Ten Points to Gryffindor! Harry Potter Houses, Explained

The Big Picture

• Harry Potter's houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, play a significant role in the merchandising and community of Hogwarts.
• Each house has its own set of traits and values that define its members, such as bravery in Gryffindor, cunning in Slytherin, intellect in Ravenclaw, and loyalty in Hufflepuff.
• The sorting ceremony, conducted by the Sorting Hat, determines which house each student belongs to, based on their values rather than behavior, and provides a community of like-minded individuals.

Harry Potter's houses have become a significant part of the franchise's merchandising, but they are often summed up inaccurately as the good one, the bad one, and the ones nobody remembers. Based on a real system in some boarding schools, the students are instantly divided between Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Each is named after a Hogwarts founder and offers a community to individual students. It also serves as an easy way to keep track of them, with each house having a teacher in charge and several designated older students expected to help. Professors McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Snape (Alan Rickman), Flitwick (Warwick Davis), and Sprout (Miriam Margolyes) respectively guide and discipline their students when necessary. The houses also provide dorms and common rooms for the students, divide them into classes, make teams who compete against each other, and much more. Unlike the more realistic counterpart, the Hogwarts houses are divided by personality traits.

But because Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) naturally becomes friends with people in his own house, the films only fully explore Gryffindor. Yet each house has a unique set of traits that it values. The differences between Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff are about whom the students are and what each house's founder prioritized. Oftentimes, this means their ancient rivalries set them against each other. Together, Gryffindor's bravery, Slytherin's cunning, Ravenclaw's intellect, and Hufflepuff's loyalty describe each student at Hogwarts, making the sorting process important to school life.

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What Is the Sorting Ceremony in 'Harry Potter'?

Upon arriving at Hogwarts, first-year students perform a sorting ceremony in front of the entire school. This determines their house and, therefore, much of their life for the next seven years. Each takes a turn with the Sorting Hat (Leslie Phillips), which gets placed on their heads. The hat (which is hopefully enchanted against lice), claims to have been brought to life by the Founders themselves and "reads" the student in order to determine which house they fit. But this choice is not necessarily determined by how the student behaves but by what they value, which is why the Sorting Hat listens to Harry and doesn't put him in Slytherin upon his request. This also explains why some families end up in the same house as values are taught.

Some children are easier to sort than others. Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) barely gets the hat on his head before it calls out "Gryffindor." Others sit on the stool for a while as the Sorting Hat debates. These are referred to as "hatstalls." Though none of the main characters fit the time qualifications for a hatstall, Minerva McGonagall was one in her day, as was Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall). But whatever house they end up in, each student is introduced to like-minded witches and wizards.

Gryffindor: The Brave

The most well-known house from the films is Gryffindor. With Harry, Ron, Hermione (Emma Watson), and many other memorable characters all in this house, it's hard to forget. These students wear red, and their symbol is a lion. The house represents bravery, fearlessness, nerve, and chivalry. Many Gryffindors took part in the war against Voldemort, including Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), who never thought he belonged in Gryffindor but proved his valor by personally slaying Voldemort's snake and horcrux.

Gryffindor may boast many memorable members, but they are not all good. James Potter (Adrian Rawlins), Harry's father, was a Gryffindor, and despite his heroics, he wasn't without flaws. But more notably, Peter Pettigrew betrayed his friends and helped Voldemort, ultimately becoming the most recognizable Death Eater from Gryffindor. On a more day-to-day basis, the Gryffindor students are a loud and rambunctious lot but also noble. Because of their founder, Godric Gryffindor, they have a long-maintained rivalry with Slytherin and are often over-competitive, but those are only side effects of their fearlessness.

Slytherin: The Cunning

Harry Potter explores Slytherin the most next to Gryffindor but paints them in a bad light. Their green uniforms and snake mascot are infamous. Once the house of Voldemort, Slytherin housed a lot of dark witches and wizards and Harry's bitter rival, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton). Often associated with blood purity and prejudice because of a few bad eggs (including their founder), Slytherin is commonly identified as the evil house. But that isn't the case. Slytherin's values are ambition, cunning, resourcefulness, and pride. While perhaps not as inherently altruistic as Gryffindor's traits, none are innately evil.

From Bellatrix (Helena Bonham Carter) to the Malfoys, Slytherin created plenty of Death Eaters, but there were good Slytherins, too. Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) defended Hogwarts during the battle, but mostly, he wanted to watch his students succeed. Though controversial, Snape also fought against Voldemort, and Regulus Black, though dead during the story, tried to kill Voldemort long before Harry and his friends ever did. Voldemort's legacy and the giant basilisk Salazar Slytherin stored in the school are hard to overcome, but their reputation is at least exaggerated.

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Ravenclaw: The Intelligent

A few significant characters wear Raveclaw's blue, including Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) and Cho Chang (Katie Leung). Additionally, Ravenclaw's designated Ghost, The Grey Lady (Kelly Macdonald), plays a role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, as she leads Harry to one of the final Horcruxes. Ravenclaw carries the distinction of being the only house whose mascot was changed for the films. While it is an eagle in the books, the movies show a raven instead. The house's founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, valued intelligence, wit, creativity, and originality, and they continue to uphold those traits. This makes it the perfect place for Luna and other totally unique people. Unfortunately, so few Ravenclaws are seen that there is little debate over good and evil. Besides Luna and Cho, Ravenclaw can boast of Filius Flitwick, Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart) (pre-Voldemort), and many unnamed individuals seen around the school. But Luna herself is one flattering representative of the Ravenclaw house.

Hufflepuff: The Loyal

The often-forgotten Hufflepuff is the final house as the badger emblem and yellow colors are seen on too few characters in the films. They have Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), Nymphadora Tonks (Natalia Tena), and, of course, their head of house, Professor Sprout. But none of these characters played major roles in the films. The Fantastic Beasts series introduced Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who proudly wears the Hufflepuff colors. Hufflepuffs also suffer for the compassion of their founder, Helga Hufflepuff, who included a variety of traits to ensure everyone had a home at Hogwarts. Loyalty, hard work, fairness, kindness, patience, and honesty make up the Hufflepuff values. But they have one important thing going for them — there are no known dark wizards from Hufflepuff, indicating that they may have something figured out that the others don't. While the students put a lot of their identity into their respective houses, the truth is that very little divides them, and Hogwarts needs each house to function properly.

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