Harry Potter houses should all be viewed as equal

The Harry Potter book series took the world by storm, and even ten years after the release of the final book and six years after the release of the final movie, fans continue to talk about the series. The Harry Potter books were able to cause words such as muggle, Quidditch, Hogwarts and Diagon Ally to become commonly used words. Another popular trend that came from the Harry Potter series was sorting people into the Hogwarts houses. Gryffindor, the brave house, Slytherin, the cunning house, Ravenclaw, the smart house, and Hufflepuff, which never really receives a label.

However, these houses are not all treated equally. It makes sense that Gryffindor would be the most popular of the houses because all of the main characters are sorted into this house. Aside from Gryffindor being the most popular due to its importance throughout the book, it is fairly easily to see how people can be put into all the houses besides Hufflepuff at first glance. If someone is brave, they go to Gryffindor, if someone is ambitious they go to Slytherin, if someone is smart they go to Ravenclaw, and everyone else belongs in Hufflepuff.

This assignment of who belongs in which house makes Hufflepuff seem like the reject house, and that is anything but the case. The people which belong in the house of Hufflepuff are supposed to be kind, loyal, and hardworking. These seem almost secondary traits to the ones portrayed by the other four houses. It almost seems as if Hufflepuff gets all of the people who are not brave, cunning, or smart.

Again, this is not the case. The people who are sorted into Hufflepuff can still be brave, cunning, and smart. Someone who values kindness, loyalty, and hard work over braveness, cunningness, and intelligence is more likely to be considered a Hufflepuff, even if they possess those other traits. Hufflepuffs are people who care more about how a person treats others, and their work ethic than any other trait someone could have.

When it comes down to it, the characters in Harry Potter are not sorted by what traits they possess, so much as what traits they value. Many of the characters that are in Gryffindor, are not in Gryffindor because they are brave, but are in Gryffindor because they value braveness. Neville Longbottom, one example of a character in Gryffindor, shows bravery, but not enough of it that he could be considered a typical Gryffindor character. However, the trait he values the most is bravery, which is why he is placed in Gryffindor instead of one of the other houses.

Therefore, the people who are in Hufflepuff are not rejects who don’t belong in any other house. Nymphadora Tonks, one of the most famous Hufflepuffs, is also one of the bravest characters in the series. She fights against the villain, rescues Harry from his house, and gives birth to her son and then fights in the biggest battle in the entire series. However, she is placed in Hufflepuff because of her willingness to accept others, and her value of hard work and acceptance. Many other characters fit into this characterization also, where someone is brave, cunning, or intelligent, yet values hard work, fairness, and open-mindedness more than any other trait.

When it comes down to it, Hufflepuff is not the reject house, and the people in Hufflepuff may possess the traits of the other Harry Potter houses but value hard, acceptance, and kindness over other traits. Hufflepuff is just as good of a house as the other houses and it should not be considered lesser.