#hufflepuff secondary model

[the-phoenix-heart]

Sorting Hat Chats - The Malfoys

Since the Malfoys have been a bit of a hot topic lately, I decided to give them their sorting post similar to what I did with the Weasleys...3 years ago??? Where does the time go??

Anyway, this is an explanation of the system I am using by @wisteria-lodge.

LUCIUS MALFOY is blatantly a Badger secondary. His methods are to make donations to people, goad Arthur Weasley into a fight so he can slip Ginny the diary, he uses blackmail against the other members of the Board of Governors, calling in favors, and when in the hall of prophecies with Harry and his gang his strategy is to talk him into giving the prophecy over. It's what makes him so effective in the first five books, but is also why once everyone knows the truth about him he is in a constant state of free fall.

As for his primary, I think it's fairly obvious that he's a Snake. He can look like a Badger, dehumanizing muggleborns and joining the Death Eaters, but that's a performance. When the chips are down, what Lucius really cares about himself, his wife, and his son. Snake Lucius is willing to get rid of every association to the Death Eaters he had, and in the Second Wizarding War is not enjoying himself at ALL. He's also clearly got that Snake hedonism to him.

NARCISSA MALFOY née BLACK is an equally blatant Snake primary, although she doesn't appear to even play the part of a Badger. Everything to her is her son and her husband (and her husband takes a backseat to her son usually). Narcissa doesn't even appear to like Bellatrix all that much anymore since Bella is a threat to her family. Down to the end her motivation is always to keep Draco safe, damn the consequences.

As for her secondary, since she's such a minor character you can probably make an argument for any of them. But I personally think she's a Snake secondary, making her a Double Snake. This is a woman who lies to Voldemort's face and doesn't get caught. Who is willing to go behind his back and make back-alley deals with someone like Snape.

I've sorted DRACO MALFOY once before with @awinterrain which you can read right here, but I would like to reiterate it and expand on it.

Draco may be the epitome of Slytherin in the books, and he may hate Hufflepuffs and think of them as "duffers," but this boy is Double Badger down to his bones. This is a boy who cares deeply about communities. He defines himself by them, first as a Malfoy, then as a Slytherin, then as a Seeker on the quidditch team, then as part of the Inquisitorial Squad, then as a death eater (which he doesn't care for). I think at the beginning of the series he's a good case for an Immature Badger primary, where he just IS the group he's into and nothing outside of this.

His Badger primary can look very insular and Snake-like, partially because pureblood culture alienates everyone outside of it, and partially because his family is so Snakey that it colors the look of his Badger primary. Idk if I would even call it a performance or a model, it's more like a flavor.

But he does start to look like a Snake primary in his Sixth Year, where he's single-mindedly focused on saving his family. That's because in Sixth Year he burns after joining the Death Eaters. And it's honestly really sad, but it's because Draco has realized his communities are toxic and not good for him. The Death Eaters aren't good, they're the reason his father is in prison and his mother is in danger. This is the year where he really stops engaging with his peers and is sort of just coasting on his former reputation.

But that Badger shine is still there, and it's in the fact that Draco Malfoy has to kill Dumbledore and cannot do it. A true Snake Draco Malfoy would probably have gone through with it, even if it he felt bad about it. Badger Draco, who spent books 1-5 shit talking Dumbledore at any opportunity, cannot do it. I think it's because 1. He isn't ready for casual murder, and 2. I think Dumbledore for Draco represents one more community that he identifies with-Hogwarts. And clearly he does care about Hogwarts (I don't think the Room of Requirement would reveal itself to him if he did).

As for his secondary, Draco is his father in miniature. Draco is a tattle tail, he has bodyguards that follow him around, he usually goads Harry into confrontations so Harry gets into trouble and Draco can have plausible deniability. What's most interesting to me though is Draco's proclivity for elaborate smear campaigns. The "Potter Stinks" badges are HIS work as is the "Weasley is Our King" song, which is very...mean badgery. Like this is his community building with Slytherin (arguably all of Hogwarts with the badges), and using his powers to bully Harry. It's funny, despite everything. He does perform Snake though, to make everything look quicker or look like his mother.

