The Slytherin house is known for producing the most dark wizards and Death Eaters of any house combined and we know that Salazar Slytherin was ruler of said house and those were the qualities that he admired most in people. The question I'm asking is, if Voldemort is looking for the most suitable followers, sure, the ability to be cunning and willing to do anything to achieve their ends are worthy but why would he not want qualities belonging to other houses? Does the bravery of Gryffindor equate to stupidity in his eyes? If someone is brave then they would stand up to him as opposed to follow him? But surely he would want the loyalty aspect of it. And for Ravenclaw, he certainly needs some smart people on his side because the psychotic followers aren't always all there and thinking rationally. It seems that Peter was the only exception, being the only person not from Slytherin to willingly be a Death Eater. Is it, really, mandatory to be Slytherin if you want to volunteer your service? Would Voldemort turn down others known to be in other houses?

I don't think he would turn them down. I think he would accept anyone who would be willing to blindlly follow and accept him. It seems to be true from the books that no one other than those in Slytherin want to be bothered with him, apparently. (I think it's just an example of JKR showing how bad Slytherin is as opposed to everyone else.) But I definitely think he would be willing to take anyone who wanted to wanted to serve him.

In the end I didn't like how Slytherin was portrayed, especially how they all walked out of the final battle and none stayed to fight. Peter was the only acception that willingly went and it was a means of traitorship that allowed him to do it. We wasn't bad from the beginning but turned because of weakness. I don't think this one showing of one member from one other house is proportionate to how people would actually feel. There could be Slytherins that are cunning and sly but aren't mongering blood purifiers. Likewise, there can be pureblood maniacs in Ravenclaw that were placed there because they were smarter than they were cunning. I do agree, Linda, that Voldemort would take anyone willing but it's something I would have liked to actually see in writing as opposed to villifying an entire house simply because their uncle is the evil overlord. They were stereotyped in the end and I wasn't impressed with that. I think the whole notion of Slytherin = Voldemort supporters could have been redeemed if some of them had broken away and fought. The balance wasn't there for me.

Sissa - I agree with what you're saying 100%! It really doesn't make sense that ALL of Voldemort's supporters were in Slytherin excepting of course, rat boy Peter. It's like saying an entire personality type is evil and the other three are not. A statement like that could certainly be perceived as prejudice, and I'm not certain how many people have gotten that perception. So sad. Sometimes I really wish I had an opportunity to interview JKR personally and ask her about this lumping of Slytherin in as Death Eaters. I suppose Slughorn is the one exception to the rule, but I'm not altogether certain how committed he was to the good side, either. Maybe while she was writing the books she simply decided that it was easier to write this style, it made more sense to her, but it's very misleading. Things are never black and white, there are always shades of gray, and that would hold true in all four personality types. In real life, I could see the Death Eaters as making up all four of the house groups, not just one.

(and now a response from someone not in Slytherin - as far as the school RPG is concerned anyway )

Voldemort would have accepted people from any house, but personally I do not feel that many Ravenclaws would have applied because of the fact that they are so-called "intelligent". Due to their intelligence, then they would not have been able to blindly follow Voldy the way that he intended because they would have either wanted to pass his achievements or experienced the other side to have full knowledge of the situation. We know that Voldy likes to be the best of everything... no matter what.

Now before you all jump on my throat, this is not to say that Slytherins aren't smart. Quite the contrary, because they are very smart but some do not always think with their heads. Regulus Black was smart and showed bravery by turning against Voldy; and he was a Slytherin.

Though I do agree with you both that Slytherin was not portrayed very nicely in the books. They are not cowardly, as we know from the qualities they value - cunning, sly, adventurous. So I wish that Jo would have done something more with those Slytherins who disproved of the dark ways by not necessarily having them support the Order in battle, but some other "adventurous" way.

I disagree. Intelligence is not a guarantee of reasonable thought. Common sense and intelligence don't necessarily go hand in hand and many personality traits, viewpoints, ideologies, nurturing, can influence how a person takes to a certain standpoint. A perfect example is Ann Coulter. She is an incredibly smart woman (law school graduate), well educated, but the way she speaks about others is, well, not. A literary example would be Lucius. While many of the Death Eaters are shown to be lacking on the intelligence scale, I think Lucius is incredibly smart. I don't think intelligence has anything to do with the ability to choose sides in the battle or willingness to join Voldemort. Your IQ could be 200 but if you believe in something then you believe in it regardless of what you score on tests. There are also different types of intelligence as well.

And to stop it before it starts, I used Ann Coulter as a reference point. Please don't digress the conversation, one way or another, into a topic about her. Thanks!

Yes, Voldemort, I believe would take even gryffindors into his gang. take for example Neville. Voldemort personally offered him a place with the death eaters! Voldemort doesn't waste his time deceiving people so he could kill them later. He really liked neville's capabilities.

I do agree.. Voldemort is an equall opportunity kind of a guy.. No matter where you came from , as long as you are loyal and don't step out of line..

Voldermort would of recruited at large numbers, so everyone who wanted a place literally got one. He just wanted to fighten the other side really by being bigger.

