Many misjudge Slytherin characters as being only manipulative, sneaky, and cruel. However, they are highly intelligent, ambitious, clever individuals and tend to surprise you when they occasionally do the right thing.
While Slytherin House produced the Darkest wizard of all time, other Slytherins made essential contributions to the wizarding world.
In this article, you will learn about some of the most famous and notable witches and wizards to come from Slytherin.
10. Andromeda Black
Andromeda Black is the sister of both Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. However, she was cut off from the family when she decided to marry a muggle, Ted Tonks.
To her pureblood family of wizards and witches, marrying a muggle was the ultimate betrayal.
Andromeda gave birth to her daughter Nymphadora Tonks. Subsequently, Nymphadora had a son with Remus Lupin named Teddy Lupin.
After Nymphadora and Remus passed away, Andromeda raised her grandson with the help of his godfather, Harry Potter.
9. Leta Lestrange
Leta Lestrange was a dear friend of Newt Scamander during their years at Hogwarts together. Other students bullied her, and Newt was one of her only friends.
In fact, he was in love with her. When Leta performed a spell that put another student in danger, Newt took the fall for her and got expelled.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Leta worked at the British Ministry of Magic. Her role was the assistant to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Leta eventually fell in love with and got engaged to Newt’s older brother Theseus.
She was killed during a battle when she sacrificed herself to save Theseus and Newt.
8. Horace Slughorn
Known as the one who gave Tom Riddle the final piece of the puzzle to achieve immortality, he later redeemed himself.
Horace was a professor, Potions Master, and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts when Tom Riddle approached him.
Tom already knew about Horcruxes, but Professor Slughorn told him that he could split his soul multiple times.
Professor Slughorn felt guilty for the rest of his life for telling Tom about this. He blamed himself when Voldemort rose again after he was first defeated.
He did redeem himself when he stayed to fight and protect Hogwarts from Voldemort.
7. Bellatrix Lestrange
Perhaps the most famous and most loyal Death Eaters of them all was Bellatrix Lestrange.
She made it her personal goal to track down and murder members of The Order of The Phoenix.
Among those she killed in her lifetime were Sirius Black (her cousin), Nymphadora Tonks (her niece), and Dobby the House-Elf.
She was eventually defeated and killed by Molly Weasley.
However, her bloodline continues with her daughter Delphini whom she conceived with Lord Voldemort himself. Delphini is the only living relative of the Slytherin bloodline.
6. Draco Malfoy
Being raised as an only child and with parents that believed in the superiority of pureblood witches and wizards, Draco Malfoy hardly stood a chance.
Draco is a very complex and misunderstood individual. He experienced pressure from others to live up to a standard he could never achieve.
He frequently bullies his fellow students, specifically Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
And we see that he shares his parent’s views on muggle-borns in how he treats Hermione. He refers to her as the derogatory term, “Mud blood.”
Whether of his own free will, a desire to impress his parents, or simply out of fear, Draco becomes a Death Eater at age sixteen.
Additionally, when Dolores Umbridge takes over Hogwarts, Draco joins her Inquisitorial Squad. He frequently took advantage of this authority and lords it over the other students.
In his sixth year at Hogwarts, Draco is given the ultimate task from Lord Voldemort to kill Dumbledore.
However, despite several failed attempts to secretly poison Dumbledore, he cannot follow through with it when Dumbledore is in front of him.
See more:
5. Narcissa Malfoy
Despite her husband and son both being Death Eaters, surprisingly, Narcissa Malfoy never became one.
Even though she was not one herself, she supported both Lord Voldemort and the ideology that only pureblood witches and wizards deserved to be a part of the wizarding world.
Narcissa officially proves her true character and allegiance after Harry tells her that Draco is still alive.
She cares more for her family than anyone else and lies to Voldemort, telling him that Harry is dead.
She also previously asks Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco and kill Dumbledore himself if Draco cannot do it.
4. Lucius Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy was a Prefect for Slytherin House during his time at Hogwarts.
He was among those who believed that Dumbledore becoming Headmaster was the worst thing that could happen to the school.
Lucius held drastically different beliefs than his classmates, aside from those in Slytherin House. He pretended to be loyal to both sides, but it was no surprise when he was exposed as a Death Eater.
He would have been sentenced to Azkaban along with the others, but he claimed that he was under the Imperius Curse and acting not of his own free will.
This worked for a while until he was exposed again and finally went to Azkaban.
3. Severus Snape
Perhaps the most intelligent and crafty wizard of all time was Severus Snape. He successfully fooled Lord Voldemort for years that he was on his side.
Perhaps his most notable legacy was his unconditional love for Lily Potter. Even after her death, his devotion to her is what motivated him to protect Harry at all costs.
We see just how intelligent he is when we find out that he is the Half-Blood Prince. His talent for potion-making is unmatched.
He also created some of the most popular spells that are still used throughout Hogwarts.
Severus had many titles at Hogwarts including Potions Master, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Head of Slytherin, and Headmaster.
Severus is killed when Voldemort mistakenly believes that he is the master of the elder wand.
2. Tom Riddle (Voldemort)
There is almost no reason why anyone should feel bad for Tom Riddle, the most dangerous and cruel Dark wizard of all time.
Except there is one thing he could not control, and that is how he was raised.
Tom’s mother was a witch who put a love spell on his father to make him fall for her. Once the spell was broken, Tom’s father left them, and his mother died shortly after giving birth to him.
Tom was then raised in a rundown orphanage where he learned about his magical abilities on his own. It was not until Dumbledore sought him out and invited him to study at Hogwarts that he truly understood that he was a wizard.
In the following years, Tom Riddle ultimately succumbed to his dark side and learned as much as he could about dark magic.
He opened Salazar Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets to purge Hogwarts of muggle-born witches and wizards. He deemed them unworthy to practice magic.
During those years, he learned about Horcruxes and decided to split his soul seven times to make himself immortal.
One of his first deceptions was blaming Hagrid for the Chamber of Secrets, thus causing Hagrid to be expelled.
He then began his killing spree with his grandparents. Afterward, he used a spell to change his uncle’s memory so that his uncle confessed to the murders.
He chose to go by the alias Lord Voldemort. He wanted to separate himself from what he deemed to be a disgraceful lineage.
Voldemort grew in strength and power until his near-fatal encounter with Harry Potter.
1. Salazar Slytherin
The most famous Slytherin in Harry Potter is Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts.
He was also known as one of the most brilliant wizards of his generation.
Salazar was skilled in Parseltongue and crafted his personal wand out of snakewood and a basilisk horn.
For those who would be sorted into Slytherin House, he wanted them to be determined, cunning, crafty, and intelligent.
Salazar strongly believed that muggle-born witches and wizards should not be allowed to attend Hogwarts.
However, the other founders opposed this idea, and this drove him to leave Hogwarts forever.
See more:
- Good and Bad Slytherin Personality Traits
- Why wasn’t Harry Potter in Slytherin?
