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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened & Hogwarts Legacy & Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. |
- "The term 'pure-blood' refers to a family or individual without Muggle (non-magic) blood. The concept is generally associated with Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whose aversion to teaching anybody of Muggle parentage eventually led to a breach with his three fellow founders, and his resignation from the school."
- — Where the term 'pure-blood' originated from[src]
Pure-blood was the term for wizarding families who claimed to have no Muggles, Squibs, Muggle-borns, or half-bloods in their family tree; however, when traced back far enough, nearly every family tree had a few non-magical ancestors.[1][2][3] Most wizards and witches considered an individual to be a pure-blood if his or her parents and grandparents were not Muggles, Squibs, or Muggle-borns.[4]
By 1995, the number of pure-blood families were declining. Most pure-blood families were related by then in an effort, by some, to retain their status by marrying only other pure-blood families, but it had eventually led to inbreeding. While some families, such as the Malfoys, had allowed for marrying half-bloods, many others such as the Gaunts, Blacks, and Lestranges, required their family to only marry pure-blood individuals, or those with no Muggle, Muggle-born, or Squib ancestors, in order to maintain their "pure" bloodline.[2][1] This refusal of marrying Muggles or Muggle-borns had led to difficulty in propagating their families.[1]
Overview[]
- "The pure-blood families are all interrelated. If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods, your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left."
- — Sirius Black's overview of blood purity[src]
Pure-blood individuals were people who had no Muggles, Muggle-borns, or Squibs as parents or grandparents.[4] Traditionalist pure-bloods loved and strove to keep all the future generations "pure" by breeding with other pure-bloods, and were generally the ones who used the term "Mudblood" against Muggles, Muggle-borns, Squibs, and even half-bloods, a term considered highly derogatory by the Wizarding world. Families of pure-blood status often avoided marrying their heirs off to Muggles, Squibs, Muggle-borns, and half-bloods, believing that the next generation could lose their capability to perform magic.
In the 1930s, a wizard, commonly believed to be Cantankerus Nott, wrote the Pure-Blood Directory featuring twenty-eight families he believed to be truly pure-blooded, though many objected to this designation.[5]
Maintaining "purity"[]
- "So-called pure-blood families maintain their alleged purity by disowning, banishing, or lying about Muggles or Muggle-borns on their family trees. Then they attempt to foist their hypocrisy upon the rest of us by asking us to ban works dealing with the truths they deny. There is not a witch or wizard in existence whose blood has not mingled with that of Muggles..."
- — Pure-blood wizards are not so pure[src]
Some pure-blood families could trace their pure-blood status through many generations of magical ancestors and deny ever having any non-magical ancestors within the family, such as the House of Black, the motto of which is "Toujours pur", meaning "Always (or Still) Pure".[6][7] However, the truth is that even if they did exist in the past, true pure-blood wizards and witches did not exist in the present day, as Squibs, Muggle-borns, and especially half-bloods were too common. These pure-blood families simply erased all Muggles, Squibs, and Muggle-borns from their family trees.[1]
Bigoted and prejudiced half-bloods who considered blood purity very important also hid their Muggle ancestry, clinging only to the magical heritage they did have.[8] Many Death Eaters and Snatchers were believed to have done this, and their leader himself took on the name Lord Voldemort out of a desire to not keep the name of his "filthy Muggle father."[9] It is likely that Voldemort told his followers he was a pure-blood, or that most of the Death Eaters and Snatchers knew better than to dare question his blood status, given the reaction of Bellatrix Lestrange to Harry's "accusation" that he was in fact a half-blood.
Many pure-blood families, such as the Blacks and Gaunts, practised marrying their own cousins in order to maintain their pure-blood status, and disowned any members who married someone who was not a pure-blood or those who sympathised with Muggles or Muggle-borns.[10] This practice had been known to cause problems as families often became inbred because of this; for example, the Gaunts showed signs of violent tendencies, mental instability, and being enfeebled.[11][2] The number of pure-bloods had diminished over time because of said inbreeding.[1]
By at least Igor Karkaroff's time as headmaster of Durmstrang Institute, only pure-bloods were allowed to attend and vicious lies were spread about Muggle-born witches and wizards, such as always confusing one spell for another. Albus Dumbledore believed that this isolation from Muggles and Muggle-borns helped to foster anti-Muggle sentiments in Durmstrang, which led to children educated in Durmstrang only interacting with other pure-bloods.[12]
Attitude[]
- "I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families."
