What your Hogwarts House really means

What’s your Hogwarts House? If you’re like most people, you probably immediately came up with an answer. (For the record, I’m a Hufflepuff.) But what exactly does it mean to be placed in one House or another? Like most things that come from books, the answer is a little bit open to interpretation. And since the first Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone….or Sorcerer’s Stone if you’re from the U.S.) was published in 1997, numerous interpretations have abounded on what the Houses really mean.

Here’s mine. (I believe it’s right).

First, I’ll let the Sorting Hat do the talking. It sings in the first book,

“There’s nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can’t see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be…” (Rowling, Sorcerer’s…117)

It then goes on to list the Houses, and the defining traits of each. While the Sorting Hat’s song changes each school year, here’s what the Hat says about the Houses in the first book:

“You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the brave at heart
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you’ve a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.” (Rowling, Sorcerer’s….118)

On a surface level, it seems like the Sorting Hat is simply dividing the Houses up by personality: the brave, the loyal, the wise, and the cunning. However, the Sorting Hat’s song skims over something else about the Houses. There’s an underlying hierarchy here that is never explicitly stated. Here’s what’s really going on:

Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin are the houses ranked from least to most competitive. (The Sorting Hat lists them randomly, and the Houses are again arranged randomly from the staff table, left to right as Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, because they want to disguise this fact from the students. They pretend there’s no hierarchy, even though there is.) The Sorting Hat, when it chooses your House, is really determining how aggressive you are.

The best proof of this theory is found in the results of the yearly inter-House competition, a.k.a House Points: it’s implied that Hufflepuff nearly always comes in last place, then Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor, and then Slytherin nearly always wins. We can also see this with the Quidditch cup; it’s implied that Slytherin nearly always wins, followed by Gryffindor, then Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, which usually comes in last place.

This is what the Sorting Hat is really determining when it sorts the students:

Hufflepuff — Least competitive. They’re fair, honest, cooperative, empathetic, and humble. To a Hufflepuff, the ends never justify the means. If gaining something means negatively impacting someone else in any way, (i.e., by being selfish or mean) they don’t do it. They follow the rules. They share. They don’t cheat. In fact, they do the opposite of dominate — they put others first.

Take Cedric Diggory, the best-known Hufflepuff of the series, who is full of examples of putting others before himself. In the third book, he tries to ask for a re-match for a Quidditch game after getting the snitch before Harry, because he realizes Harry has succumbed to the overpowering influence of the Dementors. But during that game, even Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Keeper, decides that Hufflepuff has won the match fairly. And then again, in Book 4, Cedric demonstrates fairness by advising Harry on how to interpret the clue he’s been given on what the second task will be in the Triwizard Tournament because Harry had let Cedric know about the first task (but only because everyone else already knew). A more competitive person may have kept that information to themselves.

Hagrid famously describes Hufflepuffs as being “a load of ol’ duffers,” (read: losers), and the House has a reputation for being a little soft. However, there are many people (including yours truly) who proudly identify as Hufflepuffs. I think the world could use a few more of us — we’d have world peace. To my knowledge, there is not a single Hufflepuff who ever becomes a Dark wizard or even flirts with evil in any way.

Ravenclaw — Yes, the books explicitly state that this is the house for the nerds, but I believe there is room for another interpretation: Ravenclaws are slightly more competitive. They’re a little bit more competitive than Hufflepuffs and a little bit less competitive than Gryffindors. Unlike a Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw sees morality as being slightly more subjective. They don’t need to always follow the rules (because “the rules” are subjective) and the ends sometimes justify the means. Ravenclaws ask themselves, “What’s in it for me?” a little more often than Hufflepuffs do. To a Ravenclaw, it’s O.K. to get what you want, even if it comes at the expense of someone else. Because let’s admit it, following the rules and always putting others first sometimes means you lose out.

There are a few more Ravenclaw figures who either go bad or skirt with evil in some way. In fact, the very first character who is ever found to be in collusion with the evil Lord Voldemort, Professor Quirinus Quirrell, in the first book, was a Ravenclaw, according to the official Harry Potter Wiki. Gilderoy Lockhart, the notoriously inept Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was a Ravenclaw who achieved fame by stealing others’ stories. This is not to say that Ravenclaws are “more evil” than the less aggressive Hufflepuffs, just more likely to lean towards the dark side because of their slightly greater propensity towards aggression.

Garrick Ollivander, the wandmaker, who was also a Ravenclaw, delivers an iconic Ravenclaw line when he tells Harry Potter that the fact that he shares his wand core with that of Lord Voldemort means they can expect “great things” from him. He believes this because he believes Voldemort “did great things — terrible, yes, but great, ”(Rowling, 85). This line makes Harry uncomfortable, but it sums up the philosophy of Ravenclaw — they recognize the inherent trade-offs of not just evil, but power itself — and its ability to accomplish both terrible and great things.

