Forum:Sorting in families

Forums: Index > The Wizengamot archive > Sorting in families

I have noticed that an ip has changed some Death Eater infoboxes to state they´re half-blood or pure-blood and House Slytherin. Not all Death Eaters are Slytherins. (Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor) However, I´m not sure if we should remove the possibility that they were in this House in the infoboxes of Slytherin relatives. We have done something similar with Rabastan Lestrange and members of the House of Black. Is anything about that in our policy? Slughorn also stated that, in most cases, the hat sorts after families.--Rodolphus 17:05, September 8, 2009 (UTC)

I just got done removing the Slytherin conjecture from most of them (didn't notice there was a forum topic on this until just now). For most of the Death Eaters, it's not even specified that they even attended Hogwarts, much less that they were in Slytherin. While I agree it's a reasonable assumption and, in some cases, the most likely possibility, an assumption is still an assumption. For Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott, at least, there could probably be a mention under "Behind the scenes" because of their sons. I'll add those now.- Nick O'Demus 14:21, September 9, 2009 (UTC)

Other possibilities.

Mrs and Xeno Lovegood may have been Ravenclaws (The latter is likely, considering he admires Rowena.)

Avery and Lestrange Sr. may have been Slytherins (Rodolphus Lestrange and Avery Jr. were)

Mr Smith: If he was a wizard, he may have been Hufflepuff, like his son.

Mr Midgeon may be Gryffindor, like his his daughter.

Ted Tonks: Hufflepuff?

All relatives of Susan: Hufflepuff?

and many other relatives of known persons.

I know it´s speculative, but, considering Slughorn´s comment, worth mentioning.

--Rodolphus 15:23, September 9, 2009 (UTC)

I´ll try a draft note.

"In Ch. 4 of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, Horace Slughorn states that family members are often Sorted into the same House. This may indicate that article´s subject was Sorted into assumed House, as relative´s name was Sorted into assumed house. However, there are exceptions:

What do you think?--Rodolphus 15:39, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

It is very clear that people are sorted into houses based upon the VALUES they hold. Those values are normally congruent with those of their parents, hence they usually sort into the same house as their parents. Sirius Black is a significant exception since he rejected the values of his parents. In cases where we do not have a positive identification of a person with a particular house, it would be useful to note near relatives and their houses because chances are high that they did indeed sort into the same house. The Death Eaters espouse a value system that is congruent with the Slytherin House, so the assumption that a Death Eater is a Slytherin is not unfounded, but it is still an assumption, not canon. Listing assumptions is helpful only if the basis of the assumption is stated. DavidWallis 06:06, October 17, 2009 (UTC)

I thought Ted Tonks was a muggle -The other Weasley

I don't think we can really infer a character's House from the House(s) of their relatives. Slughorn did tell Harry that Houses "usually [go] in families," but without further evidence, I don't think we can say which families tend to all get Sorted into the same House. With the Blacks, there is independent evidence that at least those closely related to Sirius were in Slytherin, from Slughorn in HBP4 ("The whole Black family had been in my house, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor!") and Sirius in "The Prince's Tale" in DH ("My whole family have been in Slytherin"). I find it hard to accept that families getting Sorted into the same House could be caused by genetics, so I think it may come down to expectations that parents place on their children, an idea which is supported by Ron's threat to disown Rose if she wasn't Sorted into Gryffindor. However, some parents take a more open-ended approach, allowing their children's talents and personalities to develop freely. In such families, the parents probably wouldn't have a preferred House, and I imagine the children would be Sorted more diversely as a result. Also, when we only know the House of a single member of a wizarding family, how are we to know that person isn't an exception like Sirius Black? Though Sorted into Hufflepuff, Susan Bones may have come from a long line of Ravenclaws, for all we know. The point is that we can't infer a family's traditional House from a single person; we need evidence showing that the family has a tendancy to be sorted into a certain House.

As for the Death Eaters, JKR stated that there were relatives of Death Eaters in all Houses, so it stands to reason the Death Eaters themselves were not only Slytherins. Only eight of the over thirty known Death Eaters are defintively known to have been in Slytherin: Avery Jr., Regulus Black, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Evan Rosier, Severus Snape, and Wilkes. The remaining twenty, with the exception of Peter Pettigrew, could've been in any House, assuming they attended Hogwarts (Igor Karkaroff likely didn't). ★ Starstuff ^{(Owl me!)} 03:26, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

That´s a good point, but I still think we should note the possibility in "Behind the Scenes", "Notes", or possibly even the infobox with a "(possibly)" added.

Oh, and Ted wasn´t a muggle, he was a muggle-born wizard.--Rodolphus 12:13, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

I´ll add the note to some pages, based on Slughorn´s comment and the Weasley/Black examples.--Rodolphus 13:49, September 13, 2009 (UTC)