Harry Potter: All You Need To Know About The Characters And Houses

22 years ago, we were introduced to the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter by author J. K. Rowling. Since then, the Harry Potter series has become the best-selling book series in history, with over 500 million books sold all over the world. The overwhelming popularity of The Boy Who Lived helped the growth into a franchise, with movies, spin-off books and films, video games, and even theme park attractions. Potter’s appeal is timeless, as new content is still being released today, with the most recent augmented reality (AR) game app Harry Potter: Wizards Unite dropping just last month.

Just to give a quick overview for those unfamiliar with the series, Harry Potter is an orphan who finds out that he is a wizard when he turns 11. He is then whisked away to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he befriends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. The books chronicle each of his 7 schooling years, how he navigates normal teenage problems and fights the dark wizard Lord Voldemort.

Houses Of Hogwarts

Hogwarts School was founded by 4 esteemed wizards and witches: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They each founded a house named after themselves, which created the house system of Hogwarts. Upon entering the school, students would be sorted into their houses, and compete against other houses to earn points through various activities (classroom participation, Quidditch games, etc.). At the end of the year, the house with the most points wins the House Cup. Every house has their defining characteristics, colours, and even their own ghost! We explain more below.

Gryffindor

Gryffindor is the house of the courageous, and the house of our 3 main characters – Harry, Ron and Hermione. Represented by the lion and the fiery colours of red and gold, Gryffindor values bravery, chivalry and determination above all traits. Thus, many of the most prominent wizards who fought in the wizarding battles came from this honourable house. However, their bravery could sometimes cause them to be reckless, and their focus on their goals could pass off as stubbornness.

Fun Gryffindor fact: The author, J. K. Rowling herself, took the quiz on Pottermore and was sorted into Gryffindor house! She was surprised, as she expected to get Hufflepuff instead..

Slytherin

Slytherin houses the most ambitious and cunning of Hogwarts. Most befitting is their emblematic animal, the serpent. Their house colours are the elegant emerald green and silver. Slytherins are generally confident and strong leaders, and are concerned with the blood purity of wizards. As a result of fundamentally opposing values, they have a great rivalry against the Gryffindors.

Fun Slytherin fact: While most dark wizards come from Slytherin (including the main villain Voldemort himself), not all Slytherins are bad. To prevent spoilers, we won’t mention who~

Ravenclaw

The house of the intelligent, Ravenclaw’s animal in the books is portrayed as an eagle, it is a raven in the films. Likewise, their house colours were blue and bronze in the books, but bronze was replaced with silver for the movies. This house prizes wit, creativity and originality of ideas, and their students are usually more academically inclined and rational than others of their age. Due to the unconventional ideas which some Ravenclaws come up with, they may be bullied by other students, before they end up being accepted and respected in the end. One notable case is Luna Lovegood, whose innovative ideas help Harry Potter and the team multiple times.

Fun Ravenclaw fact: Unlike other houses which require passwords, in order to enter the Ravenclaw dormitories, you would need to solve a riddle. Can you believe having to solve a riddle before you get to go to your dorm to sleep?

Hufflepuff

Last but not least, Hufflepuff houses those who are loyal and hardworking. They are probably the friendliest and kindest people in the whole of Hogwarts! Perhaps their modesty and valuation of honesty cause them to be the least competitive amongst the houses.

Fun Hufflepuff fact: Newt Scamander, author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as star of the most recent movie series, was a Hufflepuff!

Main Characters Of Harry Potter

Harry Potter

Of course, Harry Potter himself is the protagonist of the series. For 11 years, he lived with his Uncle Dudley and his family, and was mistreated by them. Then, on his 11th birthday, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid arrived at his home and gave him his acceptance letter into Hogwarts. Upon finding out that Harry knew nothing of his past, Hagrid explains to him that Harry is a wizard, and that his parents were killed by the evil Lord Voldemort. However, before his mother died, she cast a powerful spell to protect Harry, which caused Voldemort to fail to kill Harry. As a result, Harry Potter became known as “The Boy Who Lived”.

The entire book series surrounds his life, how he grows up and battles the dark wizard who murdered his parents and plans to rule the wizarding world. We also see him in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, set 19 years after the last novel, with a family of his own.

Ronald Weasley

Ronald Weasley, better known as Ron, is Harry’s humorous sidekick alongside Hermione Granger (introduced later). Although he is the most immature of the main three, he develops as a character and learns to accept his weaknesses by the end. He has six other siblings in his big Weasley family, which includes the goofy twins Fred and George, and his only sister Ginny.

Hermione Granger

Hermione Granger is the brightest witch of her age, and her vast knowledge helps Harry and Ron out of a lot of the sticky situations they find themselves in. In fact, she reveals that the Sorting Hat did contemplate placing her into the Ravenclaw house instead of Gryffindor, due to her keen intellect. Portrayed by Emma Watson in the film series, she was voted as the best female film character of all time in 2016.

Lord Voldemort

The greatest villain in wizarding history, Lord Voldemort was a Hogwarts student named Tom Riddle. Discovering that his father was not a wizard but a Muggle (human, without magical abilities), he became disillusioned and changed his name to rid himself of his “filthy Muggle name”. He gathered his own army (called the Death Eaters), werewolves, and giants, and started the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Voldemort was the main villain for the Harry Potter series, and Harry and his friends work to defeat him. Voldemort’s fear of death and inability to understand love proved to be his greatest weaknesses.

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