Slytherin as villains

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 179079

> Alla:
> 
> AH. But this is a different angle IMO and I basically agree with you, 
> sort of. I totally agree that whether or not they actually joined 
> Voldemort, Slytherin HOUSE as an entity appears to be a villanous one.
> 
> As I totally thought they would at the end. Notice that I say HOUSE, 
> not the people in it. HOUSE with the poisonous ideology, I did not 
> think will be anything other than villain.
> 
> But House is just that, a basically mirage, is it not?
> 
> I thought that it was brilliantly done when JKR made a point of 
> Slytherins leaving, whom we basically did not even get to meet 
> through the story ( well, except Draco of course) and when she showed 
> individuals Slytherins IMO that they are decent, etc.
> 

a_svirn:
I don't quite understand what you mean by "mirage", but as for decent
people and villainous entities I'd say it is the other way round. The
bad and the good characters in HP books are defined through
association. The Order of the Phoenix's reson d'etre is to fight Evil,
therefore its members are good guys by definition. (Even though some
of them are petty thieves and would-be murderers.) Scrimgeour might
have done his best to stop Voldemort, indeed, he laid down his life
fighting him, yet he still doesn't qualify as a good guy – precisely
because he wasn't part of this band of brothers and sisters. And if
the house of Slytherin is evil then it follows that Slytherins are bad
eggs. Frankly, I think it even holds true in real life. I mean, would
a decent person form a part of some villainous entity? Say, join 
Koo-Klux Klan?