Sorting Hat

[Kethryn]

No: HPFGUIDX 115690



> > Kethryn: If the Slytherins love purebloods so much and you can't 
hide anything from the Sorting Hat, why oh why do halfbreeds end up 
in Slytherin?  One would think that, since ancestry is what caused
Salazar to split from Hogwarts, the Hat would know better (or be
bewitched) than to put people into Slytherin that aren't pureblood. 
Of course, the Hat does take it upon itself to occasionally teach
object lessons... < < 


>>Tammy said - 
Well, the supply of purebloods is probably getting a little thin,
there's a reference to that in SS/PS. 

But more importantly perhaps the Hat has taken it upon itself to look
more at attitude than actual blood. For example Millicent Bullstrode
is a halfblood (at least according to that book that JKR showed on
TV), but if Millicent doesn't know it, and the family doesn't
acknowledge it, then perhaps it doesn't matter much to the hat. Tom
Riddle was a halfblood and was a Slytherin. Not just because he was
the heir, but he had the attitude of a Slytherin, that wizards are
better than muggles. He hated muggles, and perhaps that's more
>>important to the hat?


But that raises the question of why should the Hat perpetuate the cycle?  If the Hat looks at the person's characteristics and not their blood, why on earth would the Hat set up the Houses for the maximum amount of enmity?  Or maybe that is to keep the peace within the Houses themselves and to heck with the rest of the school?  The Sorting Hat mentions his own doubts about the sorting in OotP so, obviously, he is not sure that he is doing the right thing. 

I can accept that the Hat chooses on attitude, I am really just wondering why Salazar did not bewitch the Hat to force it to only take purebloods into Slytherin.  Maybe he couldn't or maybe he tried and failed.  It's just a little odd to me that he would do nothing about it since he raised such a stench about it in the first place.

Kethryn who is thankful her job in life is not the Sorting Hat.  Can you imagine sorting someone and having them burst into tears because they don't think they will fit in?