User blog:Nightstar Phoenix/Hogwarts Houses

Hogwarts Houses, an absurdly long essay.
There's been a lot of discussion about sorting the Big Four and others into Houses at Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. These are my thoughts, long and rambly though they may be. I am attempting to make a guide as to how I personally sort characters. You must take into account that much of this is my personal theorizing, and you are perfectly allowed to disagree, argue, and discuss– that's what the comments sections is for ;)

How this will work
I am going to have two main sections of this post. The first is about my views on what each of the houses stand for; what morals and virtues they uphold, etc. There will be a tiny subsection in which I list other-fandom examples of characters I sort into that house. If you don't know who I'm talking about, ignore it. If you do know and have a counterexample, or want further justification as to why I sorted them there, please let me know so we can discuss it. I love to hear other people's opinions.

The second section will be about the Big Four, namely Mérida Dunbroch of Disney-Pixar's Brave, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III of DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2, Rapunzel of Disney's Tangled, and Jack Frost of DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians. I will not be including extended-universe characters or add-ons in this section– i.e. Astrid Hofferson (HTTYD and HTTYD2), Queen Elsa of Arendelle (Frozen). They will appear in the first section.

My motivation for doing this
First, of course, understanding. I want to know. I love overthinking and reading into things and finding new ways to look at the world around me thought what I learn through fictional worlds. I am not trying to shove headcanons onto anyone. I am bringing this up because I'm still learning too.

Second, I had a bit of a philosophical earthquake as a Potterhead. For the longest time, I wanted to be Ravenclaw. That's where the clever people go, where the smart people go, where I would want to be. However, when I took the Pottermore quiz, I was sorted into Gryffindor. Honestly, this is not such a big deal– I mean, it's fiction, yeah? But I was slightly disappointed. I had been veiwing Gryffindor as the common house, the self-explainatory house. I would have been happier with Hufflepuff, I didn't want to be in Gryffindor. Gryffindor was where the brave, perfect, title characters were sorted. I didn't want to be that. I didn't think I could be that. So I did some soul searching, and this comes up again in the Gryffindor section.

Hufflepuff
Hufflepuff is hard to define. If anyone has any insight, please share it, I don't know if I'll do a good job with this section.

Hufflepuffs are not exactly fleshed out in the Harry Potter series. They are known for being kind and loyal. But there are many motivations for being such– personal glory, compassion. To be branded with the badge of Hufflepuff by another, I feel, is like saying "you don't do much, so we'll put you here." But this can't be the case, it shouldn't be the case.

A Hufflepuff is loyal and kind, but because they have such a huge heart. Yeah, that sounds lame, but don't tune me out yet. A Hufflepuff sees the world around them with empathy and innocence. They try to believe the best in people in order to help. They are healers, they want the world to be balanced and right and just. They try to feel as others feel, understand as others understand, and help them to stand on their own two feet.

"I think that it is impossible to truly understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves," says Orson Scott Card through the character of Ender Wiggin in his book, Ender's Game. This is why Hufflepuffs are so full of love and compassion; they have empathy.

Headcanon Hufflepuffs
Rory Williams of Doctor Who (this one's up for debate), Gwen of BBC Merlin, Princess Anna of Frozen,

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart"
That quote is the freaking most vague thing ever. Pardon me for a moment, but that annoys me. There are so many reasons to do things that people consider to be brave– the greater good, self-preservation, protecting loved ones, personal glory. You could stash anyone in Gryffindor with the right arguement.

However, I think Gryffindors are more than that. After being "stashed" in Gryffindor myself, I think I may have ideas.

Gryffindors are leaders, like Slytherins, but not in the same way. If you gave a Gryffindor and a Slytherin a shield and a sword to ride into battle, you could tell the difference in, I think, this; a Slytherin will use the shield to protect himself, a Gryffindor will protect his comrades with it. Not that Slytherins don't have friends, but their survival instinct will overrule. Gryffindors are protectors. They stand up to lead not because they are the most qualified, but because no one else can. They stand up to lead not because they want to, but because they have people to fight for.

Of course, one could say they fight for a higher purpose. But in a battle, a soldier isn't thinking of a "higher purpose" or "the greater good." He is thinking of keeping himself and his companions alive. A Gryffindor is the soldier, out of the four houses.

