Hi everyone! Did you guys know that there are several days in March that are dedicated Hogwarts House Pride days? If you follow me on social media then you'll have likely found out that yesterday was Ravenclaw's special day, because I was somewhat spamming my Instagram with related posts! If you've followed my blog for a while. you will know that I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and if you hadn't already gathered, the house that I was sorted into on Pottermore was Ravenclaw, which was fabulous news to me since I'd always related most to that house and would want to be sorted into it if I ever went to Hogwarts... unfortunately my letter is still lost in the post T_T. Luna Lovegood is one of my favourite characters of the franchise too, so it's cool to be in the same house as her! My other favourite character is Severus Snape, and so it may seem like this post is bias but it's totally not XD
Anyhow, I've always thought that Snape fit well into Ravenclaw House and with it having been Ravenclaw Pride Day yesterday, I was inspired to write all about it! I hope you guys enjoy reading, whether you're a fellow Potterhead or just curious about my thoughts ♥ I apologise now for how rambley this post might get!
The traits attributed to the Ravenclaw House are Wit, Wisdom and Intelligence. You are sorted into houses not necessarily because you possess the attributes that were favourable to each of the four founders, but because you value these traits most. There are lots of characters in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World who also show strong characteristics that are highly valued by another house than the one they were placed into during the sorting ceremony on their first night at Hogwarts school. I feel that at the age of eleven most people don't value what they necessarily would with more exposure to the world and life experience, and that as they grow towards adulthood, they may change considerably and not value the traits they once did. But since they were already sorted, their lives at school will be influenced by the presumed character traits of their allotted houses, and they may not be able to experience opportunities or mingle with peers truly alike to themselves (since students spend the majority of their time at Hogwarts amongst their housemates, in lessons and also in the common room during free time) if they were sorted into a house that was reflecting of their eleven year old self's wants or views. Maybe the sorting hat is also capable of seeing into the future, who knows...?
When it comes to Severus Snape at eleven years old, from the little insight we have into his childhood, he seemed to be a loner and maybe he felt insignificant as a consequence, and so he would have probably valued ambition (which is one of the qualities desirable to Slytherin House) because he wanted to become more than he was and to excel at school/in life. Maybe he did forever value this trait most of all but I feel from what we learnt about Snape's character throughout his later years at school, he had both a thirst for learning and was a very talented and intelligent young wizard. These would be qualities very well suited for Ravenclaw House.
Professor Dumbledore says in a scene that Harry witnesses through the pensive in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' (Chapter 33, Page 555), 'You know, I sometimes think we sort too soon...'. And I definitely agree! What he says prior to that is in relation to Severus being braver than Igor Karkaroff, and it would seem that he is hinting towards him being more suited to Gryffindor, but this may not be the case. There are plenty of characters in the story that are not in Gryffindor and show great bravery; Luna Lovegood, for example.
Anyhow, I'm getting carried away with myself :D Let's go back to the Ravenclaw House traits and my thoughts on how Severus Snape seems to me very suited to this house.
Intelligence & Wisdom
In 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' (more so in the book than the movie, which I personally feel didn't do justice to the book! What do you guys think?), we learn all about young Severus' Advanced Potion-Making 'textbook' that Harry borrows from the copies available in Professor Slughorn's Potions class. In this book, the young wizard has annotated all of the spells with his own tips and advice, going against the experienced author's guidelines for the measurements of ingredients and such. Harry follows these notes and makes the best potions in the class! To figure all of this out, the young Snape would have had to spend a lot of time researching and practising, and I can just imagine him hiding in the toilets or in empty rooms across the castle, spending all of his free time working on perfecting his potions, and it reminds me so much of Hermione (who was very close to being sorted in Ravenclaw herself)! His iconic quote just shows how much passion he has for potions, 'I don't expect that you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensuring the senses.' - gosh, I love reading this scene *fangirling* :D
The teenage Severus also created his own spells, which he recorded in his textbook, and even though some of them were rather nasty like the Sectumsempra one that Harry uses on Draco, it still shows a lot of skill and intelligence for someone of his age to be able to do advanced spell-work like this. These are just some of examples, there is no denying that Snape is a clever guy!
Oh, another example is in the fact that Snape could literally be the Professor for teaching so many different subjects at Hogwarts! He's fantastic at Potions, and he shows himself throughout the story to be very skilled at Defence Against the Dark Arts. I also think that he would be good at Herbology too, because I imagine that he collects a lot of the ingredients for his Potions storeroom himself, so he must be very knowledgeable about plants and magical creatures, etc., to be able to source materials, and this could likely be applied to growing the plants.
