Blood purity (Harry Potter)
Blood purity is a concept in the fictional HarryPotter book series. It is a form of classprejudice and also has analogies to racism
Description
Wizards throughout the Harry Potter world live ingovernment-enforced segregation from the Muggle(non-magical) society, a separation supported by most, though notall, wizards. The wizarding population commonly regards Muggles asdisadvantaged due to their lack of ability to perform magic. Whentaken to extremes, this becomes the belief that Muggles areinferior and that marriage between wizards and Muggles taints themagical race.
Importance in series
J. K. Rowling has been questioned on theimportance of blood purity in the Harry Potter books. In aninterview in 2000, she said: From the beginning ofPhilosopher's Stone, prejudice is a very strong theme. It isplausible that Harry enters the world wide-eyed: everything will bewonderful and it's the sort of place where injustices don't happen.Then he finds out that it does happen and it's a shock to him. Hefinds out that he is a half-blood: to a wizard like Lucius Malfoy,he will never be a true wizard, because his mother was of muggleparentage. It's a very important theme.
Segregation in the Wizarding World
The general public considers the notion of such strictsegregation obsolete and false, but some who would benefit the mostfrom it strongly disagree. There is some evidence that the idea ofblood purity has enjoyed greater support in the past and is indecline as Muggle ancestry becomes more and more common. Indeedmagical ancestry and ability are unrelated in reality as some ofthe most powerful characters in the series are Muggle-borns.RonWeasley, Harry's best friend, is a pure-blood; this means hecomes from a long line of witches and wizards. Pure-bloods areknown to some wizards as the best. Ron's family, however, are bloodtraitors, this means they associate with Muggles and half-bloods;they are indeed quite interested in Muggles. Hermione Granger is another of Harry'sfriends. She is Muggle-born, a witch who was born into a Mugglefamily yet is one of the most "clever" witches in Hogwarts. Somewizards do not like Muggle-borns as they think they are of lowerquality to pure bloods.
Categories by Blood
The wizarding world is divisible into three mainclasses by purity: pure-blood, half-blood, and Muggle-born.
Pure-blood
Pure-blood wizards have no Muggles whatsoever in their genealogicalpedigree, or at least have assured themselves that this is the caseover the generations. In response to fan questions, J. K.Rowling has said that to be considered pure-blood, one'sgrandparents must have all been wizards. She also mentioned thatsome of the more severe schools of thought may require several moregenerations of wizards to be considered pure-blood. She has alsosaid that true pure-blood wizards do not exist, and that theymerely delete the Squibs andMugglesfrom the family trees.
Notable pure-blood families mentioned in the books include theBlack family, the Malfoyfamily, the Crouch family and the Weasley family. The few remaining families areall interconnected. Over the course of the series, some prominentfamilies have died out, thus limiting the pure-blood gene pool evenfurther. The Crouch, Gaunt, and Black lines have become extinctduring the course of the series, and there are very few known linesleft.
Some of the strongest proponents of blood purity aresurprisingly not pure-blood themselves. (A notable example isLord Voldemort, a half blood whose mother was a pure-blood witch of the Gauntfamily and whose father was a Muggle of a squire'sfamily.)
By no means is pure-blood status a guarantee of a person'sattitude. Attitudes do tend to run in families as children arebrought up to support their parents' views, but even families thatconsider Muggle marriage disgraceful and immoral have theirblack sheep.
It is strongly implied in Order of thePhoenix that pure-blood families inbred with each other,somewhat like old European Nobility. This is similar to the 19thcentury Volk Project in Germany, whereGermans began reproducing with each other to weed out any inferiorblood.
Blood traitor
A blood traitor is a derogatory term for a pure-blood whofails to maintain the proper prejudices. This label has beenapplied to the Weasley family, SiriusBlack and Andromeda Black.
