Summary
While there is a lot of head-scratching magic to see throughout theHarry Potterseries, the first time the series may have you scratching your head is with the introduction of the Sorting Hat. Tasked with determining which Hogwarts house each student will be suited best to, the sentient Sorting Hat is a bit of a mystery to fans who’ve only watched the movies. Luckily, there’s actually a ton of information known about the Sorting Hat thanks to the various books, movies, and all the other extended media for theHarry Potterfranchise.
Thanks to all the magical artifacts in the series, it can be easy to wonder what would happen if one of the many magic items malfunctioned. It’s this very thing that is in question, as it is worth wondering whether or not the Sorting Hat can make the wrong decision. It’s not uncommon to hear about witches or wizards who are split fairly evenly between two houses, so it might just be possible for that wise floppy hat to make the wrong decision for the students of Hogwarts.
8
2001–2011
1,179 minutes
$1.2 billion
Total Series Box Office
$7.7 billion
The ancient and sentient hat wasn’t always a living magical object and instead was simply the hat ofHogwarts founder Godric Gryffindor. Originally, this hat was created in order to provide a way for Hogwarts to continue sorting students long after they were gone. The creation of the Sorting Hat took the combined might of four of the most powerful witches and wizards of all time, and this is why it is held in such high regard. The decisions that the hat makes are based on the same criteria that each of the founders would have taken into account when picking students for their houses.
The dirty old hate worked in a rather simplistic way, it simply needed to be placed on the head of an unsorted student in order tobegin using Legilimencyto determine which house they best belonged in. Through this magical sequence, the Sorting Hat could speak directly to students, seeing who they are as a person, but still being willing to take personal desire into account. Despite all the potential hiccups in the process, the Sorting Hat itself has never acknowledged ever making a mistake.
Legilimency may sound familiar to fans of the series because it is the technique used between Harry Potter and Severus Snape while trying to keep Voldemort frominvading Harry’s mind through learning Occlumency. Essentially, this kind of magic allows the user to see through the mind of the victim, meaning that if the wielder could correctly interpret bits of information, they could uncover dark secrets that only a select few knew about. While it is understood that mastering such magic is difficult, the Sorting Hat seems capable of utilizing it without first-year students even being capable of understanding what is happening.
Can The Sorting Hat Be Wrong?
While the Sorting Hat would like most people to believe that it never makes the wrong decision, it is at least true in theory that the Sorting Hat can easily be wrong all the time. Thanks to how dynamic people are, it’s possible for a Slytherin to be brave and altruistic, and it’s just as possible for a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw to be greedy. Plenty ofHarry Potterfans have gone as far as to point out a variety of characters who arguably should have been in different Hogwarts houses, with some of the standouts beingRavenclaw’s Gilderoy Lockhart, Gryffindor’s Peter Pettigrew, and some even argue against Hufflepuff’s Newt Scamander. It is easy to argue that each of these characters belongs in other houses, especially with their true natures being shown over the course of the many wizarding world movies.
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It should be noted that there is a layer of built-in protection for the Sorting Hat as while it did end up sorting Harry into Gryffindor, it makes note that he also would have been great in Slytherin. If something like this is common practice for the hat, it’s easy to say that it is covering its own potential mistakes. Additionally, the concept of hatstalls (in which the Sorting Hat fails to make a decision within a short time frame) further puts the Sorting Hat’s abilities into question.Iconic Hogwarts teacher Minerva McGonagallwas subject to a hatstall, with the Sorting Hat not knowing whether to put her in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, something that compounds with the previous point and suggests that the hat both can be mistaken and does actively try to cover up potential mistakes.
Even the Sorting Hat itself acknowledges its own struggles inHarry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone:
“Hmm, difficult. VERY difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh yes. And a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?”
An interesting way to look at the Sorting Hat is that it makes its decisions based on what the person in question values instead of who they are as a person. Neville Longbottom believes he belongs in Hufflepuff, and yet the hat decides that he will be a member of Gryffindor. While that decision did turn out to be correct, most people can agree that Neville’s personality suits Hufflepuff, and it was his drive to live up to his Hogwarts house, friends, and family that led him to embody the traits of a Gryffindor. Both Gilderoy Lockhart and Peter Pettigrew are great examples of this, with most people feeling they don’t belong anywhere near Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, with both clearly being labeled as Slytherins. Lockhart’s value of wisdom in order to gain notoriety andPettigrew’s looking up to his brave friendsare likely what landed them in their chosen houses. All in all, it seems that the Sorting Hat absolutely can be incorrect, it’s just never going to let the world know that fact.
Harry Potter
When Harry Potter learns that he is a wizard, he enters a world beyond belief. Aside from continuing his studies at Hogwarts with best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry must also face Voldemort and his dark wizarding forces. The Harry Potter franchise is a worldwide phenomenon, spanning seven books, eight movies, three spinoff movies, a stage play, and numerous video games.
