Hogwarts founders
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The four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (the magical education school which Harry Potter attends in J.K. Rowling’s fictional Harry Potter series) were named as follows: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Each has a house of the school named after them (see Hogwarts Houses) which each embody the characteristics of their founder.
In the novels, information about the founders largely derives from one of their relics, the Sorting Hat (an item that was enchanted to carry on the individual founders’ student selection practices). The following is known about the founders collectively: these four people lived some time in tenth- or eleventh-century Britain. They were considered the greatest wizards of their age, and indeed among the wizard community they have achieved an almost mythic status. Their remaining relics are highly prized, and it is a mark of deepest pride to be descended from one of them (as the Gaunt and Smith families show).
Otherwise, only Slytherin has been described in any detail, largely due to his figuring in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Professor Binns (the History of Magic professor) makes a comment regarding the foundation of Hogwarts: "[The founders] built the school together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by the common people and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."
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[edit] Godric Gryffindor
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Godric Gryffindor | |
| Gender | Male |
| House | Founder of Gryffindor |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| First appearance | mentioned in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Godric Gryffindor hailed from a moor, (a wild, windswept area of heathland). British moors are found in the West Country, Mid-Wales, northern England and Scotland.
Gryffindor is said to have praised courage, determination and strength of heart above all other qualities. Indeed, he selected students for his house based upon their daring and bravery, according to the Sorting Hat. He also seems to have been the most in favor of allowing Muggle-borns into the school, (this view being based upon his breach with Slytherin). His only known relics are the Sorting Hat, and the silver sword Harry used to kill the basilisk, both of which are currently kept in the office of the headmaster. He was initially a great friend of Salazar Slytherin.
The name Godric is Anglo-Saxon in form, and can have several meanings, including, "He Who Rules with God," or "He Who Rules Well." [1]
Gryffindor and his house are symbolised by a gold lion on red.
When J.K. Rowling was asked whether there was a connection between Godric Gryffindor and Godric's Hollow, the home of Harry Potter's parents, she replied, "Very good. You're a bit good, you are, aren't you. I'm impressed."[2]
[edit] Helga Hufflepuff
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Helga Hufflepuff | |
| Gender | Female |
| House | Founder of Hufflepuff |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| First appearance | mentioned in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Helga Hufflepuff came from a broad valley, and favoured loyalty, honesty, fair play, and hard work. Members of her house usually display at least one of these traits in varying degrees: Cedric Diggory was one of the students who appears to embody all four. The other houses are sometimes rather dismissive of Hufflepuff, the house as a whole once being described as “a lot o’ duffers” by Hagrid.
A relic of Hufflepuff, a small golden cup, was once owned by distant descendant, Hepzibah Smith, until it fell into the hands of Lord Voldemort. The golden cup was said to have had some sort of powers; Dumbledore speculated that Voldemort had transformed it into a horcrux.
Her famous wizard card, which was written by Rowling, describes her as having “brought people from different walks of life together to help build Hogwarts,” and being “loved for her charming ways.” She is described as “Good Hufflepuff” by the Sorting Hat. She does not appear to have applied particularly strict standards of selection to her House: Although in Goblet of Fire she is stated as having considered “hard workers most worthy of admission,” she is elsewhere described as taking “all the rest” of the students after selection by her colleagues, and is quoted by the Sorting Hat as having said “I’ll teach the lot, and treat them just the same.” This sets her apart from the other Founders, by making her an egalitarian.
She was at one time a close friend of Rowena Ravenclaw; the Sorting Hat, however, tells that their friendship failed.
The name Helga is of Scandinavian origin, meaning "Holy". [3]
Hufflepuff and her house are symbolised by a black badger on yellow.
[edit] Rowena Ravenclaw
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Rowena Ravenclaw | |
| Gender | Female |
| House | Founder of Ravenclaw |
| Allegiance | Hogwarts |
| First appearance | mentioned in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Rowena Ravenclaw was a witch noted for her cleverness and creativity. The Sorting Hat introduced her as “Fair Ravenclaw, from glen...” suggesting she was from Scotland or Ireland. She was a good friend of Helga Hufflepuff. The Sorting Hat states in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that this friendship failed however.