Ravenclaws stand out in another way — not just because of their intelligence, or competitive nature, but also because of their tendency to think outside the box. Other Houses can sometimes see Ravenclaws as “weird” or eccentric. Take, for example Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood. The father and daughter believe in all sorts of fantastical creatures not believed by others in the Wizarding world to exist, such as Wrackspurts or Crumple-Horned Snorck-Acks. Or Sybil Trelawney, the fortune-telling professor whose predictions are often doubted by others (but who, once every blue moon, makes accurate predictions).

Its their very eccentricity that makes Ravenclaws helpful to others. Xenophilius is the one who explains the Deathly Hallows (commonly believed to be just a fairytale) to Harry, Ron and Hermione, which helps them greatly in defeating Lord Voldemort. Xenophilius is also the one who publishes Harry Potter’s story about Voldemort coming back in The Quibbler — an eccentric newspaper — when the Daily Prophet (the standard Wizarding newspaper) is no longer trustworthy. This story helps more people believe Harry when he says Voldemort is back. Sybil Trelawney makes an accurate prediction that Lord Voldemort would return that night, even though her predictions are often wrong. Thinking outside the box is often the answer to our problems.

Gryffindor — Way more competitive. Gryffindors are self-confident to the point of arrogant, enjoy dominating and winning — in fact, they need to be #1 (which results in a fierce rivalry with Slytherin), seek power and glory, will stop at (almost) nothing to get what they want, have no problem with breaking the rules or cheating sometimes, and believe that the ends justify the means. To a Gryffindor, if you must break a few rules or harm a few people to accomplish a greater goal, it’s worth it.

We see this most clearly in the way that the golden trio: Harry, Ron, and Hermione (all Gryffindors), constantly break school rules, steal from others, and sometimes cause mild, temporary harm to others (like when Hermione jinxes fellow Gryffindor Neville with the full body-bind curse when he tries to stop them from getting the Sorcerer’s Stone) to accomplish the greater good of defeating Lord Voldemort.

Gryffindors are bold. Gryffindor Ginny smashes into a group of Slytherins on her broom after they insult her during a Quidditch match. She also uses the Bat-Bogey hex on several people who annoy her, including archenemy (and Slytherin) Draco Malfoy. Harry loudly calls out Professor Dolores Umbridge in class when she claims Voldemort hasn’t returned. Hermione slaps Draco in the face after he insults Hagrid. She also has no problem containing Rita Skeeter (a journalist who spreads malicious lies about Harry) in her beetle form in a jar for several days, or bewitching the coins used for DA members to communicate with each other to make the word “SNEAK” break out in ugly pimples on the face of anyone who betrays the group.

But Gryffindors aren’t evil. The series implies these actions are all necessary for a greater good: defeating Lord Voldemort (and school bullies along the way). The most harmful actions also happen only to the people who deserve them. In these ways, the books praise the competitive nature of Gryffindors. It’s OK, even admirable, to be aggressive, the books say, as long as you use it for good.

Slytherin –The absolute most competitive. A Slytherin thinks it is all about me, and how I can get what I want. I come first. I’m on top. I dominate. I get it all, and I don’t have to share or compromise. Not only do I get to break the rules, there basically are no rules. If I can get what I want, I’ll do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means hurting others. If you get in my way, you lose. They are prideful, power-hungry people. Hagrid says to Harry in the first book, “there’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin,” (Rowling, 80). In fact, Lord Voldemort, the most evil character in the book, is well-known for being a Slytherin. It makes a lot of sense — evil people like to dominate, and Slytherins are all about domination.

There’s a running theme in the series: Slytherins are bullies. The series is filled with example after example of Slytherins blatantly ridiculing other classmates. Draco constantly drags Ron for being from a poor family. In the fifth book, Pansy Parkinson tells Dolores Umbridge, while giggling, that it’s hard to understand Hagrid and that everyone hates his class. Professor Snape, Slytherin Head of House, famously bullies students not in his House, at one point telling Hermione that he “sees no difference” in her appearance after Malfoy hexes her with a spell that makes her front teeth grow long and fast, to the point where they’re past the collar of her robe.

Even when they’re not being blatantly mean, Slytherins can do other unkind things, like excluding others. Take Horace Slughorn, for example. This Slytherin professor starts the Slug Club –where he shows blatant favoritism to certain students so that he can later win favors from them — like a box of his favorite crystallized pineapple, or free Quidditch tickets, or the opportunity to influence members at the Ministry of Magic. Even Slughorn shows a lack of empathy for others, at one point telling Harry he has had a house elf taste test every bottle of mead he owns after seeing one of the bottles poison Ron — showing he doesn’t care if a house elf is poisoned. (Even if he, being the potions master, possesses an antidote for the poison, it’s not a very nice thing to do to someone.)

