To think Slytherins stand no chance?

[LeopardSpots1]

Just caught the end of the Philosopher’s Stone and I felt sorry for the Slytherins being stripped of the House Cup because of last minute points being awarded to Harry and friends. Their colours are changed and everything, I think it’s cruel.

No wonder so many of them turn out bad, they’re treated like villains from 11!

Most parents of Slytherins are death eaters - that why they turn out bad!

Are there any nice Slytherins? They seem to revel in being unpopular - even in the first Sorting, Harry notes that they seem an unpleasant lot (maybe confirmation bias!).

This is an early example of Dumbledore being the cruel, manipulative man we all see him to be in the end.

Anyone who doesn’t see that hasn’t properly read and understood the books.

It’s an interesting study in determinism isn’t it.

I mean are they slytherins because their parents are death eaters... or are their parents death eaters because they were slytherins...

Are there any nice Slytherins?

There are many. Regulus Black, Severus Snape, Horace Slughorn, Merlin, Andromeda Tonks, Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Severus Potter etc. etc. etc.

You forget that Slytherin had actually won the House Cup six years in a row before that happened.
Plus you only caught the end, so unless you’ve seen the whole film/read the books you don’t know the whole story. Draco and his cronies don’t exactly help themselves, and this is before the extra points thing. Plus the PP has it right, many Slytherins have Death Eater parents.
There are some decent Slytherins though.

Having death eater parents doesnt automatically make you bad as well. My friends dad is a murderer kt doeant mean she is or ahould be treated ny differently because of who ber dad is. But I agree Dumbledore is a master manipulator of people and generally not as nice as people think.

I think by the end we're meant to realise the house system is fatally flawed. The hat puts you in Slytherin because you value pure blood and winning by any means (mostly parental influence), surrounded by others with the same values, it's not going to change your mind or create good people, then you raise kids with the same values, and so on.

In fairness, Harry and friends had just stopped Voldemort getting the Philospher’s Stone which would have allowed him to rise to power again, they did kinda deserve all the extra points. Plus Draco is a bit of a dick

Well I don’t see Dumbledore as a cruel and manipulative man and I did read the books and understand them - I actually studied HP for my degree (Children’s Lit module) so looked at it in a lot of depth.
Of course many would disagree but that’s the beauty of Literature.

There were quite a few good Slytherins - notably the amazing Snape.

And over the course of the series Snape does unfairly deduct a lot of points from Gryffindor

I was annoyed tonight as the points that were awarded to Potters crew couldn't have gone to anyone else, not like for classwork or sports- total favouritism. #teamSlytherin!!

And lets not forget that Wormtail was a Gryffindor and there's a version of the past in The Cursed Child that turns a good character bad (not a Slytherin). Dumbledore says they sort too early but since Slytherins are ambitious is it any surprise that some of them follow Voldemort.

Ravenclaws are generally 'cowardly' (consequence of being logical) but they don't get criticised for not fighting Voldemort.

I do think the slytherins are a bit misunderstood. Rowling argues that they aren’t all bad, then only shows us the bad ones- not one slytherin in dumbledores army!

At least we have Scorpius flying the flag.

(Yes, I myself am a defensive slytherin)

The hat puts you in Slytherin because you value pure blood and winning by any means

No, that’s simply not true. Those who are ambitious, resourceful, clever, determined and who value self preservation are placed in Slytherin.

Plus you only caught the end, so unless you’ve seen the whole film/read the books you don’t know the whole story. I’ve read the books more times than I can remember

Too true about Dumbledore WhatToDo.

There are many good Slytherins. Many fought alongside the othe houses at the Battle of Hogwarts. And there are, say, 100 death eaters at most? So they can’t all have death eater parents. Hogwarts should’ve learnt from past mistakes and overhauled the house system so Slytherins are expected to be evil and then blamed for acting as such.

There are plenty of lovely slytherins as mentioned above. But also look at the amazing love shown by slytherins. Not just shape's love of Lilly but Narcissa's love of Draco being more important to her than anything else. And then later on into the cursed child Draco as a loving father.
The way that the slytherin children are treated in school is poor.

I always did wonder why, when Dumbledore visited young Tom Riddle in a children’s home they didn’t sort him out with a nice wizarding foster family to look after him.

I mean you have a child, obviously extremely powerful, who needs guidance on how to use these skills, and you leave him miserable, bored and lonely during the vacations...

I always thought it would have been good for JK Rowling to show one of the other slytherins (Daphne Greengrass, Theo Nott etc) in Harry's year do something good in the final battle. It could have only been a few lines but would have made a big difference.

That’s a good question Gertrude. Dumbledore has a lot to answer for. It baffles me why Harry named a child after him.

@LeopardSpots1 I thought all of Slytherin chose to leave during the Battle of Hogwarts, it was the of age students in the other three houses who stayed to fight?

That's exactly the point.

What I loved was growing up with the books, as a child I cheered when the banners changed from green to red. As an adult I see a self fulfilling prophecy coming to life as 11 year olds are divided on random traits and taught that some are better than others. The irony is that the protagonist missed that fate due to a mix of chance (Malfoy, Weasleys) and crafted (Hagrid) encounters is insanely clever and multifaceted for a kids book.

If anyone asks why I love the Harry Potter series it's because of stuff like that.

Aaaaand now I need to read the books for the millionth time

Severus Snape
Nice Slytherin

Sorry, did we see the same movies/read the same books? Snape was an abusive misogynistic POS who constantly terrorised Harry and his friends because he hated Harry's dad!

The whole thing with Lily was sad, yeah, but he was by no means NICE.

Haha I love this argument.
I'll be honest, I'm more a books than film fan (but seen them all).