Now, it's canon that the sorting hat had made 7 mistakes, however, it is not known who were those. People speculate about whom.
I am not here to speculate about the individuals, I'm here to speculate about the working process of the sorting. Four houses, each one with specific sets of characteristics and qualities.
Slytherin: Cunning and ambition
Gryffindor: Bravery and chivalry
Hufflepuff: Loyalty and hard working
Ravenclaw: Wisdom and learning
However, canonical-ly,
“It is unclear if the Sorting Hat tended to place students based on qualities they valued or rather qualities they exhibited.”
I'm here to say that these qualities aren't the reason of the sorting hat decisions.
Hehe, bare with me until I articulate it more clearly.
Let's take Gryffindor traits for example, mostly bravery..
What's bravery? How can we say that this person is brave? Is it because this person is fearless or because they face their fears?
If a person is fearless then, well, there's something wrong with brain, mostly, they're on the psychopathic spectrum, if there's one. So, how could they be brave if they don't even process fear? Like they don't fear anything?
If you do not fear the sea, would swimming in it make you brave? In my opinion, no.
If you fear something unfearful for the most.. like cats, would fighting through your fear and pet it make you brave? Yes.
So, my theory goes like:
For every dominant quality for a house, there's an opposite trait, which based on it the sorting hat decides where to put the individual. Because the founders want to build the characters of next generation and rid them of the most thing that hinders the students, by building the house system to encourage qualities that helps fight their “demons”, through their community (house) stimuli and/or mere peer pressure.
However, whether the individual triumph over their demon or not, is up to them and only them.
Therefore, the machination behind the sorting would as so:
Gryffindor: Fear.
Hufflepuff: Loneliness.
Ravenclaw: Imprudence.
Slytherin:
(I was going to forgo this one, because I'm Slytherin, and ha! We're flawless... alright, alright, I just couldn't fathom what is ambition fighting, but then my theory would be flawed or Slazar is quite the prick and wanted my theory to look flawed, but I thought this through, and.. it's not ambition that's the dominant trait..)
Slytherin: Naivety.
Examples:
Gryffindor
Gryffindor faces the fear to be brave, and be selfless to know chivalry.
Black, afraid to be like his family, scared of ending up in Slytherin like them.
Remember it's up to the individual to conquer their bad thoughts, Gryffindor has the infamous:
Pettigrew, whom I assume is afraid of being made fun of, maybe? Then, he joins the “cool kids”, but then he's still being made fun of by them, so he joins the death eaters, was promised with rewarding respect. He's afraid of being not respected, so, he's running after whomever promises him respect.
Potter, Snr., watching Black getting sorted in Gryffindor maight have shaken his belief in children everytime sorted in the house of their parents, plus, he may feared being in another house but Gryffindor. He's a failure, too, because he continued to show false bravado thinking it's Gryffindor bravery. Chivalry would be respecting the girl decision and bound, and don't get me on about the bullying and the sexual harassment.
Lupin is afraid of loneliness. Not only feeling lonely, but scared of being lonely. And I'd say he is another example of failing becoming brave.
Like come on, you want to tell me those above know anything about chivalry or real bravery? To be sorted based on these that they supposedly exhibit or value? Ha, bloody ha!
Most of the muggleborns, fearful of many things: not belonging to magical world (Lily Evans), not being good enough (Hermione Granger), taking the magic from them, etc..
Ron, fearful of not following up in his family steps, not being good enough like his brothers.
Percy, afraid of staying his whole life in the social class of his family.
Neville, also afraid of not being good enough like his parents. Afraid of disappointing/upsetting his grandmother.
And lastly but not least,,
Harry, well, he was going to be sorted into Slytherin, we could see that he's ambitious to impress the teachers and whoever happens to be watching him, he yearns to the new adults approval, and this is what makes him naive. However, he was chanting “not Slytherin”, and this is because of the subconscious fear two incidents planted:
1. Ollivander's words about his wand being the brother of the one who murdered his parents, and what similarities he and that evil man may have. 2. Hagrid's words about how all Slytherin are evil.