Half-blood
Half-bloods are wizards that are not Muggle-born, but whoseheritage includes one or more Muggle ancestor(s). That is, if aperson has 25% or greater Muggle heritage, then they aredisqualified from being a pure-blood, a reference to the Nazi point of viewabout Jews. Today, half-bloods are the most common kind of wizard;magical folk would have dwindled to extinctionwithout marrying Muggles. Blood purity fanatics regard half-bloodsas an inferior kind of wizard, though they think of them assuperior to Muggle-born wizards. Many of the most importantcharacters in the books, including HarryPotter himself, Lord Voldemort, and SeverusSnape, are half-bloods.
Muggle-born
Muggle-borns are the occasional witches and wizards born toMuggle parents. The source of their magical ability is unknown,likely due to the intentional obscurity of magic's technicaldetails. Their magical abilities do not seem to be significantlyaffected by their parentage, in fact, many have been among the mostpowerful witches and wizards of their time. Blood purity fanaticsdespise them above all other groups, even Muggles themselves, asthey see them as insults to everything wizards stand for.Pure-blood fanatics use the foul term "Mudblood" to refer toMuggle-born wizards. It means dirty blood, that having Muggleheritage is something disgusting. The term is comparable to theword "Nigger" used towards people of African descentin America. To the pure-blood fanatic, plain Muggles are worthless.At the height of Voldemort's power, he and his followers, theDeath Eaters, did most of their Muggle killingfor fun. In Harry Potter and the Gobletof Fire, the Death Eaters captured a campground manager,his wife and two children and levitated them high in the air fortheir own sick amusement. Notable Muggle-born characters includeHermione Granger and Harry's mother,LilyPotter.
Between Both Worlds
Some characters are stuck between both the magical and themuggle worlds. These are people who have knowledge of but verylittle or no ability in magic.
Squibs
A Squib is a person of wizarding heritage that lacks or has verylittle magical ability; as RonWeasley explains, they are, in essence, the opposite ofMuggle-born wizards. A Squib is a very rare anomaly; the only knownSquibs so far introduced in the series are the Hogwartscaretaker, Argus Filch, and ArabellaFigg, a neighbour of the Dursleys. Squibs share much in commonwith Muggles; unlike Muggles, however, they notice and comprehendthe wizard world. Things that are hidden from Muggles with spells(rather than by the very nature of the hidden thing), however, seemto be visible to Squibs, as evidenced by ArgusFilch being able to work at Hogwarts, which appears asdangerous old ruins to Muggles. This allows them the choice toinhabit the wizarding world or the Muggle world. Many live anunfortunate life, however, as they are never truly able to findacceptance in the world that reared them but cannot findcontentment in the world they are more suited to inhabit. Some(like Arabella Figg) prefer to function on the border of themagical and non-magical worlds. The Ministry of Magic does not keeprecords of Squib births.
"Squib" may be derived from "damp squib", ie, a wet firework or,more generally, something with a lot of potential and highexpectations that never takes off.
Muggles who know about magic
Another group that lives on the border between the magic andnon-magic worlds are Muggles who are aware of wizards and may takesome advantage of magic cast by others in their lives. Theseinclude Muggles who marry wizards (like Seamus Finnigan’sfather) and Muggles with a relative who is a wizard (like Hermione’s parents and the Dursley family). Another notable Muggle who isnotified of the existence of the wizarding world because of his leadershiprole is the British PrimeMinister.
Pure-Blooded Families
The Black family
Status: Extinct
Most of the members of the Black family were highly devoted tothe Dark Arts. The Black family home is 12 Grimmauld Place, which contains manyartifacts of dubious origin; there is also a familytree, now highly incomplete. The reason for the incompletenessis that whenever the family produced anyone the elders disapprovedof, the rejected one was disowned and burned off the tapestry. Thisis what happened to Sirius Black, and to Andromeda Black, who married Muggle-bornTedTonks. The Family Tree was made on a tapestry, which WalburgaBlack (Sirius Black's mother) put a permanent sticking charm on.Sirius Black's mother died circa 1985. She was either very old(especially when you consider that her children were so muchyounger) or unnaturally aged. Mrs. Black believed in purity ofwizardblood and on that basis favoured her younger son, Regulus, who shared that philosophy and evenbecame a Death Eater. Mrs. Black survives only as ahorrible, magical life-sized portrait hangingin the entrance hall on the ground floor of Grimmauld Place. Theportrait, hung behind mouldy curtains, shows a screaming,unpleasant-looking old woman in a black cap, drooling, eyesrolling, yellowing skin. She screeches terrible epithets at anyonewho disturbs her. Kreacher, a house-elf devoted to the Black family,worshipped her. It should be noted that Mrs. Black was a Black bybirth, suggesting inbreeding within the Black clan.
