The good Slytherin (mild TBAY)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 131541


Neri wrote:
"Umm, I guess you have a perfectly reasonable and innocent reason why
old Sally sneaked a XXXXX classified monster into a school? "

Del replies:
Go ask Hagrid. He does that all the time. He even deliberately puts
his monsters in contact with the kids, which Slytherin didn't do.

Neri wrote:
"In the HP saga, if you're half giant or a werewolf or the son of Dark
wizards or whatever, you are supposed to show in some way that you
aren't bound by your unfortunate ancestry."

Del replies:
Who put you in charge of writing the rules of the Potterverse, Neri?
Have you exercised Legilimency on JKR, that you can pretend to know
what she expects of her characters? And how do you know when to put
the time limit for one showing their colours?

You are not JKR, Neri. You have no authority to declare what are the
rules of the Potterverse.

If anything, one of the main rules that JKR has alluded to is: "judge
people individually, not according to who their family or friends are,
or whatever particular trait they have".

Neri wrote:
"As you've probably realized by now, they were included so I won't be
accused of skewing the statistics by taking the good Slytherins out of
it. Since they're so few, they don't really prove that Slytherin house
is not evil. They only prove that some good people may be found even
in an evil establishment. "

Del replies:
I notice you conveniently avoided to mention all the neutral
Slytherins, the ones we don't know much about. Let's compare your list
with the Lexicon's one, shall we? I've taken the Lexicon's list, and
taken out of it all the names you mentioned on your list. Those were
those that were left:

* Baddock, Malcolm (1994 - 2001)
* Bletchley, Miles
* Bole (1989 - 1995)
* Davis, Tracey (witch) (1991-1998) (HPM)
* Derrick (1989 - 1995)
* Greengrass, Daphne (1991 - 1998) (HPM, OP31)
* Higgs, Terence
* Pritchard, Graham (1994 - 2001)
* Pucey, Adrian (c.1989 - 1996 or 1997)
* Warrington, C. (1989? - 1996)
* Zabini, Blaise (1991 - 1998)

Miles Bletchley, Bole, and Warrington might be construed as being
not-too-nice. But the others are total unknowns.

Looks like this might screw up your statistics a bit...

Neri wrote:
"But changing the whole role that Slytherin house, with its dogma and
values, has been playing in the series would be lousy writing."

Del replies:
Maybe it's you who've been doing some lousy reading, because I
personally have NO problem imagining that Slytherin House is in no way
the block of prejudice, hatred and treachery that some paint it here.

I see INDIVIDUALS in Slytherin. I don't see a House. All the
Slytherins are individuals, just like all the Gryffindors, all the
Ravenclaws, and all the Hufflepuffs are individuals. Expecting less
diversity in Slytherin than in any of the other 3 Houses is very lousy
reading IMO.

Neri wrote: 
"But perhaps the worst news for the House-Slytherin-Isn't-Evil fans
are that JKR (like Voldemort) is now in dire need of evil recruits."

Del replies:
Draco will possibly bring his gang to LV, just like his father did.
But we know of very few people in Slytherin outside Lucius's gang who
became DEs, so there is no reason to believe that many outside of
Draco's gang will become DEs this time around.

And may I remind you that the current Slytherin Head-of-House is
anti-LV, and that the one DE who helped LV come back to life is a
Gryffindor?

Neri wrote:
"JKR has been showing us that the roots of evil start at home and at
school, and that evil is created by people and their values, not by
demons and monsters. Surely this is what Slytherin house was invented
for?"

Del replies:
Writing the Potterverse rules again, are you? Who are you to say why
Slytherin House was invented? Maybe it was invented so kids would
learn, through Harry, that we shouldn't take anybody else's word as to
who our enemy is, and that we shouldn't condemn anyone just because
they happen to be related to an enemy?

Del