Why Does the Sorting Hat Choose Half-Bloods for Slytherin? - Harry Potter Theory

[@HarryPotterTheory]

...And even MUGGLE-BORNS! Check out my last video..Top 10 Darkest Moments LEFT OUT of the Films - kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3LCiGWha7OIfJI

[@stephaniepage4334]

This video is awesome

[@JoshuaGanoTyraxLightning]

Another possibility: Over time, the Sorting Hat is gonna get older and older and it's bound to get more and more Senile as time goes on. It's magical so it's probably going Senile magically slowly, but how can it escape Senility and just never get affected by it? :P The theory about Godric tampering with the Hat to prevent Slytherin Pure Blood 100% Enrollment is also very plausible... there's already precedent of a Magical Artifact being 'programmed' to specific criteria but clever skilled enough tampering affecting that 'programming'... I of course refer to the Goblet of Fire.

[@magicpyroninja]

A whole lot of lives could have been saved if the sorting Hat had just dropped one person into Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin😅

[@magicpyroninja]

Imagine Tom Riddle beast tamer

[@juliie007]

There’s one issue that bugs me about Voldermont and I wish you can make video on it Why was he never adopted considering the fact that many orphanages at the time had babies adopted out because muggles prefer infants who they can raise as their own as they see fit. According to the caretakers at Voldermont’s orphanage he was an easy baby who never cried that much another bonus in making him the ideal baby to raise. If he was adopted and raised in a loving home by muggles how would that have changed his outcome. Also touch on why there’s no foster care system in the wizard world to have magical children cared for in the magicalWorld if there are no suitable guardians.

[@neilbakshi7365]

Salazar Slytherin valued several qualities in his students, so it's possible that these non-pure-blood students were so strong in all the other qualities that they still belonged in Slytherin House more than anywhere else. Plus, don't forget - the sorting house takes your wishes into account! It is our choices that make us who we are. Possibly the greatest lesson from the Harry Potter novels.

[@speelparadijs2922]

Probably a good alibi to get into slytherin and be an half-blood in disguise?:o

[@seasickviking]

another thing to consider is that instead of there being evolution in the house or some bizarre loophole, an equally reasonable explanation is that the exact qualifications of Pureblood and Halfblood might have changed. back in the medieval era (which is when Hogwarts first founded), Pureblood could've simply meant the child of two magical parents, regardless of whether of the status of said parents. That, in turn, would mean Halfblood was the offspring of a magical & muggle. After all, back in that time, the idea of a magical bloodline was incredibly rare (especially since the magical population as a total was small), and in THAT context, Salazar was just encouraging the birth and prosperity of fully magical children instead of bringing muggles into society. Magicals were often hunted at the time, so Salazar probably feared the idea muggleborns being used as spies by the church (or overly religious parents) to expose their location. It would certainly make more sense than him simply being some magical supremacist during the same time as the bloody Crusades

[@opinanlosjovenesrd3477]

Sorting hat*

[@fransmith3255]

Exactly. The element of CHOICE was very strong in the books. This is the loophole. Not the hat changing for the times.

[@azureascendant994]

A theory states that Salazar Slytherin himself was not a pure blood wizard but a half blood or muggle considering the wand he wielded. He most likely wanted to hide his own background. The hat just knows everything and knows what kind of students Slytherin needs. 😂

[@barbiquearea]

J.K Rowling once pointed out that there are no more fully pure blooded magic users. That means every witch and wizard currently alive and will be born in the future, has or will have some muggle blood in their DNA. Therefore even if its what Slytherin wanted, it would be impossible for the Sorting Hat to pick students of absolute pure blood status.

[@jooopajoo1030]

I believe she said that it is unclear if there are any but yeah you are right. There simply arent enough pure bloods so the Sorting Hat has to settle on the next best thing.

[@carmensavu5122]

@@jooopajoo1030 That was my immediate reaction too. The Sorting Hat started putting half-bloods into Slytherin simply because there aren't that many pure-bloods left. Imagine being the only one to be sorted into Slytherin in your year. Hey, you'll have an entire dorm to yourself, but it would still be weird.

[@gullinvarg]

I was thinking something similar. Essentially the house would gradually die out. However, the Sorting Hat might not actually know that a student wasn't pure blood if the student didn't know.

[@TFAric]

Then it maybe was time for Slytherin house to simply, die out with his ideals.

[@toeput5425]

On the flip side because magic is partially a genetic trait its possible that anyone who can use magic had magic ancestors, so anyone who can use magic isn't a muggle at all.

[@ginnyjollykidd]

One other possibility you didn't mention is that pure blood witches and wizards aren't the only ones who display Slytherin's desired traits. Muggle - born wizards and witches also display these traits, too. The Sorting Hat, having autonomy of decision, can place half-blood students into Slytherin house if they display the traits. Just like Tom Riddle loathed his muggle father, so could other half-bloods.

[@truthfulkarl]

thats my thought, slytherin values cunning and ambition. common enough and not always negatives

[@tammyjackson1026]

Yes however the others don't loathe their fathers Mr. Riddles father was a jerk

[@tammyjackson1026]

@@truthfulkarl no not really

[@tammyjackson1026]

@rodrigosantosvaleriano1859 yes however there is a reason why Mr. Riddle doesn't really care too much for the other side of his family

[@jamesmachuta2010]

I always assumed that the Half-Blood loophole was caused by the hat's inability to sense blood status. The Sorting Hat can only sense their mental traits not their whole history

[@williamh3622]

The hat uses Legilimency, so if the student considers him/herself to be Pure Blooded, the hat will know it, and I'd say that is the greatest influencer for placing a student in Slytherin. If the student doesn't know or care about blood status, then it would matter less than the student's other traits. And, since the Hat takes the student's wishes into account, Purebloods who don't want to be Slytherin can end up elsewhere. Finally, there may also be an unspoken onus on the hat to keep the population of each house roughly equal. With the decline in the number of Purebloods, it may allow Halfbloods in Slytherin just to keep the numbers up.

[@sollyfan]

Muggle borns do have magical ancestors, they are descendants of squibs, JK herself said that squibs still carry the “magic gene”. When it comes to muggle Borns, it’s this dormant gene that pops up again.

