Skip to main content

Sorting Harry Into A House



When the sorting hat was placed on Ronald Weasley's head, it instantly decided Gryffindor, just because he was another Weasley.


On the other hand, the Black family were all Slytherins, except Sirius.
I'm guessing Sirius pleaded to be a Gryffindor.


If Harry pleaded not to be a Slytherin, why didn't the sorting hat go:



Not Slytherin... OK, that's easy to arrange. Ah, another Potter. Gryffindor!



The sorting hat thought for a while.
At one point, it considered sorting Harry into Slytherin.


Maybe to increase the suspense.




Answer



There are 3 issues with the assumptions in the question, which should explain away the confusion when addressed:




  1. The hat does not always decide quickly (as it would if it was merely ancestry based).


    Harry wasn't the lone exception for deliberations:



    Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. 'Finnigan, Seamus', the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.



    ...




    When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR'...



    Also, covered in this SFF question or this.




  2. Ron being placed into Gryffindor wasn't about being a Weasley (the Hat was basically jesting) - there are examples of people NOT being placed in same house as their families (Sirius Black, as you yourself noted. Or Andromeda Tonks. Or Patil sisters who got split between houses):



    “Oh no, not necessarily,” said Hermione. “Parvati Patil’s twin’s in Ravenclaw, and they’re identical. You’d think they’d be together, wouldn’t you?” (GoF, Ch 12, The Triwizard Tournament)




    The hat's main reason for placing you in the house is how well suited your potential is to the house.


    Ron - with his straightforwardness and bravery - would be a no-brainer for Gryffindor.




  3. I'm not sure where you got the idea that the Hat - after Harry asked not to be in Slytherin - dithered for a while about other houses. It considered other houses before Harry stated his "not Slytherin" preference:



    'Hmm,' said a small voice in his ear. 'Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see {{ Gryffindor - DVK }}. Not a bad mind, either {{ Ravenclaw - the Hat was clearly off its rocker there - DVK }}. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?'



    ... and placed him in Gryffindor right away after rejecting Slytherin by his request:




    Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.'


    'Not Slytherin, eh?' said the small voice. 'Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you're sure – better be GRYFFINDOR!'





All unattributed quotes are from "Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone", Chapter 7, The Sorting Hat


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

Which Doctor Who works are canon?

I have been watching a Doctor Who documentary and they mentioned that Paul McGann did audio stories so he wasn't just a one-hit Doctor (and that there are novels featuring his Doctor as well). My question is: is Doctor Who canon just the show, or is it like Star Wars where some books and audios are canon and some are not? The documentary also shows that before 2005 they did audio stories where the Doctor is female and obviously that cannot be — not the female part, but the show doesn't count any female Doctors in episodes like The Day of the Doctor . Answer Nothing, and also everything The definitive piece of writing on Doctor Who canon is this blog post by writer Paul Cornell . I'm essentially going to be summarizing his post here, much less eloquently, but one section I want to quote directly is this: Nobody at the BBC has ever uttered a pronouncement about what is and isn't canonical. (As I'm sure they'd put it, being such enthusiasts for good grammar.) Be...
Post a Comment
Read more