- — Draco Malfoy's prejudice against Muggle-borns[src]
Some pure-bloods regarded themselves as superior to those witches and wizards who were born to Muggles and half-bloods. They believed that Muggles were little more than animals and that Muggle-borns, whom they derisively called "Mudbloods", were unworthy of being allowed to practise magic. Many also discriminated against half-breeds, giants, werewolves and other magical creatures. Pure-bloods who did not share these prejudices were considered "blood traitors" by the discriminatory ones that do.
Salazar Slytherin believed that only pure-bloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and be educated in magic; this was the cause of his conflict with the three other Hogwarts founders and his permanent departure from the school. However, he left behind the Chamber of Secrets in a great hope that one day his heir would open the Chamber and release the Basilisk within to target all the Muggle-born students. Tom Riddle was this heir, and the Basilisk petrified several Muggle-born students in 1943 and the 1992–1993 school year and managed to kill one student, Myrtle Warren, in 1943.[9]
Half-bloods who also considered blood purity very important also denied their Muggle ancestry, clinging only to the magical heritage they did have.[8] Tom Marvolo Riddle, for example, took on the name Lord Voldemort out of a desire to not keep the name of his "filthy Muggle father" and also called Harry Potter's mother "filthy Muggle mother." It is believed that Voldemort most likely told his followers that he was a pure-blood, or that most if not all of the Death Eaters and Snatchers knew better than to dare question his blood status.
Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort, continued his persecution of those who were not pure-bloods (ironically being a half-blood himself) with his followers, the Death Eaters. They strove to place pure-bloods in control of the wizarding world and to eventually rid it of Muggle-borns entirely. When Voldemort temporarily succeeded in taking over the Ministry of Magic during the height of the Second Wizarding War, his followers created the Muggle-Born Registration Commission in order to weed Muggle-borns out of the population and send them straight to Azkaban for allegedly stealing magic simply by not being pure-blood. Pure-bloods were also blatantly favoured within the Ministry and, to a lesser extent, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, although half-bloods were sufficient to avoid prosecution.[13] This oppression was eventually ceased after Voldemort's final death when Kingsley Shacklebolt became the new Minister for Magic.
However, there were pure-bloods who did not have these beliefs, and instead treated all magical people and Muggles as equals (for instance the Weasleys). These pure-blood folk were often labelled as "blood traitors" by the more bigoted pure-bloods.[9] There were also a few pure-bloods who were still fanatical, but also more lax about marriages and allowed their family members to marry Half-bloods, for example the Malfoys.
Known pure-blood families[]
Possible pure-blood families[]
Due to their affiliation to Slytherin and Lord Voldemort, many wizards and witches might be considered pure-bloods. Others had openly expressed their prejudice toward half-bloods and Muggle-borns, which is another reason to believe they were pure-blood supremacists. Some even became Death Eaters. Anyone who worked at Durmstrang Institute were also likely pure-blood, due to the school's policy of only admitting pure-bloods.
See also[]
Behind the scenes[]
- On J. K. Rowling's draft list of students in Harry Potter's class, the following students were mentioned as pure-bloods:[24]
- Lavender Brown
- Stephen Cornfoot
- Isobel MacDougal (Possibly a precursor to Morag McDougal)
- Morag MacDougal
- Coincidentally, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley are each of the three distinct types of wizards; Harry being a half-blood, Hermione being a Muggle-born, and Ron being a pure-blood.