[@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi]

^ one or more squibs in the family tree somewhere somewhen........Muggle raised squibish ancestory would be more accurate. I would even agree that muggle raised are dangerous due to having muggle sympathies. More likely a muggle raised to turn on the wizarding world and lead pograms of genocide against magicals. Would be prudent to have muggle raised fostered for at least 1 year by a wizarding family prior to first year and those deemed untrustworthy oblivated and their magic locked down.

[@sollyfan]

@@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi that are the ones in America, but over all muggle borns do have magical blood, just way back in their family tree

[@sollyfan]

@@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi I think it probably went like this: magical family has a child -> child turns out to be a squib -> parents reject/feel shame for, the child -> the squib decides to live in the muggle world -> has children with a muggle -> several generations later, the gene pops up again and boom -> magical child

[@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi]

@@sollyfan yepp...also quite a few would have been from hook ups etc. Males in the real have tons of babies outside of their sanctioned marriages.....I would assume if JK magic world was real then wizard males would cheat just as often with attractive muggle women = technically half blood child born or squib and the cheater decides to not lay claim to the child squib passe latent magic genes down through family line. heck many pure bloods probably wouldn't even lay claim to an active gene half blood.

[@Rowandgs]

JK has also confirmed that not all magic is genetic. So being descended from magic isn’t the only way to know magic.

[@VTdarkangel]

I personally think it was simply a grudging acceptance of reality. The number of pure blood families were dwindling. To maintain that explicit pure blood requirement would lead to a loss of power and influence within the walls of Hogwarts for Slytherin because of fewer and fewer available students to be sorted there. By allowing half bloods to to sorted there, Slytherin could increase their membership with others who would otherwise be sent to the other houses. Otherwise Slytherin would eventually fade into obscurity.

[@kellysouter4381]

I assumed it was the house that suited the nature or character of the student. I think it was Hagrid in the movie Chamber of Secrets who explained that all the magical bloodlines have intermarried with Muggles or they would have died out.

[@konuralpyldzkan1495]

i think the reason is that salazar himself was not a pure blood supremacist. i think he was just trying to protect his students from muggles. that's one of the reasons why they founded hogwarts in the first place. currently, wizards are in a safer environment, so probably sorting hat knows salazar would let half bloods come to his house if he was alive

[@matthiascerebri3315]

And the hat was Gryffindors hat, thus there was not just one Form of believe inside of him

[@exiledhebrew1994]

He literally created the basilisk

[@konuralpyldzkan1495]

@@exiledhebrew1994 to protect wizards from muggles

[@exiledhebrew1994]

@@konuralpyldzkan1495 no; to attack half bloods that got accepted to hogwarts; did you read chamber of secrets?

[@konuralpyldzkan1495]

@@exiledhebrew1994 yes, i did, did you? in the books, it was clearly mentioned that wizards were in danger because of muggles when hogwarts was founded. and salazar was right for his time not to want muggles in his school

[@AvramMoreh]

I’d always just assumed that the Sorting Hat was made before Salazar Slytherin went full pure blood mania; when all the Founders were still friends. So the Hat doesn’t have the same Slytherin pure blood mania that would later plague one of its makers.

[@lottiewright7674]

You’re right, because Salizar (being cunning) wouldn’t have randomly started with pure blood mania, he would have kept it hidden in an attempt to manipulate their way of thinking first

[@mynamesnotdan]

sorting hat on harry's head: "HORCRUX!"

[@AWX_Wrestling]

If you think about it. When Tom Riddle started at Hogwarts. The sorting hat put Riddle in Slytherin. At that point in time, as far as anyone knew, Riddle was a muggleborn.

[@houssamalucad753]

No, as far as anyone knew, they knew nothing. Even voldy didn't know his parents, so he couldn't know his blood purity, so neither could the hat by reading his mind. Keep in mind that the hat possibly couldn't read Snape's mind either since he had a talent for oclimency (or whatever that's called)

[@twentieswiredweird]

The sorting hat could sense Tom knew parseltounge. Even though neither it nor Tom knew his blood status at the time of Tom's sorting, the parceltounge thing alone is a pretty big indication of being a descendant of Salazaar Slytherin, which was probably reason enough to ignore blood status in Tom's case.

[@darkmaster6481]

Funny thing is that all muggle-borns have at least one witch or wizard family in their family history. Squibs remember are born into magical families, but don’t have magic themselves due to the magic trait in their genes going dormant. So when Squibs go live in the muggle world and have families, they pass on the magic trait to their children. Given some time the magic trait will awaken allowing the use of magic giving rise of muggle-born witches and wizards.

[@InTheLionsDen27]

My theory: the hat isn't able to sort pure-bloods from half-bloods etc, because blood status is a social construct, it doesn't really exist, it's quite clear that nobody is truly a "pure-blood", they all have some non-magical ancestry.

[@samiishh]

I think it has to do with the population of pureblood wizards steadily decreasing as marriage between muggleborns and other wizards became less taboo and likely even necessary to keep the magical world going. Slytherin would have had to take in at least halfblood wizards to sustain their numbers

[@DrIdaho]

One theory: Gryffindor secretly added an enchantment so the Sorting Hat takes into account the opinions of past students. After all not all Slytherins agreed with Salazar's ideology. So after Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts the Hat started acknowledging the opinions of Slytherins who disagree with the idea of blood purity.

[@Obez45]

How long does it like for a muggle-born name like Snape, for instance, to become accepted as a pure blood name? Like there must have been some muggle-born wizards that attended school 800 years ago and their name, over time, came to be regarded as pure blood

[@carmensavu5122]

Or if the kid in question turns out to be really gifted and makes a name for himself?

[@patrickwilkerson1728]

I think also it had to be changed for sorting in Slytherin house, as there are fewer pure bloods today, then they were in the past. It will be a very small house compared to the other houses with a low number of our blood students today. And anyway not all pure blood students would be sorted into Slytherin, such as Ron Wesley as he was sorted into Gryffindor.

