- Hey brother.
Boy, oh boy, you guys,
we have recently created the video
that explored the idea about whether
or not Petunia could have been a witch
and all of the potential implications if that had been true,
and I was genuinely blown away by all of the various twists
and turns like she marries Snape, leaves him,
still ends up with Vernon at the end of the day?
Who could have seen it coming?
Not me.
But it did bring up a very interesting question
that I never felt like I properly gave due consideration
in the past because well, quite frankly,
it never really even seems possible for Petunia
and Vernon to potentially produce magical offspring.
But when Petunia's a witch,
all of a sudden it does seem that much more likely
that Dudley Dursley, AKA Ickle Diddykins, AKA Big D,
could have a little bit of Hogwarts potential in him,
which then of course immediately brings
to the surface a question that we must answer.
If he did in fact attend Hogwarts,
which house would he be sorted into?
And right off the cuff, I know what we're all thinking,
we're all on the same page.
It feels right as rain, clear as day, fits like a glove.
Obviously Dudley Dursley would be sorted into Raven--
I'm just messing with you, it's impossible.
No, just, just, just no.
Well, Dudders might have some of the qualities
for the other three houses,
I think before we even dive in
and try to sort him in earnest,
we can rule this one out.
Nothing at all against Big D, but I always sort of feel
like you have to take into consideration
what the character themselves values the most,
and with Dudley, I never really felt like
wit beyond measure was his greatest treasure.
A really good example of that sort of value
versus actual personality situation has got
to be Neville being sorted into Gryffindor.
It's not exactly like Neville always had this sort
of innate bravery that so many of his other classmates did,
but it is a trait that he valued and coveted above all else,
and as we all know eventually found, in spades
or should I say swords?
Am I right?
(exclaims)
It really just never gets old, does it?
The point that it ultimately illustrates though is
that while Neville wasn't necessarily absolutely brave
at the beginning, it is where he was absolutely destined
to end up.
So again, going back to Dudley,
I think we can pretty easily rule out Ravenclaw.
However, I do think
that the other three houses are all really good candidates
for him and as such we're going to try to figure out
what house Dudley might value the most
and get to the bottom of where he belongs.
(upbeat music)
- [Dudley] How many are there?
- Three, three, Dudley, there were four to begin with,
and we ruled out the smart one.
Do you see why?
Okay, so where to begin?
This is sort of something I haven't given
that much consideration to in the past because, again,
it just never seemed likely
that Dudley could end up at Hogwarts.
So where do we even begin
as to what would be a good indicator
as to the proper house that he might belong in?
Because while Harry does go
and visit the Dursleys every single year,
and we do get a look at these characters every single year,
we never really get to know Dudley all that well, do we?
For a good portion of the series, he almost just serves
as being the exact opposite of Harry,
at least underneath the Dursleys roof.
He is aggressively spoiled in sharp contrast
to Harry who is just obviously neglected and mistreated.
He's a bit more brawny compared
to Harry's small, sleek, seekers frame
and overall just kind of has this air of superiority
that can only ever really come from growing up
in a household where you're only regarded
as the most specialist boy to ever be,
and do those characteristics sound familiar at all?
Because they're almost to the letter an exact blend
of Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle,
which means the first house that we need to examine is,
of course-- - Slytherin.
- Honestly, I feel like if you were just posed this question
on a whim, which house would Dudley end up in,
your knee jerk reaction very easily could be Slytherin.
For one, it's almost certainly where both Vernon
and Petunia would end up,
if either of them were actually magically inclined.
They both have this extremely heavy emphasis
on status and materialism
and they almost seem to have like their own version
of the Muggle side of blood purity,
where in their mind, of course,
the Muggles are the pure blood,
and I also feel like Harry being accepted
into Hogwarts meant that he could escape the Dursleys
and his cousin Dudley, only to find Dudley's exact duplicate
in wizarding form, Draco Malfoy.
It almost starts to feel a little bit like a no-brainer.
Dudley must be in Slytherin,
but I actually don't think so.
Slytherins value cunning, ambition, and resourcefulness,
and now that I say that out loud, I'm not actually sure
how Crabbe and Goyle got there in the first place.
I suppose maybe just generally being power hungry lands you
under the banner of ambition somehow.
But honestly I feel like they're really kind
of dragging the house down a little bit.
Maybe again, it's a little bit like the Neville example.
While they don't necessarily have these characteristics
on proud display, they value the characteristics
of Slytherin House just, you know, deep, deep, deep--
- How thick could you get?
- Deep, deep down.