Wisdom is very similar to intelligence, but not all wise people are scholars! Intelligence can be learnt but wisdom is all about having the abilities to apply knowledge well and to possess good decision-making skills, etc. That is probably not the best explanation but I want to get straight to my thoughts on how Severus shows this quality :) Because wisdom and intelligence often go hand-in-hand, my example can probably be used as an argument for both, but oh well :D One of the reasons that I think Severus Snape shows great wisdom is in the fact that he effectively manages to convince Voldemort of his loyalty to him, feeding him information but not enough to allude to the fact that he is actually manipulating him. Yes, this could be seen as being cunning as well (another Slytherin associated trait), but he's doing it for a good reason, to help Dumbledore in defeating Voldemort. Snape has to make a lot of decisions to keep the façade up. I think this shows him to very capable when it comes to wisdom anyway!
Wit
Well, I mean we all know how sassy af Severus Snape is! Some of the stuff he comes out with is so witty, I love it! Wit by definition is the 'ability to use words in a clever and humorous way'. Sarcasm, when done well, can certainly be considered a type of wit. Oscar Wilde's quote, 'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence' popped into my mind just now. Severus Snape's sarcastic responses are iconic to his character, and one of the reasons I like him so much. I love some good ironic humour! Since I re-read Chapter 33 of the Deathly Hallows when writing notes for this post, I'll use this example... Snape's response after Dumbledore has asked him to be the one who kills him instead of Draco: 'Would you like me to do it now?, asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?'. Something only Snape would come out with during a discussion like this, and it made Dumbledore smile, so he seemingly is as much a fan of Snape's sarcasm as me :D
Creating good riddles and puzzles is something that shows strong wit as well in my opinion, and Snape is good at this! It annoyed me that they decided to not put this into the movie for 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' but in the books, all of the Professors at Hogwarts come up with way to protect the stone, and Snape's is the Potion Puzzle. You can read more about it here if you've not read the book :) but he creates a riddle of sorts that Hermione solves so that Harry can drink the correct potions and advance in to the next room.
Creativity & Individuality
Even though this isn't one of the traits that is mentioned by the sorting hat, it is a known quality that is associated with Ravenclaw. As it says on the Harry Potter Fandom website, 'it's not unusual to find Ravenclaw students practicing especially different types of magic that other houses might shun', and thus we see Ravenclaw's like Professor Trelawny specialising in Divination, which a lot of other people at Hogwarts don't seem to take seriously, and Luna Lovegood and her affiliation with Thestrals and other very rare magical creatures that others don't even believe exist! Although Snape doesn't really stand out in this way, he can be considered as someone who expresses individuality, in his mannerisms and the way he dresses in his ironic all-black robes. As for creativity, he created his own spells and I think that shows awesome creative abilities in of itself. We know very little about Snape's interests and hobbies outside of his teaching and lesson preparation, but I can imagine that he is a creative and imaginative person just because of what he do know about him. I'd love to hear your opinions on this point guys :) Let me know in the comments.
Not only Slytherin's are capable of committing mean acts...
'There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin', is something that Hagrid tells Harry and there is a lot of prejudice towards Slytherins all being bad in the books/movies which I just hate, but I could write a whole blog post on this topic alone! Slytherin's get a bad name and of course, Snape did some very bad things and yes, he was sorted into Slytherin but that's probably because of the fact that J.K. Rowling used Slytherin as a place to dump most of the obviously mean people >.< Whenever people think about all of the cruel acts that Snape committed, it seems fair that he should automatically be a Slytherin, but there are a few people from other houses who in Hagrid's words 'go bad'. Peter Pettigrew is in Gryffindor and we have him to thank for Voldemort's revival and more, however I'm going to use another character as my example because he's a Ravenclaw. Gilderoy Lockhart manipulated heroic wizards into telling him all about their achievements and then would use a memory charm to make them forget ever telling him, and claim their actions as his own! This is obviously mean, but no one is getting injured or killed. But in the Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart shows that he would have quite happily let Harry and Ron suffer so that he could survive! Professor Quirrell is a Ravenclaw and another perfect example. So, Snape could still be in Ravenclaw despite the horrid stuff he's done.
Okay, I think I should stop writing now! I think I have given enough reasons why I think Severus Snape could very well be a Ravenclaw. Do you agree with my points? I could go on much further, but if you've managed to make it to the end of this post then you deserve a medal XD *presents you with an imaginary epicness medal*. Thankyou if you did read all my ramblings; I hope that it was,at the very least, interesting! I don't blog about Harry Potter things much as I don't want to bore everyone, but if you did enjoy this post and want to see some more related content in the future, I would love to know :) I hope you all have a lovely week!