[@lawrencewalston2272]

It'd been suggested that the four founders were friends before discord set in. Undoubtedly each had their own views on blood-status but might've able to reach a compromise when enchanting hat. On the other hand, if a compromise couldn't have been reached, Helga Hufflepuff seems to be the more likely individual to have included that loophole in the hat regarding half-bloods in Slytherin House as she was the most egalitarian of the founders. After all, she stood for loyalty, hard work, and fair play whereas the latter three prized bravery, wisdom, and ambition above all else.

[@YellowBear-kx1ff]

Me: Reads title Also me: Because Slytherin knew pure-blood families were declining.

[@hackman669]

Same with royals. Over time the pure bloods became weak due to inbreeding, marrying close cousins over many generations. In order to survive the remaining royals started to accept marriage outside of their direct line. Eventually anyone could potentially marry a royal and take part in the kingdom.🤗

[@jamesmurray438]

I think the hat, in terms of sorting students into houses, may also take into account those who's values align with the corresponding founders values. For example, Hermione who undoubtedly displays immense intelect, something she probably must well known for, would seem like an unquestionable Ravenclaw. However she also is highly courageous, ambitious (she becomes minister of magic) and is very loyal and hard working. However in Philosophers Stone, Chapter 16: Through The Trapdoor, pg 208 herself and Harry have a conversation following the potions challenge where they decide Harry should continue onwards to stop Quirrell and Voldy, and Hermione should return to Ron, get help etc. Hermione: Harry - you're a great wizard, you know. Harry: I'm not as good as you Hermione: " 'Me!' said Hermione. 'Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!' " This exhange shows that Hermione values the key trait of Gryffindor (bravery) over the key trait of Ravenclaw (intelect). Therefore perhaps it's more important that the student values the traits associated with a house over actually conforming to the trait. Take Luna Lovegood for example. She is not what most people would think of when they imagine a personification of intelligence. However Luna strongly values intelligence as she says when speaking about her deceased mother that "she was a quiet extraordinary witch" who Luna witnissed dying when Luna was nine, who's death " '...was rather horrible', said Luna conversationally" (Order of the Pheonix, chapter 38: The Second War Begins, pg 760) Obviously it would be quite unusual for a child to bad mouth their deceased parents, but the fact that Luna makes reference to her mothers intellect when describing her can be seen as an indication that Luna finds intelligence to be highly admirable. She could have described her mother as loving, caring, nurturing etc (in an old photo that Harry sees when visiting Lunas home, it is noted that Luna was noticeably better groomed) or could have described Pandora as courageous, ambitious or hard working as she was willing to test and push magical boundaries. So based upon these examples, perhaps the value someone places in traits is a significant factor in the assignment of houses. Tom M. Riddle was, to put it mildly, a bit bias towards blood purity and was quite ambitious. Delores J. Umbridge shared a similar bias towards blood purity (head of muggleborn registration commission, hiding the fact her mother was a muggle and brother whos a squib) and her ambitious nature involved disassociating herself from her father when she joined the ministry as he worked in the department of magical maintenance (he was a cleaner) etc Even Snape hid his fathers muggle status and ended up choosing his Slytherin/Death Eater associates over his friend/love interest by calling her a mudblood when she tried to help him when being bullied by James Potter, therefore showing a potential bias towards blood purity. So it is my belief that there is an incredibly strong case to be made for the sorting hat assigning people to certain houses in no small part to what traits they value, possibly moreso that based upon what traits they exhibit.

[@isabellakeman2016]

wow - you could write a dissertation on this with all your evidence back up! I do agree with you, because most people have more than one personality trait, so the one they value the most could decide which house they go into

[@Lordmewtwo151]

Not to mention the Pettigrew situation. He's not exactly brave (quite the opposite), yet he was sorted into Gryffindor.

[@barbiquearea]

Besides looking at the student's personality traits and aspirations to slot them into the house they are best suited for. I think the Sorting Hat also has to fill a quota for each house so that no one house becomes too overpopulated or have fewer students than the rest.

[@TankredEndures]

But if it does that then it isn't really sorting them based on their personality, is it? Putting students in the wrong house on purpose just to pad the numbers for silly Equality Of Outcome reasons hurts the students who didn't get put in the house they're most suitable for and doesn't really benefit any of the other students. Why would they do that?

[@isabellakeman2016]

@@TankredEndures many people have more than one dominant personality trait - which is shown with people like wormtail, hermione and mcgonnagal, all of whom got a hat stall because they could easily have gone into slytherin or ravenclaw. one of the tipping points could be that one of the houses has more people than the other

[@Morgam06]

Another factor would be that if only pure bloods were accepted into Slytherin there would be a massive imbalance in the number of students in each house. Slytherin would have like 1 new students per year... max. That's a lonely dungeon common room.

[@baystated]

Just because the 4 founders enchanted the hat doesn't mean no one could alter the enchantments afterwards. Perhaps the original pureblood requirement led to Slytherin House having hardly any students at some point. The opposite of a pureblood baby boom. And then school governors or headmasters had to step in and tweak the enchantment to save its enrollment or balance the house populations. Still no muggleborns allowed though, that'd be a cruel sorting.

[@seasickviking]

I like to think that instead of there being some kind of loophole or evolution within the house, I can see something entirely different scenario happening: I think the qualifications of the term "Pureblood" and "Halfblood" has changed over time. If you think about the timeline in which the Four Founders ruled, its entirely possible that "Pureblood" simply meant "a child of two magicals" and "Halfblood" pertained to "child of wizard & muggle" instead of "child from a long line of magical families". If you recall, things like the statute of secrecy wouldn't be established until CENTURIES after the Founder's passing, which means the probability of magicals & muggles intermingling were a lot higher, especially in the Medieval era when entire regions were constantly at war with each other. The odds of the two societies crossbreeding at some point were pretty much guaranteed, so its likely that Salazar (who was well-known for his fear/hatred of muggles) saw this happening and decided to encourage the production of fully magical children instead of bringing more muggle families into the fold.

[@HeatherNickless-vt8zr]

There is one tiny problem with part of the Slytherin House sorting theory; is based on the fact that there are no notable muggleborns included in the Sorting into Slytherin House, because the only groups of Slytherins we know of were either pureblood or Half-Blood.