- Many characters mention throughout the series that blood purity doesn't matter, often using Hermione Granger in comparison to Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom as an example. Ron had long struggled with living in the shadows of how much better students his older brothers were, and often would not try if he felt the situation was out of his control or too difficult, preferring to goof off or play with Chocolate Frog cards (though he did ultimately emerge as a capable student and wizard in his own right). Similarly, despite Neville's pure-blood heritage, he was not initially an extremely talented wizard and also suffered from a lack of confidence, two things which made him a target for ridicule and difficulty, particularly from Professor Snape (but like Ron in his later life he better grasped his full potential). However, Hermione, by contrast, is a supremely gifted witch despite her Muggle-born status and, unlike Ron and Neville, performed very well right from the beginning.
- Likewise, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were both often thuggishly stupid and gave poor academic performances in spite of their Pure-Blood status, and Harry's mother Lily was an all-time favourite students of Horace Slughorn, performing exceptionally well in his and other classes.
- The Harry Potter Glossary at Scholastic's official website lists the term "Trueblood" as "Someone born to pure magical parents." This term, however, is not known to have appeared in any official Harry Potter media. The nuance with "pureblood" may be that while the child of a half-blood and a pureblood counts as a pureblood, a Trueblood can only be the child of two purebloods. That is however unconfirmed.
- The concept of pure-blood is also similar to the real-life situation of nearly all European royal families being related, especially the British and (now extinct) German monarchies. Royals were only allowed to marry another member of the aristocracy, so most of the families were interrelated through marriage. Similarly, inbreeding ravaged many real life European royal lines.
- Likewise, the concept of blood purity, and how if one goes back far enough it is clear there is no such thing, is strongly analogous to real life racial purity attitudes such as those held by White Supremacists and the Nazis (the latter of whom J.K. Rowling explicitly compared to the Death Eaters, as seen below), but also how it is theorised all human being's ancestry can be traced back to Africa (and specifically Ethiopia), thus precluding the idea that "wholly white" lineages could have ever existed.
Author's comments[]
On the subject of blood purity, J. K. Rowling has said the following:
The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood', and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudice. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his maternal grandparents. If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood...the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda.[4]
This statement indicates that all of a wizard or witch's grandparents must have magical heritage — i.e. that he or she cannot have a single Muggle grandparent — in order for him or her to be considered pure-blood. The detailed and lengthy family trees maintained by pure-blood families such as the House of Black maintained a record of all the pure-bloods born and married into the family (as well documenting those who were blasted off to maintain the family's sense of purity).[54]
Appearances[]
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (Possible appearance)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film) (Possible appearance)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
- Quidditch Through the Ages (Mentioned only)
- The Tales of Beedle the Bard
- J. K. Rowling's official site
- Pottermore
- Harry Potter (website)
- Harry Potter and Me (Mentioned only)
- The Queen's Handbag
- Harry Potter: The Wand Collection
- LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
- LEGO Harry Potter
- LEGO Dimensions
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- LEGO Creator: Harry Potter
- Harry Potter: The Character Vault
- Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Harry Potter for Kinect
- Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
- Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
- Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 F.A.Q. Section: "Are all the pure-blood families going to die out?" at J. K. Rowling's official site - "Don't forget that, as Sirius revealed in 'Order of the Phoenix', none of these families is really 'pure' – in other words, they merely cross Muggles and Squibs off the family tree and pretend that they didn't exist. But yes, the number of families claiming to be pure is diminishing. By refusing to marry Muggles or Muggle-borns, they are finding it increasingly difficult to perpetuate themselves."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "The Malfoy Family" at Harry Potter (website) - "From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practice of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree."
- ↑ The Tales of Beedle the Bard - "Albus Dumbledore on "The Fountain of Fair Fortune"" - "So-called pure-blood families maintain their alleged purity by disowning, banishing or lying about Muggles or Muggle-borns on their family trees. They then attempt to foist their hypocrisy upon the rest of us by asking us to ban works dealing with the truths they deny. There is not a witch or wizard in existence whose blood has not mingled with that of Muggles, and I should there-fore consider it both illogical and immoral to remove works dealing with the subject from our students' store of knowledge."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 FAQ at J. K. Rowling's official site - "The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents. If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda."