He is afraid to be like the man who killed his parents, we see this fear in year five thought more consciously. So, the hat chose Gryffindor of all the other remaining houses because of his fear. Not Hufflepuff because even though he is alone, he isn't lonely or suffers from loneliness. Not Ravenclaw because again even though he's reckless, which sums up the definition of Imprudence, he's not doing it for vanity or due to lack of understanding.
Ravenclaw
They should reduce their attention seeking Imprudence and be clever and learn from their and other's trials to reach wisdom and be witty.
Ah. The hardest one, because we have about four~five major characters in Ravenclaw, most of them are the failure examples but Luna Lovegood, a natural wise, because of her mother's death, but her father, who is a good example of learning and cleverness, was imprudent enough to publish articles against Voldemort's cause while Voldemort is literally controls the country.. like what?
Then we have Lockhart, a failure. No wisdom, always saying things that gets him a responsibility he doesn't even see: the duel club show, the “didn't you say you know the way to the secret of chambers Gilderoy”.
Crouch Jr., another failure, like what are you doing taking the Golden student and then instead of finishing the job you go on babbling and searching for your polyjuice until the teachers come back, that is not to mention his joining the ranks.
Yeah, and the majority of Ravenclaw are so competitive when it comes to academic success that they are known to back stab each other, and likely other students, in order to get top marks, according to Farley.
Dear Rowena Ravenclaw
Really, Ma'am, your house left the wisdom out the window and focused on “learning” and “cleverness” that you meant as bases for using in their trials to gain wisdom, and became knowledgeable fools.
Hufflepuff
There's no yellow! I remember there was yellow?
Alright, alright..
They should embrace themselves and accept loneliness sometimes, to be open to others and choose the right people to be loyal to.
We have Dumbledore, who in the end embraced loneliness but not, you know, make friends, but it's a good result, not a failure in my opinion.
Also, Tonks, a good example of a lonely daughter who's not the pink daughter her mother imagined, also has a unique ability, which likely distanced her from cousins on her father's side, and well, we don't to go in to her mother's side. But in the end she fought loneliness and made friends and a community she's loyal to and work hard for.
Don't know much about Alastor Moody, but maybe it's the same.
We also have Susan Bones, an orphan living with her very busy aunt.. so, I'd say she was lonely? But succeeded in making friendships.
Slytherin
My house lastly,
They should grow out of child innocence and hopes, with enough cunning to work diplomatically with the world while criticising every thought first and foremost, and every person.
All of them yearn for the approval of those they deem worthy of them seeking their approval (huh?) Yes, they yearn for the approval of their parents, social circles, and the sort.. to help them climb to their wanted position. There is where naivety comes from, they trust and follow the wrong people to where they may give more than they take, but then experiences should teach them cunning.
So, most of them failed to be cunning? Well, it always depends on which side of the war wins, and in this timeline case, many succeeded in the first war, but failed in the second war.
But Severus Snape, who exhibited a tremendous amount of cunning and intelligence, through out his life after 1980.
And Draco Malfoy, who also exhibited a life saving cunning at the end.
Also, on this note, Bellatrix is a whole failure. She's a Slytherin failure and disappointment.
Past midnight. A dark room. Alone and spiraling in maladaptive fanfic mode. I consciously and willfully pressed play on this soundtrack, dissolving myself to tears, and went full ugly cry. I deserve this pain I guess.
Send tissues, please.
Why must I subject myself to such exquisite misery?
the downside of having prior knowledge about politics and psychology is that it becomes torture to read what an average harry potter or marauders fan has to say about snape.
It's quite cemented that Sev, Harry, and Riddle symbolize the three brothers. Sev died for love, Harry greeted death, Riddle was killed drunk in power. Even Dumbledore symbolizes Death in some edits (D & D, heh). Hitherto, I completely agreed with it, and I still think I agree with it.
