Why was an exception made for Tom Riddle?

[Theory Weaver]

As we know, Salazar Slytherin only accepted pure bloods in his house. We know this for a fact as the Sorting Hat even mentioned it in his song before the sorting in OotP. It also mentions that each founder of Hogwarts had specific rules about who would go into their house, Slytherin's being that they had to be pure blood. We also know that Tom Riddle is a half-blood, as his mother was a witch and his father,a muggle. The sorting hat would have to abide by the founders' rules since they created the hat itself. Despite the rules of Slytherin, he sorted Tom into that house. Why was an exception made for him?

One obvious reason would be that he was the heir of Slytherin. His mother would have to have come from a pure blood family and herself tainted the family name by marrying a muggle. However, Tom was brought up in an orphanage. Does that mean he was an unwanted child? Although it would not be logical as he would be the only remaining heir to the entire Slytherin dynasty unless his mother was not the only child.

However, knowing Salazar, he would not have a half-blood as the heir to Slytherin as it defied what he belived in.

Was there a reason this decision was made by the Sorting Hat? Was Tom Riddle the first and last exception?

[aish]

Yeah.. and what about sorting hat trying to sort Harry into Slytherin? Harry is a half-blood too

[TheFifthMarauder]

The Sorting Hat considered putting Harry in Slytherin, and he's a half-blood.

When Slytherin himself was alive, he chose people for his house based on their wizarding heritage, but the Sorting Hat may do it depending on the first year's values and strengths. When describing the values for the four houses in the song in book 1 and 4, the hat did NOT mention that you have to be a pureblood to get into Slytherin.

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.

and

And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.

However, like you said, in the sorting hat song for book 5, it did mention that Slytherin only wanted "pure-blood wizards or great cunning, just like him".

Riddle obviously had the values (cunning, the desire to prove yourself, winning) for the Slytherin house, along with Slytherin's blood. That was probably what got him in.

[tantrix]

Was there a reason this decision was made by the Sorting Hat? Was Tom Riddle the first and last exception?

Im sure there is a reason.. it has a lot to do with the circumstances Tom Riddle was born in.. or even concieved... maybe his mother was from a dark heritage.. but maybe she wanted peace in her life and she settled in the village.. fell in love with a muggle and lived as a muggle... after they married she told her husband her secret.. he reacted by running away.. the mother knew that her child was the heir and she wanted to keep him away from the wizarding world.. she left him in a orphanage... with a muggle name.. maybe she's still alive..

[DeViLsnare]

In reply to aish's comment, the hat only saw potential in Harry's mind to get into Slytherin. But it did not actually sort him into Slytherin because he saw that Harry was a true Gryffindor since he could pull out the sword from the hat (which only a true gryffindor can do).

I think the theory is interesting. But you left out the fact that Tom's father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. So the person who put him into the orphanage was probably his mother.

[winter snow]

Very interesting question! Maybe Tom's mother's ancestor was Salazar Slytherin. If so, Tom would be the rightful heir, no matter his paternity.
Wait, I thought they were sorted into the houses depending on their attributes, not their bloodlines. Tom Riddle Jr. would already have been full of hate by the time he arrived at Hogwarts. So, all the attributes Slytherin House looks for would have been present in Tom.
The other question is also interesting. You know, I'm thinking not. There could be others that were let in over the years. I suppose we'll have to wait to find out though. :(

[GredandFeorge]

You know, I've been toying with this idea - what if Riddle's father was not really a muggle, but a wizard who refused to acknowledge this part of who he was...and perhaps that's why he left Tom's mother - because he wanted nothing to do with magic. It's been suggested that this is the case with Petunia Dursley and that's what kind of gave me the idea. There's absolutely no proof anywhere for this...just a theory.

[deadsirius]

Slytherin was a very greedy person. He would want all of the most powerful wizards. So naturally the slytherin part of the hat would want Harry and Tom. But the hat couldn't put Harry in that house because in his heart he didn't want to be in that house.

You know, I've been toying with this idea - what if Riddle's father was not really a muggle, but a wizard who refused to acknowledge this part of who he was...and perhaps that's why he left Tom's mother - because he wanted nothing to do with magic. It's been suggested that this is the case with Petunia Dursley and that's what kind of gave me the idea. There's absolutely no proof anywhere for this...just a theory.
Tom Sr. isn't a wizard because JKR would have told us that to keep us from saying Voldemort is the HBP.

