Slytherin is one of the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a British wizarding school funded by the British Ministry of Magic. This magical school accepts magical students from Great Britain and Ireland that can enroll there. Children who own magical abilities are enrolled at birth, and this is confirmed by owl posts when they are at age 11.
Besides Slytherin, the other 3 houses are as follows: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor.
All these four houses are introduced in the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and are similar to English public boarding schools.
One study from 2015, found that all these 4 houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are associated with different psychological traits as follows:
- Slytherins, as the home of dark witches, are associated with psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism.
- Ravenclaws tend to have higher thinking.
- Gryffindor is associated with bravery and openness.
- Hufflepuffs like justice and cordiality. (1)
However, although Slytherin is regarded as stereotypical evil, they embody some traits that are not supposed to promote malicious behavior and can be regarded as the best.
Why Is Slytherin The Best House?
Slytherin house is founded by Salazar Slytherin, a pure-blood wizard, who, while establishing the house, instructed the Sorting Hat to enroll the students with characteristics he most valued and these characteristics are:
- Ambition
- Leadership
- Cunningness
- Resourcefulness
Slytherins are loyal, like challenges in life, ambitious and highly resourceful, and use different cunning techniques to get what they want.
Let’s see 7 reasons why Slytherins are the best house:
1. Ambition
Probably one of the main reasons why this house is the best is the ambition. This makes them stay alive, opposite to the other house the Gryffindor, whose main characteristic is bravery. When you are too brave, such as Gryffindors, you may take foolish risks. Bur, this can be prevented by the desire to succeed, such as ambition.
The Ravenclaws are intelligent, but intelligence without ambition cannot take you very far and you can be super intelligent, but does this mean that you can stay alive and reach your goals.
2. Mascot
They have a snake on their mascot, which is cooler compared to other mascot houses that have lions, badgers, or eagles on their mascots. Snakes can move rapidly, are very agile, and have enough poison even to kill a man. Flying can be nice, and the lion may be the strongest, but snakes are cunning and seen as the deadliest among humans. Snakes are associated with the devil and evil in Bible, but in old Egypt, they were a symbol of royalty and power, so they represent a duality concept of both good and evil and their interconnectedness.
3. Color of the house flags
Hufflepuff has a yellow flag that reminds people of low bravery, and surely, they have too little.
Gryffindor has a red flag that usually implicates violence and aggression that would be great for a foolhardy person.
Ravenclaw has a blue flag that suppresses their appetite.
Slytherin has a green flag, which is the coolest one and the green color is related to luck. It is also the color of nature, life, and vitality and their wish for renewal and transformation.
4. They are in frequent contact with the dark side and have of the most powerful wizards
Most of the members of the house are directly linked to the Dark Lord or it is possible that they have parents that serve as Death Eaters. Most people think this is the bad side of being a Slytherin, but it can be quite good and beneficial if you use it right. The Dark Lord may teach you things that are not known to ordinary wizards, like dark magic and if he regains his strength, you will be on his winning side. And you can learn how to spell Fiendfyre, a very deadly spell no one has control of. They have wizards like Merlin, Voldemort, Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Horace Slughorn.
5. They have an interesting room location
They do not have room in the tower, just like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor do. They have an underground dungeon with big green lanterns that give an additional accent to their color – green. The lightning is very special because it is under a lake and the green light filters from above.
6. They have the best record for winning the In House Cup Victories
Before the arrival of Harry, they had won the House Cup successfully for six years and had a far better record compared to all other houses.
Actually, Gryffindor started winning when Harry arrived, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had never won the House Cup.
7. They think more logically and have natural talents
Harry has emotional thinking and probably people and the audience like it and are encouraged to follow his attitude. But, Slytherins are far more logical than Harry, although they are considered selfish and fight only if they think it is beneficial and has some rewards.