However, I have read a post about how Sev never got his hands on the stone but the cloak, and so and so. The thought process had its merit, which left me thinking about the rightful ownership of each object and its relevance.
The theory:
First of all, Sev is out of the game. He isn't an owner of any of the Hallows, so, he does not symbolize any of the brothers. Although, he is a combination of all.
Wait, wait. Hear me out.
What if the symbolism isn't exactly the same, but quite the opposite?
As in the three people who symbolize the three brothers are not exactly the same but parallel them in opposite direction. It would be like giving death his things again. Or whatever metaphor it was meant to be.
So what belongs to whom?
The wand is rightfully Dumbledore's through rightful conquest. (?)
The Stone is rightfully Riddle's by rightful inheritance.
The Cloak is rightfully Harry's by rightful inheritance.
The parallels:
The first brother and Dumbledore:
First brother wanted power, asked for the most powerful wand, bragged around about how nobody could get him and got killed asleep, drunk in power.
Dumbledore is already powerful, knows he's powerful, doesn't seek power for power, doesn't even show off his power, quite the opposite; he's always adopted a grandfather-ly mask, and sacrificed himself and got killed while he was very weak and already dying.
The second brother and Riddle:
Well, the second brother loved (italicised), like really loved, to the point that when his loved one couldn't live in the living realm he killed himself.
Riddle, well, the exact opposite. Seeks immortality and is a loveless, narcissistic bastard.
The third brother and Harry:
As we all know, the last brother hid from Death. Death searched for him but he was hiding under the cloak. Until time came, and he greeted Death as an old friend.
Harry? Bruh. Harry dives headfirst into danger, as if he's the one searching for Death. And even when trouble comes to him without him running to it, he doesn't run away. Never hid from it, intentionally. In fact, he, sometimes, yearns for Death to take him. He went to meet Death in the forest but was not friendly greeting Death. He was determined and depressed and wants to end it all.
Conclusion:
Dumbledore parallels, and in that symbolizes, the eldest brother. Riddle parallels, and in that symbolizes, the second one. Harry parallels, and in that symbolizes, the last brother.
But wait, who symbolizes Death? Or in this case contradictory parallels Death but is doing Death work..
Snape.
Snape saved Dumbledore's life and his power facade after the poisoning. Then killed him in his weakest state upon the other's orders, saving his dignity too.
Snape PROTECTS Harry. He hides him from Death, with everything he's got. Then, in a way, sent him to meet Death.
Snape killed Riddle for love. I don't care who served the last blow to Riddle (which would be the elder wand itself, in loyalty to its master; not to mention Snape's role in this too), Sev did everything he did to bring Riddle down avenging his love. He died manipulating Riddle and digging Riddle's grave, for love.
The idea that your bullies had a map—one that tracked your every movement in real time, showing exactly where you were, when you were alone, and where the teachers weren’t—is chilling. It’s straight-up horror story material.
—————————————————————————
Imagine it from Severus’s perspective: the bullying had always been relentless, humiliating, cruel—but this? This was different. This was calculated.
It was sometime in his fourth year, the year (unbeknownst to him) the Marauders began developing the map, when everything shifted. Before, they’d hexed him, shoved him, called him names—vile, humiliating names. But there were usually limits. Someone would intervene eventually: a teacher passing by, a prefect, even a handful of classmates, the same few every time, who knew exactly where the line was and weren’t afraid to say when it had been crossed. Severus always thought it had gone too far—but at least there had been a line.
Now there wasn’t.
Now it was like no one was ever around. Not one professor, not a single prefect, not the Head Boy or Girl. Not even Hagrid. Not anyone who somewhat cared. A school filled with staff and authority figures—and somehow, no one ever showed up. It felt deliberate. The Marauders didn’t even bother to check over their shoulders anymore. Their jeers, once whispered in corridors, now rang out boldly in front of classmates. The taunts were louder. The attacks more physical. And the worst part? Lupin had stopped looking guilty.
