Oooh i want to hear more of your thoughts on the sorting!
AW MANI didn’t always fully accept my Hufflepuffness, but once @johnjennetteart (Ravenclaw) and I started discussing what makes the Houses what they are, it became pretty clear that my hardworking, justice-loving self was a Badger.The thing that fascinates me most, I think, are the discussions about where characters might have/should have been Sorted. There’s a long-standing fandom idea that Hermione=Ravenclaw, Ron=Hufflepuff, and Harry=Slytherin. Sometimes Neville is thrown in there as the Puff to Ron’s True Gryffindor. Even Dumbledore himself says “Perhaps we Sort too soon” in reference to Snape’s actions, implying that Snape is a latent Gryffindor. However, I find this simplistic and “essentialist”. (Can we coin the phrase “House essentialism” right now? :P) But that’s a whole other post.I’m also very skeptical of the Pottermore quiz, which Sorted me into Slytherin twice. LOL. I love Slytherins, and it’s my tertiary House, but I’m in NO way a Slytherin primary. Pottermore isn’t “official” to me, largely because I don’t think Jo has a great grip on how Sorting works. Controversial opinion? Maybe, but I think Jo’s obvious moral bias towards Gryffindor plays a lot into her interpretations of the other Houses and how characters fit into them.Over several long car trips, my husband and I ended up developing a sort of Sorting guide using the Hogwarts crest.
Using this analysis, it should really only take three questions to determine your House.Are you motivated Externally or Internally?The Houses on the left side of the crest, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, are motivated externally. Usually that means Gryffs and Puffs are interested in how they can impact their environment and use that to fuel their ideas. (They tend to be activists and public servants, just like Hermione!)The ones on the right, Slytherin and Ravenclaw, are motivated internally. Slyths and Claws are more interested in self-reflection and self-improvement. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about their environment, but their solutions are going to come from within rather than be inspired by their surroundings. (They’re Steve Jobs, inventing a whole new way to make our lives easier rather than solving a specific existing problem.)Now let’s split the shield horizontally:Are you motivated by what others think of you? Or by what you think of yourself?
The top two, Gryffindor and Slytherin, are motivated by what others think of them. They want a particular reputation for themselves, and they want to shape it. That might not mean a squeaky-clean reputation, but they want to control that narrative (Look at how Sirius shapes his reputation as a dashing rebel and Lucius positions himself as a government official and philanthropist.).The bottom two, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, are motivated by how they think of themselves. I’m not talking about being motivated by group acclaim, I’m talking about how they will feel about themselves and their part in a group/movement/the world. They want to do what they feel is the right thing, even if that means pushing boundaries or pushing people away. (Luna, anyone?)Now we’re going crosswise.
Are your actions driven by your passion? Or by your goals?
The diagonal Houses have a separate passion-goal relationship:Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have passion they must direct at a goal. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are persistent Houses; when they get an idea into their heads they want to exhaust every possibility, which can prompt great discoveries, but can also be inefficient and aimless. “Let’s see what happens!” is a hallmark phrase of these Houses. (Think of Fred and George and their Wheezes!)Hufflepuff and Slytherin have goals they need to summon passion for. They are results-oriented Houses; passion comes second to getting shit done. That’s great for the goal itself, but sometimes not so great if the surrounding elements get pushed aside in service of the goal. (The whole idea of the Inquisitorial Squad is a good example here.)You might notice that these three questions don’t always arrive at a single answer, but maybe two potentials. As ever, choice is taken into account when it comes to your Sorting. But don’t just think about what you WANT to be: think about where you feel you’d fit in best. Who are the kinds of people you can see eye-to-eye with and work alongside with minimal discord? Who are you most interested in trading ideas with?
That’s the basic thought process for how we consider the Sorting. I don’t want to discount the typical traits/values of the Houses (Bravery, Ambition, Loyalty, Cleverness, etc.) in the course of this analysis, but I also think that anyone in any House can BE all of these things and express them totally differently, which is why expression of these traits comes above purely valuing them in our framework.
I have SO many other thoughts that come up in case-by-case discussion, but that will have to wait for another day. Thanks for asking!
Shit, guess this means I’m a Ravenclaw with a secondary Slytherin House. I got both on pottermore, so, eh.
Still primarily Slytherin with Ravenclaw as a secondary house.
Nothing has changed in the last 15 years :D
