin" the Gryffindor (current or old) who
> opposes this Slytherin can be said to inherit the role of the
> house founder; that of opposing Slytherin.

Surely this view is an oversimplification. For one thing, it leaves
out Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, which would also be "good" in this view.
Look at Cedric Diggory, eulogized by Dumbledore and mourned by the
whole school--even the Slytherins. Look at Dolores Umbridge, who is
indisputably evil, but neither a Slytherin nor a Death Eater. Look at
Dumbledore's words to Harry (I think they're DD's--correct me if I'm
wrong): "The world is not divided into good people and Death Eaters."
That being the case, the WW is not divided into good people and
Slytherins, either. Snape, the Slytherin, is not wholly evil; Sirius
and James, the (highly probable) Gryffindors, are not wholly good.
Look at the words of the Sorting Hat in OotP: Godric Gryffindor and
Salazar Slytherin were the best of friends. The conflict between them
brought division to the school. The solution is not for the Slytherins
to side with the Death Eaters and LV against the rest of the school
but for the houses to unite and act as one to resist evil. I'm
paraphrasing, I'm sorry, but I'm sure someone can find the exact
quote. The idea of an heir of any house now that the memory of Tom
Riddle has been exorcised from the Chamber of Secrets and his diary
destroyed is inimical to this vision of unity. (I don't think it will
happen, at least not till a lot of people have been killed in VW2, but
nevertheless it's the ideal JKR would like to see achieved: Not just
the houses but the various species of thinking beings from House Elves
to Centaurs united against evil. Somehow the idea of Slytherin as the
epitome of evil just doesn't fit this vision.

Carol