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harry potter - What defines a Hufflepuff?


I've always struggled to define what makes Hufflepuff a unique house, they seem to share a lot of traits with Gryffindor. I've always considered them to be poorly defined as a house. Going by this link it says this about the houses:




Gryffindor values courage, bravery, loyalty, nerve and chivalry


Hufflepuff values hard work, tolerance, loyalty, and fair play



I've highlighted what I believe to be shared traits (Fair-play and Tolerance, to be a subsumed by chivalry)


As well as this I can't see any instances of a Hufflepuff working harder than a Gryffindor.


What makes Hufflepuff stand out as a house?



Answer



My favorite description of "what makes a Hufflepuff" comes, of all places, from a post on the Office of Letters and Light blog (the good people who bring us National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy every year). Ari, one of their interns, writes:




Hufflepuffs [...] get a pretty raw deal in the world of Harry Potter. You could never describe a Hufflepuff as “ambitious” or “valiant,” or “brilliant.” “Loyal” hardly seems as flashy a trait as any of the others. Jokingly, I used to imagine introducing a Hufflepuff boyfriend to my parents. In the scenario they’d wait until he left before saying, “Well, he’s… nice.” [...]


But we all know a Hufflepuff. Some of our closest friends are probably Hufflepuffs. A Hufflepuff will split a cookie with you, and give you the bigger half without even thinking about it. Hufflepuffs always know how to defuse awkward situations. They make the best wingmen. They’re not dramatic, they don’t fish for compliments, and they never have problems dealing with change. When your ego gets the best of you, a Hufflepuff will keep it in check. Hufflepuffs are charismatic, empathetic, and easy to take for granted because they put their friends before anyone else.


Why? They don’t need a reason why. A Hufflepuff doesn’t need to know the good deeds you’ve done, or how powerful your wand is, and a Hufflepuff doesn’t care how you do at math (thank goodness).



The full post isn't too long and is well worth a read. It made my wife and I realize that one of our best friends is a Hufflepuff through and through -- and we most decidedly are not, though we sometimes wish we were; we'd get a lot more done.


My favorite bit, though, comes in the comments:



I am constantly arguing in favour of Hufflepuff. They're the ones who believe that hard work - devotion to your craft - is more important than some kind of nebulous virtue like courage. Hufflepuffs are the ones who think that having brains is less important than applying brains. Hufflepuffs get their boots wet and their hands dirty, and they make things happen without demanding attention because they've got better things to do.


Granny Weatherwax would be a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff is hardcore.




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