Slytherin

Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the house is composed mostly of pure-blood students, due to its founder's mistrust of Muggle-borns. The house is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness, and ambition. Its emblematic animal is a snake and its colours are green and silver. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron. 
Slytherin corresponds roughly with the element of water with serpents being commonly associated with the sea and lochs in western European mythology as well as serpents being physically fluid and flexible animals.The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling The colours also correspond with waters around lakes and lochs often being green, and silver being often associated with grey rain water.
==Traits and values==
===Qualities ===
Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning, strong leaders, and achievement-oriented. They also have highly developed senses of self-preservation.Interview with J.K. Rowling on Pottercast This means that Slytherins tend to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done.
According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which Salazar valued in the students he chose included cleverness, resourcefulness, determination, and "a certain disregard for the rules." Dumbledore noted that all of these were qualities possessed by Harry Potter, who was in Gryffindor.
===Blood purity===
The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity, is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members than on any accurate test of a student's lineage. Muggle-born Slytherins exist, but are very rare, as noted insultingly by Scabior the Snatcher.Deathly Hallows, Chapter 23 There have also been definite examples of half-bloods sorted into the house, including Tom Marvolo Riddle and Severus Snape. Harry Potter was nearly sorted into Slytherin, but ended up in Gryffindor instead. Also, pure-bloods are not automatically placed in Slytherin. There have been various examples of pure-bloods sorted into other houses, including the Weasley family, Sirius Black, Neville Longbottom, and James Potter I all being sorted into Gryffindor house, Ernie Macmillan being sorted into Hufflepuff, and Morag MacDougal and Stephen Cornfoot being sorted into Ravenclaw.
Contrary to the wishes of the other founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Salazar Slytherin wanted a stricter policy of admission to the school —one limited strictly to pure-blood students. The controversy this created apparently led to him leaving the school and the Chamber of Secrets behind. A millennium later, the house's students are still considered affiliated with Salazar's reputed views, and open expression of pro-blood purity sentiment does seem to be more common in Slytherin than in other Houses.
This disagreement over blood purity, which caused Salazar Slytherin's friendship with Godric Gryffindor to break, is the origin of the feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor, the two most competitive of the houses. Slytherin and Gryffindor are generally rivals in Quidditch and for the House Cup, which the former had won seven years in a row prior to Harry Potter's arrival at Hogwarts in 1991. It is also rare for Slytherin and Gryffindor students to be friendly with one another, and common for them to share animosity. This was particularly the case during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. During the latter conflict, no Slytherin students joined an association known as Dumbledore's Army; however, this could be explained by the fact that only those Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter trusted were invited. Some Slytherins declined to defend their school in the Battle of Hogwarts, with some joining the Death Eaters. However, there are exceptions, such as Slytherin Severus Snape and Gryffindor Lily Evans, who were best friends until Snape's use of the slur "Mudblood" and his aspirations to be a Death Eater caused Lily to sever their ties.
==Reputation==
It is said that all Dark Wizards were in Slytherin (though it is untrue, as Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor and Quirinus Quirrell was a Ravenclaw), though how many were from this house before Tom Marvolo Riddle began recruiting Death Eaters there is unstated. As Slytherin was his own House, it was certainly most easy for him to recruit there.
It might also be possible (though unlikely) that the Sorting Hat simply sorts anyone with ill intentions into Slytherin, regardless of whether they possess cunning and ambition. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were both incredibly stupid and did not have clever, cunning minds, but were still sorted into Slytherin. Though it does appear that perhaps they had more of the minor Slytherin traits, since the cowardly Peter Pettigrew was obviously not brought into Gryffindor by bravery, but by chivalry instead.  It is also likely that Crabbe and Goyle were simply placed there by process of elimination, since they exhibited virtually none of the qualities valued by any of the other houses (lacking the work ethic or honesty of Hufflepuff, the academic prowess of Ravenclaw, or the bravery of Gryffindor).
However, it must be noted that Slytherins who oppose use of the Dark Arts and discrimination based on blood purity do exist, such as Horace Slughorn and Andromeda Tonks; the latter was related to many different Dark wizards and witches (most notably her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, her brother-in-law Lucius Malfoy, and her nephew Draco Malfoy), but chose to forsake the loyalty to her family in marrying the Muggle-born Ted Tonks. Also, the allegiance of Severus Snape was found to be ultimately towards Albus Dumbledore, serving as a triple agent for the Order of the Phoenix. Furthermore, there have been Dark wizards from other houses; Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed James and Lily Potter to Voldemort, was a Gryffindor.