Other Blacks include:
- Sirius' Aunt Elladora, who started the family tradition ofbeheading house-elves when they were too old to carry teatrays,
- Araminta Melliflua, who tried to force through a Ministry billthat would make Muggle-hunting legal
- Uncle Alphard, who was also blasted off the family tree forleaving his wealth to Sirius.
- Phineas Nigellus, the least popularheadmaster in Hogwarts history, who has a portrait in theHeadmaster's office as well as at 12 Grimmauld Place.
Although there are several living family members, includingBellatrix Lestrange (née Black) (escapedsupporter of Lord Voldemort and Sirius' cousin andmurderer), Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) (mother ofDraco and wife of Lucius and sister of Bellatrix), and half-bloodNymphadora Tonks (Auror and member ofthe Order of the Phoenix), all are female ora female-line distaff Black descendant and, as such, none of thembear the name of Black. Sirius's brother RegulusBlack is dead, very likely murdered on Voldemort's orders whenhe got cold feet, his death confirmed by Rowling herself . The last known surviving bearer of thefamily name, Sirius Black, was murdered by his cousin Bellatrix, inHarry Potter andthe Order of the Phoenix, and thus the Black family linehas ended.
The Malfoy family
Status: Extant
According to Hagrid, there is not one decent member of theMalfoy family. The Malfoys identified in the series so far areLucius Malfoy, his wife Narcissa (by birth a Black), their son Draco,and Lucius' father Abraxas [HBP].
Draco Malfoy is in the same year at Hogwarts asHarry Potter but is in Slytherin House. In Goblet of Fire, it isrevealed that Draco's father wished to send him instead to Durmstrang, but relented when Draco's motherobjected.
Lucius Malfoy is known to be a DeathEater. In Half-BloodPrince, Harry suspects that Draco has been branded with theDark Mark and thus would be a DeathEater like his father. This is presumed to have been confirmedby the events surround Dumbledore's death at the end of Half-BloodPrince.
Other information about the Malfoys:
- Abraxas Malfoy died of dragon pox
- Dobby istheir former house-elf, having been freed by Harry Potter at theend of Chamber ofSecrets
- In the movies, Draco is played by Tom Feltonand Lucius is played by Jason Isaacs
About their names:
- "Draco" is Latin for dragon
- "Lucius" is a name of Latin origin meaning 'light' very closeto "Lucifer", the Devil (in Latin, 'the bright one' 'theone that shines')
- "Narcissa" is the feminine form of Narcissus, a character in Greek mythology who starved to death afterfalling in love with his own reflection (Narcissa Malfoy is said tobe quite beautiful)
- "Abraxas" is the name of a demon in the occult, oftenequated with the Devil
- "Malfoy", in Old French, means "bad faith" ("mal" generallymeans "bad" in Latin; c.f. "malice" or "malevolant"); it is therefore a veryappropriate name for people who pretend to be righteous but aresecretly in the service of Voldemort
The Weasley family
Status: Extant
The Weasleys are a pure-blood family, but are considered by someothers to be blood traitors as they do not demonstrate "properrespect" and pride in their purity. They fraternize happily andopenly with wizards of diverse heritages as well as Muggles.Arthur Weasley is fascinated by Muggles andenjoys opportunities to speak with Hermione Granger's parents. Ron andGinny have developed strong friendships withhalf-blood and Muggle-born students such as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.Some of the Weasley children are romantically involved with personsnot of pure wizard blood: Ginny with Harry (whose motherwas Muggle-born) and Bill with FleurDelacour (whose grandmother was a Veela, and who is therefore not fullyhuman).
