Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing the four founding members of Hogwarts, as well as the history of Hogwarts- the finest
school of witchcraft and wizardry that the world has ever known.
Hogwarts was founded at some point during the tenth century. It was built hidden off
somewhere in the Scottish highlands (the exact location is never actually revealed)- and
this was because the tenth century was a time of hardship for witches and wizards. During
this time, every day, witches and wizards were being persecuted by muggles-who were
intensely hostile when it came to witnessing sources of magic. In order to further protect
the staff, students, and school itself- additional precautions were made in the form of charms
- helping to further conceal the school from muggle trespassers. If a muggle were to just
happen to stumble upon the school grounds- they would only see ruins, and signs warning
them to stay away.
Hogwarts was founded when four 10th century witches and wizards got together, and decided
that they had, in the sorting hat’s own words: ‘the selfsame yearning, to make the
world’s best magic school’. These founders were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw,
Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff. Thus, Hogwarts was born. The name Hogwarts actually
came from founder Rowena Ravenclaw, who had a dream where a ‘warty’ hog lead her to
a cliff by a lake - it’s also been speculated that this is how they chose the location for
the school as well. After its establishment, like with any institution, a crest was formed
for Hogwarts. Emblazoned upon the school crest are the words ‘Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus’
- which roughly translates to ‘Never tickle a sleeping dragon’.
Rowling revealed the true meaning of this motto in an interview.
“The name is just an idiom, derived from ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ - it’s a magicification,
if you will. It basically means, don’t stir up trouble. Don’t open up a can of worms,
don’t stir up a hornet’s nest and definitely don’t play with fire. If you tickle a sleeping
dragon, then you are probably only causing problems for yourself. Problems that could
be easily avoided if you simply, DIDN’T tickle a sleeping dragon.”
Anyway, after the founders (who were close friends) founded the school, they decided
that they would each create and head their own ‘house’ which would represent a personality
trait and skill that they wanted to nurture. And it just so happened that despite being
close friends, each founder happened to value very different things-which created quite
an interesting and diverse array of students at the school.
“Gryffindor students embodied bravery and chivalry; Ravenclaw, intelligence and wit;
Hufflepuff, loyalty and fair play; and Slytherin, the values of being sly and cunning.”
And for years, the Hogwarts founders served as head of their respective houses, and sorted
students in to their houses manually. However, when it occurred to them that they wouldn’t
be around forever-they needed to come up with some sort of way that they could continue
to sort students when they were no longer around. Thus, the sorting hat was born.
Godric Gryffindor pulled his completely normal hat off of his head and made the suggestion
to the other founders that, using their collective magic, they enchant the hat and turn it in
to a sentient being. It was important to the founders that the houses they formed would
continue to follow by the beliefs from which they were based. These virtues or inherent
characteristics are best summed up in the Sorting Hat’s own words:
“By Gryffindor, the bravest were Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin Loved those of great ambition.“
Essentially, how it works is this. Upon placing the sort hat on your head, it will begin to
analyze your mind and place you in a house based on how closely you resemble one of the
four founders. If the hat senses great bravery, Gryffindor is the likely choice. If the hat
senses great intelligence, Ravenclaw is the likely choice, if the hat senses that someone
is a hard worker, Hufflepuff is the likely choice, and finally, if the hat senses that
someone is hungry for power, then Slytherin is the likely choice.
After the sorting hat was put in place-it made things much easier for the founders,
and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the founders were beginning to have a bit
of a falling out. But before we get in to that let’s take a look at the four founders
of Hogwarts a little bit closer.
First up, we have Godric Gryffindor.
Godric Gryffindor was a tall, muscular man with a lion-like mane of hair- this is representative
of the Gryffindor crest which contains a lion. He was born in none-other than Godric’s
Hollow-which we know quite well. 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, and his sword, the sword of Gryffindor is massively
important in the series. The sword was forged for him by ‘Ragnuk the First’ - the finest
of goblin silversmiths and it has been described as possessing ‘gleaming silver’ with ‘rubies
the size of eggs’.