[Classical_Wizar]

maybe Why was Tom Riddle in Slytherin?
(http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=14347&highlight=riddle%2A)

[winter snow]

In reply to aish's comment, the hat only saw potential in Harry's mind to get into Slytherin. But it did not actually sort him into Slytherin because he saw that Harry was a true Gryffindor since he could pull out the sword from the hat (which only a true gryffindor can do).

I think the theory is interesting. But you left out the fact that Tom's father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. So the person who put him into the orphanage was probably his mother.

Tom's mother died in childbirth. I thought his father abandoned Tom after he was born, because Tom's father discovered he was married to a witch. He was probably afraid his was a wizard. That's why he grew up in an orphanage.

[GredandFeorge]

Tom Sr. isn't a wizard because JKR would have told us that to keep us from saying Voldemort is the HBP.

Not in defense of my theory necessarily, but this is your opinion, and not actual proof...

[Hannibal Barca]

I don't think it was so much that only pure-bloods are allowed, as muggle-borns are NOT. Riddle was let in, Harry might've gone in (had he not chosen otherwise) I'm sure others were let in. just no completely muggle kids are let in (I think)

it makes more sense that way, there aren't enough pure blood wizards for Slytherin to be that selective (well.....there are, but not all of them go in Slytherin. the Weasleys for one, and there was that Hufflepuff in CoS)

[DeViLsnare]

Tom's mother died in childbirth. I thought his father abandoned Tom after he was born, because Tom's father discovered he was married to a witch. He was probably afraid his was a wizard. That's why he grew up in an orphanage.

If you look at pg. 231 of CoS Bloomsbury edition, Tom says, "I keep the name of a foul, common muggle, who abandoned me even before i was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch"

Its not that i want to tell u you're wrong or anything, just backing up what i said before... :agree:

[winter snow]

If you look at pg. 231 of CoS Bloomsbury edition, Tom says, "I keep the name of a foul, common muggle, who abandoned me even before i was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch"

Its not that i want to tell u you're wrong or anything, just backing up what i said before... :agree:

No problem. :) Okay, Tom's father walked out before Tom was born. So, his mother must have informed Tom Sr. that she was a witch, got tossed out on her ear, delivered the baby, named him, and died. Since his father had already left, they would have placed the baby with an orphanage. It may have been a muggle orphanage.
Thanks for clearing that up!

[Xenorhabdus]

I think Tom Riddle hated his muggle father so much that he had disowned that part of his heritage thereby held the same values as Slytherin in his regard for muggles and half-bloods. I am sure part of Rowlings motivation for this character was Hitler who had a jewish grandparent yet still condemned his heritage. The nazi party stilled embraced his nationalism and anti-semetism just as Slytherin's House embraced Tom Riddle/Voldemort.

[ComicBookWorm]

In reply to aish's comment, the hat only saw potential in Harry's mind to get into Slytherin. But it did not actually sort him into Slytherin because he saw that Harry was a true Gryffindor since he could pull out the sword from the hat (which only a true gryffindor can do).

I think the theory is interesting. But you left out the fact that Tom's father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. So the person who put him into the orphanage was probably his mother.
And the hat only considered sorting Harry into Slytherin because Harry kept thinking "not Slytherin". It is entirely possible if Harry hadn't brought it up that it wouldn't have considered it at all. Harry posed the question first, the hat responded with its evaluation.

Now as for Tom Riddle, he was the heir of Slytherin, so he belonged in Slytherin. I think we are mistaken to assume that all Slytherin are pure-bloods. It may not be comfortable for half-bloods and muggle-borns there since there is the pure-blooded attitude, but we can't be sure how many are there. The students seldom interact with any Slytherins besides Draco.

[filius]

I always thought that it was mainly because he was a descendant of Slytherin. I would have thought it mad if he wasn't in Slytherin, him being Voldemort and all...

[fanofpotter]

Well spotted Xenorhandus. This is just what I think could be the original motive behind Voldemort's character.

Also there never seems any hard and fast rules when it comes to the Dark Lord, so maybe he managed to trick the sorting hat in some way. He is a very powerful wizard.

