| “ | You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve and chivalry, Set Gryffindors apart. | „ |
| ~ Sorting Hat, Determining students who exhibit qualities fit for Gryffindor. |
Gryffindor is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter series that consists of many of the main Hogwarts students and supporting characters of the franchise, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as daring, brave and chivalrous. Given that most of the the franchise's heroes came from Gryffindor, they are the technical main protagonists of the series.
Description[]
Its emblematic animal is the lion, its colors are red and gold. The house ghost is Nearly-Headless Nick. Founded by Godric Gryffindor, the house is composed mostly of half-blood and Muggle-born students, due to its founder's respect for witches and wizards of all statuses.
It was headed during Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts by Minerva McGonagall, who was also the Transfiguration teacher. Gryffindor house has a much positive reputation, with many claiming that it is the source of most noble wizards in Britain, notably Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter himself.
Gryffindor has a traditional rivalry with Slytherin, the antagonistic house that values ambition and cunning intellect. The rivalry itself stemmed from disagreement between two of Hogwarts' founders, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin who represents their respective house. The latter firmly believed only pure-blood members of their kind that may enroll at Hogwarts, finding Muggle-borns untrustworthy. His belief was fiercely opposed by Gryffindor who, by contrast, most tolerant and accepting of Muggle-borns. The contrasting ideology between them ultimately culminated to Salazar's fallout with the rest of his fellow Hogwarts founders also that in turn, led to his subsequent departure but not before leaving behind Chamber of Secrets containing a basilisk serving as the keepsake weapon for his true heir to purge the school of Muggle-borns and all who opposed blood purity. This didn't help by the fact Gryffindor and Slytherin's fierce rivalry being akin to the battle between good and evil.
Despite being one of the series' prominent protagonist factions, it must be noted that Gryffindor has its own share of flaws as much as other Houses. Among them being notable instances of favoritism (ex. Harry Potter being permitted by Professor McGonagall to have his own broomstick for the Gryffindor Quidditch team despite in his first year at the time thus didn't condone the rule where first years are not normally permitted their own broomsticks because of danger) and some of its members' tendency to become overzealous, reckless glory-hounds. Not only that, a handful of its members such as Wormtail and Rakepick went bad because of either failed to follow or utterly betrayed the house's values for their selfish and malicious goals just as some Slytherins, such as Severus Snape, Horace Slughorn and Regulus Black, wisely either chose not to believe in or forsook blood purity. Despite this, the determination to do the right thing as displayed by its members was what ultimately won other Houses over and cemented Gryffindor's status as Hogwarts' stalwart defenders.
Gryffindor corresponds roughly with the element of fire.
Majorities of Gryffindors are Muggle-Born Students such as Hermione Granger and Harry's mother Lily Potter, half-bloods such as. Harry Potter, and pure-blood Ron Weasley, his sister (and Harry's soulmate) Ginny Weasley and brothers, as well as Neville Longbottom.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
| “ | Said Gryffindor, We'll teach all those, With brave deeds to their name. | „ |
| ~ Sorting Hat explaining Godric's opinons on how the sorting would go. |
| “ | By Gryffindor, The bravest were prized far beyond the rest. | „ |
| ~ Sorting Hat about Gryffindor values. |
| “ | While the bravest and the boldest, Went to daring Gryffindor. | „ |
| ~ Sorting Hat about Gryffindor House. |
| “ | The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. | „ |
| ~ McGonagall about Gryffindor's reputation. |
Trivia[]
- Gryffindor's common room entrance changed locations once throughout the film series. In the first film, the students go down a long hallway to reach the entrance portrait. In the third film, the portrait is located very close to the Grand Staircase. It can only be assumed that this is its location for the rest of the series as the outside of the entrance is not clearly seen again for the rest of the film series. However, in the sixth movie, the outside of the common room is briefly seen when Harry leaves to go to see Hagrid, during which several paintings are seen outside, implying that the Fat Lady's portrait of Gryffindor is still located in the Grand Staircase.
- While it was confirmed that Hufflepuff has produced the fewest Dark wizards out of all the four Houses, not many Gryffindors are canonically known to be dark wizards, and it has never been stated by Rowling whether the House produced a vast amount of them or not. Two known instances of Gryffindor members who went against their Hogwarts House's values and became dark wizards are Wormtail, who proved too incapable of embracing his House's ideals, and Rakepick who chose to abandon it all for her own ends.
- Though unconfirmed whether it was intentional in Rowling's part, Gryffindor's colors and emblems resemble those of Royal arms of England.
- The Gryffindor House sigil is very similar to the sigil for House Lannister from A Song of Ice & Fire and its adaptation Game of Thrones, with a lion symbol and red and gold colors. This is ironic since Lannister traits (ambition, cunning and power-hungry) coincide most with Slytherin House, who are the rivals of Gryffindor.