He used to glance around, tense when things escalated—ashamed, maybe, or just afraid of being scolded for standing by. But now? He didn’t even pretend to care. He’d sit nearby with a book open, eyes fixed on the pages like nothing was happening right in front of him. Like if he pretended hard enough, it wouldn’t be real.
It only got worse from there. The attacks weren’t just louder—they were bolder, crueler, more invasive. They stopped caring who saw like they knew whoever was around wouldn’t stop them, stopped pretending it was all just a joke. And eventually, it wasn’t just Severus they went after—it was everything he had.
That was when it broke Severus. Not just emotionally, but materially. He didn’t have much—everyone could see that. His worn robes, his patched bag, the way he held onto things like they were precious—because they were. His belongings were often the focus of their mockery, and when they started destroying them, he couldn’t afford to replace anything. They began throwing his things into the lake. His ink, his books, even his wand once.
That was when Severus gave up on pride. He reverted to the oldest strategy he knew—one forged in childhood fear: hide. He memorized their class schedules, their favorite hangouts. He adjusted his routes. Changed his routines.
But somehow, they always found him.
And they loved that. They loved knowing they’d scared him into hiding. That he flinched before their laughter. That his shoulders tensed when he turned corners. That’s when Severus knew: hiding wouldn’t be enough anymore.
He’d have to fight back.
He began hexing harder, crafting sharper spells—protective ones, retaliatory ones. Magic that bit deeper, burned longer. Magic that began to veer into darker places. He didn’t care.
They had something—he didn’t know what, but it gave them an edge. Some kind of advantage that let them corner him, track him, always stay one step ahead.
So he stopped hiding. If they had tools, he would build weapons.
Because if no one was coming to save him, then he’d become something they couldn’t touch.
Twenty years later, when he caught a glimpse of that cursed map, it all clicked—how they’d always known where he was. How they’d hunted him like prey.
marauders fans throwing a tantrum because their faves are going to be racist in the show is kinda funny like you were okay with them being classist, sexist, hardcore bullies who committed SA and attempted murder but now you draw the line? interesting interesting...
the funny thing about being a snape stan is that sometimes you'll see severus getting hated for... taking a book from harry (i swear i've seen him get hated for that and it was so hilarious) or for insinuating that hermione has prominent teeth. and honestly? it's all so pathetic.
i look at other fandoms and see people commenting "my favorite character gets hated because he killed a bunch of people" or "my favorite character is a cannibal serial killer" and i think "oh, sometimes severus gets hated for calling a student's father arrogant 😔".
Eileen probably died when Snape was still a kid. There's no way she could've lived that long in that house, she probably fell sick or committed, or maybe she just gave up one day and fell asleep, never to wake up again.
What if it was on his birthday? The one birthday he'd be looking forward to seeing her. What if his father did it? What if he ran after doing it? It could be old age too, sure, but I feel like that's least likely.
I always imagined it to be on his birthday, but I get soft with Sev and rethink it generally in January 1977. He is 17 now or going to be in few days, sixth year, staying in Hogwarts for the holiday. Then one day in first 10 days of January, he was required in the headmaster office. He goes and finds Slughorn there too. And they tell him, she committed suicide.
He can't go to spinners end that summer. No way. So, he escape it to run away to Malfoy Manor.
The Marauders ironically called Severus “Snivellus” while their group was made up of: a posh four-eyed guy who knocked up his teenage girlfriend, a dude who at 36 still spent all day whining at his mum’s house, a professional victim who only got a teaching job out of pity and abandoned a woman 13 years younger than him whom he got pregnant, and a bootlicking twat who switched sides more often than he changed his pants. Like—none of them would’ve lasted five minutes in Severus Snape’s life, and they still had the audacity to call him snivelly? Honestly, some people have no shame.