Even his methods when he has to kill Dumbledore are Badger powered. Working on the Vanishing Cabinet all year, poisoning Professor Slughorn's mead he intended to give Dumbledore, and charming Rosmerta to imperious Katie Bell. But, he still has that influence from his mom where he can lie to someone's face (though not as convincingly).

I think Draco looks at his father's Badger performance, and thus thinks they house match. And it explains why he is so wary of his father after the Death Eater reveal, since Draco has realized he does not enjoy that sort of Badger primary.

As a bonus I decided to sort BELLATRIX LESTRANGE née BLACK as well. Since for some reason the movies always advertised her as part of the Malfoys. No doubt about it she is a Lion secondary. I don't think Bellatrix has every learned the meaning of the word subtle. She never lies in the series, just blasts the truth out whenever, and is always an attack first think never character.

As for her primary, can she be anything other than exploded snake primary? Her everything is Voldemort. She doesn't really care for anyone outside of him, with the exception of Narcissa, who stopped liking Bellatrix when she became a danger to her son. I think at one point she had a Badger performance or model that allowed her to willingly marry someone like Rodolphus who she doesn't appear to like, but by the time she's going to Azkaban she doesn't care. It's honestly such a Black Family sorting. Sirius was a Snake Lion as well, and the culture of the "Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" seems to just be Snake coded in general.

So...

Lucius Malfoy - Snake primary, Badger performance/Badger secondary

Narcissa Malfoy nee Black - Snake primary/Snake secondary

Draco Malfoy - Badger primary, Immature at the start, burns in his Sixth Year, has a Snake performance or flavor/Badger secondary, Snake performance

Bonus:

Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black - Exploded Snake primary, Badger performance/model long discarded/Lion secondary

Sirius Black - Snake primary/Lion secondary

[k-she-rambles]

since I'm on a temeraire kick...sortinghatchats thoughts!

Laurence: Gryffindor/Hufflepuff with an incredibly strong Bird Primary model. Behaves like a Burned Lion --possibly a deeply underdeveloped one?

Temeraire: Slytherin/Ravenclaw (with a Lion Primary model?)

Granby: Slytherin/Hufflepuff

Tharkay: Ravenclaw/Slytherin, mirroring Temeraire. (not totally certain about his primary)

Jane Roland: Double Snake (aviators tend towards snake it seems

Bonus Rankin my Beloathed: double badger

Laurence analysis under the cut:

• first instinct for Lawrence was Ravenclaw/Gryffindor. I thought 'that man will be himself if it kills him' (ran away twice to join the navy), a sure sign of a Lion Secondary, and he relies heavily on Structures of right and wrong, a Bird Primary trait.

But then I thought about it. Bird Primaries are relatively okay with what they believe in being disproved. They don't like it, but if they find they have to modify or replace some of the moral or philosophical structures they rely on, they're going to be glad to have learned better much sooner than another Primary would.

Lion Primaries though...they carry their beliefs deep in their hearts, and attacks on those beliefs feel, to them, like attacks on their hearts. When Laurence discovers that something he believes is morally wrong, the most positive reaction he ever has is grief. To truly excise something rotten that Laurence believes, you have to cut him open.

As for the good, he feels incredibly guilty for abandoning his Bird structures, but not as guilty as he does when he realizes he's not doing what he knows in his heart to be right.

With his secondary, it's not so much that Laurence will be himself if it kills him, but that he believes in Showing Up no matter what. He's going to be there doing something, no matter where "there" is--he holds himself and those around him to that standard. That's Badger Sec! As a result, Badger Secondaries tend to attract people resources --both allies and enemies. Badgers do this mostly without noticing. If that's not Laurence...

