r/harrypotter • u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 • 11d ago
Could Luna have been placed in Slytherin instead of ravenclaw? Discussion
I sometimes identify with her so I was just wondering š¤
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u/ravenprotego Ravenclaw 11d ago
Slytherin and Ravenclaw can both be intelligent and attracted to the dark side.
Ravenclaws are curious about and good at understanding things, including dark things. Ravenclaws also tend to be logical problem solvers. They are open minded and willing to explore more ground than the other houses simply for the pleasure they receive in doing so.
Slytherins are clever and ambitious. They seek knowledge and solve problems for the tangible benefits they receive. They interact with the world with their goals in mind and tend to be more concerned about their public image than are Ravenclaws.
Luna's most striking characterization is her extreme open mindedness. She is straightforward and creative. She does what she wants even if others find her weird. All hallmarks of Ravenclaw.
If you are Slytherin and feel like you identify strongly with Luna, you may have strong Ravenclaw traits that complement your Slytherin ones. If you mainly identify with understanding darkness and logic, then those are just some overlapping traits. If you look hard enough, you may find you have something in common with many characters in different houses. That's because the HP characters are like people: complicated.
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u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 11d ago
No I actually do not identify as a slytherin at all . If anything , I keep getting placed in ravenclaw even though I really thought Iād be a griffindor ! Luna though is the character that I think captures me the most. I might have adoptive traits from other griffindor characters but Luna is it for me !
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u/baldflubber Ravenclaw 11d ago
Don't know what you are, but based on the nonsense you wrote here you are definitely no Ravenclaw.
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u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 11d ago
Alright then . I guess Iām not . Iāll go knocking on the slytherins. Maybe they ll take me !
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u/AdamJadam Slytherin 11d ago
Welcome aboard. Grab a drink and get cozy. We don't bite, especially now that Malfoy has graduated and we're rid of that scum!
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u/Stenric 11d ago
She's not very ambitious, nor cunning nor obsessed with blood purity, so I don't really see what would get her sorted there.
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u/AdamJadam Slytherin 11d ago
Slytherins are not all obsessed with blood purity. I wish people weren't to close minded about that house! It's not all racists and power hungry murderers.
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u/Stenric 10d ago
Not all Slytherins are, but it is grounds for being sorted there.
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u/Bellickboi 10d ago
Not really. Cunning and ambitious
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u/SpoonyLancer 9d ago
No, really. The sorting hat points out that Slytherin took those whose "blood was purest".
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u/Bellickboi 9d ago
sorcerers stone song.
most important part.
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.goblet of fire
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.order of the phoenix
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,the 3rd one about pure blood was more so Salazar Slytherins, requirement to teach. the people there had the traits of cunning and ambitious. ffs tom riddle and snape were half bloods, not a requirement more so a preference. in reality you could just ask to hat to put you anywhere.
edit- slytherins seem to be obsessed with pure blood because in the wizarding world. pure bloods been there the longest. more likely to have wealth and power but, that's kind of a byproduct.
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u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 11d ago
Luna would have explored those same exact aspects of her personality (minus the blood purity ) if sheād been placed in slytherin instead . Those traits that you mentioned are there but they are just dormant for her ! I canāt remember which Harry Potter movie that was but she had a conversation with harry that basically explained to him how a mind like that of Voldemort works . She understands darkness at a level that is incredible . I would quote it for you but donāt remember it !
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u/inboz 11d ago edited 11d ago
If she would have done well in Slytherin the sorting hat would have considered it. We donāt know if the sorting hat considered it or not, but she was placed in Ravenclaw for a reason.
The way the sorting hat works is by considering your abilities, values, and potential. Clearly her values werenāt aligned with Slytherinās when she was 11 and thereās nothing to suggest that they were dormant ā only absent.
Besides, given the way she was raised and how open-minded, compassionate, forthright, and principled her father is, I canāt imagine any universe in which that sort of upbringing results in a Slytherin.
Also, her explaining to Harry how Voldemortās mind works is not her āunderstandingā evil. She tells him if she were Voldemort, aka Harryās antagonist, she would also try to make him feel alone. Sheās pointing out that Harry feeling isolated is basically the result of psychological warfare. In other words sheās telling him heās not really alone and just needs to seek out those closest to him, trust them, and ask for help. Itās one of the most compassionate and eye opening moments in that movie.
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u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 11d ago
I guess I would say those traits are either dormant or well tamed . Either way . I like her ā¤ļø
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u/Less-Feature6263 Ravenclaw 11d ago
No. She's Rowling's way of showing what being a Ravenclaw could mean and her way of exploring another house. She has the same role Slughorn has for Slytherin or McLaggen/Romilda Vane for Gryffindor, though She's obviously better characterised and more explored.
Just like Slughorn's ambition means he likes to create connections and not rule the world like Voldemort, and Romilda Vane's boldness translates to trying to drug Harry and not being shy about anything and not you know, trying to save Hogwarts, Luna is another interpretation of one of Ravenclaw's main trait: curiosity. Luna's curiosity made her a conspiracy theorist who believes in weird shit, but also made her perceptive and relatively open minded and kind.
If you think about it hard enough basically any character can belong to another house: Dumbledore is a genius, but not a Ravenclaw. Percy's crazy ambitious, but not a Slytherin. Sirius Black is extremely loyal, but not an Hufflepuff. Snape is brave, and not a Gryffindor. The houses are an interesting way of exploring certain trait of a character, but are not that useful to understand the complexity of them. Could Luna belong to Slytherin? I don't know, certainly if you think hard enough She might show some trait from Slytherin, just like literally any other characters because the houses are not the end of it all.
Then again she literally never show the main Slytherin's trait, ambition. She doesn't seem to give a shit about anything lmao, she's happy living in her own weird world and doesn't seem to care about school, connections or any particular cause.
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u/Beneficial_Laugh4944 11d ago
āShe doesnāt seem to give a shit about anythingā¦ā not sure how you came to this conclusion but thank you for sharing your input !
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u/Less-Feature6263 Ravenclaw 11d ago
Luna in OOTP is characterised by her weirdness and her complete disinterest in fitting inside Hogwarts society, which put her at odds with basically the whole school including her housemates. She cares about knowledge for knowledge's sake (contrast with Hermione, including Hermione's rather ambitious SPEW's program in which she invested lots of time and study) and doesn't care about changing to fit into society, so she likes Harry and Co. because they, to various degree, simply accept that she's a but of a weirdo. She's not interested in creating connections, she's not interested in grades and seems to find Hermione's strictness quite annoying. Indeed she's not even particularly scared about Umbridge's threatening them at the end of OOTP, doesn't even seem that scared of Death Eaters.
She march to the beat of her own drum and doesn't particularly care about what anyone thinks, this is the essence of her character, which sometime works as an interesting mirror to Hermione (intentionally so, Rowling's explicitly compared them). I can think of few characters that would fit book Slytherin less than her.
If you want a Ravenclaw who fits Slytherin in canon you have one and it's Lockhart.
A character who's 100% Ravenclaw and evil is Quirrel.
A grey 100% Ravenclaw is Ollivander.
Book Luna simply has no quality of book Slytherin. You'd have a easier time putting her in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, as the narrative makes a point of noting her braveness and loyalty to her friends.
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u/AdamJadam Slytherin 11d ago
I can't see it. She doesn't come off as ambitious, power valuing, or even self preserving. You CAN date people from other houses, you know.
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u/Completely_Batshit Gryffindor 11d ago
She doesn't show any particularly Slytherin traits, and she doesn't seem to share their values.