Ravenclaw devised the ever-changing floor plans and moving staircases in Hogwarts Castle.
Ravenclaw is described by the Sorting Hat as having selected students according to intelligence. Ravenclaw House thus values in its members a sharp mind, wisdom, and cleverness for its own sake. Ravenclaw and her house are symbolised by a bronze eagle on blue. In the movie adaptations, the bronze eagle is changed to a silver raven.
During Dumbledore's discussions with Harry in the sixth book, Dumbledore speculated that Voldemort might have recovered one of Ravenclaw's possessions, and used it to create a Horcrux. No specific Ravenclaw item was identified however.
Her name Rowena is a Latinised form of an old Germanic name. The elements in the name mean "Fame," (cf. the Anglo-Saxon hrōd, or hrōð), and "Joy," (cf. the Anglo-Saxon wyn(n)), or "Friend," (cf. the Anglo-Saxon wine). In some historical accounts, Rowena was the daughter of Hengest. [4]
[edit] Salazar Slytherin
| Harry Potter character | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Salazar Slytherin | |
| Gender | Male |
| House | Founder of Slytherin |
| Parentage | Pure-blood (presumed) |
| Allegiance | None (formerly Hogwarts) |
| First appearance | Mentioned in Chamber of Secrets |
Salazar Slytherin came from a fen (i.e. The Fens, an area of marshland in Eastern England, particularly Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire). Slytherin was a parselmouth, a wizard with the rare ability to speak to snakes; his house is symbolised by a silver serpent on green.
He is described as “power hungry Slytherin” by the Sorting Hat. Like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Slytherin appears to have carefully selected members of his House. According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which Slytherin prized in his “handpicked students” included the ability to speak parseltongue, resourcefulness, determination, and a certain disregard for the rules. He also selected his students according to cunning, ambition, and blood purity.
Readers are first told of Slytherin by Professor Binns, the History of Magic professor, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He gives what he states is a historically reliable account of the foundation of the school and of the breach between Slytherin and the other founders: that the castle was founded far from Muggles because at that time common people feared magic, and persecuted wizards and witches. He then goes on to state that Slytherin wished after a time to be more selective in admissions to Hogwarts (not merely into his own house; as the Sorting Hat states in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Slytherin used blood-purity as a factor of selecting students from the inception of the School) — he wanted magical learning restricted to all-magical (note that the term used is "all magic", not "pureblood") families, he believed Muggle-born students to be untrustworthy, and he disliked teaching such students.
According to ancient legend, Slytherin was responsible for the construction beneath the school of the Chamber of Secrets, the home of a magically created basilisk. This snake, according to legend, was known by Slytherin to be susceptible to control by his parselmouth descendants, and thus left there to purge the school of all Muggle-borns. This occurred shortly before the conflict between the four founders and Houses (described by the Sorting Hat in Order of the Phoenix) broke out and caused Slytherin’s departure. The last known heir of Slytherin, Tom Marvolo Riddle, discovered the Chamber and released the Basilisk, resulting in the death of a student. The discovery of the Chamber by Harry Potter publicly proved the Chamber’s existence, and proved beyond all reasonable doubt that it was of Slytherin’s construction. His motives, however, are still only known from legend.
Slytherin owned a locket emblazoned with the letter “S”, which became an heirloom of his last known line of descendants, the Gaunts. The locket was sold to Caractacus Burke by Merope Gaunt, then bought by Hepzibah Smith, and stolen from her by Voldemort. It is thought that Voldemort turned the locket into a Horcrux, which was later stolen by the mysterious R.A.B.
Slytherin is the only founder for whom a somewhat detailed physical description is given. His statue in the Chamber of Secrets depicts a man “ancient and monkey-like, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his sweeping robes.”
The name 'Salazar' comes from the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar.
[edit] References
- ^ Oxford Minidictionary of First Names
- ^ JK interview Part 4 - questions and queries (English). CBBC Newsround. BBC (2002-10-23). Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
- ^ Oxford Minidictionary of First Names
- ^ Oxford Minidictionary of First Names
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