Cunning and ambition are easily turned towards ill purposes, but are not inherently negative; furthermore, daring, intelligence, and loyalty can as easily become negative. A reason Slytherins may be thought less of by people is perhaps because many of them seem to value their own lives more than the lives of others. When Harry was trying to run away, because he was afraid that his presence was putting his friends in danger, Phineas Nigellus saw him and said, "We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, when given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks". There are exceptions to this rule however, such as Snape, who Harry said was a "Slytherin and... probably the bravest man I ever knew", and Regulus Black, who gave his life in an attempt to destroy one of the Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort.
The truth is that while most Dark wizards are Slytherins, many members of Slytherin House do not have Dark leanings, and smaller groups of Voldemort 's supporters are aligned with other Houses. During the Battle of Hogwarts, while all of the Slytherin students left the school before the fighting started, several of them did return with Professor Slughorn and the Hogsmeade reinforcements to join the fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters; furthermore, it should be noted that the acting head at the time ordered the entire house to leave due to a single Slytherin student suggesting the student body hand Harry Potter to Voldemort (although none of the Slytherins present moved to defend Harry from the suggestion, as the other three houses did).J.K. Rowling PotterCast Interview
==Common room==
The Slytherin common room is found in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle, and is located underneath the Black Lake. Because of its location, the light in the common room is green. Harry Potter along with Ron Weasley entered the common room in his second year to find out if Draco Malfoy was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets. To enter the Slytherin common room one must merely speak aloud the current password in front of a stretch of damp stone wall; once the word is uttered a concealed stone door will slide aside leaving a rectangular hole in the wall leading to the Slytherin commonroom. The only known slytherin password is pureblood, used in 1992.
==Head of House==
Slytherin's head of house for Harry's first six years of school was Severus Snape; however, as he fled with the Death Eaters in 1997, Potions master Horace Slughorn became the head of Slytherin House. Upon Snape's return as Headmaster later that year, he apparently approved of Slughorn's appointment, or at least did not assign any Death Eaters as a new head of house.
==List of known Slytherins==
Awaiting image.jpeg|Salazar Slytherin †
Bloody Baron.jpg|Bloody Baron †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Merlin †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Elizabeth Burke †
Awaiting image.jpeg|House of Black 
Awaiting image.jpeg|Phineas Nigellus Black †
Horace Slughorn.jpg|Horace Slughorn
Dolores Umbridge.png|Dolores Umbridge
Awaiting image.jpeg|Dorea Potter †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Avery 
Awaiting image.jpeg|Tom Riddle †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Lestrange
Awaiting image.jpeg|Cygnus Black III †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Orion Black †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Walburga Black †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Bellatrix Lestrange †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Rodolphus Lestrange
Awaiting image.jpeg|Andromeda Tonks 
Awaiting image.jpeg|Lucius Malfoy
Awaiting image.jpeg|Narcissa Malfoy 
Regulus Black.jpg|Regulus Black †
Severus Snape.jpg|Severus Snape †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Scabior
Awaiting image.jpeg|Marcus Flint
Awaiting image.jpeg|Lucian Bole
Awaiting image.jpeg|Terence Higgs
Awaiting image.jpeg|Adrian Pucey
Awaiting image.jpeg|Vaisey
Awaiting image.jpeg|Harper
Awaiting image.jpeg|Blaise Zabini
Draco Malfoy.jpg|Draco Malfoy
Awaiting image.jpeg|Gregory Goyle 
Awaiting image.jpeg|Vincent Crabbe †
Awaiting image.jpeg|Pansy Parkinson
Awaiting image.jpeg|Miles Bletchley
Awaiting image.jpeg|Millicent Bulstrode
Awaiting image.jpeg|Kevin Bletchley
Awaiting image.jpeg|Flora and Hestia Carrow
Awaiting image.jpeg|Slytherin Wizard's Chess champion
Awaiting image.jpeg|Slytherin Duelling Club Captain
Awaiting image.jpeg|Pike
Awaiting image.jpeg|Roy
Awaiting image.jpeg|Peter
Awaiting image.jpeg|Bridget
Awaiting image.jpeg|Rachel
Awaiting image.jpeg|Nigel's nephew
Slytherin 	Period Attending Hogwarts 	Notes
The Bloody BaronF.A.Q. question on J. K. Rowling's Official Site 	Founder's time 	Later became the house ghost.
Merlin 	Medieval era 	Member of King Arthur's court, advocate of Muggle rights, and arguably the most famous wizard in history.
Elizabeth Burke 	Unknown 	Has her portrait hanging at Hogwarts, and tells Slytherins to be "Nasty to Mudbloods".