[@grec.]

Maybe, after Salazar's departure from Hogwarts, it was Godric, after consulting with Helga and Rowena; who changed the way the hat sorted students in the houses. To me, is the most likely.

[@zylowolfzan3345]

It also very well could simply be that the Sorting Hat prioritizes a fair balance of students across the houses as a higher priority than other options. So as Pureblooded wizarding families become rarer and rarer, and those that remain are split between other houses, the Sorting Hat has no choice but to put half-bloods or potentially Muggle-Born students into Slytherin, simply to try and keep the balance of the four houses intact, lest Slytherin house, and thus Salazar Slytherin's main legacy, die out forever. Essentially, the hat's sorting has a priority list, and ensuring the continuation and balance of the four houses is at the top of the list, overriding even Salazar Slytherin's disdain for non-Pureblood wizards. As much as Salazar Slytherin may believe in blood purity, he may very well have accepted that his legacy itself was more important in the end, and accepted such a priority.

[@markbrown2640]

You missed an alternative in the list you made near the end. I think that most avid readers have noticed that the houses are each assigned ten students during the sorting. I know that this doesn't fit with Pottermore's claim about the number of students, but this is not the first or last example of JKR going with feels over probable data.

[@aknightofswords]

I don't think it was any secret plan. It's just Godric's hat. This is a hat that is always judging everyone it comes in contact with to see if they are both worthy and in need of a magic sword. This decision process is Godric's. Everyone else put their motivations into his hat. And let's be clear about something: Bravery is what they call it (because Godric) but it's really about 'competition'. Competition decides who is the best and victory is for the brave! Competition is fair because it should be built on a system that can't be manipulated by ambition. Diversity breeds strength through conflict, and this would be fundamental to Godric's beliefs as well. It's not a trick, it's just his fucking hat.

[@Magepure6749]

IMO it's because the sorting hat can read your _mind_ *not* your _blood_ so if it senses an _"im so much better than all these people"_ attitude in your head, regardless of whether that self-belief is founded on anything or not, it skews you towards Slytherin.

[@robertmckenna3994]

It may be possible that Salazar Slytherin, pure-blood supremacist that he was, was a half-blood. We have seen that blood purity is not the deciding factor in being sorted into Slytherin. Even half-bloods such as Tom Riddle, who had no knowledge at the time of his sorting that blood statuses existed, was sorted into Salazar’s house. No mention is made in the stories about what kind of linage the famous founder had. Perhaps the reason the hat allows half-bloods in is because Slytherin House’s own founder was not a pure-blood wizard. That could be a reason why Salazar left the school. He may have learned that this was the future of the house that would carry his name, and wanted no part of it. And the argument that he had with his friend Godric Gryffindor before he departed was over the subsequent legacy of his house.

[@IBEWSparky]

Go back far enough and every pure blood family comes from muggles.

[@olesuhr727]

The Marvolo branch of the Slytherin House was the living proof that ibreeding was a bad idea.

[@asher8754]

It’s also counter productive since constant inbreeding would probably end up eventually lowering their birth rates until they were completely sterile. Like for all their bitching the Malfoys only had one kid, in fact other than the Weasley family all the others seamed to just have their birth rates plummet hard

[@yammarques]

I think it's much more likely for Roweena Ravenclaw to have altered Slytherin's enchantment, being the most intelligent witch of her age and all

[@lynnevetter]

being that Godric pretty much created the hat, it was probably him.

[@andred7684]

But if it were this way, Slytherin would have had realized it in the very first sorting hat sessions in Hogwarts

[@edwarddore7617]

Maybe Godric encouraged, or askef her to do it?

[@lottiewright7674]

Knowing that it takes a lot of bravery to stand up to a friend for what is right and not choose what is easy, I doubt Godric allowed the pure blood value to be put on the hat in the first place. This is likely what caused the rift in the first place as Salizars anger grew watching half-bloods be sorted into his house

[@ichigo_nyanko]

I've always had the idea that Slytherin wasn't nearly as fanatical as blood purists in the modern era. He was of a time where muggles routinely hunted down and tried to burn witches and wizards. Muggles were essentially trying to genocide a minority. I wouldn't blame the man for being skeptical about admitting anyone raised in that environment. It's also said in the books, I believe, Slytherin cared about muggleborns being admitted, I don't think it ever outright states he cared about half-bloods even if people assume that. That also lends credence to the idea he simply wanted to protect the school from those he viewed as a threat due to their upbringing (raised to hate wizards). If the hat truly understood what slytherin would want, and can truly pick as he would, then it makes sense the hat would understand that Slythern very well may have changed his mind on the admittance of muggleborn students after the dark ages ended, and muggleborns no longer tried to hunt down and burn witches. In fact, I imagine the hat knows that Slytherin would have no problem with it, if they had no ill-harboured prejiduces against wizardkind, and that is exactly why it does choose them.

[@gavinglen4363]

Here's another theory - only pure-bloods to start with then, when declining numbers threatened to wipe out Slytherin house, the Sorting Hat re-balanced things. There were only so many pure-bloods to start with and they became a dying breed. But as has been pointed out in the books and in the comments, the Hat takes personal preference into account and being pure-blood is only one criterion Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students.

[@joshmanpro7993]

Another possibility is that there is no way that Slytherin could detect who was a pure-blood and who wasn't. As far as I am aware, nowhere does it say this is possible. Even having full memory access wouldn't tell the hat if they were pure or half-blood as memories can be altered. If anything, the hat might look for how powerful the person being evaluated is. This is easy to believe as Slytherin obviously thought that people who are more powerful are obviously pure bloods.

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

I can’t decide whether either or both of those theories holds water. It does bring something up. If Slytherin house was so exclusive that even Salazar’s own heir would not have been sorted into the house because he had a Muggle father, the question comes up of where Tom Riddle would have been sorted. Would he have instead been in Ravenclaw, considering what a brilliant student he was?