The traits attributed to the Ravenclaw House are Wit, Wisdom and Intelligence. You are sorted into houses not necessarily because you possess the attributes that were favourable to each of the four founders, but because you value these traits most. There are lots of characters in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World who also show strong characteristics that are highly valued by another house than the one they were placed into during the sorting ceremony on their first night at Hogwarts school. I feel that at the age of eleven most people don't value what they necessarily would with more exposure to the world and life experience, and that as they grow towards adulthood, they may change considerably and not value the traits they once did. But since they were already sorted, their lives at school will be influenced by the presumed character traits of their allotted houses, and they may not be able to experience opportunities or mingle with peers truly alike to themselves (since students spend the majority of their time at Hogwarts amongst their housemates, in lessons and also in the common room during free time) if they were sorted into a house that was reflecting of their eleven year old self's wants or views. Maybe the sorting hat is also capable of seeing into the future, who knows...?
When it comes to Severus Snape at eleven years old, from the little insight we have into his childhood, he seemed to be a loner and maybe he felt insignificant as a consequence, and so he would have probably valued ambition (which is one of the qualities desirable to Slytherin House) because he wanted to become more than he was and to excel at school/in life. Maybe he did forever value this trait most of all but I feel from what we learnt about Snape's character throughout his later years at school, he had both a thirst for learning and was a very talented and intelligent young wizard. These would be qualities very well suited for Ravenclaw House.
Professor Dumbledore says in a scene that Harry witnesses through the pensive in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' (Chapter 33, Page 555), 'You know, I sometimes think we sort too soon...'. And I definitely agree! What he says prior to that is in relation to Severus being braver than Igor Karkaroff, and it would seem that he is hinting towards him being more suited to Gryffindor, but this may not be the case. There are plenty of characters in the story that are not in Gryffindor and show great bravery; Luna Lovegood, for example.
Anyhow, I'm getting carried away with myself :D Let's go back to the Ravenclaw House traits and my thoughts on how Severus Snape seems to me very suited to this house.
Intelligence & Wisdom
In 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' (more so in the book than the movie, which I personally feel didn't do justice to the book! What do you guys think?), we learn all about young Severus' Advanced Potion-Making 'textbook' that Harry borrows from the copies available in Professor Slughorn's Potions class. In this book, the young wizard has annotated all of the spells with his own tips and advice, going against the experienced author's guidelines for the measurements of ingredients and such. Harry follows these notes and makes the best potions in the class! To figure all of this out, the young Snape would have had to spend a lot of time researching and practising, and I can just imagine him hiding in the toilets or in empty rooms across the castle, spending all of his free time working on perfecting his potions, and it reminds me so much of Hermione (who was very close to being sorted in Ravenclaw herself)! His iconic quote just shows how much passion he has for potions, 'I don't expect that you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensuring the senses.' - gosh, I love reading this scene *fangirling* :D
The teenage Severus also created his own spells, which he recorded in his textbook, and even though some of them were rather nasty like the Sectumsempra one that Harry uses on Draco, it still shows a lot of skill and intelligence for someone of his age to be able to do advanced spell-work like this. These are just some of examples, there is no denying that Snape is a clever guy!
Oh, another example is in the fact that Snape could literally be the Professor for teaching so many different subjects at Hogwarts! He's fantastic at Potions, and he shows himself throughout the story to be very skilled at Defence Against the Dark Arts. I also think that he would be good at Herbology too, because I imagine that he collects a lot of the ingredients for his Potions storeroom himself, so he must be very knowledgeable about plants and magical creatures, etc., to be able to source materials, and this could likely be applied to growing the plants.
Wisdom is very similar to intelligence, but not all wise people are scholars! Intelligence can be learnt but wisdom is all about having the abilities to apply knowledge well and to possess good decision-making skills, etc. That is probably not the best explanation but I want to get straight to my thoughts on how Severus shows this quality :) Because wisdom and intelligence often go hand-in-hand, my example can probably be used as an argument for both, but oh well :D One of the reasons that I think Severus Snape shows great wisdom is in the fact that he effectively manages to convince Voldemort of his loyalty to him, feeding him information but not enough to allude to the fact that he is actually manipulating him. Yes, this could be seen as being cunning as well (another Slytherin associated trait), but he's doing it for a good reason, to help Dumbledore in defeating Voldemort. Snape has to make a lot of decisions to keep the façade up. I think this shows him to very capable when it comes to wisdom anyway!
