Salazar Slytherin

**Lord Salazar Ezra Slytherin** (4 August, 943 – 29 October, 1086) was an English half-blood wizard, the son of Salathiel Slytherin and a low-born witch Ethelfleda.

Noted for his cunning and determination, he was regarded as one of the greatest wizards of the age, respectively as a Parselmouth and as a skilled Legilimens. Slytherin was one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw. He was also the namesake of the Slytherin House.

He mistrusted Muggles students to the point of proposing that Muggle-borns should be educated away from Hogwarts. However, when he expressed his opinion, other relatives of the Slytherin Family did not agree with him. He later had an affair with Bernia, wife of Godric Gryffindor, with whom he sired two children: Silvius and Corva. Godric was furious, and in response, he left the school, never to return. Salazar later eloped with Bernia, though there are doubts surrounding the legitimacy of the marriage and their offspring.

Slytherin died on 29 October, 1086, after he created the Chamber of Secrets, concealing a basilisk. His intention was to have his heir return to the school and harnest the basilisk as a means to defeat the school. Despite this, Godric, out of spite, manipulated Salazar's son Silvius into meeting his estranged grandfather Silvanus, from whom he learned purist ideals.

## Biography

### Early Life (943-961)

Salazar Ezra Slytherin was born to Salathiel Slytherin (the son of Silvanus Slytherin), and his low-born mother Ethelfleda, a half-blood witch, the daughter of a low-born wizard named Balorus, and a Anglo-Saxon muggle noblewoman, named Wynflaed; who was also the mother to Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury; Salazar's squib maternal aunt. Because of this, Salazar is a first cousin to the Anglo-Saxon kings Eadwig and Edgar.

## Physical Appearance

The statue of Salazar Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets depicted an "*ancient and monkeyish*" man with a "*long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his sweeping robes.*" His beard was white in colour. Marvolo Gaunt, a blood relative, was similarly described as being monkey-like in appearance.

## Personality

Salazar Slytherin was known to possess great cunning and determination, qualities he prized in students of Slytherin House. At one point, the Sorting Hat referred to him as "*power-hungry Slytherin*".

Slytherin was also quite proud and vain, as he went to the trouble of immortalising his image in the Chamber of Secrets in the form of a titanic statue standing several dozen feet tall, something that the other three founders were never known to have done. An effigy of such proportions would certainly reflect a grandiose image of oneself. This love of grandeur was apparently passed onto his bloodline as well, as the descending Gaunt bloodline ended up squandering their fortune for self-indulgent lavishness long before the generation of Marvolo, who continued to flaunt the little heirlooms he had left in front of others.

Slytherin was said to be one of the greatest wizards of his age, with extensive magical abilities, particularly in Legilimency. When considering Sorting a student into Slytherin, the Sorting Hat looks for Slytherin's traits in the student, including cunning, determination, ambition, and resourcefulness.

## Abilities and Skills

*See Power Scale for more information.*

Lily's Abilities and Skills
 Legilimency
 Parseltongue
 Charms
 Wandlore

## Possessions and Properties

* **Wand**: Slytherin owned a wand made of Snakewood with a Basilisk horn core. It was passed down through the generations until it was stolen from Gormlaith Gaunt by her niece Isolt Sayre, and later buried on the grounds of Ilvermorny School in North America.
* **Locket**: Slytherin owned a locket which he passed down to his descendants. It was later turned into a Horcrux by his descendant Tom Riddle.
* **Basilisk**: Slytherin owned a basilisk and kept it in the Chamber of Secrets