[@artizak]

See, I was thinking that the change might have happened when Tom Riddle wore the Hat. Suddenly finding an heir of Slytherin who himself wasn't Pure, it would have been an affront to Slytherin to not sort Tom into his house but also contradictory. This would have caused some sort of feedback in the charm then allowing the characteristics without the blood purity

[@simonupton-millard]

Could also be a numbers thing, is there enough pure bloods who also would be sorted into the house left to fill a house by the 1980s? Probably not so even the founder may have agreed if there was not enough then others could be let in so save the house from dieing

[@MrClobbertime]

From what Hagrid said the numbers of pure blood families are dwindling so it's more likely a matter of keeping the numbers in each house evenly distributed since as the numbers of pure bloods shrink so would the numbers of Slytherin students until it just withers away altogether.

[@danielhurst8863]

A better theory, is that Slytherin, like Voldemort, himself was a half-blood or had muggle blood, and the sorting hat reflects that of its house founder. Since Slytherin couldn't be in his own house, if the pure blood rule was enforced, then others cannot be kept out for not having pure magical blood.

[@hollyhartwick3832]

This is certainly a valid hypothesis, but I think it's also possible that, much like the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance, the hat was simply never "programmed" with the capability to read or discern blood status. It's a complex issue to begin with. Where would it draw the line? Magical folk are still human, so someone in the past had to be the first muggle-born. Would it count only direct parentage? Grandparents? Great-grandparents? What if someone is pureblood going 5 generations back, but their paternal great-great-great-great-grandmother was a muggle? It's truly a slippery slope and possibly beyond the capability of the hat to discern or delineate.

[@beaumunsey5091]

I think the hat has a fail safe of some extent. It seems that if you are a pure blood you have a great chance for that house however the hat has more knowledge as time moves on. Allowing him to adjust for when wizards or witches are mostly halfbloods or less. By his own ability to remember each student and there own blood lines he could be seeing a pattern or common ground with the qualities and family traits that ultimately would succeed in that house.

[@superfury1]

Perhaps the fail-safe by Gryffindor is something simple: there are no more or not enough pure-bloods left, so it will have no choice but to put those into Slytherin. Occam's razor.

[@garynaccarato4606]

I think that part of it is sort of due to the fact that there isn't really a super large amount of suitable pureblood so therefore the hat doesn't really feel as if it can get too choosey.

[@LiefsPerla]

Thanks for using my theory! 0:12

[@JamesMC04]

My guess is, that after transferring their powers to other objects (such as the Hat) the Founders abdicated the power to control how the Hat (say) functioned, & the Hat became sentient, & free to choose whom it wished.

[@eranshachar9954]

You went a bit off with the theories but that's okay I still love you. I expect you to say the right thing that would have solved the entire question- Salazar Slytherin understood that PB are in decline and so he allowed HB as well if they despise their non magical heritage. You know fanatical HB like Tom Marvolo Riddle and Merlin being an exception because he was naturally talented. Now I know that many people relay on the following quote as evidence for MB students as well. Deathly Hallows, page 366 "So you aren't wanted then Vernon? Or are you on that list under a different name? What house were you in at Hogwarts? Slytherin, said Harry automatically. Funny how they all think we wants to hear that, jeered Scabior under the shadows." Scabior then asks Harry how to enter the Slytherin common room and when Harry gives the correct answer Scabior in my opinion is planting a trick. "Well well, looks like we really have caught a little Slytherin said Scabior. Good for you Vernon, because there ain't a lot of mudblood Slytherins." First of all Greyback and Scabior are suspecting Harry doesn't say the truth so in my opinion this statement is a pure trick. However even if it isn't a trick I can be sure it didn't happen while Salazar Slytherin was alive. After all we have no testimony of a real MB student in Slytherin house in the cannon of the 7 books.

[@MrEscape314]

I just assumed the hat graded on a curve. Between 20% and 40% of the kids have to go into each house to keep things balanced.. the hat has an easy job on some of them that are obvious.. for in between cases, it might focus on balancing the houses almost as much as individual characteristics..

[@LetholdusKaspyr]

I think the hat was enchanted to look into the mind, not the blood, and even if that feature could have been added, it wasn't. Besides, trying to get students to meet multiple different criteria is a great way to make sure they don't sort your way.

[@skyrogue1977]

What if Godric Griffindor put a spell on the hat to select half-blood students for Slytherin as a middle finger to his former friend.

[@kensaibond]

I'd put it down to being changed simply because as time went on from its founding, purebloods became fewer an far between, leaving a significant shortage of slyverin students compared to the other houses.

[@barbiquearea]

Rowling herself confirmed there are no more full purebloods left in the present.

[@kensaibond]

@@barbiquearea isnt scorpius malfoy a true pureblood?

[@barbiquearea]

@@kensaibond By pureblood I mean witches or wizards have no trace of muggle ancestry. All wizards have some traces of muggle blood in their linage.

[@LouisTravieon]

Pure and half bloods yes, but I doubt there will even be a muggle born Slytherin. His views were so strong even the hat couldn't negate that stipulation.

[@ecojosh1]

Maybe the sorting hat realized Slytherin House would be way too small if he didn't put some halfbloods in there.

[@umberto7641]

Thank you for the video! 🎉😊 I have a question: you mention muggle-borns at some point in the video ( 6:31) being in Slytherin, do we have extended evidence for this? And, do we have extended evidence of discrimination against half-bloods ( 6:12 )? I ask because I have a theory: Slytherin’s notion of blood-purity was different than the one we see in HP series. He did not want muggle-borns, but he was ok with anyone having any kind of magical ancestry. He did not make any distinction between pure-bloods and half-bloods, he only viewed a dichotomic world divided into magical people and muggles. Think about it: the 10th century is a not-so-good time for the Great Britain (political instability, an approaching Norman invasion, etc.). Back then, population was probably a twentieth or a fifteenth of today’s world population and the same might be roughly true for GB. This is why the argument “pure bloods are getting rarer and rarer” does not make sense. The population has been growing, why on earth the % of pure-bloods should be diminishing, especially given also the fact that before the international stature of Wizarding Secrecy, it was even easier to have children with muggles? Nono. My theory is that the distinction half-blood/pure-blood came into existence way later, when there were enough wizards in each group to make it work. This is why I do not think things have changed: Salazar’s instruction for the Sorting Hat were “no muggle-borns, only people with some magical ancestry”. This would explain why his heir is a half-blood, and why the Basilisks obeys to him. He did not care about the distinction pure-/half- because it was not available to him as a concept. What do you think?