Wit
Well, I mean we all know how sassy af Severus Snape is! Some of the stuff he comes out with is so witty, I love it! Wit by definition is the 'ability to use words in a clever and humorous way'. Sarcasm, when done well, can certainly be considered a type of wit. Oscar Wilde's quote, 'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence' popped into my mind just now. Severus Snape's sarcastic responses are iconic to his character, and one of the reasons I like him so much. I love some good ironic humour! Since I re-read Chapter 33 of the Deathly Hallows when writing notes for this post, I'll use this example... Snape's response after Dumbledore has asked him to be the one who kills him instead of Draco: 'Would you like me to do it now?, asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?'. Something only Snape would come out with during a discussion like this, and it made Dumbledore smile, so he seemingly is as much a fan of Snape's sarcasm as me :D
Creating good riddles and puzzles is something that shows strong wit as well in my opinion, and Snape is good at this! It annoyed me that they decided to not put this into the movie for 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' but in the books, all of the Professors at Hogwarts come up with way to protect the stone, and Snape's is the Potion Puzzle. You can read more about it here if you've not read the book :) but he creates a riddle of sorts that Hermione solves so that Harry can drink the correct potions and advance in to the next room.
Creativity & Individuality
Even though this isn't one of the traits that is mentioned by the sorting hat, it is a known quality that is associated with Ravenclaw. As it says on the Harry Potter Fandom website, 'it's not unusual to find Ravenclaw students practicing especially different types of magic that other houses might shun', and thus we see Ravenclaw's like Professor Trelawny specialising in Divination, which a lot of other people at Hogwarts don't seem to take seriously, and Luna Lovegood and her affiliation with Thestrals and other very rare magical creatures that others don't even believe exist! Although Snape doesn't really stand out in this way, he can be considered as someone who expresses individuality, in his mannerisms and the way he dresses in his ironic all-black robes. As for creativity, he created his own spells and I think that shows awesome creative abilities in of itself. We know very little about Snape's interests and hobbies outside of his teaching and lesson preparation, but I can imagine that he is a creative and imaginative person just because of what he do know about him. I'd love to hear your opinions on this point guys :) Let me know in the comments.
Not only Slytherin's are capable of committing mean acts...
'There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin', is something that Hagrid tells Harry and there is a lot of prejudice towards Slytherins all being bad in the books/movies which I just hate, but I could write a whole blog post on this topic alone! Slytherin's get a bad name and of course, Snape did some very bad things and yes, he was sorted into Slytherin but that's probably because of the fact that J.K. Rowling used Slytherin as a place to dump most of the obviously mean people >.< Whenever people think about all of the cruel acts that Snape committed, it seems fair that he should automatically be a Slytherin, but there are a few people from other houses who in Hagrid's words 'go bad'. Peter Pettigrew is in Gryffindor and we have him to thank for Voldemort's revival and more, however I'm going to use another character as my example because he's a Ravenclaw. Gilderoy Lockhart manipulated heroic wizards into telling him all about their achievements and then would use a memory charm to make them forget ever telling him, and claim their actions as his own! This is obviously mean, but no one is getting injured or killed. But in the Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart shows that he would have quite happily let Harry and Ron suffer so that he could survive! Professor Quirrell is a Ravenclaw and another perfect example. So, Snape could still be in Ravenclaw despite the horrid stuff he's done.
Okay, I think I should stop writing now! I think I have given enough reasons why I think Severus Snape could very well be a Ravenclaw. Do you agree with my points? I could go on much further, but if you've managed to make it to the end of this post then you deserve a medal XD *presents you with an imaginary epicness medal*. Thankyou if you did read all my ramblings; I hope that it was,at the very least, interesting! I don't blog about Harry Potter things much as I don't want to bore everyone, but if you did enjoy this post and want to see some more related content in the future, I would love to know :) I hope you all have a lovely week!
Thankyou for reading!
♥
What is your Hogwarts House?
Do you think you should have been sorted into another house than Pottermore decided?
Are there are characters that you think should have been sorted into a different house?
I'm a fellow Ravenclaw and although not initially pleased with my sortin, it definitely fits my personal traits and ideals. I agree that Snape could have been a Ravenclaw as he does show some of the traits associated with our house.
ReplyDeleteYay a fellow Ravenclaw :D Oh no, what house did you want to be sorted into? I'm glad you agree! :) x
Delete