# Harry Potter- word "Riddle"- UNBOXED SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2005, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728 "2005-07-09T06:38:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/21 "2005-07-10T14:32:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe someone who loves Tom Riddle rather than Voldemort? Dumbledore? And no, \*please \* don’t bring up any DD/VM Slashfic. Also, Draco is a jerk, but I’m not sure he’s evil. I do have a hard time see him killing people, though he migh be headed that way. ---
**Author:** ![andee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@andee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/22 "2005-07-10T14:38:51Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > I firmly stand by the belief that no all Slytherins are evil. Rowling only gives us glimpses of certain students (Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson et al), and just sort of lumps the rest of the house together in a generic group. How do we know that there aren’t some really great Slytherins out there? I believe this too because Slytherins are described as being ambitious, not evil. Ambition and evil are not the same thing although some of them may be mistaken as being evil because they will use all means necessary to get what they want. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/23 "2005-07-10T16:28:01Z")
If you read, there was a none-too-subtle change in the description of Slytherin house. At first, Rowling obviously meant for them to be not only ambitious, but downright callous. But you can tell (just go read the sorting hat song each year) that they’re being described as less and less evil. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/24 "2005-07-10T17:23:32Z")
> [@andee](#): > > I believe this too because Slytherins are described as being ambitious, not evil. Ambition and evil are not the same thing although some of them may be mistaken as being evil because they will use all means necessary to get what they want. Well, to be fair, it’s not like when the wizards were setting up the school, they’d say, “OK, then in house #4, we’ll still all of the right evil bastards.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/25 "2005-07-10T17:24:35Z")
Stick, not still. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/26 "2005-07-10T17:41:58Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > How do we know that there aren’t some really great Slytherins out there? IIRC, someone in the books said that there wasn’t a witch or wizard from Slytherin that didn’t go bad. Then again I think Ron said it and he’s not exactly the brightest guy so… ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/27 "2005-07-10T18:15:06Z")
It was Hagrid, but he didn’t quite say what you think he did. _“Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,” said Hagrid darkly. “There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.”_ ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/28 "2005-07-10T18:32:03Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > It was Hagrid, but he didn’t quite say what you think he did. > > _“Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,” said Hagrid darkly. “There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.”_ Ahhhhh yes. I think Ron said that in the movies at least, or maybe I’m just crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/29 "2005-07-10T18:44:20Z")
> [@stringy](#): > > If Harry didn’t die because his mother loved him, would it follow that Voldemort didn’t die from the rebounded curse because _someone_ out there loves him? I can’t even imagine who that would be though. Maybe someone who loves Tom Riddle rather than Voldemort? I don’t think this stands up. Lots of people have been killed, and most of them are loved by people. Cedric, for instance, is loved by his parents and that didn’t prevent his death. What Lily did was actually die _for_ Harry. She took a magical “bullet” for him, which is why Harry lived. That doesn’t apply to Voldemort. I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/30 "2005-07-10T21:36:30Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > If you read, there was a none-too-subtle change in the description of Slytherin house. At first, Rowling obviously meant for them to be not only ambitious, but downright callous. But you can tell (just go read the sorting hat song each year) that they’re being described as less and less evil. Although he isn’t technically alive, Phineas Nigellus (in Book 5) is probably the best example of a “good Slytherin.” He exhibits all the ambition and self-interest that characterize Slytherins, but is also quite clearly an intelligent man who, despite his claims to the contrary, cares deeply about his great-to-the-nth-power-grandson. And of course, there’s Severus Snape, who was undoubtedly a Slytherin himself while at school, and is now a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix. One of the things I’m most interested in reading about in Book 6 is how his relationship with Draco Malfoy changes now that Draco’s father has been unmasked as a Death Eater. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728/31 "2005-07-11T00:39:59Z")
Slytherins are sly, cynical, ruthless, pragmatic, scorn sentimentalism and self-pity, and in general are the exact oppposite of noble idealists. This doesn’t automatically make them _evil_ per se, but it’s a personality type that goes very bad when it does go bad. I think that part of the point of Snape is showing that there’s a place for that type of personality, and Dumbledore is wise enough to recognize this. Voldemort didn’t die because he is obsessed with defeating death and had done every dark thing that can make someone unkillable or indestructable that he could; he said as much in the first book. I lean toward the theory that Harry is somehow something like an “alternate universe” version of Voldemort. The whole thing about the prophecy that the two of them couldn’t co-exist indefinitely seems to support this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-word-riddle-unboxed-spoilers/311728.md?page=1)