Half-Blood

> Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out.
>
> Ronald Weasley regarding half-blood statistics, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:Potter family 0002 - Harry as infant.gif
**Half-blood** was the term commonly given to wizards and witches who had known ***Muggle*** or Muggle-born parents or grandparents. By the 1990s, half-bloods were the most common type of wizard or witch, as the pure-blood wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.

## Overview

It should be noted that any wizard or witch who was neither pure-blood nor Muggle-born was considered half-blood, even if they had two magical parents; they need not have had *exactly* half-Muggle/half-wizard heritage.

Magical children born to a Muggle-born and a Muggle are also considered half-bloods, such as ***Penny*** and ***Beatrice Haywood***.

## Treatment

> You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare... He dared — he dares — he stands there — filthy half-blood —
>
> Prejudice against Harry Potter's half-blood status, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 File:Potter family2.png
Those who believed in the importance of blood purity considered half-bloods to be inferior because of their ***Muggle*** heritage, though superior to Muggle-borns. It could be argued that half-bloods in the eyes of those who believed in blood purity bridged the gap between "respectable" and inferior. As such, some families such as the ***Malfoys*** allowed them to marry into their pure-blood family and could do so without affecting their family's pure-blood status. In spite of this, this never deterred "respect" from families such as the ***Blacks***, ***Gaunt*** and the ***Lestranges*** against the Malfoys.

Other more fanatical families such as the ***Gaunts***, ***Lestranges***, and ***Blacks*** required all marriages to be those of pure-blood. Members of these families were more likely to use "half-blood" in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; ***Bellatrix Lestrange*** did so on multiple occasions, and the ***portrait of Walburga Black*** often equated half-bloods with Half-breeds.

Some half-bloods expressed prejudice towards those with Muggle heritage, despite having some themselves, and clung to what wizarding heritage they had. Notably Lord Voldemort persecuted Muggles and Muggle-borns, despite the fact that his mother (***Merope Gaunt***) was a pure-blood witch and his father (***Tom Riddle Snr***) was a Muggle. He denied his Muggle heritage, instead emphasising his wizard ancestors; his legend-entitled nickname was "*Heir of Slytherin*" because his most notable wizard ancestor (Salazar Slytherin) was a famous pure-blood champion, which made himself more believable. Severus Snape may have been another example; his self-entitled nickname was "*Half-Blood Prince*" because his mother (***Eileen Prince***) was a pure-blood witch and his father (***Tobias Snape***) was a Muggle.

 File:Severus Snape OOTPF.png
However, ***Remus Lupin*** reported that he never used the nickname openly. This, as well as Snape's membership in the ***Death Eaters***, suggests he may have been ashamed of his Muggle heritage, at least in his early life. In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else. Ironically (or perhaps because of), regarding the prophecy concerning his defeat, Voldemort chose to go after the half-blood Harry Potter instead of the pure-blood Neville Longbottom.

When the ***British Ministry of Magic*** fell under Voldemort's control in ***1997***, Muggle-borns were openly persecuted and pure-bloods were favoured above all else. Half-bloods were still accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and in the ***British Ministry of Magic***, but were not treated as well as the pure-blood members. This was repealed once Lord Voldemort was defeated.

## Parentage

### Muggle or Muggle-born grandparent

 An Lily-Luna Potter

## Behind the scenes

* In the ***GBC version of the first video game***, there is a ***boy*** in Slytherin who went to Charm school and is listed as being likely half-blood.
* On the draft class list, ***Hannah Abbott*** was listed as a Muggle-born, but in a later interview, Rowling stated that she had always thought of Hannah as a pure-blood. To compromise, she was made a half-blood.
* An interesting fact of note is that despite the ideals that pure-bloods are inherently more powerful wizards, several of the most powerful or particularly adept wizards and witches in the series are in fact half-blood, such as Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Harry Potter.
* The trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger consists of all three types of Wizards. Harry being half-blood, Ron being Pure-blood, and Hermione being Muggle-born.
* Due to the lesser detailed nature of the first three books of the series, some fans became confused on the definition of the term half-blood as the series continued and matured. Template:PS and Template:COS gave the impression that the term was based on the child's parents and not necessarily beyond that lineage. As the series continued and became more detailed, Rowling was finally able to properly describe the full meaning of the term in Template:OOTP.Template:Fact

## Appearances

* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS
* Template:POA
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP
* Template:HBP
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:DH
* Template:FB Template:Mention
* Template:TBB
* Template:QTA Template:Mention
* Template:FB
* Template:FB
* Template:CB
* Template:COG
* Template:COG
* Template:AM
* Template:SOD
* Template:SOD
* Template:SODMM
* Template:PM
* Template:WW
* Template:JKRS
* Template:HPM Template:Mention
* Template:HPPU
* *LEGO Brickheadz: Harry Potter*
* *Harry Potter Prequel* Template:C
* *Harry Potter: The Wand Collection*
* *J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life* Template:Mention
* *The Art of Harry Potter Mini Book of Graphic Design*
* *Harry Potter: The Wand Collection*
* Template:HPFJ
* *J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life*
* Template:TCG
* Template:QWC
* Template:HPK
* Template:MPF
* Template:HPV
* Template:HPV Template:Mention
* Template:HM
* Template:WU
* Template:PAS
* Template:MA
* Template:HL

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:COS
2. ↑ FAQ at Template:JKRS - "The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents.
If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda."
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:WW - "From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practise of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree."
4. ↑ Template:HBP - Marvolo Gaunt: "Centuries it’s been in our family, that’s how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way!"
5. ↑ Template:OOTP
6. ↑ Template:OOTP
7. ↑ Template:COS
8. ↑ Template:HBP
9. ↑ Template:DH
10. ↑ Template:HBP - " "“The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left,” said Hermione stubbornly. “I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggle-borns they hate, they’d be quite happy to let you and Ron join up.”""
11. ↑ Template:DH - Neville: "They don’t want to spill too much pure blood, so they’ll torture us a bit if we’re mouthy but they won’t actually kill us."
12. ↑ Template:DH - "“No, no, I’m half-blood, I’m half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he was, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he’s a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you — get your hands off me, get your hands off —”"
13. ↑ Template:WW
14. ↑ Template:WW
15. ↑ Template:COS - "'Half-blood, sir,' said Riddle. 'Muggle father, witch mother.'"
16. ↑ Template:HBP - "He's just like Voldemort. Pure-blood mother, Muggle father... ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the Dark Arts, gave himself an impressive new name — Lord Voldemort — the Half-Blood Prince — how could Dumbledore have missed?"
17. ↑ Template:WW
18. ↑ Template:HM
19. ↑ Template:WW
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Garrick Ollivander fact file at Template:PM
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Template:HPM
22. ↑ This individual refers to his father, a wizard, but later refers to films. This indicates that while having magical ancestry, he had some contact with the Muggle world. Thus, he was most likely a half-blood.
23. ↑ PotterCast 130 transcript

## See also

* Blood purity
* Blood traitor
* Mudblood
* Muggle-born
* Pure-blood