Skip to main content

harry potter - Which Side Did the Slytherins Ultimately Fight For at the Battle of Hogwarts?


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bit murky regarding the Slytherin students and their role in the final Battle of Hogwarts. We know the following:



  • Professor McGonagall advises Professor Slughorn that she expects the Slytherins in the Great Hall following Snape's departure. She warns Slughorn that it is time for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties, and that if the Slytherins resist the attempt to fight Voldemort, they will duel to the death. (Deathly Hallows - Pages 599-600 US Hardcover)

  • Slytherin Pansy Parkinson attempts to have Harry turned over to Voldemort when Voldemort threatens to attack Hogwarts. McGonagall sends all of Slytherin House from the Great Hall. (Deathly Hallows - Page 610 US Hardcover)



  • Voldemort advises Lucius Malfoy that all the Slytherins have joined Voldemort's side. (Deathly Hallows - Page 641 US Hardcover)




  • Phineas Nigellus, following the Battle of Hogwarts and Voldemort's death, says to Harry when Harry visits the Headmaster's Office, "And let it be known that Slytherin House played its part! Let our contribution not be forgotten!" (Deathly Hallows - Page 747 US Hardcover)




What role did the Slytherins ultimately play in the Battle of Hogwarts? Did they resist Voldemort, assist him, or play both sides of the fence?



Answer



The Slytherins came back and fought against Voldemort in the final battle, with Horace Slughorn leading the charge!




JN: And how much is it that being sorted into Slytherin is, you know, sorted into good guys and bad guys here?

JKR: Well, they’re not all bad, that would- I know I’ve said this before, (JN: Yeah, I remember.) and I think I said it to Emerson [Spartz - Mugglenet.com], they are not all bad, and, well, far from it. As we know, at the end, they may have (laughs) a slightly more highly developed sense of self-preservation then other people because…

SU: Yeah, right.

JN: Yeah.

JKR: A part of the final battle that made me smile was Slughorn galloping back with Slytherins, (SU: Yes!) (JN: laughs) but they’d gone off to get reinforcements first, you know what I’m saying? But yes, they came back, they came back to fight, so I mean- but I’m sure that many people would say “Well, that’s common sense, isn’t it? Isn’t that smart, to get out, get more people and come back with them?”

Pottercast # 131 -- The Leaky Cauldron -- 01.02.08



In this context, JKR's explanation leads me to conclude that Phineas Nigellus was referring to Slytherin House as a whole when he made his comment about "Slytherin having played its part."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more