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Pure-Blood" at Harry Potter (website)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.26 7.27 7.28 7.29 7.30 7.31 7.32 7.33 7.34 7.35 7.36 7.37 7.38 7.39 7.40 7.41 7.42 7.43 7.44 7.45 House of Black (see this image)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 12 (Silver and Opals) - ""The Death Eaters can't all be pure-blood, there aren't enough pure-blood wizards left," said Hermione stubbornly. "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It's only Muggle-borns they hate, they'd be quite happy to let you and Ron join up.""
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- ↑ Black Family Tree Tapestry - Anyone on the tree by birth or marriage, and not disowned, is a pure-blood.
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 10 (Luna Lovegood)
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, "A SON OF DURMSTRANG" Achievement
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 At least one member of this family married a member of the Lestrange family, which generally had members marrying pure-bloods.
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Alphard was disowned for giving gold to runaway nephew Sirius
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Andromeda Black was disowned for marrying Muggle-born Ted Tonks
- ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Pure-Blood" at Harry Potter (website)
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Cedrella Black was disowned for marrying blood traitor Septimus Weasley
- ↑ File:Black family tapestry complete.jpg - Disowned for an unknown reason
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Iola Black was disowned for marrying Muggle Bob Hitchens
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Phineas was disowned for supporting Muggle Rights
- ↑ Black Family Tree by J. K. Rowling - Sirius Black was disowned for running away from home
- ↑ Allowed to marry into the fanatical pure-blood Black family, without their spouse being disowned, so the family is likely pure-blood.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Harry Potter and Me
- ↑ Harry Potter and Me (see this image)
- ↑ Millicent Bulstrode is a half-blood witch, indicating that the Bulstrodes married Muggles and/or Muggle-borns.
- ↑ Vincent Crabbe died in 1998; it is unknown if he had any siblings or if they had issue.
- ↑ Through Irma's descendants.
- ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Draco Malfoy" at Harry Potter (website) - "In childhood, Draco associated mainly with the pure-blood children of his father's ex-Death Eater cronies, and therefore arrived at Hogwarts with a small gang of friends already made, including Theodore Nott and Vincent Crabbe."
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 36 (The Parting of the Ways)
- ↑ Milo Farrell's profile at the Harry Potter: Magic Awakened Facebook account
- ↑ Zola Farrell's profile at the Harry Potter: Magic Awakened Facebook account
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt) - "Generations of purebloods, wizards all — more than you can say, I don't doubt!""
- ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Harry Potter (website)
- ↑ "Malfoy & Nott" at Extra Stuff at J. K. Rowling's official site
- ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Draco Malfoy" at Harry Potter (website) - "In childhood, Draco associated mainly with the pure-blood children of his father's ex-Death Eater cronies, and therefore arrived at Hogwarts with a small gang of friends already made, including Theodore Nott and Vincent Crabbe."
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 22 (The Deathly Hallows) - "The only place I've managed to find the name ‘Peverell' is Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. I borrowed it from Kreacher," she explained as Ron raised his eyebrows. "It lists the pure-blood families that are now extinct in the male line. Apparently the Peverells were one of the earliest families to vanish.""
- ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 2, "THE LOST PROPHECY" Achievement
- ↑ Harry Potter's children are half-bloods as their grandmother Lily was Muggle-born
- ↑ The only known member of the Prince family was Eileen Prince, who had only one child, Severus Snape. Snape died in 1998 without having any children.
- ↑ Slytherin's only known descendants died with the Gaunts and Tom Riddle.
- ↑ 哈利波特魔法觉醒[超话 - Harry Potter: Magic Awakened official Weibo
- ↑ Through Lysandra's descendants.
- ↑ Slytherin affiliation
- ↑ The mother to the pure-blood Fleamont Potter
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 At least several members of this family were Death Eaters or supporters of Lord Voldemort, meaning it's possible they were also pure-blood and believed in pure-blood supremacy.
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 48.6 48.7 48.8 48.9 At least one member of their family attended Durmstrang, which only admits pure-bloods.
- ↑ Loyal to Voldemort and Slytherin
- ↑ Second headmaster of Durmstrang Institute
- ↑ Loyal to Voldemort
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 13 (The Muggle-Born Registration Commission)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 7 (The Slug Club)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil) - ""Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare —" "Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Harry recklessly."