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Sirius Black the Gryffindor, no, Slytherin, no, Gryffindor
In which a theory based on faulty logic falls... "Sirius Black was in Slytherin."
"There isn't a wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." (Diagon Alley chapter)Hagrid thought Sirius Black was a dark wizard at the time so many people logic that Sirius was in Slytherin. If all dark wizards were in Slytherin, and Sirius was considered a dark wizard, then Sirius was in Slytherin. Sound logic, right? No! It is one of the worst kinds of faulty logic: an argument based on a generalization. There is a very big 'if' that must be taken into account. "If all dark wizards were in Slytherin" — were they all? Hagrid said so, but he was generalizing. He was not giving Harry a lesson on the history of dark wizards; he was only making a statement. It is foolish to come to a conclusion based on a generalization, especially another person's generalization. Would you judge a person based solely on stereotypes? Of course not; to do so would be frowned upon. Why? Your reasoning, your judgement, would be based on a stereotype — a generalization that may often be untrue or only partly true when applied to an individual. Sure, most dark wizards do seem to come from Slytherin. That does not mean there can be no exceptions. Not all Slytherins are dark wizards. Not all dark wizards are Slytherins. JK Rowling has not given us reason to believe Sirius Black was in Slytherin. His friends were in Gryffindor* and so was he, from all other information we have been able to gather.
* Remus Lupin - Very Gryffindor-ish. No one has ever accused him of being a Slytherin up to date. And he did show support for Gryffindor in PoA (after Harry's dementor lesson). Slytherin and Gryffindor have a long and bitter rivalry, so it is very unlikely he would support Gryffindor if he were a Slytherin alumni. James Potter - Some people think he could have been in Slytherin, but that is only because he was Sirius Black's best friend and they think he was in Slytherin. Everything else we know about him points to Gryffindor (i.e. very brave, saved Snape's life even though they are enemies, anti-Voldemort, lasting friendship with Dumbledore, gives up his life for his family, need I go on?). Peter Pettigrew - Er... well... he's a toughie. He isn't so much ambitious as he is looking for protection from the powerful people. The Sorting Hat can make mistakes — and it might have not even been a mistake, given how much people can change in seven years. Lily Potter - JK Rowling was asked what house Lily was in; JKR said it was "obviously" Gryffidor (search the Lexiton for confirmation). If she thinks it was so obvious for Lily to be in Gryffindor, then it becomes even more likely that the Marauders were in Gryffindor. | Home | Owl me |