[Anna M]

I think it's the qualities that make the sorting. Even though in the 5th book the hat mentions the purity of blood, I think that goes to show that the world is being divided again, because of Voldemort's return. What makes the Slytherin is pride and ambition, Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw for the smart and Hufflepuffs for the loyal hardworkers. It isn't something written in stone: Hermione is the smartest of the shool, but she belongs with Gryffindor because, as clever as she is, what characterizes her the most is her bravery, as she proved in the adventures she had with Harry. I think in actuality you're sorted where you want to go, because what you are shapes you and makes you want to go with others like you. Slytherins keep to themselves because their nature is to be proud, selective, regardless of people's true features.
Let's see, the Weasleys were all Gryffindor and yet they're pure-blood. And Percy is a big head, but he's a Gryffindor anyway - which makes me expect he's gonna show a little more of himself in the future. And how come Sirius was not a Slytherin? He had every card to, but I doubt he wanted anything more to do with that crowd.
Actually, we know that what Salazar Slytherin didn't want were the Muggleborn. Maybe the racism againt Mugbloods was an expansion of that. After all, really, how would it be possible that, after millennia, there is still any such a thing as a pureblood wizard? People mix together, in the long run.

Tom Riddle was obviously Slytherin's heir and his father was a Muggle. Harry's just as half-bood as he is and we know that the most important lead in this story is the similarity between Harry and Voldemort, which is pointed out or hinted at at any chance. Part of that comes from the bond they've shared since the night Voldemort impressed his mark upon Harry. They have this bond. I reckon there's something else that makes them alike, maybe destiny, or maybe I just like to think of them as simmetrical ends of the same thread, but there's obviously a lot of Tom Riddle in Harry: a loveless childhood, halfblood condition, Parseltongue, all the things Dumbledore pointed out to Harry at the end of CoS. Maybe that's what made the Hat think of Slytherin for Harry. Or maybe it's the fact that it foresaw that Harry was destined to "great things", as Ollivander said. And Harry has pride, too.

[SarahF]

Yeah.. and what about sorting hat trying to sort Harry into Slytherin? Harry is a half-blood too

Harry's Mother may have been Muggle born, but she *was* a witch, so it's a little different for Harry perhaps.

Slytherin was a very greedy person. He would want all of the most powerful wizards. So naturally the slytherin part of the hat would want Harry and Tom. But the hat couldn't put Harry in that house because in his heart he didn't want to be in that house.


Tom Sr. isn't a wizard because JKR would have told us that to keep us from saying Voldemort is the HBP.

I think JK saying "Voldemort is not the HBP" repeatedly has done that job rather well though :D Besides, if Riddle Snr was magical then Voldemort doesn't know about it, which is why we, the reader, do not know. That said, I expect he probably *was* a Muggle, just playing Devil's advocat ;)

But...his father could still ne alive, couldn't he? Very old by now, as Vold was what...16 when the CoS was opened and that was 3 books ago, so 53+16 makes him 69. His father could be be in his 90s...you never know :P

More possibly, his father remarried and had muggle kids. There could be a bunch of half-voldemorts and their children and grandchildren running around out there.

[sneff]

no! tom riddle / voldemort kills his father- GoF first chapter the riddle house. he was the one that murderd them - was he not?

i believe that one of the main reasons that tom riddle was put in slytherin was because he had a long developed hatred of muggles witch is what slytherin had and because he was also a decendant.




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[SarahF]

no! tom riddle / voldemort kills his father- GoF first chapter the riddle house. he was the one that murderd them - was he not?


Doh...I'll just hide now :blush: I somehow completely forgot his destruction of the Riddle house.

[Dead Star]

Salazar chose his students based on their heritage, the Sorting Hat doesn't. The Sorting Hat bases its decisions on the student's traits, values, etc. It doesn't favour one house over the others, or else it'd make it obviously in its songs. It actually warns the students that unless they unite, there won't be much hope.

[Lucybird]

Surely it's because Voly/Tom is Salazars heir?

[caindo]

Salazar wouldn't know that his heir would he a half-blood. People fall in love for some crazy reason LOL. The Hat somehow either KNEW he was the heir, or Riddle's qualities were more properly put in Slytherin than any other house.

[Annabelle Black]

I always figured that Salazar is rolling over in his grave somewhere because his heir is a mudblood :)! I think that Salazar would have preferred his heir to be a pureblood, but at this point Voldemort is all that's left of his line and apparantly Salazar's genes seem very prevelant in him. He may have had other pureblood descendants who hated mudbloods, but it looks like Tom Riddle is the only one so far to act on those feelings.

[Gryffindorgod]

What I'm interested in is not why the hat put him in Slytherin (after all, he could hardly refuse the last heir of Slytherin) but how his long absences were explained, if he grew up in an orphanage the other kids must have thought it a bit strange that he kept disappearing and only came back for the summer.