In addition to being an expert duellist, Godric was also a charms master, and, along with
the other 3 founders, helped to enchant HIS hat which would eventually become the sorting
hat. Godric was a noble man, that helped fight against muggle discrimination in the wizarding
world.
Next up we have Salazar Slytherin -
Salazar Slytherin, you might have heard the surname was a pure blood wizard that was born
sometime before 976 AD, most likely sometime between 930-960 AD. However, given his immense
power he may have been around for much longer than that. Slytherin is infamous for his disliking
of muggle-born students- and was a strong proponent of having only pure-blood students
at Hogwarts. This philosophy was ultimately passed on to other Slytherins. His response
to muggle-born students attending the school was to build the chamber of secrets which
concealed a basilisk that was intended to purge the school of these students. He fundamentally
felt that muggle-borns were unworthy of studying magic-and Gryffindor founder Godric Gryffindor
strongly opposed this notion. Salazar Slytherin was an extremely powerful wizard. He could
produce all sorts of dark charms and spells and he was notably skilled at legilimency,
wandmaking, and basilisk breeding.
Next up we have Rowena Ravenclaw -
Rowena Ravenclaw was a very 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, and she even came up with the schools ever-changing floor plan.
Ravenclaw was thought to be the most brilliant witch of her time, perhaps even more powerful
than Helga Hufflepuff, and showed considerable talent in a multitude of magical disciplines.
She was even able to create and enchant her own diadem- which would enhance the wearers
wisdom. This is the same diadem that her daughter would later steal.
Rowena could also produce a patronus charm, and there is some speculation that she was
also versed in divination. She was a truly powerful witch- who placed a massive amount
of emphasis on knowledge and wisdom.
And last but not least, we have Helga Hufflepuff.
Helga was a round, plump woman with brown and blue eyes. She would often sport a smile,
and frequently donned a brown or yellow dress.
Unlike the other founders, though proud of her house Hufflepuff didn’t have much of
an elitist mentality, and just wanted students to be educated, regardless of where they were
sorted. She wasn’t competitive.
"I'll teach the lot and treat them just the same."
She is known for her vast abilities in the realm of charms - particularly food-related
charms, which was an area where she was unmatched.
But one thing is for sure - the Hogwarts founders, all of them, are widely thought to have possessed
power that was entirely uncomparable to most modern day witches and wizards. They were
all charms and transfiguration masters, expert duellists, pioneers, and more- the list goes
on. They created the perfect environment for students to become accustomed to magic, and
the wizarding world as a whole. Hogwarts was a safe place for all -that is, after Salazar
Slytherin had left. Slytherin, who was an advocate of blood-purity, had no interest
in teaching muggle-born students- this lead to a falling out with Godric Gryffindor, who
is thought to have ousted Slytherin from the school in a duel. After Slytherin left, peace
and prosperity returned to the school environment, and muggle-borns would no longer have to live
in fear.
But before Slytherin left, the founders put together an impressive curriculum for the
students of the school- truly leaving no stone unturned when it came to magical abilities.
There were 21 subjects in total:
Astronomy, Charms, Dark Arts, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Flying, Herbology, History
of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle
Studies, Study of Ancient Runes, Alchemy, Ancient Studies, Apparition, Art, Ghoul Studies,
Magical Theory, and Xylomancy. If you want to learn more about these subjects, then I’ve
got a video on it called ‘all 21 subjects taught at hogwarts’, which I’ll leave
a link for in the description.
Whichever way you want to look at it, the founders of Hogwarts made one of the greatest
and longest lasting contributions to wizardkind that we know of, and these four characters
were truly influential in shaping the wizarding world in to the world that we know today.
I’d love it if more canon books or films were released on these founders-we can always
hope for the distant future I guess.
That’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content, please like the video and subscribe
to the channel. Until next time,
What is life without a little risk?