But like I said before, this competitive spirit often works out for Slytherins — they historically dominate House competitions. Being mean pays if it gets them what they want. But wait a minute…aren’t House points supposed to be positive reinforcement for following school rules? As Professor McGonagall says in the first book, triumphs, like answering questions correctly, or doing good deeds will earn them points, while rule-breaking will make them lose points. If Slytherins and Gryffindors are more likely to break the rules, and Hufflepuffs are the best-behaved, why do those Houses vie for first place every year, with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff far behind in the dust?

If we had a real-life Hogwarts, with a real-life Sorting Hat, I’ll bet the same theme would play out: Slytherin would always win, Hufflepuff would always lose. We actually kind of did have that, with Pottermore, the computerized version of Hogwarts that was introduced in 2012. Players would be sorted into a different Hogwarts House based on a seven-question test that would determine their House. True to the books, those sorted into Slytherin were dominating all the House games. (Pottermore was disbanded in 2015 because of numerous struggles with intellectual property rights and replaced with the website Wizarding World.)

Those who follow the rules don’t win in life. Those who want to be on top, and sometimes break the rules to do so, win. This is getting to the real crux of the matter about what “competition” is: It’s about more than just wanting to win a game. It’s wanting to dominate and be number one all the time. It’s wanting access — and therefore, control — of all the resources, which, of course, are limited. Slytherins and Gryffindors are more aggressive — they’re more likely to confidently answer questions in class, while Hufflepuffs are more passive, and thus don’t earn as many points, the books imply.

In the real world, there are pros and cons to being a competitive spirit. On one hand, you win a lot. You achieve higher status in society, have greater access to resources, and therefore have a greater chance of survival. But there’s a dark side.

Some might say being more competitive goes hand in hand with being less empathetic. The more you put yourself first, the more you put others last. If you’re going to knock someone down and take things from them, you are less considerate of their feelings. (Of course, people often knock others down in a very sneaky way, but we’ll get to that later.)

I sometimes hear people say, when they’re expressing disapproval on the not-very-realistic nature of the Harry Potter books (of course, if a book has a talking hat and a flying car and an Invisibility Cloak, I don’t know how realistic it can be), “Why does Slytherin exist if it produces all these evil wizards? Wouldn’t they have gotten rid of that House by now?”

What those folks don’t understand is that Slytherin would exist anyway –because ultra-competitive people would exist anyway. The Harry Potter books sometimes paint that House with a broad brush of being “just evil.” What’s really going on with Slytherin is two sides to the same coin. They’re the most dominant, which can make them most evil, but also the most successful. (Again, it’s why they — before Harry Potter shows up, anyway — have historically always won the inter-House competition and Quidditch Cup.)

It’s not just in Harry Potter where competition matters. Competition exists on the world stage and in people’s personal lives. Let’s look at my home country, the United States. Do you want to know why the U.S. is the number one dominant superpower in the world? It’s a Slytherin.

If you’re a United States citizen like me, you may have been raised on the propaganda that the U.S. is the “best country in the world,” but we’re not #1 because we’re the good guys. We’re on top because we’re the bad guys. (Not the individuals themselves, the country in general.) The U.S. is a bully.

The clearest depiction of this is where all our taxes go: the military. You may have heard that the U.S. spends a lot on its military, but you may be surprised by just how much: more than the next 11 countries combined. We call this “defense spending” but a more accurate term would probably be “world domination spending.” We have 800 military installations in more than 70 countries. That is absolutely an intimidation tactic: “Hit us and we’ll get you back. Bad.” Is the message.

In fact, even the way the U.S. came to be is very Slytherin-y. We committed genocide and wiped out all the Native Americans, taking over their land, so we could have all the land, and become a dominant superpower. Our physical size is partly why we’re so dominant.

Being #1 has its perks. Like getting all the vaccines first in a global pandemic. Like control of other scarce resources. Like a world that speaks your language and revolves around you. You might (justly) criticize the United States’ actions, but you must admit, those actions and their consequences have tremendous benefits for its citizens.

Competition happens on an individual level, too. That’s part of the reason the Hogwarts House personality test resonated so much with so many people. I’ve heard people talk about their House as frequently as their Meyers-Briggs type, their astrological sign, or their birth order. It rings true for a lot of people; people who are unconsciously identifying with characters who share their personal level of competition.

The books clearly pick a side, though: Gryffindors are superior to any other House, you don’t want to be a Hufflepuff, and you really don’t want to be a Slytherin. Oddly enough, that doesn’t stop people from identifying as any of the Houses. I know a lot of people who proudly identify as everything from Hufflepuff to Slytherin.

I can’t really blame people for saying they’re a Slytherin. Being on top gets you what you want. It also decreases the odds of you getting pushed around by others (because, let’s face it, you probably are the one pushing others around).