[Barbara Kennedy]

Check out these threads.

Why was Tom Riddle in Slytherin? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=14347)
DA, Sorting Hats Song, Slytherin (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=12900)
How the Hat chooses the Houses—shallower or deeper than we think? (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=25785)
Muggleborn Slytherins (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=318)
The Houses of Voldemort’s Followers (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=28279)
Prejudice and the Slytherins (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=10518)
The Slytherin stereotype (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=14921)

[AlbusDumbled0re]

I think Tom chosed to be in Slytherin just like Harry chosed to be in Gryffindor.

[Credo Buffa]

Has anyone suggested that maybe Slytherin was a half-blood? We all know that Tom Riddle was, yet he became Voldemort, and it becomes apparent to us in OoTP that that isn't exactly common knowledge among his own Death Eaters. . . Perhaps it's more about the illusion than the actual fact. The Sorting Hat mentions that Slytherins will "use any means to achieve their ends," and Tom Riddle definitely did this in feigning a pure-blood background. Who's to say that as the rightful heir, he wasn't just following in Salazar Slytherin's footsteps? I know it's not as likely as just the fact that Riddle was sorted in just due to his "qualities," but it's still a possibility.

[tenebrus]

Salazar chose his students based on their heritage, the Sorting Hat doesn't. The Sorting Hat bases its decisions on the student's traits, values, etc. It doesn't favour one house over the others, or else it'd make it obviously in its songs. It actually warns the students that unless they unite, there won't be much hope.

thank you for saying what i thought! it's the sorting hat's decision and not salazar's because he's dead!

Has anyone suggested that maybe Slytherin was a half-blood? We all know that Tom Riddle was, yet he became Voldemort, and it becomes apparent to us in OoTP that that isn't exactly common knowledge among his own Death Eaters. . . Perhaps it's more about the illusion than the actual fact. The Sorting Hat mentions that Slytherins will "use any means to achieve their ends," and Tom Riddle definitely did this in feigning a pure-blood background. Who's to say that as the rightful heir, he wasn't just following in Salazar Slytherin's footsteps? I know it's not as likely as just the fact that Riddle was sorted in just due to his "qualities," but it's still a possibility.

if salazar was a half-blood, then why did he hate them?

[Credo Buffa]

if salazar was a half-blood, then why did he hate them?

We can ask the same question of Tom Ridde/Voldemort, can't we? My conclusion to this question is that Tom Ridde was so disgusted by his own half-bloodedness that he chose to completely destroy that part of him that made him a half-blood. . . and the icing on the cake is that he now masquerades as a half-blood/muggle-hating pure-blood to complete the illusion. Couldn't Salazar have fit that same description? It'd be a very Slytherin thing to do. . .

[deathfairy87]

In OotP they say that there's not many pure blood families left, and that they're all related. If there really isn't that many pure blood families left, Slytherin house would be only made up of a few people. You don't HAVE to be pure blood to get in.

[GredandFeorge]

Reading through this thread brings up another question though - how in the world does Tom know all of this about his heritage if his mother died and childbirth and his dad took off before he was even cognizant?

[SpAzZz553]

Maybe like since he was sooo evil that he like had to be in slytherin, and then since some of voldemorts powers went to him... maybe he has like the same thing about him but he has his mothers love in his blood which makes him strong... idk, that doesnt really make sence.... but thats ok

[lewis8604]

In OotP they say that there's not many pure blood families left, and that they're all related. If there really isn't that many pure blood families left, Slytherin house would be only made up of a few people. You don't HAVE to be pure blood to get in.

Sirius says that all are intertwined yet that is not entirely true. There are loads of pureblood families left and so far all of the slytherins that we have heard of are pureblood and there has been no canon to suggest otherwise except for Riddle. But he was the heir of slytherin, so he's in. Slytherins pride themselves on purity of blood. If you can name one person that shows signs of being a non pureblood that we have met, then let me in on them. Malfoy is their leader anyone who hang out with them has to be pureblood to the best of their knowledge. So parkinson, crabbe, goyle, nott, are all purebloods because im certain malfoy has asked them or doesn't have the need. Any of the DEs kids are pureblood. Also most of the slyherins are not the first in their family to go to hogwarts. So i think the reason there are still numerous students in slytherin they are of the same surname as previous. While Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw have kids with different heritage in their houses