They were also one of the poorest wizarding families in theseries, though this has changed since ArthurWeasley got a promotion and all of their children except Ronand Ginny (who are still in school) have well-paying jobs and areable to support themselves financially. For many generations theWeasleys were all males (except the women who married into thefamily). Ginny Weasley is the first girl to be born intothe Weasley clan in many generations. The only other known girl tobe born into the family is a far distant cousin named Mafalda.(Though Mafalda's character is quite developed, she never made itinto the books. Her canonicity is questionable.)
- See Weasley family for more information.
The Longbottom family
Status: Extant
The Longbottom family includes Neville Longbottom and his parentsFrank and AliceLongbottom who are both mentally incapacitated from beingtortured by Death Eaters.
Due to his parents' condition, Neville was raised by hisgrandmother, whose full name is revealed to be AugustaLongbottom in Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince. Mrs. Longbottom is a forceful, strong womanwho wears green robes, a fox-fur scarf, a distinctive hat toppedwith a stuffed vulture, and carries a large red handbag. Nevilleloves her, but he is a bit scared of her as well. She is FrankLongbottom's mother and she treats both Neville and his parentsvery unsentimentally, yet is fiercely proud of her son anddaughter-in-law's sacrifice. When Neville's mother Alice gives hima bubblegum wrapper, Gran dismisses it and tells Neville to throwit away. Neville pockets it, however.
Other possible Longbottom family members are known only throughmention. These are:
- Neville's grandfather, who is deceased. Neville saw him die,though a cause of death has never been given and nothing else abouthim has been revealed. This grandfather is the reason he can seethe thestrals.
- Neville's Uncle Algie, who is mentioned many times and givesNeville his toad and Mimbulus mimbletonia. However, as ofHalf-Blood Prince, he has not appeared in person.
- Neville's Aunt Enid, married to Uncle Algie.
- One Harfang Longbottom is known to have married into theblood-purity-conscious House of Black. He married Callidora Black(a granddaughter of Phineas Nigellus Black) and fathered ason and a daughter. It is unknown if this son and daughter bear anyclose relation to the other Longbottoms mentioned in theseries.
The Crouch family
Status: Extinct
The Crouch family figures prominently in the plot of Harry Potter and the Gobletof Fire. They are a perfect example of a once great andrespectful family of wizards completely destroyed because ofVoldemort. Bartemius Crouch was the head ofthe family, a powerful figure in the Minisrty of Magic. His son wasnamed after him. Winky the house-elfserved the family until she was sacked. When Barty Crouch Jr. was kissed by a Dementor, the Crouch bloodlineended forever.
Barty Crouch's unnamed wife was a short, wispy witch who had theterrible and sad experience of watching her husband renounce theirson and condemn him to Azkaban for his acts as a Death Eater. She wasill and dying at the time and she convinced her husband to allowher to trade places with her son in the wizard prison. Barty Jr.'smother and Barty Jr. himself drank Polyjuice Potion to take eachother's appearance. She died shortly thereafter in Azkaban and wasburied by the dementors outside the walls under her son'sappearance and name.
Barty Crouch Jr. murdered his father on Voldemort's orders, inpart of the complex plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet ofFire.
One Caspar Crouch is known to have married into the Houseof Black (whose members prided themselves on preserving their"blood purity"). He married Charis Black (a granddaughter ofPhineas Nigellus Black), which union produced a son and twodaughters.
The Gaunt Family
Status: Extinct
The last descendants of Salazar Slytherin, theirobsession with blood purity has caused them to often marry theirown cousins through the generations, resulting in cases ofretardation. The last members of the Gaunt clan were Marvolo and his children Morfin and Merope, Marvolo's wife was presumably afirst cousin, or at least the last of her own line of thefamily.
Merope Gaunt is the witch who died shortly after giving birth toTom Marvolo Riddle, who later changed his nameto Lord Voldemort. She could not have been more than twenty yearsold when she died.
