Sorting Hat - Slytherin Truth -Additional Thought

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 115753


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" 
> <annemehr at y...> wrote:
> > OoP:
> > Said Slytherin, 'We'll teach just those
> > Whose ancestry is purest.'
> > [...]
> > For instance, Slytherin
> > Took only pure-blood wizards
> > Of great cunning, just like him,
> > 
> > I notice that the hat never mentions pure-bloodedness until it's
> > relating the *history* of who Salazar chose *himself.*  I'm not 
> sureif that means anything.  We do know that during the last 50 
> or 60 years, the House has had both purebloods and 
> half-bloods, but know of no Muggleborns at all. 
>
> annemehr

 
> pippin
>
> Hmmm..."pure-blood wizards...just like him" --What if that 
> means, 'not really pure at all'? Could he have been a closet 
> halfblood ? Maybe Salazar is the Halfblood Prince!
> 
> Pippin

bboyminn:

What I was thinking of was Prof. Binns answer to Hermione during
History class in CoS.

--- CoS, Am Ed, Hb, Pg 149-151 ---
"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together,
seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing
them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang
up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the
others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students
admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should
be kept within all-magic families. ***He disliked taking students of
Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy.*** After a
while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin
and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."

    Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like
a wrinkled old tortoise.

    "Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But
these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of
the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a
hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders
knew nothing."

    "Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of
Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true
heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal
the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to
purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

- - - end quote - - -

It's true the book does try to lead us to believe that Slytherin was a
/racist/. But it's hard to tell how much of that is self-serving
exaggeration, and how much is truth. It's clear Slytherin had a bias
against Muggles, and had justifiable reasons to hate what some muggle
were doing at that time, but I don't feel that confident that
Slytherin was an evil nasty hatefulled monster. He and Gryffindor were
apparently very close friends, and if Slytherin was that nasty and
hate-filled, it would seem reasonable that Gryffindor would have
figured it out before he entered into a partnership in the school with
him. 

I'm not saying Slytherin was a real sweetheart or anything, he might
have been somewhat Snape-like, but if his true nature was as bad as he
is made out, why did the other three founders become partners in the
school with him? That seems sufficient doubt, at least for me, to
question whether Voldemort and other purebloods'portrayal of Slytherin
is accurate.

Of course, I can't prove this for sure. All we can do is wait for the
remaining books to clear things up. But I think we should be very
cautions of taking people's word 1,000 years after the fact.

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)