I mean, I guess when you frame it like that,
Slytherin doesn't have a terrible argument for Dudley.
Certainly, I guess I can see a world where this is the case
because he is similar to Crabbe and Goyle,
and has some of the same characteristics as Malfoy,
but I also feel like Dudley is the leader of his group
and I just don't think that it fits together all the way.
So let's examine the other two houses.
Do either Gryffindor
or Hufflepuff make even more sense for Dudley?
Well, again, we don't always get to know
that much information about Dudders,
but he does have one particularly unique interest
that he excels at as he gets a little bit older.
That is, of course, that he is introduced to boxing
or as Uncle Vernon likes to call it, the noble sport.
It might just be me, but I personally find that
to be one of the funniest lines of all seven books.
I have no idea.
It just rings.
This is one of those things where I feel
like they were trying to spin it
in such a way that was like, yeah, he's a bigger guy
and so he can be good at beating up other people.
It was sort of an example of like, how can we have him put
in little to no effort and still excel at something?
But that's not really how it actually is.
He's really good at it.
I mean, he does become a Junior Heavyweight
Interschool Boxing Champion of the Southeast
and to hear him tell it,
he knocks out his championship opponent
for like a solid 20 minutes.
- (bangs glass) Move!
- He's asleep.
- And I bring this up alongside his candidacy
for Gryffindor because let's face it,
if Hogwarts has a jock house, if you will,
probably is Gryffindor.
A bunch of broom jockeys, am I right?
Yeah, I am.
Think of James Potter, for example,
and all of his Quidditch glory,
carrying around a snitch and freely releasing it
just so he can snatch it back outta the air.
It's like the wizarding equivalent
to that guy who wears a Letterman jacket
and carries a football around with him at all times,
even though he can't carry anything else
in that hand because he's got the football.
That's gotta be inconvenient.
I'll be holding this basketball for the rest
of this argument, but also on that note,
furthering his candidacy for Gryffindor
is the fact that boxing anyone at all
on any level requires a certain amount
of courage and bravery.
(fist thwacks) (Draco groans)
I mean, obviously we see Dudley sort of pick on kids
around the neighborhood and Harry sort of needs
to dish it back at him.
- Beat up another 10 year old?
- But the fact is he actually can go toe to toe
with real trained opponents and stepping into the ring
and knowing that you could potentially be punched
in the face requires an amount of bravery.
However, as we said earlier, the Sorting Hat does take
into account what you value the most.
So just because you are capable
of something like courage or bravery or chivalry,
which, at the very least,
we know Dudley's somewhat capable of.
"We had to write an essay about our hero at school,
"Mr. Mason and I wrote about you."
That's 10 outta 10 chivalry if you ask me.
(groans)
But again, just because you're capable of something
doesn't mean you actually value it
because in the case of Mr. Mason,
it feels like he's not actually being all that sincere.
- Who'd want to be friends with you?
- And also later in "Order of the Phoenix",
we find out that while Dudley is capable of boxing
other opponents, he does also tend to pick
on kids who are just much younger than himself,
which doesn't exactly scream values courage, does it?
I'm dropping the ball.
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But so then what?
Hufflepuff?
The house that values hard work, loyalty, fair play?
Not exactly sure that five on one
versus a 10 year old is fair play.
- This one deserved it.
- Oh well, if you say so, Dudley.
No, admittedly not, but I also don't know
that we can entirely judge Dudley based
on a few different interactions,
especially because I'm not sure
that we ultimately learn the most important factor
about who Dudley truly is until after this incident.
I'm speaking of course
of the Dementor attack that happens right after
in the alleyway between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent.
Did I need to tell you the specific streets?
No.
Did I get this question right when J got it wrong
at a recent quiz?
- [Host] That is word for word.
- Yes! - Man.
- Yeah, that happened, that did happen.
My own personal glory aside, this is a super impactful scene
for Dudley who, barring a handful of other incidents
with the wizarding world,
might actually have been experiencing the first event
of his life that properly opened his eyes to the world.
This is actually another situation where
I think we can compare Dudley's character to Draco
in the same way but with ultimately different outcomes.
Both of these characters are subjected
to a fairly controlled upbringing where the stance
and position of the family is very well known.
- I was the only one to see her for what she was.
A freak. - And for many kids
of this age, the outcome is pretty predictable.
They end up parroting their parents' own beliefs
out into the world.
- You'll soon find out
that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter.
- Oftentimes it's not until they've been able to go out
into the world on their own and experience it
for themselves to potentially change their minds,
and even when that's the case,
I'm not sure it's always a sure thing.