Personally, I think Voldemort doesn't care either way which house his followers belong to. To him, these are people are pawns to do his bidding and as long as his bidding is done, what does he care!? They are a buffer system for him, people to lay their own lives on the line so that he doesn't have to. In fact, I actually think Voldemort may have even wanted a variety because each would bring its own strengths into the picture. Hufflepuff, which is supposed to be the epitomy of loyalty, would probably have been appealing to him. Ravenclaw's wit is something he would want on his side to outsmart the enemy. Slytherin's cunning and determination is a requirement to put any plan into action and even Gryffindor's bravery is something Voldemort wants. Think about it, Peter Pettigrew was a coward and Voldemort despised him for it.

In sum, Voldemort is an equal opportunity employer

haha..but yeah!i accept that he wouldnt have cared which house his deathjeaters were in except his inner circle.and definitely by the loyalty shown to him by DE i would place most of the deatheaters like bellatrix,rookwood...in hufflepuff:winking:and then yeah... its not necessary that all of the slytherines arte bad and they believe in the pure blood mania.i seriously thgink JKR could have potrayed some them as to stay and fight!!

I think Voldemort would gladly accept anyone from any house, because he was only interested in power, and the more people, the more power he got, or so he believed. He probably wanted all kinds of strengths to fill in for the weaknesses, because that, in his opinion, would create his army more powerful.

I basically agree with the majority of this thread, I think Voldemort would have readily taken anyone from any of the houses into his group of followers as long as he believed that they would be a loyal and subjective to him. Because really, all of the traits of the houses would be desirous to a leader, in that case you wouldn't have any weaknesses. I think the main reason we really only saw Slytherin's become Death Eater's is because they were portrayed as the 'overly ambitious ones'. It someone is so ambitious, then going somewhere where they are confined within a set of laws... or whatever, would just sound ridiculous to them. Thats why they would join hands with Voldemort, because on his side, they were trying to overthrow the laws that contrained them... started their own legacy. So I don't think the evilness of the actions really attributes to the 'Death Eater-ness' of Slytherins, but mainly the ambitiousness, and the power that can be attained by following Voldemort. I mean seriously, I don't see why an evil character couldn't come out of any of the other houses... if wasn't ever stated otherwise in any of the books. You could have a brave, daring Gryffindor that uses his bravery to fight against the good. You could have your intelligent and wise Ravenclaw, that uses their wit to overcome the wizarding community. You can also have the loyal, hard-working Hufflepuff that uses his attributes of loyalty and hard work to help the dark side. So no, I don't think Slytherin's would have only been accepted into Voldemorts line of death eaters, no way. If any Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff would have had the mind to join their ranks, I think they would been readily accepted. Its just than none of these house had quite the same ambitious as the cunning Slytherins.

I have to agree i think that Slytherin just got a bad rap during the whole series, and the other houses were just held up to high esteem, i mean even hufflepuff and they were considered duffers.

it was so stereotypical to the think everyone in slytherin is a muggle hating raving lunatic, and that everyone in gryffindor is a loyal valiant do gooder

i think Voldemort would choose anyone who just had the qualities he wanted, total and utter blind loyality. he didnt care if you were a mother, or a father, he wanted you lock stock and barrel.

I think it also needs to be taken into consideration that each student felt his/her house to be the best. That is what was counted on to promote the competitiveness between the houses for house points and quidditch. Since the story was told from a Gryffindor's perspective, then it is only natural that the feeling would be that the brave Gryffindor's would be the best. In the series, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are actually the only two to escape ridicule...Possibly because Ravenclaw's were known for their intelligence and Gryffindor's were the central plot. So not every Slytherin was bad or was a death eater, but I'm sure Gryffindor's loved to make that allusion...

Voldemort would obviously take anyone willing to follow him, but he would probably treat them differently from the others because they're from a different house.

i think we have to remember that what ties the Slytherins together (at least as far as the novels are concerned) is their attraction to the dark side. if you notice, they all have varying degrees of blood purity, intelligence, courage and loyalty, but nearly all of them are mesmerized by the dark side, are drawn to those who practice it and/or are advocates of its tenets. The former is certainly true of Snape, and the pureblood families (Blacks, Malfoys et al) pretty much fits the latter. So it doesnt really matter what house you belong to, Pettigrew is proof of this, but once you get bitten by the dark side bug, you pretty much pre-qualify to be Voldemort's minion.



hmm, well i took it a bit differently when i read that part of the book. remember that Voldermort is supposed to be the King of Cunning, and although there are qualities in Neville that would be very useful as a Death Eater, Voldemort always remembers the prophecy. although he has already killed Harry (at that point in the story), there' still another boy that can qualify as the Chosen One and finish him off. his offer to Neville isnt so much as trying to recruit him but more so of making sure that he has control of this wild card and when the opportunity presents itself, kill him off. remember Voldermort's primary obsession is immortality, anything that threatens it, must be eliminated.

i agree, Voldemort would take anyone but would most likely get different things to do and less important than anyone in Slytherin would get.

True, very true. Look at the role that Wormtail was given, pretty much a lackey who had to do the worst things of all (like give up his arm). Good point.