"Slytherin!"
We talked in our last Harry Potter video about the defining characteristics of Slytherin.
So in this video, we want to go a little bit further
and give a defense of Slytherin house.
Slytherin gets a bad rap.
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin..."
This most misunderstood house in the Harry Potter series
tens to be written off as mean, prejudiced, or just plain evil.
“There’s not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin.”
But it’s not really fair to let a few bad apples
spoil our impression of the whole bunch.
"Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.
We've all got both light and dark inside us."
And if you look closer, it starts to seem like
the story itself is biased against Slytherin house.
It’s written from a very pro-Gryffindor point of view,
and hello, Gryffindor is Slytherin’s traditional rival.
Imagine if the person who hates you the most wrote a book about you --
would you expect that to be fair?
"We have a very different idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy."
It’s kind of too bad though that this house isn’t
framed in a more nuanced way.
Because if we look at the Slytherin qualities themselves,
this house is arguably one of the more talented, interesting,
and certainly the most complex of the four.
So here’s our take on why these folks have more to offer
than they tend to get credit for.
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Outside of Harry Potter, Slytherin qualities are
often presented as enviable.
Before we get into some examples, first let’s quickly recap.
What makes someone a Slytherin, essentially?
The defining characteristic is probably that Slytherins are strategists.
They’re single-minded and cunning in achieving their ends.
"When I became the greatest sorcerer in the world."
Because they’re so driven, analytical and often very smart,
they can achieve true excellence in their fields.
They tend to be more cold and calculating, patient, rational and precise.
They’re pretty sensitive and image-conscious.
They’re often morally complex, with both dark and light sides.
Thus they have the capacity to surprise us with drastic change and even rebirth.
Now, let’s take a look at a few other stories that frame strategy and cold-bloodedness
as essential to any success.
Michael Corleone in The Godfather -- calculating, rational, always in control --
is probably one of the most compelling Slytherins in cinema.
"Fredo... he's got a good heart.
But he's weak, and he's stupid.
And this is life and death."
Michael shows that coldness can be very attractive,
"It's not personal, son.
It's strictly business."
and incredibly effective.
"Don't tell me you're innocent, because it insults my intelligence.
It makes me very angry."
In Game of Thrones, all of the Lannisters would be Slytherins.
They love power, and have a worldly understanding of how to leverage wealth.
"Lannisters always pay their debts."
Sure, Cersei shows the selfishness of a traditional Slytherin,
"[LAUGHS] The people?
You think I care?"
and incidentally she happens to be one of the most fun characters to watch on the show.
But Jaime shows the Slytherins’ potential for moral complexity and change.
And Tyrion -- even though he turns against his family --
is still very much a Lannister and by extension a Slytherin type.
He’s crafty, realistic, and logical.
"I’ve been a cynic for as long as I can remember."
He tries to rein in Daenerys’ hot-blooded Gryffindor instincts
with more calculating, worldly plans.
"What kind of a queen am I if I'm not willing to risk my life
to fight them?"
"A smart one."
We’d argue, that Marvel superhero Tony Stark would be in Slytherin.
"Big man in a suit of armor.
Take that off, what are you?"
"Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist."
He’s ambitious, intelligent, morally complex, and, yes, narcissistic.
"Textbook narcissism.
Agreed."
These traits don’t make him a villain; they make him fascinating to watch
and adored by fans the world over.
"I am Iron Man."
Dr. Strange is also a classic Slytherin --
he’s hardworking, precise, cold, and a little full of himself,
"Not only about me."
"Stephen, everything is about you."
yet in the end he’s willing to make great sacrifices to do the right thing.
"You will spend the eternity dying."
"Yes, but everyone on earth will live."
Billions is all about how you have to be a step ahead of your opponent
to stay alive in the world of big money.
"I don't lie to myself and I don't hold on to a loser."
"The best way to bond with someone isn't doing a favor.
It's asking for one."
House of Cards and Scandal paint people who can’t play crafty games
as pretty much suckers.
"You can't just fight the good fight.
We live in a real world."
