1.7 The Sorting Hat

The Real Weird Sisters (Alice and Martha) recap chapter seven of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Be aware that the show may contain spoilers for events which take place later in the series.

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RealWeirdAlice

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7 Comments
Jan

I always wondered if the sorting hat tried to even out the first years by houses, or did the true character of the kid outweighed a the need for balance. I mean there are only so many beds in each dormitory.

AmethystBeloved

I love that observation about how odd it was for McGonagal to be wearing green robes! Nice discussion about the extra ghosts. I thought that poltergeists can have contact with physical objects (like Peeves and the walking sticks). I remember that Hermione mentioned that the Sorting Hat talked about going to Ravenclaw.

I really love the Pottermore behind the scenes info. I never got into that site. Maybe one day I will.

I completely forgot the school song was a thing. I love Martha’s story about reciting it with a fellow super-fan.

Casey

Hi I know I’m a couple years late on this, but I’ve always assumed that Quirrell took over the DATDA post at some point in the last term, when the previous teacher had to leave for whatever reason, or perhaps the previous teacher was only temporary while Quirrell went traveling. All we know about the curse is that no one can be teacher for longer than a year, so it is possible that he took over less than year before he died in sorcerer’s stone.

Katherine

I saw a post on tumblr recently that I thought really pertained to this episode and sorting in general. The original poster theorizes that sorting is based more on how you perceive magic and how you think it should be used. For example, Gryffindors see magic as a weapon. They excell in using offensive and defensive spells for dueling. But they understand that this a responsibility and that magic must be used for good and to stand up for what is right. Hufflepuffs see magic as a gift and they want to share this gift. They hate the idea of “jealously guarding magic.” Hufflepuffs use their magic to protect and help those who need it. Slytherins see magic as a treasure that must be protected. They feel that they must protect this gift in the way they see fit. The poster states that “evil is not a natural Slytherin tendency, caution is.” And with Ravenclaw, they believe magic is an art form that should be studied and protected. I really enjoyed this analogy and it actually made me rethink my own sorting and house I have identified. Thought that you guys would find it interesting!

ShayShayRian

I’ve actually done some mass studying on Ghosts/ Polterghiests in my life so I may be able to shed some light on the subject.
Ghosts are usually described as a person who has passed away that haunts a specific place. They can sometimes be seen and change the temperature of a room (Little things like that).
A Polterghiest is represented more as a mass of dangerous energy. They tend to haunt a PERSON rather than a place because it feeds off the emotional state of a person. They can break through the physical barrier that ghosts can’t. They can throw things and stuff like that.
Where a ghost siting is SCARY, a poltergheisr experience is described as DANGEROUS.

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