[keeperofmemory]

sorting the moving (무빙) parents into the sortinghatchats system - a quick character analysis

(if you’re new to this theory, your primary house is about why you do things, while your secondary house is about how you do things. you can take the quiz here — it’s fun!) 

[!!! spoilers below !!!]

jang juwon: [hufflepuff primary / gryffindor secondary + hufflepuff model]

“boss, was it about money in the end?”  “what else would it be? being a gangster is a job. (…) aren’t we all here to make money?" “no. i did it to protect our boys"

juwon, juwon, juwon, steel-skinned, soft-hearted monster of a man, who uses 존댓말 and doesn’t see jihee any differently because she is a person like any other, who’s in a gang for the sole purpose of protecting his boys. jang juwon is a hufflepuff primary because he treats people fairly and he belongs, he does not own. hufflepuff primaries value community, and bond to groups, rather than solely individuals, which you can see in his mentality regarding his gang. they’re his people, like he is theirs. they are together, and they are home, what do you mean you aren't here for nothing else but each other? 

of course, the ones he considers his end up betraying him, and he loses his way. (his hufflepuff primary burns, if you will. it is now safer to be alone.) where does he go when he has no home anymore? he does not know. but he finds jihee, and for the first time it feels like he knows where to go. (it does not solve everything, not really, but it is close enough.) 

in the end, he feels the most at home when he is part of team. and when the NIS is shut down and he is put inside walls in front of a screen that never listens, and a keyboard too small for his clumsy fingers, he feels lost again. this is not people, this is cold, lifeless walls, none of them he can run through. the team of superpowered people he later gets put in doesn’t feel exactly right, not really, but he is using what he is good at to help people, and that is the closest he can get to that feeling.

his secondary is a gryffindor; he runs into walls until the walls break, for it is the only way he’s ever known to get through things. (gryff secondaries meet their problems by charging at them, by responding directly to situations.) he has only ever chosen the easiest way, after all, and for a man whose body doesn’t break, simply running into things was the obvious easiest way. why change, why think, when he can simply push through and get through it anyway?

(he does model a hufflepuff secondary, once it's only him and his daughter. he does it for her, gives up everything to build her a better life. it's about doing the work, about showing up. it's odd jobs but honest jobs, moving constantly but still putting in the effort to show steadiness and consistency, to give his daughter a home despite the possibility of the NIS finding them at any moment.)

hwang jihee: [slytherin primary + gryffindor model / gryffindor secondary]

jihee is a healthy slytherin primary if i’ve ever seen one. she advocates for herself, (and she has to, doesn't she? or else nobody else will. not in the line of work she is,) puts herself and her dignity first despite it all. she does have a sense of justice (“that car hit and ran? did it hit you? do you want me to chase it?”) but it doesn’t eat her whole ("but if we find the culprit we split the money:)”) — it’s a nice gryff primary model she likes being in when her slytherin loyalties are not threatened.

juwon is the first person to see her fully as a person, and not a coffee lady. it softens her up immediately. — it doesn't make her fall for him, of course, nor does it get him into her circle. (if it did, she wouldn’t be a slytherin primary). she is a smart girl who advocates for herself, after all. but once he does, he does not leave. she will run into a mob of gangsters and disregard the police for him, will tell him to put himself first, even if it means having a more difficult life for both of them. because putting yourself, and the people that are yours, first, is what matters in the end.

she has a gryffindor secondary she shares with her husband. she can hold her tongue and be perfectly polite, but in the end her problems will be met head on. what other house would throw itself in 100+ mobsters without a plan? she said to hell with it, she’ll figure it out on the way.

gryff secondaries’ honesty is part of their personality and morality — jihee has seen the men play the sappy part only for their own selfish gain, and hates it deeply within her core. once she sees juwon isn’t pretending to be anyone but himself (he is also a gryffindor secondary after all) —  a simple man who reads books on stories where men are bloody but loved, who is willing to buy a ticket to simply share conversations with her  — she finally lets him in, slowly but surely. (her slytherin recognizes that he is also someone the world has shunned for who he is, for the labels they have stuck on him, and she embraces him warmly. he is hers now. and she is his.)

