Gryffindor House

Gryffindor House was one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was founded by Godric Gryffindor and served initially as to designate his pupils from those of the other three Founders. Gryffindor was a trained duelist and wizarding knight before becoming an educator, and valued chivalry and grit in his pupils. His crest was a lion and his colors were scarlet and gold, those now given to his namesake house. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington is the House ghost and has been since 1493.

## Gryffindor Tower

Gryffindor Tower is on the eastern side of the main castle and juts out from the 7th floor. The entrance is guarded by the Fat Lady, an oil painting who has been the guardian of the Tower since 1722. One must give the Fat Lady the correct password in order to enter. Her hallway is lined with the portraits of all the Gryffindor Heads of Houses, alive or dead.

The Common Room has large windows looking over the grounds and is decorated in the house colors of scarlet and gold. A large and cheery fireplace is at the western side. The room is also home to several squashy armchairs and recliners.

On the northern side of the Tower, there is a small antechamber with two sets of staircases leading to boys' and girls' dormitories. Each floor of the dorms are further separated by year, with 7th years on the top of the dormitory tower and 1st years on the bottom nearest the common room.

## Author's Notes: Gryffindor Sorting Metrics

The Sorting Hat centers its selection of Gryffindors based on its experience, but also on their compatibility with several metrics determined by Godric shortly before his death.

### Roman Virtues

Cleverly, each House has four virtues that the founders felt the most important in their students.

* **Auctoritas**: Auctoritas can be roughly translated into authority. The Romans defined it as a spiritual authority, but Gryffindor took it to mean a moral authority. Gryffindor's morality played a large part in his personality, and he expected his students to respect those who have the moral high ground.
* **Clementia**: Clementia was defined by the Romans as a virtue to be merciful to one's enemies in defeat. Gryffindor's valor extended even to his bitterest of foes.
* **Comitas**: Comitas was defined by the Romans as the virtue of being courteous and friendly. Gryffindor valued politeness and chivalry above most anything.
* **Gravitas**: Gravitas was defined as a sense of dignity, of responsibility. Gryffindor wished for his students to stand their ground and fight the good fight.

### Christian Sins and Virtues

Despite being associated with pagans (Salazar Slytherin), the other founders were deeply influenced by Catholic and Celtic Christian theology. Each knew their strengths and weaknesses.

* **Charity**: Gryffindor was a devout Catholic and gave his money to the poor. He also spared many a foe, and even limited his own combat potential to make a fair fight. His word was his bond, and his honor his life.
* **Pride**: Despite his charitable ways, Gryffindor was proud, sometimes (yet very rarely) overconfident in his abilities. His pride unlike Slytherin's manifested in his bravery as opposed to his traditions.
* **Temperance**: Gryffindor was measured in what he allowed himself, and practiced restraint against his dueling companions and disciplined his pupil's minds as well as their athletic abilities. His temperance is akin to discipline rather than abstinence, and it was a trait he admired in potential students.
* **Wrath**: Despite his discipline, Gryffindor suffered no slight to his pride easily and would rarely be able to calm himself should he get sufficiently flustered.

### Myers-Briggs

Though this was not a metric used during their time period, subsequent generations and particularly Ravenclaw Muggleborns have typified the ideal Gryffindor based on five criteria. An ideal Gryffindor is an ESFP-A.

* **Extraverted**: Gryffindor was very extraverted, taking in many students and surrounding himself with allies to boost his ego as well as to spread his knowledge to those he felt were worthy. The ideal Gryffindor does the same, to be as selfless with one's time as well as with one's energy. Introverted Gryffindors do exist, but they are never the opposite of Gryffindor's vision: they are very open to their close friends and are still quite selfless.
* **Sensing**: Gryffindor was very much tied to his senses. He could not think in abstract concepts, and preferred using physical evidence and his own experience when making decisions rather than how sound or logical a decision sounded. He expected his students to embrace if not appreciate this sentiment. Intuitive Gryffindors do exist, and if they are extroverted they are typically more focused on their chosen group or if they are introverted are moral crusaders.
* **Feeling**: Gryffindor framed every decision he made based on how justified he felt in making it and if he had time, how his actions would affect others. His students would be taught how to do the same.
* **Perceiving**: Gryffindor was a very impulsive and go-with-the-flow within the confines of his vows and his own pride. He liked to enjoy what task he set himself on, and thought having fun was half the battle in making arduous tasks more meaningful.
* **Assertive**: Gryffindor was a proud lion. He knew what he wanted, knew how to get it, and frustrated any attempts to make him feel differently. Turbulent Gryffindors exist, and are dreadfully concerned about doing right by their peers and by themselves as well as sharing their thought processes with others.

#### *Other Personalities in Gryffindor*

ESFP personalities are in line with Gryffindor's vision, but of course there are room for all sorts of Gryffindors. Based on their similarities, the Sorting Hat will consider those who have 3 similarities in the Myers-Briggs against the House standard, as the Founders innately understood compatible personalities were better suited to be in similar Houses. INTJ-T personalities will be refused entry into Gryffindor.