“Those Cunning Folk Use Any Means to Achieve Their Ends”

Okay, so before I get to this post, I just want to say, omg the semester is almost over and I don’t know who else to write about. So, PLEASE, tell me your favorite characters and I will try and write a post about them! There are only 3 weeks left. This is crazy. Also, thank you so much for all of you who have read my blog and kept up with all my fan-girling. I appreciate all of the comments (: and now, on to Slytherin. (Also, happy birthday to Gred and Forge!)

Salazar – António de Oliveira Salazar was the Fascist dictator in Portugal at the same time that Mussolini, Franco and Hitler. He had the same extremist right-wing ideology as the others, exercised great prejudice, and ruled using fear.

Slytherin – Sounds like “slither,” as in to slither like a snake. No coincidence the Slytherin House is represented by a snake. Salazar Slytherin was also a Parselmouth (name for those who can speak to snakes). Slytherins are known to be “sly” individuals and snakes are known to be very “sly” creatures.

tumblr_lpb5p5j7eu1qghwauSo, generally I feel like I want to hate Slytherin because of all of the evil-ness that he’s involved with and stuff, but at the same time, I feel like I need to respect him for being one of the founders of the lovely school of Hogwarts. But, all of the happy feelings are practically wiped out by the fact that he hated muggle-borns so much. Whatta jerk. Also, the whole keeping-a-giant-snake-in-the-girls’-bathroom-that-kills-people-just-by-looking-at-them thing…it’s kinda creepy. Yeah, I know, he spoke to snakes, so it was like a really weird best friend or whatever, but I just don’t get it. I’ll talk about this more later. (Also, every picture of him gives me the creeps…)

So, as usual, the name is awesome. I did not know there was a dictator named Salazar in Portugal and now I feel like a failed history buff. So pretty much they sound like the same person. If I had been at Hogwarts when Slytherin was a teacher, I would have been terrified of him. Like I honestly don’t think I would have been able to function because I would have been so scared. Especially after seeing all of those creepy depictions of him…anyway. Slytherin is just awesome in like every way possible. That description just says it all.

I think of this a lot when I say Slytherin...

I think of this a lot when I say Slytherin…

Okay, so can I just take a minute to talk about Parseltongue? SHE FREAKING MADE UP A LANGUAGE. How much cooler can you get? Okay, obviously her language is not nearly as complicated as say the Elvish language from Lord of the Rings, but it’s still pretty awesome. (Just for fun, here’s a website to translate stuff into Parseltongue. Things like this make me love the Potterhead fandom even more.)

Okay, so back to the Basilisk thing. Super cool plot twist, but really I hate snakes. This part of the movie always bothered me for two reasons. 1. I hate snakes. 2. The snake sounded motorized. If you listen closely, it doesn’t sound like a snake slithering around. It sounds mechanic. And it bothers me. But anyway. WHY IS IT IN THE GIRLS’ BATHROOM? This creeps me out about Slytherin. Maybe I’m thinking about it too much, but wouldn’t it have been weird if people were like “Oh, Salazar keeps disappearing into the girls’ lavatory. No big deal. I’m sure he’s not doing anything suspicious in there.” OH WAIT. Seriously. Especially after everyone starts to realize what a jerk he is for hating on muggle-borns and all, wouldn’t they been even more suspicious of his activities? I get for  the whole plot line thing that it has to be in the bathroom that Myrtle is in because then they figure out where the entrance is and all, but I really just don’t get it. Also, I’m pretty sure if I were a girl at Hogwarts I’d be terrified of the bathrooms and would be even more likely to go with friends. (First year, troll with Hermione, and then there’s a giant snake that can kill me with its creepy fangs or eyes.)

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I think part of me hates Slytherin because he reminds me of Voldemort, which I guess makes sense. The whole snakes-as-pets thing and then the creepy look, and the hatred of muggle-borns, the Parselmouth-ness, the Legilimency skills, they’re just too similar for me to like either one of them.

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Here’s some more info on Slytherin, the House of Slytherin, the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk, and then some more info on the house and the founder

The Sorting Hat’s words:

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You’ll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.