[@parkertitle1923]

Great Theory.

[@lottiewright7674]

The simplest explanation is just that it was Godrics hat and they all said no. I image the conversation started with them all listing off the attributes they’d like for their respective houses; Salizar mentioned blood purity, everyone disagreed but Godric said he can still have the other attributes in an attempt to calm him down. Over the next few months Salizar got more and more angry, saying that they should make the whole school pure blood or he is leaving, basically pushing his ideals to the extreme as his anger and resentment brewed. I seriously doubt that someone like Godric (who embodies bravery and justice) would at any point allow pure blood ideals to be used with the hat, and I doubt that Salizar (who embodies cunning among other things) would have mentioned the controversial blood purity straight off the bat (like a cunning cult leader he would sprinkle seeds of indoctrination instead , bit by bit, manipulating until they were convinced). He was his best friend, but I believe Godric had to choose between was was right and what was easy, and he would have used his bravery to stand up to his friend for what was right. This theory not only fits with simple logic (very little assumptions without evidence), but also Godrics core values, and thematic quotes from the series said by Dumbledore himself, who embodies Gryffindors values.

[@adrianalmodovar9511]

I'd like to think that after Slytherin left, the other founders further charmed the hat into accepting at the very least half-bloods into Slytherin house.

[@PristinePerceptions]

The sorting hat is low-key trolling Slytherin... Every year, it's almost as if it's telling him - "oh, you don't like muggles and witches/wizards mixing? Here. This is the kid of one such couple who did the dirty. Next year, I'll send you another kid whose mixed parents slithered into each other."

[@SuperMitchells1]

I think it’s quite possible that with the Legilimancy of the hat that it has recognised a particular dilution in the frequency of pure blood wizarding families and that due to this has had to bed the rules surrounding the requirement, this could have been possibly guessed at by one of or all three founders allowing them to make the caviat for the hat should it come to be.

[@mandar13579]

Yes, some counter-charms may have been secretly placed by Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff collectively because none of them approved of Slytherin's obsession with blood-status. I would like to point out another possibility though: the genealogical concerns described in Harry Potter series are obviously inspired by those of the real world. Many aristocratic families / purity-obsessed communities often make 'compromises' and allow 'less pure' people in, especially when their bloodline seems to be on the verge of extinction. No family can stay 'pure' for a very long time due to medical and social challenges inherent in their own practices: inbreeding, staying single until a genuinely 'pureblood' candidate is found etc. Blood purity is an idea which most certainly gets busted when the DNA is traced way back in time. Supremacist families / communities are aware of this, so was Slytherin. They are delusional, that's all. MY THEORY IS Slytherin himself left room for this to happen in case the number of pure blood wizards and witches declines, or few of them opt for Hogwarts etc.

[@PhilBagels]

I think one or more of the following is more likely: 1. There must be some bottom-line practicality in the sorting process. As Hagrid said in book 1, there really aren't any true pure-bloods left - they would have all died out. In fact, the wizarding "gene" if you will would have long gone extinct if wizards didn't occasionally breed with muggles. By the strict, pure-blood standard, there would not be ANY students sorted into Slytherin, and none would have been for centuries - without allowing half-bloods and muggle-borns. 2. Aside from being a wizard, Salazar Slytherin was a red-blooded male. At some point during his life - perhaps after leaving Hogwarts, he knocked up a muggle woman and produced a child with strong magical abilities. He then softened his stance because of this child. Or perhaps it was a grandchild or even a great-grandchild. But at some point, during his lifetime, he had a half-blood descendant that he didn't want to exclude from Hogwarts. I think it would be interesting to investigate the families of the founders. Which, if any still have living descendants? Was Voldemort the very last descendant of Slytherin? Was Helena Ravenclaw the only descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw (who in turn died without any children)? It does seem that wizards produce far fewer children than muggles, and quite a few never have any children. (Further reinforcing #1 above.) Did Gryffindor and Hufflepuff have no children at all? That would seem very unfortunate.

[@nexusofboredom]

If the Slytherin house only included pure bloods then that house would be the smallest .. there are only a few pure blood wizards left in HP..

[@siobahnhurley85]

There is also the real possibility, (Rowling even said this), that Pureblood lines had become so few due to so much interbreeding among each other, there weren’t enough to sustain Slytherin house. Gryffindor possible foresaw this, and as you said put a loophole in, or the hat itself was adapting to that.

[@aevenova9780]

I wonder just how sentient tne sorting hat is. Its only used once a year. Then what? Sits on a shelf for 364 days? Is it friends with any ghosts? Maybe it hibernates.

[@reiniernn9071]

I have also a thought about this. I suppose the amount of pure bloods is diminished in the years since foundation of the school. In nearly every lineage there will be a muggle somewhere. This house would be (nearly) empty if only purebloods would have been allowed.

[@ashtonhaggitt216]

The hat also takes your want into consideration. If your desire to be in slytherin is great and you also share traits that Salazar desired, its not shocking why the hat sorts as it does.

[@Lordmewtwo151]

"To perform its task, the [Sorting] hat uses Legilimency...As soon as the hat is placed on your head, there's NOTHING it won't know about you." Okay, minor pedantic rant that is probably irrelevant: Occlumency blocks Legilimency, and particular skilled users can feed the user of Legilimency false information. Why is this fact irrelevant? Because students are sorted into their houses during their first year, which is at age 11. The odds of an eleven-year-old being a skilled occlumen is practically zero (although I suppose particularly gifted prodigies, such as Dumbledor, could potentially be an exception.) 8:13 Isn't this sort of (secretive) cleverness more Rowanna Ravanclaw's domain?

[@kaiscarlet151]

Because they're closest to purebloods.

[@jameswest981]

Was thinking the same in some case even in muggle world ,u may inherent more than half or less than your mother's or fathers genes.

