How Were the Hogwarts Mascots Chosen? (Why not MAGICAL Creatures?) - Harry Potter Explained

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re discussing HOGWARTS and the 4 animal mascots that represent the Hogwarts house system. At Hogwarts there are 4 houses- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff- houses created by the original 4 founders of Hogwarts- Godric, Salazar, Rowena and Helga.

Why 4 houses? Well, put as simply as possible, there were 4 founders and each founder wanted to teach the students in their OWN way. Dividing the students accordingly seemed like the best course of action.

Each of the 4 houses created by the school’s founders can be represented in a number of different ways.

The first and most obvious identifier of a Hogwarts house is the use of their signature colours.

Slytherin can be identified by green and silver, Hufflepuff by yellow and black, Ravenclaw by blue and bronze (blue and silver in the movies) and Gryffindor by red and gold. These colours can be found plastered all over the common rooms and uniforms of the respective houses.

But that’s not the only way to identify a Hogwarts house.

The cornerstones of the Hogwarts house system, and perhaps the most iconic symbols associated with each house are the house MASCOTS.

For Gryffindor, this mascot was a lion.

For Slytherin, a serpent.

For Hufflepuff, a badger.

And for Ravenclaw, an eagle (or RAVEN in the films).

But what do these creatures have to do with anything? What connection do they have to the founders?

And how did these seemingly mundane creatures (at least, looking at it from the perspective of a MAGICAL world) get chosen as representatives for these houses? I’ve got nothing against lions, serpents, badgers or eagles- but in a world filled with things like DRAGONS, ACROMANTULAS, THESTRALS and NUNDUS- these creatures seem…less impressive.

I’m going to start with WHY these creatures were chosen, and then move on to why MAGICAL creatures weren’t chosen.

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