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"You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart" —The Sorting Hat[src]

Gryffindor is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was founded by Godric Gryffindor. Gryffindor instructed the Sorting Hat to choose students possessing characteristics he most valued, such as courage, chivalry, and determination[2], to be sorted into his house. The emblematic animal is a lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold.[1] Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as "Nearly Headless Nick" is the House ghost.

Gryffindor corresponds roughly to the element of fire, and it is for this reason that the colours scarlet and gold were chosen to represent the house.[1] The colour of fire corresponds to that of a lion as well, with scarlet representing the mane and tail and gold representing the coat.

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Traits

The Gryffindor house emphasises the traits of courage as well as "daring, nerve, and chivalry,"[3][4] and thus its members are generally regarded as brave, though sometimes to the point of recklessness. Some Gryffindors have also been noted to be short-tempered. Notably, Gryffindor house contributed many members to Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix,[5] although this may have been because the main members made it a point not to associate with other houses.

According to Phineas Nigellus Black, members of other houses, particularly Slytherin, sometimes feel that Gryffindors engage in "pointless heroics." Another Slytherin, Severus Snape, considered many Gryffindors to be self-righteous and arrogant, with no regard for rules.

Reputation

The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries." —Minerva McGonagall regarding Gryffindor's reputation[src]

Gryffindors and Slytherins have shared a fierce house rivalry since their founders, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, respectively, had a severe falling out over Slytherin's emphasis on blood purity.[6] There might also be an element of feeling wronged, as Harry and his fellow Gryffindors tend to win in a lot of circumstances which, when viewed from a neutral point of view, may be considered unfair. Examples of this include the last-minute points awarded by Headmaster Dumbledore at the Leaving Feast, which conveniently put Gryffindor ten points ahead of Slytherin in the 1991–1992 school year, the fact that no points were deducted for the rule breaking that happened during that night and Harry being permitted by Professor McGonagall to have his own broomstick for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, even though first-years are not normally permitted their own broomsticks because of danger.

Members of other houses might have felt that Gryffindor received favouritism, considering that many saw Harry Potter being chosen as the fourth competitor in the Triwizard Tournament as an unfair stealing of Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory's thunder.[7]

Overall, however, the houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tended to side with Gryffindor in its rivalry with Slytherin. This was particularly notable during the Second Wizarding War — the members of Dumbledore's Army were from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, but the Army lacked any Slytherins. (This, however, could also have been because news of Dumbledore's Army was passed by word of mouth, and Harry, who had initially raised it, did not associate with any Slytherins.) During the Battle of Hogwarts, the Slytherin students left, while senior students from the other three houses remained behind to fight against Lord Voldemort and his army - however, it is also worth noting that while Head of House Professor Slughorn left with his students, he then returned to the castle with reinforcements (possibly including senior students) and with Professor McGonagall and Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, personally duelled Lord Voldemort. Most of the known Death Eaters (besides Peter Pettigrew, Quirinus Quirrell, and possibly others) have been Slytherin House members, and that might have been another reason as to why the other two houses sided with Gryffindor over Slytherin.

Common Room

The Gryffindor Common Room is located in one of the castle's towers (Gryffindor Tower), the entrance to which is located on the seventh floor and is guarded by an oil painting of the Fat Lady, who is garbed in a pink silk dress. She permits entry only after being given the correct (regularly changing) password. Behind her painting is a large common room, with a fireplace, and two staircases leading up to the girls' and boys' dormitories.[4]

There is a charm on the girls' staircase that prevents boys from using it; however, there is no such enchantment on the staircase to the boys' dormitory, allowing girls to use it whenever they wish, due to the founders' belief that girls were more trustworthy.[8] The common room is very comfortable, and members of the Gryffindor house meet there for study groups, celebrations, or relaxation. The walls are lined with portraits, each one depicting a previous or current Head of Gryffindor.