[@Pystro]

I would assume that the sorting hat not only tries to respect the wishes of the founders, but of the students of any given year also tries to sort *one quarter into each house.* If only 20% of the students are full-bloods with a strong cunning and ambitions, then 5% of the students of a given year will have to be sorted into Slytherin despite lacking in at least one of Slytherin's two criteria. Meaning the decrease of full-bloods would inevitably lead to Slytherin house having to open up. Also, the sorting hat _combines_ the preferences of all 4 founders. So if those other 3 founders would have said that a given student fits best into Slytherin house, the sorting hat would ignore the opinion of Slytherin. After all, assigning students isn't a matter of each founder deciding yes/no on whether they would allow a student in, it's a matter of assigning each student into the house that they fit into best.

[@delineates]

Probably a combination of both. Gryffindor more than likely did use a loophole when enchanting the hat just as Slytherin house has grown to be more inclusive.

[@toddfraser3353]

I would expect the rarity of actual pure bloods over time. Which would had basically made the house inexistent.

[@samsara3993]

In all honesty I think it's even simpler than that, we don't know for sure when Slytherin house began admitting half-blood students, although I imagine it began with Tom Riddle. Knowing what we do about the hat, I wouldn't be surprised if it was able to sense he was Slytherin's heir, at which point, by admitting a half-blood student to the house (especially with his strong hatred of his muggle parent), the hat likely saw this as an opportunity to expand the selection process to half-blood and muggle born students of a similar mind.

[@Icedrake12]

Desire for power renoun and dark magic is not limited. Also weren't the number of pure blood families decreasing over time

[@benwilkins7949]

The houses are all roughly equal sizes. No house is mentioned to be extremely larger or smaller in number then the others. I think the sorting hat is merely a weighted card shuffle. Each house chooses the attributes they desire most and the hat sorts people into the houses taking that into consideration but also considering the numbers to not give any house an advantage over the others. We know students can match multiple house criteria as harry did. Slytherin gets halfbloods because they are least outside the houses desired attributes and balance the numbers. As more halfblood and muggleborns enter the school, more halfbloods get pushed into slytherin. This frees up the other houses to take on students of lesser blood status. Simply put, from the slytherin perspective, the sorting hat gives them the best of what they have to pick from, even if the quality of students has dropped in their opinion.

[@JJ258]

Approximately 25% of the incoming students would have to pure blood in order to keep the house “pure”, whereas there are only 28 pure blood families named in the one book. So it’s impractical to think that 28 families could keep producing pure bloods year after year so in order to fill the house so the sorting hat has to draw in other students would be my guess.

[@TankredEndures]

They could've if they just fucked more. Haven't you ever thought it was weird that, for a group of people that love their race so much, they barely did anything to propagate it? Almost all the purebloods in Harry's generation were only children, no siblings. Another few generations of that and they'll exterminate themselves non-violently lol. The Weasley family had seven kids and they were remarkably poor, I have no idea why the rich purebloods with piles of gold as tall as a man didn't just make more. It's not like they couldn't afford to. Most of them even had House Elves to help care for them.

[@philippebarillecavalier9275]

Theory: The hat observed that a pure blood house was too conducive to inbreeding. It moved toward a different kind of purity, such as mindset.

[@uweengelmann3]

It could be that the percentage is important. I think all houses should get similar many students each year. There are very few pure blood families. But if there are too few willing pure blood students than some else needs to fill up the house.

[@richewilson6394]

Yeah I believe that one of the other founders either raveclaw or Gryffindor decided to put a spell on the hat that the traits were more important than the actual status so that there would be no one-sidedness to the house. As well as keeping the house moving with more which is in wizards because there's only a certain amount of pure bloods that the house of Slytherin would probably show very few wizards and witches entering therefore decreasing the number of students. Technically those students that are half blood do have a pure blood ancestry so they aren't being discriminated against technically.

[@troygrindley2744]

I would probably say that, maybe, the desired qualities of Slytherin (cunning, ambition and power hungry) may have to far outweigh their blood status. For instance, Umbridge defintely displays someone who has a thirst for power and enjoys to dominate those she sees as lesser than her. Maybe the hat takes that into account.

[@Leonardo-cw1dd]

you forgot squibs in your category of blood status: pure blood, muggle born, half blood, muggles, and squibs: magical heritage but cannot perform magic such as Mrs. Figg as revealed in the order of the phoenix or argus filch

[@Orurandokun]

I always thought that Slytherin only accepted students with Wizardry ancestry, which means that as long as one of the parents is a wizard or a witch, it's possible to be selected to Slytherin. My reasoning? They created Hogwarts so Muggles won't be around when they teach them. To achieve that, you need help from the kid's parents, and only another wizard, or witch, will know how important that will be.

[@NoneofyourBusiness-iv6pi]

It is not proven in lore that any halfbloods ever got into slytherin prior to Tom Riddle. Tom's being a direct heir of Salazar might have been the reason he was the first ever halfblood allowed in by the hat & thus opened the door to other halfbloods after him and even then beyond 2 known we do not know how rare it was after Tom....but can make assumptions

[@jeffarmstrong1308]

A number of people have pointed out that the Sorting Hat chooses a student's house based on their personalities. Blood status, if considered at all, is secondary. Slytherin's overweening characteristic was his ambition - this is why Voldemort was capable of committing the actions he took. His ambition overrode any deficits (from a pure blood's point of view) of his half-blood status. Your theory can be expanded to include this by having Gryffindor's enchantment reduce the consideration placed on blood status.

[@mrmatt528]

I've always understood slytherin's wish to exclude muggle-born students from the school to be for the safety of the school rather than out of a hatred for those students. He hoped to reduce contact with the muggle world that could lead to persecution. The basilisk wasn't there to kill muggle-born students but rather to defend the castle should it come under attack. In that case, I don't believe he would have necessarily made "pure blood" one of his primary values for the hat to judge.