In the worldviews of these shows,
to refuse to play dirty in a corrupt world isn’t heroic;
it’s dumb.
"You're a fool, Donald.
You always were.
Principled?
Idealistic?
A champion for the people?
What did you ever actually do?
Nothing."
Sound a little like the Slytherins talking about Gryffindors?
"We Slytherin are brave, yes, but not stupid."
Sherlock Holmes on the BBC’s Sherlock might be a Slytherin, too.
He’s highly intelligent and strategic, of course,
and he can also be distant, arrogant, and alienating.
"According to SOMEONE, 'the murderer has the case.'
And we found it in the hands of our favorite psychopath."
"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson, I'm a high-functioning sociopath.
Do your research."
All of those characteristics help make up the unique genius he is.
"Sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side."
Eve Harrington in All About Eve comes across as somewhat villainous
for her Slytherin-style ambition in her quest for fame.
But the movie also implies this is pretty much what it takes to become a big
star.
"You'd do all that just for a part in a play?"
"I'd do much more or a part that good."
Going back to the classics,
Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo would be a textbook Slytherin --
he’s dogged and meticulous in his plan for vengeance.
"Don't rob me of my hate.
It's all I have."
Yet watching his scheme unfold is so satisfying --
because his targets very much deserve their punishment
and as any Slytherin knows, revenge is a dish best served cold.
"You'll serve your sentence in this world before you go to hell."
Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind would fit into this house --
she’s a cold-blooded realist,
resourceful and single-minded in getting what she wants.
"If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill.
As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"
Rhett Butler loves Scarlett’s ruthless, plotting inner nature,
but it takes her the whole story to accept that this is who she is --
essentially, a Slytherin --
and that her true love is Rhett, another Slytherin.
"Because we're alike.
Bad lots, both of us.
Selfish and shrewd.
But able to look things in the eyes as we call them by their right names."
For so long, she prefers the idea of the noble-minded, placid Ashley,
who’d perhaps be a Hufflepuff.
"You'll never mind facing realities,
and you'll never want to escape from them as I do."
All these fictional characters work hard, apply themselves, and fight for what they
care about.
Likewise they see challenges in our society requires strategy and long-term planning.
Yale Professor John Gaddis speaks about the concept of Grand Strategists --
people who shows an immense talent for strategizing --
like Otto von Bismark, Queen Elizabeth, FDR --
this capacity for Grand Strategy
shown by the most influential world leaders of all time
is completely a Slytherin thing.
The reality is that the majority of politicians and powerful public figures
need to be very cunning, calculating and image-conscious
to get anything done at all --
"And that's why you need me, because I am willing to stare into the abyss
beyond conventional morality and do what needs to be done."
so it’s safe to say that a lot of these people leading our world
throughout history and today would be in Slytherin House.
A big factor that plays against young Slytherins is
that others expect the worst of them.
And if everyone assumes that you’re going to
grow up to be an evil Death Eater,
"Harry is under he impression that Draco Malfoy is now a Death Eater."
the easiest thing to do is go on and become just that --
especially if you’re young and don’t know who you are yet.
While Gryffindors are constantly being glorified for their impulsive heroic gestures,
Slytherins often don’t get the glory they deserve.
Snape lets himself be perceived as a bad guy, being heroic in secret,
in order to do the most good.
“No one can know.”
And sympathetic Slytherin backstories tend to get overlooked or dealt with briefly.
Eventually in flashbacks we learn
that the sensitive young Snape was cruelly bullied by Harry’s Gryffindor father.
We could also imagine a very different version of this tale from Draco’s point of view
--
he’s just an insecure young boy growing up
among crushingly high expectations,
and he finds it unfair that everyone worships this famous Harry boy for no apparent reason.
"Famous Harry Potter.
Can't even go to a bookshop without making the front page."
In the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book,
Dumbledore says about Snape, quote,
“I sometimes think we sort too soon.”
so the implication is that, because Snape’s a good guy,
he’s not truly a Slytherin at heart.
"Don't tell me now that you've grown to care for the boy."