Head of House

The head of house before and during Harry Potter's time was Minerva McGonagall. Minerva became the head of house possibly in 1956, when she was appointed Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, taking over Albus Dumbledore's previous teaching position when he became Headmaster. It is unknown who later became the head of house when she was made Headmistress in 1998 following the end of the Second Wizarding War.

Known Gryffindors

See also

Etymology

Gryffindor could possibly be derived from griffin, which is a creature in mythology with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle.

In Old English and Old High German dor means gate or door.

means gate or door. In French "d'or" means "of gold," one of the Gryffindor House colours, though it can also come from the Greek word "dora" meaning "gift".

A combination can be assumed; "Golden Gift of the Lion".

"Griffe" (from the Latin "gryphus", which means "curved nose") is the French word for "claw", which could refer to the claw of the lion.

"Gryffindor" could very well be explained by heraldry: "Gryffin" would then stand for the griffin beast, and the "[d]or" would refer to the metal tincture "[d'] or" (Middle English for "[of] gold", derived from French; corresponds to yellow).

Gryffindor is also a pun on the golden gryffin, which is a lion that only has eagle wings, so it has the head and front paws of a lion, and has golden fur and feathers. The French for Gryffindor, "Griffondor", is a homophone for the actual beast, Griffon d'Or. Similarly, the Italian "Grifondoro" is a homophone of Grifon d'Oro. Coincidentally, Italy also has a high number of cities and towns which present a golden gryffin in their coat of arms. Examples of this are Agnone, Alessandria, Arzignano and Genoa.

Behind the scenes

Pottermore House Cup

Gryffindor came second for the first house cup with 74,069,919 house points.

Gryffindor won the second house cup with 48,538,348 points.

Gryffindor came third for the third and fourth house cups with 26,740,444 and 24,610,105 points.

Gryffindor came fourth for the fifth house cup with 27,299,570 points.

Gryffindor came second for the sixth house cup with 32,279,991 points.

Gryffindor came fourth for the seventh and eighth house cups with 49,335,378 points.

Translations

In translated editions, "Gryffindor" remains the same and is used for the Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Faroese, German, Icelandic, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese editions. The following translations have changed the name:

Albanian: Grifarti

Bulgarian: Грифиндор (Grifindor)

Chinese (PRC): 格兰芬多 (Gélánfēnduō) (phonetic)

(phonetic) Chinese (Taiwan): 葛萊芬多 (Gélánfēnduō) (phonetic)

(phonetic) Czech: Nebelvír ( nebe "sky", lvír → lev "lion")

( "sky", → "lion") Dutch: Griffoendor

Finnish: Rohkelikko ( rohkea "brave")

( "brave") French: Gryffondor

Georgian: გრიფინდორი (grifindori)

Greek, Modern: Γκρίφιντορ (Gkrífintor)

Hebrew: גריפינדור

Hindi: गरुड़द्वार (garuḍ.advāra) ("Garuda-door")

("Garuda-door") Hungarian: Griffendél

Italian: Grifondoro ( Grifon "Griffin", d'oro "golden")

( "Griffin", "golden") Japanese: グリフィンドール (Gurifindōru)

Korean: 그리핀도르 (Gŭlipindolŭ)

Latvian: Grifidors

Lithuanian: Grifų Gūžta

Norwegian: Griffing

Persian: گریفندور

Polish: Gryffindor (But the inhabitants are called Gryfoni ; gryf "griffin")

(But the inhabitants are called ; "griffin") Portuguese (Brazil): Grifinória ( Grifi from Grifo - gryphon - house's symbol)

( from - gryphon - house's symbol) Romanian: Cercetaș ("scout")

("scout") Russian: Гриффиндор

Serbian: Грифиндор (Grifindor)

Slovak: Chrabromil ("lover of bravery")

("lover of bravery") Slovenian: Gryfondom

Thai: กริฟฟินดอร์

Ukrainian: Ґрифіндор (Gryfindor)

Welsh: Llereurol (literal "Griffin of Gold")

(literal "Griffin of Gold") Vietnamese: Nhà Gryffindor ("House Gryffindor")

Appearances

Notes and references



