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Half-blood Harry Potter is the son of a pure-blood wizard and a Muggle-born witch

"Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out."
Ron Weasley discussing blood purity[src]

Half-blood is the term commonly given to wizards and witches who have a Muggle/Muggle-born parent and magical parent. By the 1990s, half-bloods were the most common type of magical person, as the wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.[1]

Due to the dominance of the magic gene, children born to at least one magical parent will almost always be magical themselves. A non-magical child born to a Muggle and a wizard is considered a Squib (not a Muggle).[2]

Attitude towards half-bloods

"YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!"
Bellatrix Lestrange's prejudice against Harry Potter[src]
File:C0634d41d6 77756546 o2.jpg

Lord Voldemort, who denies his half-blood status

Those who believe in the importance of blood purity consider half-bloods to be inferior because of their Muggle heritage, though superior to Muggle-borns. Occasionally the term "half-blood" can be used in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; Bellatrix Lestrange and the portrait of Walburga Black did so on multiple occasions.[3]

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 hated Muggles and Muggle-borns, despite having a Muggle father, and denied his half-Muggle heritage, leaving hints that he was a pure-blood instead, emphasizing his heritage to the famous pure-blood ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, to make himself more believable.[1] Severus Snape may be 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. 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.[4] In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else; most of them are half-bloods due to centuries of dilution and decline of what may be called as a true "pure-blood". Ironically (or perhaps because of), regarding the Prophecy concerning his defeat, Voldemort chose to go after a half-blood Harry Potter instead of the pure-blood Neville Longbottom.

When the 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, but were not treated as well as the pure-blood students.[5]

Known half-bloods

Pure or half-blood parent and Muggle parent

Pure or half-blood parent and Muggle-born parent

Two half-blood parents

Two magical parents, known Muggle ancestry

Unknown combination of parental status

Behind the scenes

  • On J. K. Rowling's draft list of students in Harry Potter's class, which is not considered canon due to several contradictions with the novels, the following students were mentioned as half-bloods:[13]

Appearances

See also

Notes and references

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