Are All Slytherins Evil? | Discover Harry Potter Ep.8

There’s more to Slytherins than meets the eye. Although they don’t always have the best reputation, some use their ambition and cunning for good! Learn more about Slytherin in this episode of Discover Harry Potter, a series made especially for first years. New episodes every Thursday.

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Are All Slytherins Evil? | Discover Harry Potter Ep.8

[cookified]

One name: Andromeda Tonks. She stood up against her own family and married a muggle born and supported Order of the Phoenix even though she wasn't officially part of it.

[phoenixginny]

The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We all have both light and dark inside of us.

[BrendanJSmith]

Slytherins have it bad enough already but do we SERIOUSLY have to have Umbridge??

[canny]

Smart, cunning, determined, ambitious and fearless! Slytherin will guide you to the light!

[mrmacura]

The worst of all was Dumbledore telling Snape "I sometimes think we sort to soon". Even he seems to be thinking Slytherin is just the bad people house and when learning more about Snape's character instead of overthinking his prejudice he just tells him he should have been in another house. His last minute house points in Harry's first year did already show that attitude. Slytherins worked hard the entire term earning those points but he disregarded that on a whim deciding that the "bad house" did not deserve the House Cup as much as the Hero's (and at the same time his own) house

[kyleethekelt]

Salazar Slytherin's desire only to accept pure-bloods was not only morally abhorrent but hubris in the extreme. Undeniably, magical folk were popping up among muggles, and you can't have people wandering around doing things they can't control, using potentially dangerous abilities they don't understand and generally causing mayhem. In that light, the founders' acceptance of all magical folk was both practical and moral, particularly given the poor state of magical and muggle relations at the time.

[lamiamoonshadow]

I was sorted into Slytherin 7 times in a row and met a lot of other people sorted into my house. I wouldn't say we're evil. We just know what to do with what power we have and we're not afraid to do what needs to be done to see our ends met. One of my friends used that dedication to save a business from going under. Another used it to make sure his son could stay in school and have food on the table. Another theme I've noticed is we tend to claim people. Personally I use it to make sure my grandfather lives a comfortable life in his later years. When we love someone we see them as an extension of ourselves. So apply that arrogance and intolerance of disrespect to that and you have yourself an extremely defensive loved one.

[SuperCarlinBrothers]

But What If Harry had been in Slytherin...

[Chris-qort]

Voldemort was the worst thing that could've happened to Slytherins reputation. The house itself is not evil at all.

[forestgreen]

My only problem with Slythering (well, besides the pure blood thing and Umbridge), is how creepy their common room seems to be. I imagine being only 11, missing your family and spending all your free time in a dark, greenish place.

[aceattorney]

I never thought Slytherin is an evil house.

[jem_theelf]

I just want Hufflepuff to be more appreciated. It was always Gryffindor vs. Slytherin in the books, with a bit of Ravenclaw thrown in at the end.

[benjaminlehman]

Slytherin aren’t really evil. But they are ambitious and agree with the “ends justify the means” philosophy

[mrmacura]

I know Slytherin is not supposed to be evil but unfortunately the books (as much as I love them) do a poor job at conveying this. In Harry's fifth year all houses are represented in the DA - except for Slytherin. They all seem to allie with Umbridge, seing how her Inquisitorial Squad included quite a lot of them (and no students from other houses). And then at the Battle of Hogwarts Slytherin House is the only one to not defend the school. There are still more instances of Slytherin being portrayed as the "bad house" and by far not all of them are due to Harry's prejudiced point of view

[BubblesBear]

I think it's also worth to mention that the sorting hat doesn't just look at your personality traits. He also looks at your values. This is shown in the first book when Hermione, Ron and Harry are trying to get to the sorcerers stone. I don't recall exactly what Ron said. But Hermione responded with how she finds friendship and bravery more important than books and cleverness. I'm not exactly sure what she said but it was something along those lines.

Furthermore, I also think the hat looks into where you'd reach your biggest potential. The place where he sees that you can grow the most as a person. A beautiful example of this is Neville. Sometimes you may get sorted into a house that seems contrary of your personality, cause it's the traits that are valued in this house that will give you the space to grow the most. Neville wasn't exactly the bravest in the beginning. But he grew into a beautifully strong and powerful wizard towards the end, who helped in defeating voldemort.

And lastly, it does also take your choice into a count if you have preferences. Clearly, we've seen that with Harry.

So, indeed, no need to feel bad to be a slytherin. You may wear it with pride. That another slytherin may turn out to be bad wouldn't mean that you will be.

[marcustolson]

I never thought being a Slytherin meant you have to be evil, it just means your hardworking and want the best out of what life has to offer in my opinion

[peggyknecht]

There are just as many Gryffindors that turned out to be evil.

[PrettiestPrincipleInLife]

Im a gryffindor but I think that even though you are in a house with specific traits, you don't always have to follow those traits. Even I think that I should be in slytherin or hufflepuff. You make your own story and you can be as unique as you want.

[fleacythesheepgirl]

Slytherins aren't evil, they're people who will do what the have to get what they want. Does that sorta mindset have to be evil? No. Can it be? Oh heck yeah. But when put to a good cause that sorta ambition be amazing.

[katholmes]

And if we take a line said by Scabior into account, Slytherin house didn't forbid muggleborns and neither did Slytherin himself. He says you rarely see muggleborns in Slytherin. But rare, means there have been some and that Slytherin wasn't against them, he only wanted it to be all magic households. Given he lived during times when superstition ran rampant and people with magic were being born, it could be interpreted as he wanted muggleborns to be raised by magical households. If that is true, then his concern about muggleborn students was for their own safety and from their actual families.