The house encourages the wizards to improve their skills and not to rely simply on their natural talents. Voldermort had the talent even before he knew he was a wizard and Snape found out he was a better wizard than most adult wizards even as a teenager, but they progressed as wizards and learned continuously.
What Are The Characteristics And Main Slytherin Personality Traits?
Slytherins have the worst reputation and are associated with dark magic, they are regarded as not very pleasant and sneaky. Still, there are some wonderful Slytherins embodied with some nice characteristics. Let’s see which good characteristics this house embodies and makes her dynamic and unique and what makes a Slytherin personality:
1. Self–confidence
If you like yourself and focus on yourself, it can sometimes be a good thing and this is what you can learn from Slytherins, caring about yourself and building your self–confidence is a great way to feel secure and to always count on yourself to get the job done. They feel superior and are powerful lust, and they always like to be the best and a few steps ahead of others.
2. Cunningness
This can be regarded as a negative characteristic, but it can be incredibly useful and sometimes crucial for success. They are very successful in deceit and Slytherin Severus Snape has successfully deceived Lord Voldemort. Their thinking is calculating, logical and analytical, and that is why no one can set them in a trap.
3. Natural leaders
Sorting Hat mentions this personal trait of Slytherin, and you can notice it if you pay enough attention to it. This is a very positive trait and they embody all good characteristics of a good leader, such as cunningness, ambition, and resourcefulness.
As a matter of fact, they are very important to help you to climb any position and achieve the top position in your field of work.
4. Self-reliant
They have constant faith in themselves in all instances and stick to the motto that it is always best to do something by yourself. They never ask for help and do everything alone and do not wait for anyone’s permission.
5. Pragmatic
They can hide their emotions skillfully, and here, it hides their big strength. They will try to help someone or team him up if there is some sort of advantage for them and they want to achieve a certain goal. This was evident in Harry Potter when they tried to help him even though they disliked him.
6. Loyal
This trait can make them similar to other Houses like Gryffindors or maybe Hufflepuffs, but it can be true that they can be very dedicated and adhere to some beliefs and standards. Unfortunately, they are probably more dutiful to some people, not to all. They just simply choose their own path and do not tend to follow others’ ideals.
What Are 10 Signs That Make A Person A Slytherin?
- You are sneaky
- You do not like small talk
- You tend to judge others because you are not satisfied with your own life
- You are a quick thinker and great at solving problems
- Ambition is the first the foremost place in your life
- You have a talent for manipulating people
- You can not pretend that you like someone if you do not like him for real
- You are determined and self–confident
- You are loyal and prideful
- You are a strong leader
What Is Slytherin’s motto?
“Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means,
To achieve their ends.”
–The Sorting Hat, Harry Potter, and the Philosopher’s Stone
The motto of Slytherins shows that they are ready for everything to achieve their goals, and that is why they are associated with ambition, cunningness, and looking just for themselves instead of others.
Also, they are associated with shrewdness and traditionalism. That is why it is believed that when Salazar Slytherin was alive and present at Hogwarts, he advised only pure-blood students to be admitted to the school. The emblematic animal of the house is a snake and the two most notable wizards who were head of the house was Horace Slughorn twice and Severus Snape.
The element of the house is water associated with Western European mythology and, in Celtic mythology, is seen as a portal to another world.
The color around the lakes and the lochs are often green and the rainwater is associated with silver color. It is also associated with potions and how Slytherins are perceived: patient, precise and purposeful.
Are Slytherins Emotional?
Slytherins are very emotional, but they choose to hide their emotions and wouldn’t try to apologize to someone if they did them some harm, as this is a sign of weakness.
They are related to the water symbol, which is always referred to as imaginative, emotional, intuitive, and cold.
But, although emotional, in very difficult and stressful situations, they can keep their head cold and react without emotions because what they value the most is their self–image and how others perceive them.
They are like Hufflepuffs because they are empaths and every failure is very discouraging for them because they are sensitive.
They have a fatal flaw, and they do not know how to express their deep and intense emotions.