Marvolo died of old age and Morfin was sentenced to lifeimprisonment in Azkaban after being framed by Voldemort for themurder of Voldemort's father and paternal grandparents. MorfinGaunt is buried in a grim graveyard beside the prison, where otherinmates who died within the fortress are buried. As Voldemort is afemale-line descendant of this family, Slytherin's line stillexists through him; however, he does not carry the Gaunt name,which ended with his uncle Morfin's death, and he is a half-bloodbecause his father was a Muggle. However, Voldemort has rejectedthe name Riddle and is known today among the majority of thewizarding world simply as Lord Voldemort - although that name isnever mentioned. It is also known that he is the last survivingdescendant of Slytherin and that he is proud of his magicalheritage. As Voldemort is presently immortal, the Slytherin linemay survive through him forever. If, however, Voldemort is killedthrough the destruction of his Horcruxes, thefamily will vanish forever. It is highly unlikely that Voldemortwill sire offspring.
- See The House of Gaunt for moreinformation.
The Lestrange family
Status: Extant
The Lestrange family consists of Rudolfus, his wife Bellatrix (nee Black) and his brotherRabastan. There is no mention in the HarryPotter series regarding Rodolphus and Bellatrix having anychildren, either schooling at Hogwarts, or elsewhere.
Along with Barty Crouch Jr., the Lestrangestortured Neville Longbottom's parents. They weretried, convicted, and imprisoned at Azkaban for thiscrime until they escaped, along with the other DeathEaters imprisoned there.
Other known pure-blood families
Statuses: Varying
At least four other possibly surviving pure-blood families canbe inferred from the full release of the Black family tree as the Black familyremoved all family members from its tree that marriednon-pure-bloods. These families include the Bulstrode and Flintfamilies, currently represented by known living characters(Hogwarts students Millicent Bulstrode and MarcusFlint). They also include the Burke family of Borgin and Burke's, which may be extant,though this is unknown. The final pure-blood family confirmed bythe Black family tree is the Potter family, to which Harry Potterbelongs, but, as he is the only surviving member of the family andis half-blood, his family as a pure-blood line may be consideredextinct.
Notable Individuals
Notable Pure-Bloods
Along with the members of notable pure-blood families, thefollowing individuals are also known to be pure-blood (or arenotable enough in their own right to be listed separatelyhere):
- Sirius Black
- Neville Longbottom
- Ernie Macmillan
- James Potter
- Horace Slughorn
- Ron Weasley
- Ginny Weasley
- Draco Malfoy
- Marvolo Gaunt
Notable Half-Bloods and Half-Breeds
- Half-Bloods
- Harry Potter : James Potter waspure-blood, Lily Evans Muggle-born.
- Lord Voldemort (Tom Riddle): Father, TomRiddle Sr., was a Muggle; mother, Merope Gaunt, pure-blood.
- Severus Snape : Mother was a pure-blood witch,Eileen Prince; father was Tobias Snape, a Muggle.
- Remus Lupin : A half-blood per J. K. Rowling'sinterview (World Book Day Chat).
- Nymphadora Tonks : Father, Ted Tonks, wasMuggle-born; mother, Andromeda Black, pure-blood.
- Seamus Finnigan :Muggle father, pure-blood mother.
- Dean Thomas : Mugglemother, father a pure-blood wizard killed by the DeathEaters.
- Half-Breeds
- Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour: Quarter-veela through agrandmother, part-witch
- Rubeus Hagrid : Hagrid's father was a wizard,while his mother was a giantess.
- Olympe Maxime : Part-giant, Part-witch
- Filius Flitwick : Part-goblin, Part-wizard(goblin ancestry is minimal)
Notable Muggle-borns
- Hermione Granger
- Lily Potter
- Penelope Clearwater
- Colin Creevey
- Dennis Creevey
- Dirk Cresswell
- Justin Finch-Fletchley
- TedTonks
Notable Squibs
- Argus Filch
- Mrs Arabella Figg
Intolerance
Voldemort (secretly a half-blood, but a mugglehater) formed a group named the DeathEaters, many of whom were pure-blood wizards who believed thatany half-blood was inherently inferior to them. The Death Eaters'ideology is very similar to Nazism. They committed a number of atrocities inthe name of blood purity. In the Harry Potter films, the DeathEaters are shown with pointed hats resembling the hoods of theKuKlux Klan. The similarities between the Death Eaters' and theKlan's respective racisms make this a fitting comparison.
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