Phineas Nigellus Black 	1858 - 1865 	In later years he was a Headmaster, his portrait hangs in the Headmaster's office.
The Black family 	 	Except Sirius Black
Horace Slughorn 	Unknown 	Later became Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin.
Tom Marvolo Riddle/Lord Voldemort 	1938 - 1945 	Later became the most powerful Dark Wizard in history. Finally defeated by Harry Potter during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Avery 	1938 - 1945 	Later became one of the first Death Eaters.
Dolores Umbridge 	Unknown 	Later became Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Headmistress of Hogwarts (1996), and Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. Imprisoned for her crimes against Muggle-borns.
Rodolphus Lestrange 	1960s 	Later became a very loyal Death Eater.
Bellatrix Lestrange née Black 	1962 - 1969 Black family tree	Later became one of Lord Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters. Killed by Molly Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Lucius Malfoy 	1965 - 1972 	Prefect; later became a Death Eater (defected).
Narcissa Malfoy née Black 	1966 - 1973 	
Evan Rosier 	1960s or 1970s 	Became a Death Eater. Killed by Alastor Moody.
Rabastan Lestrange 	1960s or 1970s 	Later became a very loyal Death Eater.
Avery 	1960s or 1970s 	Later became a Death Eater.
Severus Snape 	1971 - 1978 	Became Death Eater, but defected to the Order of the Phoenix; later Potions master and Head of Slytherin, and became Headmaster for one year. Killed by Lord Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Regulus Black 	1972 - 1979 	Became Death Eater but defected and gave his life in an attempt to destroy one of the Horcruxes.
Gemma Farley 	1980s and 1990s 	A Prefect.
Marcus Flint 	1986 - 1994 	Captain and Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team and he repeated a year.F.A.Q. at J. K. Rowling's Official Site
Lucian Bole 	1988 - 1995 	Beater for the Slytherin Quidditch team during the 1990s.
Peregrine Derrick 	1988 - 1995 	Beater for the Slytherin Quidditch team during the 1990s.
C. Warrington 	1989 - 1996 	Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team from 1993 to 1996; member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
Graham Montague 	1989 - 1996 	Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team during the 1990s
Adrian Pucey 	1990s 	Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team until 1993.
Flora CarrowFlora and Hestia Carrow have only appeared in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	1990s 	Member of the Slug Club.
Hestia Carrow 	1990s 	Member of the Slug Club.
Miles Bletchley 	1990s 	Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team from 1991 to 1995.
Terence Higgs 	1990s 	Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team in the 1980s and 1990s.
Urquhart 	1990s 	Captain and Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team during the 1996–1997 school year.
Vaisey 	1990s 	Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch team in 1996.
Blaise Zabini 	1991 - 1998 	Member of the Slug Club.
Daphne Greengrass 	1991 - 1998 	Sister of Astoria Greengrass.
Draco Malfoy 	1991 - 1998 	Prefect, Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team, member of the Inquisitorial Squad and later blackmailed by Lord Voldemort to become a Death Eater (defected).
Gregory Goyle 	1991 - 1998 	Beater of the Slytherin Quidditch team from 1995 to 1997; member of the Inquisitorial Squad; became a Dark Wizard in his seventh year.
Millicent Bulstrode 	1991 - 1998 	Member of the Inquisitorial Squad
Pansy Parkinson 	1991 - 1998 	Prefect and member of the Inquisitorial Squad.
Theodore Nott 	1991 - 1998 	Was supposed to be a member of the Slug Club.
Tracey Davis 	1991 - 1998 	
Vincent Crabbe 	1991 - 1998 	Beater of the Slytherin Quidditch team from 1995 to 1997; member of the Inquisitorial Squad; became a Dark Wizard in his seventh year. Killed by his own Fiendfyre during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Bridget 	1992 - 1993 	Duelling Club member.
Peter 	1992 - 1993 	Duelling Club member.
Rachel 	1992 - 1993 	Duelling Club member.
Roy 	1992 - 1993 	Duelling Club member.
Harper 	1992 - 1999 	Reserve Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team in 1996.
