[HPforGrownups] Re: To the Extreme

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165112

Snow:

I had given this subject point some consideration in the past
wondering whether a muggleborn witch is more powerful than a
pureblood one.

If you look at the characters that possess the greatest powers in the
books so far they seem to be the ones who have at least one parent
who was a muggle:

. Hermione (said to be "the cleverest witch" of her age Lupin
had ever met)
. Lily ("One of the brightest students" Slughorn ever taught)
. Snape (who was "Brilliant" according to Hermione for using
Logic rather than magic for his part in protecting the stone)
. Dumbledore? ("is an extremely powerful wizard" according to
Snape but we don't know what his parentage is)
. Voldemort (who Snape felt was "highly skilled at Legilimency"
in fact young Tom was using a raw version of it on the orphanage kids
before he was eleven years old.)
. Myrtle (who was bound to the Castle, after following Olive
around harassing her, but was found outside in the lake)

On the other hand we have a few purebloods we know are not very
gifted:

. Neville (who's "family thought...was all-Muggle for ages")
. Ron (who has never dazzled anyone with his magical skills, he
had trouble making a feather fly)
. Crabbe and Goyle (lucky the school even let them in)
. Draco (questionable)

Magpie:
Actually, I don't think it necessarily matters.

. Hermione-exceptionally talented
had ever met)
. Lily -presumably very talented
. Snape -very talented
. Dumbledore? Parentage completely unknown
. Voldemort -very talented
. Myrtle - relative magical talent unknown.
. Neville-has trouble
. Ron - average
. Crabbe and Goyle - below average
. Draco - seems to do fairly well, at least average
James - very talented
Sirius - very talented
Remus - average or slightly above, but seemingly below James and Sirius


Snow:
Then we have the product of purebloods gone bad, which is a Squib.
For being said to be rare, we have two that we are aware of and one
off-screen character that is questionable:

Magpie:
We don't know that Squibs have to be the offspring of Purebloods and we 
don't know the parentage of any of the two Squibs we know.

Snow:
It appears that the strongest wizards are those who have muggle
heritage. Could it be that Salazar Slytherin not only disliked anyone
that was not of pure blood heritage but went to the extreme where
muggle-borns were concerned (when he kept a creature in the Chamber
who's main objective was to seek out and destroy muggle-borns)
because he feared how powerful they are?

Magpie:
That would make his prejudice a little more logical, but it unfortunately 
gets a bit close to simply reversing the prejudice. I suspect the kinds of 
beliefs held by Slughorn (that Muggleborn blood is inferior) are wrong, and 
that the opposite belief would be equally wrong. Characters often inherit 
traits from their parents, but nobody seems bound by their blood when it 
comes to talent.

-m