Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re going to be discussing a
topic I, personally, find rather interesting – a question which you may or may not have
asked yourself while reading or watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: How does
the Sorting Hat choose which House each student goes into at Hogwarts? Can it see the FUTURE?
So, where to start on this one? Well, anyone who knows anything about the Harry Potter series
will, of course, be familiar with the Sorting Hat – the enchanted object that single-handedly
selects which House each first-year student will go into upon their arrival at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This selection process is the focal point of
the Sorting Ceremony – the “main event,” if you will, of the first evening spent at Hogwarts
each and every school year. It’s a rite of passage – eagerly awaited by some students,
such as Draco Malfoy, who was so certain that his future House would be Slytherin
just as he desired, and absolutely dreaded by others, such as Ron Weasley,
for fear that he wouldn’t be sorted into the same House as the rest of his family.
With so much emphasis on how the sorting selection impacts the young witches and wizards,
it could be quite easy to take for granted HOW the Sorting Hat makes these decisions – that is,
it’s not surprising that we never hear Harry or others question what the Hat’s process
is for selecting each pupil’s House, which serves as their home for the remainder of their time at
Hogwarts. After all, it would be easy enough to believe that this process simply just happens:
The Hat is placed atop each new student’s head, and it just KNOWS where to sort each of them.
Sometimes the Hat announces a pupil’s destined House without barely touching the hair on their
head – other times, minutes go by before it shares where a student should be placed.
There’s even a name for the instances where it takes the Sorting Hat longer than five minutes
to decide on a student’s House: Hatstall. But regardless of how long it takes the Sorting Hat to
come up with an answer, it does indeed provide one – and no one ever thinks twice about the outcome.
That is, no Headmaster, Professor, nor student
ever challenges its decisions (although, there is that one time that Albus Dumbledore mentions
in passing to Severus Snape that he thinks perhaps Hogwarts sorts their students too soon…).
But IN ANY CASE, whatever the Hat says, goes. And, according to J.K. Rowling, “The Sorting
Hat is notorious for refusing to admit it has made a mistake in its sorting of a student.” So, if it
had decided to place Harry in Slytherin, instead of Gryffindor, young Mr. Potter would have indeed
spent his time at Hogwarts in Slytherin House – regardless of how he, or others, felt about it.
Which brings us right back around to the very question of HOW the Sorting Hat makes its
decisions. If it’s so steadfast in any one choice that it makes regarding a student’s placement,
it must have good reason. It’s hard to believe that it’s just a stubborn,
old, enchanted hat…So, can it, in fact, SEE THE FUTURE?
The idea behind this theory is that if the Hat knows what kind of person a witch or wizard will
grow up to be, then it can swiftly and correctly identify their defining qualities and place them
in the most suitable House. Or perhaps, once the Sorting Hat is placed upon a student’s head,
it’s able to peer into their future and extract the things that matter most – their
prospective career, their forthcoming accomplishments and interests, and so forth.
But being able to see the future is a rather tricky thing to base a decision on. Because,
if the Sorting Hat can see the future, wouldn’t it just be able to see which House it chooses to
place the student in – in a few moments? Why go further into the future than it needs to, when it
could simply look to the following year, or even the next moment, to see what House that pupil is
in? This presents a bit of an issue in itself – is it placing students in a House because that’s
where it sees it has placed them in the future? To me, this is a real chicken-before-the-egg
scenario – hard to know what came first, if you know what I mean. Regardless, I believe
that the fact that the Sorting Hat sometimes takes a rather long time before announcing a placement
suggests – at least to me – that this theory of the Hat being able to see the future is flawed.
There’s also the argument that if the Sorting Hat could see the future, wouldn’t it have made
an effort to NOT place witches and wizards with inclinations towards the Dark Arts in
Slytherin House – a House notorious for producing graduates who end up dabbling in Dark Magic?
I mean, I suppose. But I think it’s rather unlikely that the Sorting Hat concerns itself
with the outcomes of the future. If it can see the future, I don’t believe that it has
any stake in whether or not a wizard, such as Tom Riddle, becomes the next Dark Lord.
It’s simply an enchanted hat, tasked with sorting young students into a House that
best suits who they are – and potentially who they will become. This would, of course,
be rather different if it was also given the role of preventing future wizarding world conflicts
or the like. But, as we know, it hasn’t been. In any case, I think this is irrelevant – because as
I mentioned I don’t think I believe that the Sorting Hat CAN see the future. Here’s why…
With Hatstalls and Harry as prime examples, we know that sometimes the Hat doesn’t have
a clear answer for where a student belongs. And as we’ve discussed,
if it could see the future, wouldn’t it already know where each wizard should go?
So, if it’s not able to predict or see the future, how is it making its decisions? In order to answer
that question, we must take a look at how the Sorting Hat came to be…well, the Sorting Hat!
As legend will tell you, the Hat once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders
of Hogwarts. This would explain its rather shabby look and patchwork design – it’s an incredibly old
hat! However, once you put aside its appearance, the Sorting Hat is truly a one-of-a-kind enchanted
object with spectacular abilities. This is due entirely to the fact that all four founders of
Hogwarts bestowed their intellect upon it. And, as it turns out, the Sorting Hat is
more than just intelligent and insightful, it’s also incredibly skilled at Legilimency.
For those of you who may not know, Legilimency is the practice of using magic to enter one’s mind,
interpreting their thoughts and capabilities. This branch of magic is much more than simple
“mind-reading,” as a Legilimens is able to peer into another’s head, bring forth memories,
and assess the content of a mind. We see this clearly demonstrated when the Sorting
Hat is placed upon Harry’s head when he first arrives at Hogwarts in The Philosopher’s Stone,
saying to Harry, “You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head, and Slytherin will
help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you’re sure…better
be GRYFFINDOR!” In this instance, the Hat is able to look around inside of Harry’s mind,
using what it finds to deduce which Houses would be a good fit for him: Slytherin or Gryffindor.
“Now, hold on,” you may be saying. “How could a HAT be skilled at Legilimency?” And this is
a very valid question, as Legilimency is a rather difficult magical skill to master for most witches
and wizards, never mind an enchanted inanimate object. Of course, there were certain exceptions
to this rule – for example, Queenie Goldstein, the American witch from the Fantastic Beasts series,
was born with her Legilimency abilities. However, being born gifted with the skill
to enter another’s mind is quite rare. Typically, one must start with a spell and an incantation,
before eventually being able to perform Legilimency without words or wands. So,
the question remains: how is it that a hat is able to exercise this type of magic so effortlessly?
Well, as it turns out, witches or wizards who had the ability to perform Legilimency,
were also able to pass that skill onto inanimate objects. This, of course, is what
happened with the Sorting Hat. The four founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw,
Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin were all Legilimens themselves, and each of them bestowed
their Legilimency skills upon the hat for the very purpose of continuing to fill their Houses with
the students who held the qualities each of them valued most – even after each of them passed on.
Which brings us to the end of another video!
As always, I’d love to know what you think. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
And, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to the channel!
Until next time…
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live