Pureblood Vs. Halfblood (was Dudley as HBP??!!)

[jakedjensen]

No: HPFGUIDX 106322

> 
> Tilly adds:
>> 
> I would be inclined toward a similar idea for pureblooded wizards. 
A 
> pureblood would be one who had wizarding ancestors for a specified 
> number of generations, in a specified number of lines of descent.
> 
> A muggleborn equates with someone who is raised to the nobility. 
Both 
> parents are muggles.
> 
> A halfblood is someone who falls between the two. Either one 
parent  
> is a muggle or there is a muggle within the specified number of 
> generations. 
>

Jake replies:

I think you are right to associate the blood lineage in the WW with 
history in the real world (french aristocracy seems to be a fitting 
group to pick as well). The point that I was driving at, and I think 
we basically agree on this, is that the blood in question is the 
blood of the old wizarding families. So, for example, when someone 
says they are "pure-blood" they are referring to the extent to which 
they are related (by blood) to the old wizarding families. This is 
how aristocracies function, everything is a matter of blood. Not just 
any blood of course, there is always some old, noble blood that 
everyone is trying to claim stake in. 

So what's a half-blood? Well, that's the real debate in an 
aristocracy. Trying to prove you have significant stake in the blood 
lineage. Ernie Mac. does so, as an act of defense, by asserting the 
length to which he can trace his blood lineage back. Ernie is trying 
to show he has a strong connection to the old blood. He needs to do 
this because the difference between pure-bloods and half-bloods is 
somewhat subjective in the WW (and in most aristoc.). Few, if any, 
wizards have 100% old family blood in them, so the difference between 
pure and half is a matter of opinion. There does seem to be some sort 
of threshhold though, as people generally agree on who is half and 
who is not. In aristocracies, immediate lineage dictates status 
(hence Ernies generational claim). If you are already falling apart 
(blood wise) one generation back, then you are a half-blood. Once 
agian, matters of blood are (and always have been) subjective. Hence 
the need to defend one's blood (i.e., Ernie). 

SO, a half-blood's "half" is their blood connection to the old wizard 
families. If you have no connection, you cannot be a half. It doesn't 
matter whether two muggle-bloods have a child...the child still has 
no blood connection to the old wizarding families. They are what 
aristocracies call "new money." And, as is always the case, new money 
can try to buy into the bloodline (think rich merchant marrying his 
daughter to a dead broke third generation son of a royal family), but 
they aren't just in the bloodline because they have money. Does that 
make sense? The difference here is between old family wizarding blood 
and magic blood. Just because you have magic ability (Lily) doesn't 
mean you have any blood connection (which she doesn't). Harry does 
though, becuase James was had old blood. So now Harry's half. 

I think many people have tried to approach this from the muggle side 
in the past, which is a bit backwards. The blood at hand is the old 
blood. The categorical scheme (pure, half, muggle) is inherently 
oppressive and meant to keep "new blood" (new money) from having any 
power without blood (or any power at all). 

As said earlier,

A pure-blood is someone with direct blood lineage on both sides of 
their immediate family (pure-bloods will, by the way, attempt to 
prove they are more pure than other pure-bloods--Ernie and Malfoy--
because the extent of your purity is a symbol of presige).

A half-blood is someone with at least a drop of old-wizarding blood. 
Some half-bloods, of course, will attempt to claim purity. Others 
will be labeled so thin in old-blood as to be out of the lineage. But 
any amount of blood counts and, in an aristocracy, would be useful.

A muggle-blood has no connection to the old blood. The only way to 
move up (once again, this is an oppressive framework benefitting 
those at the top--not surprising since it's their framework) is to 
buy into the blood (through marriage). The muggle-blood that marries 
a pure or half, of course, remains a muggle-blood, but their children 
will then move up in blood status. 

What would happen if two muggle-bloods had a child? Nothing (in terms 
of blood). Think about it: If two rich merchants had a child, the 
child wouldn't suddenly become royality. To become royality, in an 
aristocracy, you have to merge with the lineage itself.

Whew! That was a long one. But hopefully I have made sense.

Jake