All evil wizards from Slytherin, was What the Sorting hat really said.

[David & Lisa Seuferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 84965

>I also think there will be a revelation that some extremely
>significant character will was a Slytherin; possibly Sirius and maybe
>James. I think that is one of the reasons why JKR is being vague about
>the houses of many of the characters in the book. 
>

Hello!  I am new to this list and am so happy to find  you discussing 
one of my favorite subjects.  I think, after carefully reading the 
Humongous Big File, that I am supposed to say a little about myself on 
my first post?  I am a 36 y/o mom of 4 kids.  I found Harry Potter when 
a fellow home-schooling mom sent me an email with a tirade on how evil 
it was, and what I could do to help ban the books.  I figured if this 
particular extremist group was so upset about it, it must be a pretty 
good book so I rushed right out and bought it!  This was right after the 
publishing of GoF.  I now have all books both in hardback and unabridged 
audio cassette, and either read and/or listen to them nearly 
continually.  In spite of all this, I am not very good at catching the 
subtleties of JKR, and spend any spare moment on some HP sites so that I 
can learn about them, and the speculations that arise from them. If you 
ever "see" me on one of these other sites, I am invariably "Mrs. 
Weasley" or "Molly Weasley" as hers is the character I identify with the 
closest.  So, enough?  On to my point.

On the Harry Potter UK forum that I also visit, there is speculation 
that when Harry is told that "there's not a witch or wizard who went bad 
that wasn't in Slytherin", that this was merely an exaggeration, or 
"figure of speech" so to speak. From Hagrid's view point, they would be 
an evil lot, but maybe that is not the whole truth of the situation.  
That perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that "most" or 
"nearly all" evils came from there.  The suggestion is that this was 
done intentionally by JKR so that the reader would immediately assume 
Slytherin=bad, Griffindor=good.  So that later, of course, she could 
show how blinding those predjudices can really be.

They use Wormtail as an example, and the assumption that James, Remus, 
Sirius, and Lupin were in the same house.  They of course carry this 
further to the speculative assumption that they were all four in 
Griffendor, and Wormtail went bad, therefore not EVERY evil wizard can 
have come out of Slytherin.  Also they cite Percy, and his overpowering 
ambition that may in the future border on evil, yet he was a Griffindor.

At any rate, I have been generally intrigued by these theories 
surrounding the houses, and particularly the Griffindor/Slytherin 
relationship.  I love how JKR is so vague about which house(s) the 
Marauders were in, as I enjoy the speculation.   I really hope we learn 
more details about their houses before all is over.  I will go back to 
Lurking, and be interested in reading your thoughts and ideas. 


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