Harry Potter -- Why Slytherin and Gryffindor are rivals?

Question

I know that they have been rivals since forever . But why?

I assume that maybe Slytherins are always bitchy and despiteful towards every other house , and Gryyfindors , as brave as they are , have enough courage to oppose them.

But that's my thinking ...

How about you?

Thanks XD

Answer 1

Gryffindor got into an argument with Slytherin over who to admit to the school.  Gryffindor was fine with muggles who could preform magic, whereas Slytherin only wanted purebloods.  It was basically a power struggle and this is where the Slytherin hatred of muggles originated.  Slytherin left the school after that, but before he left he built the Chamber of Secrets so his heir (Tom Riddle) could purify the school when he was dead.

Answer 2

Because back when Hogwarts was founded, Syltherin wanted to be more "selective" about the students admitted to Hogwarts, pretty much meaning he thought that magic should be kept within wizarding families, not muggle borns. Gryffindor wanted muggle borns...end of story.

Answer 3

Gryffinidor and Slytherin hated each other.

Gryffindor was stupid. Slytherin rocked. end of.

Answer 4

Godric and Salazar got into a fight about who should be admitted into Hogwarts. Godric wanted only the brave (even if they were muggle-born), Salazar wanted only pure-blood. That's why he built the Chamber of Secrets. And that's why the Gryffindors and Slytherins fight to this day. All the founders disagreed about who should be let in so they all formed different houses with the properties they desired in students, because they didn't want magical education to suffer because of their different views.

Answer 5

Slytherin only wanted those who attended Hogwarts to be pure blood. Gryffindor didn't care about blood status, as long as they were brave and loyal and such. Since they couldn't agree, they all separated into houses, an only accepted those who they found worthy. Thats why the students are sorted into Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor,or Slytherin.

Answer 6

Well, the rivalry goes as far back as Salazer Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. They use to be firends, good friends actually, But then Slytherin wanted only pure-blood wizards to be accepted into Hogwarts. Gryffindor, of course didnt agree with this, because he was " the champion" for Muggle-borns, much like Dumbledore. That is why there friendship ended. The result of this was that Slytherin created the Chamber of Secrets and then left Hogwarts. The Chamber was created so that his decendent could finish the job he could not, which was to rid Hogwarts of all Muggle-borns.

I think the rivalry we see during Harry's time at Hogwarts is a result of that. The inherint belief by most (if not all ) slytherins that Muggle-borns should not be allowed at Hogwarts, and of course the converse belief by most if not all Gryffindors.  I think the rivalry starts there...but there could of course be many other reasons, such as the fact that Gryffindor and Slytherin are the most competitive of the four House, and it would seem natural than that a rivalry exists!

Answer 7

So to add to what the other three said, because of the arguement between the Godric and Salazar, their students probably built up a resentment towards eachother, and then their children, and their children, and so on... I mean, it definitely has something to do with the fact that Slytherins are stuck up prats, and the Gryffindors probably *are* brave enough to stand up to them, but that's where it started.

Answer 8

Well, this is my MAJOR problem with the series, to be honest.

JKR has said that HP was supposed to convey a message of tolerance and not prejudice, but regarding the Sorting, I think this falls rather flat.

In CoS we find out that Salazar Slytherin valued Pure-blooded students. He even went as far as to suggest not admitting muggle-borns to Hogwarts (something that actually happened in DH). The other three founders, of course, were repulsed by this idea and sent him away. Gryffindor is always depicted as the founder who opposed Slytherin most strongly, maybe because he was a man and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were women (this was 1100, remember).

In the books the Slytherins are generally shown to be despised by every other house, with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs often cheering on Gryffindor in the House Cup just to oppose Slytherin House. The competition is mainly between Gryffindor and Slytherin, with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fading into the background most of the time. I think that this is a bad image to create, where JKR seems to convey that all Slytherins are evil and all Gryffindors are good, with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw being pointless. But that's never true in real life. People don't fit neatly into groups like that.

I also don't like the way that there is only one "good" Slytherin- Slughorn. Even Snape and Regulus were Death Eaters before they joined the force of good.