[@bailatwerski2951]

I think you're right that last theory was when Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts godric Gryffindor to soften the sorting house with regard to Slytherin because it's his hat and he didn't want an uprising with purebloods versus half-bloods and muggle-borns witches and wizards

[@boombox05]

Is there a video for how misunderstood Slytherin House is? Every house has good qualities that turn bad when taken to extremes. Griffendor's bravery turns into recklessness, Ravenclaw's academic prowess turns into detached coldness, Hufflepuff's empathy turns into indecisive pushovers. Focusing on Slytherin's shadow ignores the positive sides of Slytherin: striving for excellence, practicality, and progress. There's a reason Merlin was sorted into Slytherin.

[@razorblade53]

I agree with some of the comments. Some could choose that they want to be in Slytherin, but also some people can just be very strong in the traits other than being pure blooded that there's no where else they would be sorted into. Plus I also think that over time there'd be less and less pure blooded families, so over time Slytherin would become a smaller and smaller house, so they'd need more students anyway.

[@TheChef420]

If the hat sorted based on the way Slytherin wanted with pure bloods only there wouldn't be very many wizards in that house

[@LycaonsMemories]

1. the hat does not test the students blood, so how will it know for certain blood status? 2. at this point in time there is no true "pure blood" , sure the families still claim it buttttt most families probably dont have that good of accounting. why the focus on godric making the change? as others said the other two could of done it as well.

[@aims_plays]

I wonder how they repaired the hat after Voldemort set it on fire on Longbottom's head...

[@matthewc5640]

Reparo, I'd imagine. Unless he used Fiendfyre, which it's pretty clear he didn't, ordinary fire would not damage an object beyond magical repair.

[@archy8822]

In my opinion, the sorting hatt started sorting half-bloods into slytering out of necessity. We know that slythering house is the smallest house in the school by the hat's own admission. We also know that there were years where no students were admitted into slydering houses on multiple occasions. Couple this the fact that some previously pure blood families were now either against those views or straight up marring half-blood or mogles. I say pure-bloods are an endangered species. We also know the ministry requirements a certain number of students per house and the hat may had no other choice but to allow half-bloods in.

[@theflashhobbyist]

Could it also be the line from Mr. Wheasly that "if we hadn't married muggles we'd have died out ages ago" there would be maybe 4 people in Slythern and the hat would have a lot of unsortable because they don't meet the strict definition. The hat uses the core criteria as the first sort then sees if the rest are good fits then it eliminates the strictest criteria and resorts until the students are sorted. So pure bloods of dickish nature are let in slythern ( think the instant Malfoy reaction) then if you are of dickdom but half blood you are grudgingly accepted as the other houses wouldn't touch you unless you are a bookworm and hence ravenclaw.

[@fu40000]

I think slither just realize that there weren’t enough purebloods to fill his house up so the hat probably looks for half bloods that prefer their Wizarding parentage over their Muggle ones😅

[@elfabro7222]

It would be interesting to know what muggle parents thought of their kids going to Hogwarts and if they were allowed to visit and see the school themselves instead of just letting the kids go to a place they have no idea existed and that could be very dangerous. Idea for a video!

[@asher8754]

Well it’s explained that they send someone from the school to invite them and explain just what’s going on rather than just sending a letter and seeing as they allow these muggles to go to places like platform 9 3/4 and Diagon alley, I’d say they probably do allow it.

[@darkmaster6481]

The problem is that the muggle parents can’t go in to have a look at Hogwarts due to many ancient enchantments protecting the school including keeping muggles out. Hermione said if I remember right all muggles will see is ruins with a sign saying very dangerous keep out is one of the ani-muggle protections.

[@icollectstories5702]

You didn't seem to consider what would happen to a half-blood in Slytherin. To those convinced of their own superiority, a known half-muggle would be treated as a lower being. It might be possible for a half-muggle to conceal their status, but they would also have to invent a plausible family tree, and since it would known which pure-bloods married muggles, the half-muggle could not mention even a pure-blood parent. I imagine after the first non-pure blood was found to be lying about their parentage, a standing committee to verify each new student's genealogy would be created. Living as a second-class citizen in Slytherin would not be pleasant, and any half-muggle who defied the majority would be forced out. So no, I don't think Slytherins would be accepting of half-bloods in their midst, even if the Sorting Hat put them there.

[@Rakotino]

Subscribed to you for years ✅

[@HarryPotterTheory]

Appreciate all of your support Oscar!

[@MissKittieMo]

I don't think the values of the community has anything to do with half bloods being let into Slytherin house. I think the answer lies in Harry's placement; Harry was told that he was placed in Gryffindor because he CHOSE it. He was told that, while the hat does place you based on your traits, you CAN choose your house & the hat does take your choice into consideration. Consider that most of the other half blood students placed in Slytherin already entered Hogwarts with blood purity beliefs (Umbridge, Snape), or were raised by other Slytherin's... So it makes sense that they would CHOOSE the house whose namesake was also a Blood Purist OR the house of their lineage! And it explains why there are never any muggle born Slytherins as well, despite the times changing to be incredibly inclusive of them; muggle born students would have no idea of the Blood Purist ideals in the community because both them & their parents are new to EVERYTHING. How can you teach & believe something of which you know nothing? I think the same thing happened with Peter Pettigrew, i think he was placed in Gryffindor house because the others were placed there, he wanted to be their friend, & so the hat put him there because he CHOSE it. I believe after Slytherin left, Gryffindor simply placed a charm on the hat that would, alongside picking by traits, also consider the choice of the child.

[@diegomartinez7180]

I'll give you an alternative explanation: The books lead us to the conclusion that there is no way to tell if someone is "pure-blood" or "half-blood" or "Muggle-born" just by testing them. In fact, most (or all) of them are actually "half-bloods". So, all the hat has to go on are the memories and experiences of the kids, not their biology. What that means is the hat explores the minds of the children and only select those who "feel pure-blood" into Slytherin. In fact your examples are perfect: Voldemort, Umbridge and Snape all felt superior than the rest and believed wizards should be the dominant "race" amongst humans. Therefore, the hat correctly sends them to Slytherin. In fact, if the hat actually had the ability to physically check if the kid is a pure-blood, then there is Hagrid's statement: "Why, there isn't a wizard alive today that's not half-blood or less", so the hat would have actually stopped putting children in Slytherin ages ago.