Purity of Blood

February 16, 2018

" Discourse on the Purity of Blood and Harry Potter"

"You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognise that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!" —Albus Dumbledore's stance on blood status

Blood status, also called purity of blood is a concept in the wizarding world that distinguishes between family trees that have different levels of magically-endowed members. It often results in prejudice towards those who have a large number of Muggles in their families. As Sirius Black informed Harry Potter, almost all wizards of their time have Muggles in their family trees, though some claim not to. The concept played a key role in both the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Families that claim to be pure, to whatever extent they ever really were, are dwindling in number. Harry Potter belongs to ‘Half-Blood’ whose father was wizard but her mother didn’t have magical power. Hermione Granger is ‘Muggle Blood’ who does not belong to magical family. Therefore she became the victim of ‘Class-Conflict’ in the novel. Ron and malfoy belong to pure blood.

# “Pure Blood”

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families." —Draco Malfoy's pure-blood prejudice

Pure-blood supremacy was the belief that wizards and witches whose family has not married any muggles or Muggle-borns are inherently superior to wizards and witches who have. Proponents of this ideology typically regard Muggle-born wizards as impure, unworthy of possessing magical ability, and often actively discriminate against them.

Pure-blood supremacists consider themselves to be the elite of the wizarding world, akin to royalty. They look down upon Muggles, Muggle-borns, half-bloods, half-breeds, and consider the Muggle world to be inferior to their own. Pure-bloods, and even half-bloods, who do not share this view are considered traitors to their own kind, hence the term "Blood traitor." They are considered disgraces by pure-blood supremacists such as the Malfoys. Elitist pure-bloods believe that it is a sign of weak magic to enjoy non-magical company.

# “Muggle Blood”

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born — non-magic parents. A child born with magic to two Muggle parents is considered a Muggle-born. In wizarding Britain, they are allowed to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Those with prejudice against Muggles and their families often refer to such wizards as "Mudbloods," a highly offensive term implying that the individual has dirty and inferior blood. Those who discriminate against Muggle-borns believe that they do not deserve magic and should be excluded from the wizarding world, in spite of the fact that Muggle-borns are just as magically talented as those of other blood statuses. Or even more talented as magician for example Hermione who is more capable than Ron and Malfoy.

# “Half – Blood”

"Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out." —Rubeus Hagrid regarding the wizarding population.

Harry Potter and his children are half-bloods, with known Muggle ancestry.Wizards with parents or grandparents split between Muggles and wizards are referred to as half-bloods. Due to the dominance of the magic gene, children born to at least one magical parent will usually be magical themselves. This means that a non-magical child born to a Muggle and a wizard is considered a Squib, not a Muggle. The term 'half-blood' is misleading in that it does not necessarily imply a half-and-half split in wizarding/Muggle ancestry, but rather a witch or wizard with muggle or muggle-born parents or grandparents.

Pure/half-blood parent & Muggle parent

Pure/half-blood parent & Muggle-born

Known Muggle ancestry

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Harry James Potter

Edward Ramus Lupin

Severus Snape

Nymphadora Tonks

James Sirius Potter

Dean Thomas

Albus Dumbledor

Albus Severus Potter

Seamus Finnigun

Lily Luna Potter

Works Cited

Blood status. 14 February 2018 <http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_status>.

Pure-blood supremacy. 14 February 2018 <http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Pure-blood_supremacy>.

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