Meanwhile J.K.
Rowling has said that the sorting hat seriously considered
putting Peter Pettigrew -- Gryffindor’s one big villain -- in Slytherin.
So the story seems determined to equate the Slytherin label with “bad.”
But Snape himself probably wouldn’t agree.
Snape is a Slytherin; it’s just that there’s a lot more
to being a Slytherin than a propensity for evil.
“You were named after two Headmasters of Hogwarts.
One of them was a Slytherin.
And he was the bravest man I've ever known.”
Draco in Latin means “dragon” or “serpent,” which we know is Slytherin’s house animal,
so that’s a clue that Draco Malfoy is a key part of Slytherin’s future legacy.
"I mean, look at his family.
The whole lot of them have been
in Slytherin for centuries."
And Draco’s change of heart by the end of the story is
a very positive sign for the direction Slytherin can head in.
And by the end of the series,
the anti-Slytherin bias is finally starting to dissipate.
Even though Harry himself begged not to be placed in this house,
when we leave off in Deathly Hallows Part 2,
he’s telling his son
that it’s fine to be sorted into Slytherin.
"Dad, what if I end up in Slytherin?"
“Then Slytherin house will have gained a wonderful young wizard.”
And the hit play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
reveals Albus does in fact end up in Slytherin.
The play also features Draco’s Slytherin son Scorpius Malfoy,
who’s an incredibly popular character with audiences.
Scorpius is brave and sensitive, and has a strong friendship with Albus.
So in this new generation,
the “Gryffindor good, Slytherin bad” dichotomy of the old days is ending,
and we’re finally starting to see a more nuanced picture of who a Slytherin
can be.
So we do have to address the elephant in the room:
When people think of Slytherin,
one of the first words that comes to mind is, evil.
And there’s good reason for this.
Apart from a couple outliers like Pettigrew and the vain Gilderoy Lockhart,
almost all of the villains in the story come from this house.
And while we’ve pointed out some more admirable Slytherins outside of Harry
Potter,
we could also find a lot of ice-cold villains who you’d definitely sort into this house,
too.
It’s not like Hannibal Lecter is ending up in Gryffindor.
"[SLURPS]"
It makes sense that villains mostly belong to Slytherin.
This house’s members will achieve their goals at all costs.
In other words, they’re willing to cross lines that others wouldn’t,
"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue."
"That's illegal!"
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him."
which makes them more vulnerable to becoming morally compromised.
Many Slytherins are also self-centered, putting their desires first.
These more complex and subtle thinkers, are more likely to question
the existing, black-and-white moral codes of society.
And some Slytherins may be more likely to lack that human warmth and fellow feeling
that makes us feel responsible for other people.
But it’s really most fair to think of the evil people
as a sub-group of the Slytherin house.
Essentially, these are the Death Eater-kind of Slytherins.
And it’s worth distinguishing between the Death Eaters
and the other Slytherins out there who shouldn’t be written off.
There are even some truly great Slytherins like Severus Snape --
who’s probably the most fascinating character in Harry Potter.
"Yes, I'm the Half-Blood Prince."
Slytherins like Snape are powerful not in spite of their dual good-and-evil natures,
but because of them --
because Snape contains the potential for both good and bad,
Dumbledore can ask things of him that others wouldn’t be capable of.
And really no one else -- not even Dumbledore --
could have pulled off what Snape does in this story,
convincing Voldemort himself for all of those years that he’s not a spy.
And this brings us to one of the strongest arguments in favor of Slytherins.
Most other members of Hogwarts are pretty much what they appear to be
from the start.
But Slytherins are morally and emotionally complex.
That’s why they often take longer to develop and mature,
and it’s why they just might surprise us.
So when we imagine sorting the people we know into houses,
Slytherin would get our friends who are the most complicated,
competitive and strategic, with mysterious hidden potential.
"In each of us there is another self we do not know."
I'm Debra.
I'm Susannah.
We're the creators of ScreenPrism.
If you like our videos, please subscribe.
Down there!