Pretending that Severus Snape, who grew up in a slum in a shitty neighborhood within a shitty city, with a shitty father and no money to even buy clothes, wouldn’t defend himself from the bullying he suffered is absurd. Severus was raised in an environment of poverty and violence, in a marginalized neighborhood—he was a kid who had probably had to defend himself before. Poor neighborhood kids don’t just take beatings; poor neighborhood kids fight back because that’s the only way to survive. And that doesn’t make them any less victims of a gang of rich kids abusing them thanks to their privileges. Just because a victim doesn’t fit your idea of learned helplessness doesn’t mean they are any less of a victim. You’re welcome.
I'm always amazed by all the aspects of Severus Snape's character that I can resonate with.
Some days I relate to his breathtaking loyalty. The love. The respect. The honor.
Some days I choke on his despair.
Some days I burn with anger from the injustices of his life as mine pulse within my own memories.
Some days I relate to his broken heart. His detachment of it all, his belief that happiness is only for others.
Some days I want to rip people's head off like he does. Nobody is smart enough. Nobody is good enough. Nobody gets it.
Some days I can't go on. But he had to because there was no other choice And I relate to his resilience.
He's a character so full of humanity, of imperfect contradictions. He embodies bitterness, broken dreams and the spite to live despite it all. He's an angry child, an unforgiving teenager, a tired adult.
He's so deeply relatable.
And I wonder if y'all other people from the Snapedom feel the same?
I don't really blame Lily, she's a victim, too. A victim of emotional and mental abuse.
Have you heard of confirming to peer pressure? That's what happened with Lily, just the same as what happened with Sev (They slept, ate, and studied with their houses, last two years they spent their free time with their houses). Not to mention James's grandiose acts of asking/pressing her to date him in front of the whole school, and his lies later on. I wouldn't role out that he frightened and threatened everyone to not even think of dating her.
I am having Thoughts about the famous "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death" line. Specifically the last phrase.
The whole line works to emphasize "even stopper death"; the first two phrases are parallel in contents and tied by the alliteration of "bottle" and "brew," making "stopper" stand out more. (Not to mention how Snape uses "even" to leave no doubt about where he wants the focus.) It says something about Snape's character, I think, that he brings up fame and glory (beloved by both Gryffindors and Slytherins) to his audience only to skim lightly over them. Snape works without personal recognition. He knows how to work with fame and glory, but being a potion-maker and a spy means pulling the strings of the famous and glorious, not becoming one of them. When celebrity walks into his classroom in the form of Harry Potter, rather than respond enthusiastically, he immediately starts trying to teach Harry that fame is something to be contained ("bottled"); something to use and not be used by.
For what his sentence does value, though... it seems the movies changed the last phrase to "even put a stopper in death," and I understand why; "even stopper death" is a confusing, elliptical way of saying it. At least to my ears, it's unfamiliar to use "stopper" as a verb in everyday speech. To "stopper death" evokes an image of closing a freshly-made vial of death with a stopper; Snape could just as easily have simply said he could show the class how to make lethal poisons. (Being eleven years old, they would likely have found that enough of a draw.) But he chooses instead to speak of abstract concepts — fame, glory, death — in defiance of his audience's level of interest, to use poetic speech whether or not they go for it. Some have noted that his subsequent questioning of Harry shows Snape still holds out hope that Harry could prove himself by knowing the answers, and his speech to the class is doing the same. He will be a philosopher, will hold to the high realm of theory, will look at the stars from the gutter of Hogwarts (to misquote Oscar Wilde).
Back to the verb choice — "stopper death," as I said, could mean making potions that cause death and then storing them for future use. But it could also mean holding back death as though with a cork, being handed a vial of death you did not brew and yet being able to close it anyway by the force of your potion-making skill. The movies are tipping their hand a bit with "even put a stopper in death," showing more clearly that this is what's really going on, that Snape's real interest is healing, not killing. I don't remember Snape ever teaching his class how to make a poison; the closest he comes is a sleeping draught that could go wrong, but he intentionally tells them not to do that. Instead, we see Snape teaching antidote after antidote. Bezoars in this class. Poison antidotes in GoF. Venom antidotes in OotP. We ought to have known this; from the moment he's introduced, Snape's abiding desire is said to be teaching students how to fight the Dark Arts.