Graham Pritchard 	1994 - 2001 	
Mafalda 	1994 - 2001 	The infamous cousin of the Weasley family who was cut from the books.Extra Stuff: Mafalda at J. K. Rowling's Official Site
Malcolm Baddock 	1994 - 2001 	
Tabitha Bainbridge 	 	
Sadie Baldock 	 	
Tristram Bassenthwaite 	 	
Darius Berrow 	 	
Kinjal Bhatia 	 	
Cameron Boyle 	 	
Sebastian Daley 	 	
Damon Gosforth 	 	
Amrish Gupta 	 	
Niles Hanley 	 	
Manami Ichijoh 	 	
Sourav Kartik 	 	
Hirohisa Kubo 	 	
Gertrude Meads 	 	
Sylvia Melville 	 	
Byron Miller 	 	
Titus Mitcham 	 	
Garrick Newbourne 	 	
Ona Parangyo 	 	
Mildred Peebles 	 	
Horatio Pershore 	 	
Poonima Shah 	 	
Bhupen Shastri 	 	
Archana Shetty 	 	
Reiko Sibazaki 	 	
Norman Stacey 	 	
Atsushi Takagi 	 	
Spencer Whiddon 	 	
Phylis Whitehead 	 	
==Translations of the name==
In many translations they have changed the name:
French 	Serpentard
Norwegian 	Smygard
Finnish 	Luihuinen (taken from the adjective 'luihu' which means 'deceptive' or 'sneaky')
Dutch 	Zwadderich
Afrikaans 	Sibberin
Portuguese (Brazil) 	Sonserina (taken from "Sonso" a term to someone who pretends to be innocent or harmless)
Czech 	Zmijozel (taken from "Zmije" = viper snake)
Hungarian 	Mardekár
Russian 	Слизерин [Slizerin](Sleezerin - Слизь means slime), Слайзерин [Sluytherin], Пресмыкайс [Presmykais] (Пресмыкаться means to slither)
Bulgarian 	Слидерин [Sliderin]
Greek 	Σλίθεριν [Slitherin]
Serbian 	Слитерин/Sliterin
Slovak 	Slizolin
Romanian 	Viperini
Italian 	Serpeverde ("Green Serpent")
Albanian 	Gjarpërblertit (Green snake)
Slovenian 	Spolzgad
Hindi 	Nagshakti नगशक्ति (Sanskrit naga-shakti = "snake-power")
Macedonian 	Змијолик (Zmijolik, which means "Snakeface")
Welsh 	Slafenog
Traditional Chinese 	史萊哲林 (Shi-lai-zhe-lin)
Simplied Chinese 	斯莱特林 (Si-lai-te-lin）
Thai 	สลิธีริน (Sa-li-thee-rin)
The same name is used for the Arabic, Croatian, German, Hebrew, Swedish, Spanish, Danish, Turkish, Icelandic, Irish, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), and Indonesia languages.	Slytherin
==Behind the scenes==
*The fact that J. K. Rowling intended to place a character named Mafalda, a half-blood who was the daughter of a Squib and a Muggle, in Slytherin, suggests that Rowling at least does not view the Slytherin House desire for blood-purity as particularly influential upon the Sorting Hat. Also as Voldemort and Snape are both half-bloods there seems no reason to suspect a racially pure Slytherin.
*Slytherin students might possess a certain skill in Potions. Harry's two Potions masters, Severus Snape and Horace Slughorn, both belonged to the Slytherin house. However, it is possible that this talent in Slytherin students could merely be a coincidence, as students from other houses at Hogwarts also shared this talent, such as Harry Potter's mother, Lily Potter (nee Evans) (whose skills were shown through Slughorn's many references to her skill in the subject throughout most of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Hermione Granger who were both Gryffindors.
*Slytherin students also seem to be gifted in Occlumency. Most of the known Occlumens in the books come from Slytherin (namely Voldemort, Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco Malfoy, and Horace Slughorn).
*Elizabeth Burke was most likely a Slytherin.
*J. K. Rowling stated in a PotterCast interview that some Slytherins were among the reinforcements brought by Slughorn during the Battle of Hogwarts.
*J. K. Rowling stated that by 2017, Slytherin is no longer the pure-blood bastion that it once was. However, its dark reputation still lingers, hence Albus Potter's fears.http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript
*It is interesting to note that Slytherin is both the first Hogwarts house mentioned in the series (by Draco Malfoy), as well as the last mentioned in the series (by Albus Potter).
*In early drafts of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, members of the Slytherin house were known as "Slytherites".
*Slytherin House was the winner of the first house cup and the third house cup on Pottermore.Congratulations Slytherin on Winning...
*The Sorting Hat considered placing Gilderoy Lockhart in Slytherin. He finally chose Ravenclaw. Pottermore biography of Gilderoy Lockhart. audio clip by J. K. Rowling
==Appearances==
*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 
*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
*Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
*Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
*Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
*Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
*Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
*LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
*LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
*Wonderbook: Book of Spells
*Pottermore
==See also==
*Salazar Slytherin
*Salazar Slytherin's Locket
*Slytherin Quidditch team
*Gryffindor
*Hufflepuff
*Ravenclaw
==Notes and references==
Category:Hogwarts Houses
Category:Slytherin House