Pure-Blood Supremacy

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Pure-blood supremacy **article** at the Harry Potter Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
**Pure-Blood Supremacy** was the belief that wizards and witches whose family had not married any Muggles or Muggle-borns were superior to wizards and witches who had done so. Proponents of this ideology typically regarded Muggle-born wizards as 'impure' and unworthy of possessing magical ability; pure-blood supremacists often actively discriminated against Muggle-borns for these reasons.

## Attitude and Beliefs

The byproduct of aeons of wizarding history, pure-blood supremacists were wizards who had the opinion that only pure-bloods were 'real' witches and wizards; many of them were often inclined to consider themselves as pure-bloods to be the elite people of the magical world; a place in which they believed that half-bloods and Muggle-borns did not belong in. Despite their magical ability, pure-blood supremacists were prone to be very hostile towards both Muggle-borns, as well as those that were accepting of them, fearing that the promotion and acceptance of the mixture of magical and non-magical blood would dilute or even negate the wizard identity. They also considered themselves to be "above" half-bloods because they had not married any Muggles and were not related to them.

More militant subscribers of this philosophy even considered themselves to be akin to royalty. They viewed Muggles, Muggle-borns, half-bloods, half-breeds with contempt and considered the Muggle world to be inferior to their own. Pure-bloods (and even half-bloods) who do not share this view are considered traitors to their own kind or "blood traitors". They were considered disgraces by pure-blood supremacists such as the Malfoys.

Elitist pure-bloods even believed that it was a sign of weak magic to enjoy the company of non-magical friends and seemed to believe that some of the supposed dirtiness of Muggles and Muggle-borns would rub off on those who associated with them, thus they considered the so-called blood traitors to be "filthy" as well. Some extremists considered blood traitors to be nearly as bad as the Muggle-borns they were prejudiced against. Bellatrix Lestrange, for example, claimed that "*blood traitor is next to Mudblood in [her] book*", and her family often disowned and blasted off the family tree any members who could be considered blood traitors. Blood traitors might also be shunned by their families and acquaintances: for example, Bellatrix and her younger sister Narcissa Malfoy stopped seeing their sister Andromeda after she married a Muggle-born wizard, Ted Tonks.

Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters targeted blood traitors during the First and Second Wizarding Wars because they opposed their goals. While they were temporarily in control of the Ministry of Magic in late 1997 and early 1998, they kept blood traitors such as Arthur Weasley under surveillance.

However, even most Death Eaters were reluctant to kill pure-bloods, even "traitorous" ones, if it could be avoided. Similarly, although disdaining half-bloods and considering them inferior, they recognized that there were not enough pure-blood families left and so (if only begrudgingly), accepted half-bloods in their new world order. The same situation existed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while Voldemort was in power.

## Degrees of Prejudice

### Pure-Blood Elitism

The most extreme of the pure-blood supremacists sought to purge the world of those they consider "impure". They often tolerated half-bloods out of necessity (though still disdained them), but Muggle-borns were persecuted and Muggles were viewed as nothing more than animals. Supremacists debated amongst themselves whether Muggles and Muggle-borns should be subject to death or slavery, but they generally agreed goal of pure-blood supremacy was a world where Muggles are relegated to at least a lesser role.

### Pure-Blood Bias

Some wizards, while believing somewhat in the inherent superiority of pure-bloods, do not actively discriminate against or show hostility to Muggle-borns and are even fond of them in some cases.