Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to to be discussing the founders of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry- Godric
Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw. More specifically- however,
we’re going to be looking at the founders in the context of their POWER. In the past
I’ve ranked the most powerful slytherins, gryffindors, hufflepuffs, ravenclaws, order
of the phoenix members, dumbledores army members, aurors, death eaters, weasleys and MORE- so
I thought it only natural that next we rank the founding members of each of the Hogwarts
houses.
Now- before we get things rolling, I just want to say one thing: all 4 of the hogwarts
founders were immensely powerful- and I mean POWERFUL. In, fact the level of power that
the founders possessed is thought to be uncomparable to most modern day witches & wizards. Uncomparable
is a strong word- and suggests that they were eons ahead of the wizards of today. But why
they were so powerful is uncertain- and I wonder if it’s just that the power of witches/wizards
been watered down over time. If not- what made them so special? Why were they so skilled?
In my eyes, I would assume that the magical beings of the wizarding world would only become
more powerful (as a whole) over time, learning new spells and tricks from their ancestors.
However- it seems to be quite the opposite, in fact- the most powerful witch and wizard
to have EVER existed also lived during the time period that the Hogwarts founders were
around. The most powerful wizard was Merlin- a wizard that appears in both Harry Potter
folklore and our own folklore. Centuries after his demise, Merlin was immortalized in the
form of a chocolate frog card- praised for his robust knowledge of magical abilities.
On the other side of things we have Morgana Le Fay- Merlin’s nemesis (in some versions
of folklore) a powerful witch and accomplished animagus that was also immortalized on her
own chocolate frog card.
A bit about the history of the founders- In the tenth century, the Hogwarts founders-
the ORIGINAL house members- got together and established that they had ‘the selfsame
yearning to make the worlds best magic school’. Their collective agreement that the wizarding
world was in need of a good, strong magical school resulted in the birth of Hogwarts-
which was built somewhere off hidden in the Scottish highlands. Each of the founders was
immensely powerful, and contributed to the birth of Hogwarts in their own unique way-
but what I want to explore in this video is- who was the most POWERFUL founder? It’d
be all nice and fun to assume that they were all equal- but that’s not realistic, so
sit back, relax, and enjoy my own personal rankings of the hogwarts founders. This is
entirely subjective, so comment your own rankings down below- then play the video and see if
yours line up with mine.
4. Helga Hufflepuff
We don’t actually have a lot of information on Helga, but what we do know is that the
founders of Hogwarts, all 4 of them, were immensely powerful. Hailing from the valleys
of Wales, Helga Hufflepuff was a round, plump woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She was
most likely a pure-blood witch and had a bit of a different approach to teaching students
from the other founders. Where the other founders valued traits like ambition, bravery and intelligence,
Helga was willing to take in anyone.
"I'll teach the lot and treat them just the same."
She didn’t have the same elitist mentality that some of the other founders had-, and
just wanted students to be educated, regardless of where they were sorted.
In terms of the founders-there seems to be the least information out there on Helga-
but one thing that is reinforced over and over again- is her kind, fair nature. Don’t
get me wrong though, she was talented, in fact she was particularly talented at producing
charms- especially food-related charms. She assisted in enchanting the sorting hat, and
used her charm-work to help feed the students of Hogwarts. Though I’m sure she was capable
of much more, we also know that Huffelpuff was capable of producing a patronus charm.
Since Hufflepuff was the most easy going, she was definitely the least preoccupied with
dueling or being powerful- and for this reason, she is #4 on the list.
3.Rowena Ravenclaw
Coming in at #3 on the list is Rowena Ravenclaw- the original RAVENCLAW.
Rowena was born sometime in the tenth century in Scotland - and was a close friend of fellow
founder Helga Hufflepuff, who was from Wales. There is much speculation that both the location
and name of Hogwarts were chosen by Rowena, who dreamt that a warty hog was leading her
to a cliff by the lake. She also came up with the ever-changing floor plan.
Rowena Ravenclaw was thought to be the most brilliant witch of her time, and it’s suggested
that she was more powerful than Helga Hufflepuff- powerful witch and fellow founder. Unlike
Helga, Rowena was more versed in a multitude of magical capabilities- and though she wasn’t
particularly skilled at FOOD related charms, she was a skilled practitioner of charms in
her own right. In fact, Rowena even enchanted her own diadem- advanced magic that caused
the diadem to enhance the wearers wisdom.
Rowena, like Helga, was also able to produce a patronus, and it has been expressed that
she was even versed in divination- which is a skill reserved for very few witches and
wizards. Ravenclaw was a spectacle- she was an absolute genius and she had a studious
nature- setting the precedent for the students of Ravenclaw house. However, despite all of
her knowledge, I doubt that she was the most POWERFUL of the founders as, like Helga, she
was not particularly preoccupied with pursuing power or being the best duellist. One thing
that Ravenclaw can certainly claim, however, is that during her lifetime she was likely
the most knowledgeable magical being around.
2. Godric Gryffindor
This is where things start to get tricky, because you see- Gryffindor and Slytherin
were both astonishingly powerful, just in different ways.
Godric was a tall, muscular man with a lion-like mane of hair- this is representative of the
Gryffindor crest which contains a lion. Gryffindor was unusual as a wizard in that he would often
duel with a sword rather than a wand- this was to give people a fighting chance. He was
an extremely impressive swordsman- in fact, Rowling said it herself- Gryffindor was ‘the
most accomplished duellist of his time’. However, I want to make a distinction here-
being a powerful duellist does not automatically give you the top spot for power- particularly
as his title most likely pertains to his swordsmanship and his ability to win sword-fighting duels,
not necessarily magic-based duels. With that being said, however, Godric was still suited
to martial magic.
In addition to being an impressive swordsman and duellist, Godric was also a charms master
and the original owner of the Sorting hat. He was a great man and a strong advocate for
muggle-born acceptance. His big heart is unquestionably one of the ranking factors here- especially
given the importance that the Harry Potter story has placed on ‘love’ and the power
that love holds.
1. Salazar Slytherin
Last but not least we have Salazar Slytherin - the father of Slytherin, and Voldemort’s
ancestor. Slytherin was a pure blood wizard that was born sometime before 976 AD, and
he was infamous for having the least-tolerant view toward muggles and muggle-born students.
His legacy is certainly not one that beams with positivity- and he even left the school
because he couldn’t agree with how the other founders operated. He wanted only pure-blood
students at the school, and passed on this philosophy to his students. When he saw that
things weren’t going to go his way- he built the chamber of secrets- a secret chamber which
contained a powerful basilisk intended to rid the school of muggle-borns. The most impressive
part of this, however, was that he created the basilisk himself. Basilisks are no joke-
in fact, they are one of the most powerful creatures in the wizarding world- so the fact
that he was able to create one and hide it right under the noses of the other founders
is nothing short of impressive.
Because Slytherin was the only founder to pursue the dark arts in any capacity- his
magical arsenal was considerably larger than the other founders. He did things with magic
that other, morally righteous wizards, were too noble to do- but Salazar had no shame,
just like Voldemort. Because of this- he became exceptionally skilled
at producing dark magic. Not only that, but he was a master legilimens, skilled wandmaker,
and charms expert.
I think that however you order this list, everyone is going to be reasonably close-
particularly the top two- Godric and Salazar, who I think are in immediate contention for
the top spot. What do you guys think? What’s your order? Let me know in the comment section
below
Until next time
Never tickle a sleeping dragon