If you want to know what “Slytherins” are like in the Muggle world, let me take you back to middle school. You’ll probably remember the “popular kid” phenomenon, that weird thing that happens where it’s as if those in the “popular clique” are only “popular” in their minds. They rule the school, but no one really likes them. They’re the meanest kids. However, they have status because they dominate. Self -absorbed and mean, they command attention and can get others to yield to them. They get what they want (like the most attractive significant other, like the best spot at lunch) and they get away with stuff, all because they have power.

Even beyond middle school, real-world Slytherins find ways to dominate others. You’ve probably heard talk recently about the use of shaming tactics — they’re used to dominate others in a socially acceptable way. If I can call you “bad” somehow (whether it’s deserved), it means I am morally superior to you, and you are lesser than me. This happens a lot on Twitter, where one Twitter user will interpret a tweet in the least charitable way possible, to look morally superior.

But being competitive doesn’t always mean being a bully. More competitive people are more aggressive in lots of other ways. They like to get what they want, they like attention, and they like power. Real-world Gryffindors are self-confident and are not afraid to break the rules, to be bold, and to put themselves first. Such actions may come across as selfish to some people, but assertive to others. Gryffindors, some might say, make good leaders. These are the trade-offs necessary for accomplishing the greater good in the real world, too.

Time Magazine once tested over one million Americans to determine their Hogwarts House. They found some trends that ring true for House stereotypes, namely that men tend to gravitate toward Gryffindor and Slytherin; women Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. They also found that Midwesterners tend to belong to Hufflepuff, while lots of big cities, like L.A. and New York, attract Slytherins.

Here’s one of their most interesting findings: Slytherin is for the young. According to Time Magazine, the House with the biggest variance on age was Slytherin, with a sharp decrease happening throughout the ages of 20, 30, and beyond for study participants. What I think is going on there, (and Time Magazine backs me up on this), is that people get “de-Slytherinized” as they get older. However, I don’t think it’s just the natural maturing that comes with age; I think it’s active humbling put on them by life.

To put it bluntly, life kicks Slytherins around a few times (even a Slytherin will meet their match), and they realize how much it hurts to be on the receiving end of someone else’s dominance. How much it hurts to be criticized, shamed, ridiculed, etc. After encountering a few mean bosses, or a few life situations that make them pause and re-think if their dominance can also be too aggressive, Slytherins change their tune. They tone down their dominance, and realize that hey, maybe being #1 all the time comes at too high a cost of their humanity.

The books imply the same message: Slytherin is the most powerful, but is not a House one should wish to be in. There are a few ways the books hone this message. Take Lord Voldemort, the most famous Slytherin, for example. He uses force to get what he wants, and stops at nothing — even splitting his own soul by murdering others— to achieve power and immortality. But his thirst for power works against him.

While the books focus on Harry Potter conquering Voldemort, it’s not by force that Potter defeats the Dark Lord. Voldemort really meets his own downfall. By splitting his soul into seven pieces, Voldemort ensures he will be defeated, for it is that much easier to kill him. In the final battle between Potter and Voldemort, Potter is able to kill Voldemort simply by casting “Expelliarmus,” a defensive spell meant to disarm one’s opponent. Because Harry is the righteous possessor of the Elder Wand, the spell works, disarms Voldemort, and the Killing Curse rebounds, killing the Dark Lord. An all-consuming thirst for power, the books imply, will not work out in your favor.

Our protagonist, Harry Potter, begs the Sorting Hat to put him in Gryffindor, even after it insists he’d be a perfect match for Slytherin. Harry doesn’t want to be associated with evil in any way. While Slytherin historically dominates the House competition, in the books, Gryffindor wins at the last second (often from Dumbledore’s help, but that’s beside the point). That’s the lesson in the books: Gryffindor wins in a literal and metaphorical way. They’re competitive, but not to the point of being mean-spirited. They use their dominance for good, not just for dominance’s sake.

But is Sorting people really all that beneficial? The Sorting Hat itself questions whether its practice is helpful or harmful toward the end of the series. In all the Harry Potter books, only three feature a Sorting Ceremony: Books 1, 4, and 5. The last song has its own chapter dedicated to it, entitled “The Sorting Hat’s New Song.” Clearly, there must be something there that’s significant.

Towards the end of the song, the Sorting Hat says:

“Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it’s wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we’ll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you. . . .
Let the Sorting now begin.” (Rowling, Order…, 206–207).

The Hat is wondering if dividing the students might ultimately weaken them. Being divided, they are much more likely to turn against each other, rather than working together to fight against an outside force. By splitting them into categories, the focus becomes how they are different. To be stronger, they must unite together. It is important to remember we are all the same, and to not let differences divide us.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Scholastic, 1999.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York :Listening Library, 2003.