But here, as ever, his speech obscures what it elucidates. It will take Harry seven years to realize what Snape can teach him about putting his own glory on a shelf, about the way to truly bring Voldemort's campaign of death to an end. Those lessons had been available, however, to anyone able to see them — to the rare students who look below the surface, who, in Snape's parlance, "aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as [he] usually [had] to teach."
It's quite cemented that Sev, Harry, and Riddle symbolize the three brothers. Sev died for love, Harry greeted death, Riddle was killed drunk in power. Even Dumbledore symbolizes Death in some edits (D & D, heh). Hitherto, I completely agreed with it, and I still think I agree with it.
However, I have read a post about how Sev never got his hands on the stone but the cloak, and so and so. The thought process had its merit, which left me thinking about the rightful ownership of each object and its relevance.
The theory:
First of all, Sev is out of the game. He isn't an owner of any of the Hallows, so, he does not symbolize any of the brothers. Although, he is a combination of all.
Wait, wait. Hear me out.
What if the symbolism isn't exactly the same, but quite the opposite?
As in the three people who symbolize the three brothers are not exactly the same but parallel them in opposite direction. It would be like giving death his things again. Or whatever metaphor it was meant to be.
So what belongs to whom?
The wand is rightfully Dumbledore's through rightful conquest. (?)
The Stone is rightfully Riddle's by rightful inheritance.
The Cloak is rightfully Harry's by rightful inheritance.
The parallels:
The first brother and Dumbledore:
First brother wanted power, asked for the most powerful wand, bragged around about how nobody could get him and got killed asleep, drunk in power.
Dumbledore is already powerful, knows he's powerful, doesn't seek power for power, doesn't even show off his power, quite the opposite; he's always adopted a grandfather-ly mask, and sacrificed himself and got killed while he was very weak and already dying.
The second brother and Riddle:
Well, the second brother loved (italicised), like really loved, to the point that when his loved one couldn't live in the living realm he killed himself.
Riddle, well, the exact opposite. Seeks immortality and is a loveless, narcissistic bastard.
The third brother and Harry:
As we all know, the last brother hid from Death. Death searched for him but he was hiding under the cloak. Until time came, and he greeted Death as an old friend.
Harry? Bruh. Harry dives headfirst into danger, as if he's the one searching for Death. And even when trouble comes to him without him running to it, he doesn't run away. Never hid from it, intentionally. In fact, he, sometimes, yearns for Death to take him. He went to meet Death in the forest but was not friendly greeting Death. He was determined and depressed and wants to end it all.
Conclusion:
Dumbledore parallels, and in that symbolizes, the eldest brother. Riddle parallels, and in that symbolizes, the second one. Harry parallels, and in that symbolizes, the last brother.
But wait, who symbolizes Death? Or in this case contradictory parallels Death but is doing Death work..
Snape.
Snape saved Dumbledore's life and his power facade after the poisoning. Then killed him in his weakest state upon the other's orders, saving his dignity too.
Snape PROTECTS Harry. He hides him from Death, with everything he's got. Then, in a way, sent him to meet Death.
Snape killed Riddle for love. I don't care who served the last blow to Riddle (which would be the elder wand itself, in loyalty to its master; not to mention Snape's role in this too), Sev did everything he did to bring Riddle down avenging his love. He died manipulating Riddle and digging Riddle's grave, for love.
gotta love in the princes tale when harry first gets to hogwarts, probably right after the first potion lesson but definitely before halloween, Snape is complaining like crazy about harry being just like his father to dumbledore.
what does dumbledore do, does he say ''well james turned out alright'' ''he saved your life'' ''move on'' or anything like that? nah his response is ''in looks maybe but his nature is much more that of lily'' ''his other teachers report he's a good kid, humble you see what you expect to see''
not even dumbledore would waste breath trying to defend james potter
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