I say this because the way that Dudley behaves
is a direct result of the example set for him
by his two parents.
They are cruel to Harry,
so why would he treat him any differently?
But then after all of these years, and despite that cruelty,
Harry obviously saves him anyway,
and after the Dementor attack, a lot happens.
For one, Petunia and Vernon are absolutely determined
to blame it on Harry,
despite the fact Harry absolutely saved Dudley
in this instance
and this moment is really important
because it could be the very first time
that Dudley ever realizes the flaw in his parents' way
of thinking because while Dudley may have been okay
with Harry's mistreatment because it usually meant
that he was being treated all that much better
and made that much more special,
he, Dudley himself, actually knows what happened inside
of that alleyway, which again is between Wisteria Walk
and Magnolia Crescent, for those keeping track,
and I do think that knowledge,
the realization that maybe his parents' line
of thinking isn't always correct might have been enough
to start to push Dudley towards his true character,
and what I'm referring to here is the subsequent summers
where what we see are what feel like pretty feeble attempts
for Dudley to show Harry any amount of kindness.
It's like, for example, when he leaves a cup
of tea outside of Harry's room for him.
This might seem small and he doesn't even tell Harry
that that's what he's done,
but this is a child who has grown up not being taught
in any way, shape or form what kindness actually looks like,
and yet the thing that I want to try to emphasize here is
that he is trying, and I don't think it's
that he feels like he owes Harry or anything like that.
I just genuinely think he's trying to be nice to him,
and it's funny, but I actually feel like Harry himself
recognizes that the kindness meter when it pertains
to Dudley might be a little bit skewed
or just otherwise broken.
"But he hasn't said thank you at all.
"He only said he didn't think Harry was a waste of space.
"Yeah, but coming from Dudley that's like, I love you."
I would just like to remind you all
that I don't think any of you are a waste of space.
Love, Ben Carlin.
The point I'm trying to make though is that
by now Dudley is absolutely worried about Harry's wellbeing.
He himself has actually even experienced firsthand what kind
of dangers might lie out there,
and he's just not as resigned as he has been
for his entire life to just allow whatever's going to happen
to Harry to happen to him.
Because keep in mind, this takes place in "Deathly Hallows".
It has been two full years since the attack in the alleyway,
which as a reminder, took place
between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent.
This is not just an emotional response
to something that literally just happened the day before.
He's been stewing on it for two full years,
and so for me, I personally like to think
that Dudley, after all this time, is actually making it
through the thicket of negativity
that his parents have laid before him.
He's demonstrating a kind of loyalty to Harry.
He doesn't even want to leave without him.
He's wondering why Harry isn't coming with them.
His own self might finally be emerging,
and again, while it might feel like a really low bar,
it is otherwise a genuine and true effort
towards showing how he cares for his cousin,
and so now it's not just this sense
of fairness that is emerging that might make him
a good candidate for Hufflepuff, but if we go back
to before the Dementor attack, we can start to see
that he did feature other characteristics
of the House as well.
Like for example, if we go back to his boxing championship,
he does in fact find a way to win it.
Yes, he does use this newfound skill to bully people,
but also think about where he was coming ahead of that time.
At one point Harry describes him as being wider
than he is tall, and yet he does find a way
to work himself to the top spot in a form
of very athletic competition.
That does take immense hard work and effort
and energy to pull off,
and again, you might wanna lean on the idea like, well yeah,
he's a bigger guy so of course he's good at boxing
but when it comes to boxing, you compete by weight class,
so that would be irrelevant.
His opponent would be his size as well.
So yes, despite his ill temper,
he does have a tremendous work ethic,
and lastly, you might be thinking like,
okay, well maybe he does eventually come around
and start to see things in a better light,
but the sorting happens at age 11
and at that time he definitely wasn't there yet.
Wouldn't he almost certainly still be more likely
to end up at Slytherin based on that age?
I really doubt it because I personally believe
that the Sorting Hat is able to see through all
of the rest down to your very core and who you truly are.
Again, it's why despite the fact
that Neville insisted to the Sorting Hat that he be placed
in Hufflepuff, it knew that he belonged in Gryffindor,
and I personally believe the same would be true for Dudley.
I think the Sorting Hat could have seen
that deep down inside of him was a hardworking, kind person,
and that he would belong in Hufflepuff.
Also, you guys may have noticed my super cool shirt
and is actually a part
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But guys, as always, thank you so much for watching.
Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel,
if you haven't already.
If you'd like to find out
what House Hagrid might have actually belonged in,
you can check out this video right over here.
But otherwise, until next time, bye.