Obvously all Gryffindors are not the same. There are Gryffindors who are the most qualified to lead. There are Gryffindors that shirk their duties as Gryffindors (remember Peter Pettigrew). There are Gryffindors that lead in different ways that other Gryffindors. But at heart, Gryffindors are the first into battle to defend.

I think I was sorted into Gryffindor, if not anything else, because I am an older sister. If something happened, my first instinct is to keep my sisters from harm. Praise God that I live in a secure area and the kind of things I would need to protect my sisters from only appear in my nightmares, but that is still me. Not all older sisters are like this, but this is me. This is why I am a Gryffindor. I am positively not the most qualified, definately not the smartest, or the cleverest, of the most inventive. But, if the situation arises, I will keep the people around me safe to the best of my ability. That is a Gryffindor.

Headcanon Gryffindors
Kristoff of Frozen, John Watson of BBC Sherlock, Stoick the Vast of How to Train Your Dragon, Rose Tyler of Doctor Who, Amy Pond of Doctor Who, Queen Elinor of Brave, Queen Elsa of Frozen, Ender Wiggin of Ender's Game

Ravenclaw
Ravenclaws are also hard to define. They are often seen as the nerds. They are the clever ones, the thinkers, the philosiphers.

Like Hufflepuffs, they want to understand, but for the sake of knowledge. They want to know everything, and they want to discover, not for the sake of having their name on it, but for the sake of discovery and the joy of learning. They want to understand the world around them. They are students even after they left school, because the world is their classroom and they never want to stop discovering.

Headcanon Ravenclaws
TBA

Slytherin
It is difficult to find a fan-sorted Slytherin that is not sorted there because of negative attributes. To be fair, Rowling didn't exactly represent the Slytherins in a positive light. Every wizard who ever became evil, in canon, is from Slytherin, with two exeeptions. Those exceptions are 1) Sirius Black, who, though we know wasn't evil, was thought to be by most of the wizarding community– which raises the question why did everyone insist on telling Harry that all the evil wizards were from Slytherin if Siruis Black was a Gyffindor, and 2) Peter Pettigrew, which we know for sure is on Voldemort's side. Rowling never gave us a good Slytherin– yeah, Snape was okay, but he was a jerk for most of the series. What she gave us was Draco Malfoy, who wore the badge of Slytherin and tarnished it for the readers and for Harry. I'm going to be looking at positive traits, as I hve been doing with the other houses.

Slytherins are the ambitious, and, I think, the proud. Both of these can be negative traits, and I am sure Slytherins show these traits in a variety of ways.

When I use the term pride, I use it to all extremes. There will be Slytherins who show pride in the snobbish, Malfoy way, and there will be the Slytherins who are proud of who they are in that they are secure in their identity and no one can change them for the worse. They are certainly not the best, but they know they are unique and, in their own way, important. There will be those that rub this in other houses faces. But there will also be those who fly high for the sake of flying high, not caring if they flew the hightest.

This is where ambition comes in. Slytherins are ambitious in that they want to use their talents to the best of their abilities, and are confident that they can. This is why a Slytherin is a leader; they are confident and, if they are not qualified, they will give it their all.

Headcanon Slytherins
Peter Wiggin of Ender's Game, Martha Jones of Doctor Who, Astrid Hofferson of How to Train Your Dragon

Additional Notes
=== *Okay okay, all you Ender's Game fans are going nut right now, I'm sure. "What? Ender's a Hufflepuff? Naw, he's a Slytherin, duh, read the book." Thing is, I  did  read the book. And I don't think Ender is a Slytherin.Though I don't think he is exactly a Hufflepuff. In the book, he is pressed into becoming a soldier, a leader, because he is the best. He shares traits of most of the houses– he's clever as a Ravenclaw, he's a leader in the way I later define a Gryffindor– but I don't think he has the ambition of a Slytherin– like Peter, his brother. He definately has the heart of a Hufflepuff. But he stands up because the Earth needs him, because he is the most qualified, though it nearly destroys him. That is Gryffindor. ===

Author's note
i need to save this quickly because I have to go, I will add more later. Sorry, but enjoy what's here!!