Dark Magic

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 176681

>   Rowena:
> 
>   As I have said before I disagree with this, nor do I think JKR 
> intends to suggest any such thing. According to the Sorting Hat 
> itself Gryffindor and Slytherin started out as good friends and 
why 
> on earth would the other three founders have teamed up with 
a 'Dark 
> Wizard'? 

lizzyben:

Dumbledore & Grindelwald were buddies once, that doesn't make 
Grindelwald a good guy. 

Rowena:
Clearly Slytherin did not insist on 'purebloods' only 
> otherwise there would have been no half-bloods like Riddle and 
Snape 
> in his house. 


lizzyben:

"Said Slytherin, we'll take those whose blood is purest." He did 
insist on pure-bloods, accepting half-bloods as a presumable second-
best when there weren't enough pure-bloods to fill the house.

Rowena:
Nor do we really know why he concealed the Basilisk, 
> later legend is not necessarily accurate. It seems to me quite 
> probable that it was intended as a defense againsst a possible 
Muggle 
> attack on the school aided and abetted by Muggle born students. 

lizzyben:

Or maybe he was just an old softie, like Hagrid, and thought the 
Basilik monster was harmless & just needed a home. :)

>From HP Lexicon:
"Salazar Slytherin believed that only pure-blood witches and wizards 
should be allowed to attend Hogwarts. He got into an argument with 
Godric Gryffindor about this and eventually left the school. There 
was a legend that Slytherin built a secret chamber somewhere in 
Hogwarts that only his true heir would be able to open. This 
chamber, called the Chamber of Secrets, contained a monster that 
would finish his "noble purpose" of killing all the Muggle-born 
students at Hogwarts."

Killing all muggle-born students was Slytherin's "noble purpose". 
Oh, and Slytherin also looked "ancient and monkey-like." Just wanted 
to throw that in there.

Contrast this w/the description of Godric Gryffindor: "Godric 
Gryffindor was the most accomplished dueller of his time, an 
enlightened fighter against Muggle-discrimination." And "he has mane-
like red hair, green eyes, and a powerful build." *swoon* Handsome 
AND enlightened! 


> > lizzyben:
> > 
> > Yes, the mascot of Slytherin House is a murderer. This shows
> > Slytherins aren't bad because...? I mean, their own ghost 
is "bad" -
> > a symbol of obsessive love, yet! 
> 
>   Rowena:
> 
>   A *REPENTENT* murderer a very important point. Does the fact 
> Ravenclaw's ghost was a thief make them 'bad' too?

lizzyben:

Since Ravenclaw hasn't been associated with evil, darkness, racism, 
deadly monsters and the murder of innocent students... I'm going to 
say no. Whereas Slytherin is all of these things, and PLUS their 
mascot is a murderer. It's basically JKR shouting at 
readers "Slytherins are BAD! Got it??" In interviews, she seems 
honestly mystified that anyone would like Slytherins. And when she 
found out some fans self-identified as Slytherins, she said that she 
was *shocked* and *disturbed*. Does that sound like she thinks 
Slytherin is just another House? Or just a personality type? No, she 
reacts as if people were self-identifying as Nazis or something, 
because that's what Slytherin represents to her. 

That's why she says the books are about "tolerance." Slytherins are 
the evil, racist, intolerant people that the good, enlightened, 
tolerant people can beat up to show how enlightened they are. We're 
not supposed to be *tolerant* of Slytherins at all.


lizzyben