their kid is a gryff/gryff btw . she houseshares with her bf’s dad n i think that’s rlly cute . (her bf houseshares with her dad so . soulmates or whatever)

lee mihyun [gryffindor primary / ravenclaw secondary]

lee mihyun lee mihyun lee mihyun, who uses her powers like she uses her gun, carrying them around and doing the maintenance of each part every night. some would call it overdoing it, but she calls it a habit, calls it being prepared. (and amidst the very real danger that looms above her, can you blame her?) they're all tools she has on her, and years of training have taught her when to use which to get out of a situation with the upper hand. she's a ravenclaw secondary, the house that collects knowledge, tools or skills and then picks them up in times of need. she scouts for danger daily on social media, assesses the situation from a vantage point to collect intel; and yes, she's an agent, at this point it's probably second nature. but this is where she's most comfortable, pulling out from her pocket the information she gathered and the problem-solving systems she’s built whenever she gets tossed into danger.

lee mihyun’s specific brand of claw secondary has her being an adaptable problem solver — understandable, considering her tool set includes her heightened senses (six: her five senses and her common sense) and her gun (make that seven), as well as her general training as a black op agent. however, ravenclaw secondary tools are task-specific. sure, she can take out several enemy agents on her own with nothing but a gun and the strap of her handbag, but have her son bring a new pretty friend home and you’ll have her like a deer in headlights. (...the NIS did not prepare her for this)

her primary is a gryffindor, and it’s what makes her turn away from being an agent even after everything that’s on the line. it doesn’t matter, that she’s running away from the most powerful government agency, not if it’s the right thing to do. (it tires her, after losing her husband and having to do it all on her own. but she doesn't burn, not fully —she can't, not with her son still by her side.) now gryff primaries believe in trusting yourself and your gut, in doing so even if the whole world (or several hundred government agents) is against you. at the end of the day, the most important things is staying true to what’s inside of you. 

so in that fateful moment when the mission was clear, the orders indisputable, she turned away from her organization, her boss, her colleagues, to do what she felt was right. gun in her hand, she said to hell with consequences, i have to stay true to what i believe in — these people are enemies, but they are people and what we’re doing right now is wrong. (from afar, her future husband will see her act upon everything he had been feeling until then, will see a braver reflection of his own gryff primary, and he will fall in love.) 

kim dooshik [gryffindor primary/gryffindor secondary]

kim dooshik is a bit harder to sort; we really don’t see him as much as we could have. he has a gryffindor primary he shares with his wife; their whole story is about finding someone who believes in the same thing they do, stuck in an organization that tells them otherwise. he can look hufflepuff, in the way he values people and fairness — but the core of gryff primaries is about trusting your beliefs and doing your best to live by them. it’s about the bravery to pursue them, even if it leads him to a life of being chased, and captured, and tortured (…literally). 

he has a gryffindor secondary to go with it. that time he tried to diffuse the bomb on a civilian plane under no orders but his own? no orders, no plans, just him flying and trying to save people? very gryff/gryff of him. he also shares a lion secondary with his partner and they play off each other very well. (dooshik casually just letting juwon fall several hundred miles from the sky into where the enemies are and letting him figure it out… #justgryffsecondarybrosthingz)

sure, sure, one could argue for a ravenclaw secondary — but i think that’s just him being an agent. of course he would train and strategize. of course he would have backup plans. but at the end of the day, the method he falls back on is his charging, making it up as he goes. most of all, it’s his blunt honesty, his genuineness that we see shine in his actions. (even in the way he pursues mihyun — not a single disingenuous bone in his body) 

at the end of the day, he’ll rush into a problem when he believes it is right, no matter the consequences. he’ll fly into the enemy’s hands to protect his family, spend years imprisoned in a cave not faltering in his beliefs. a gryff/gryff through and through. 

[painted-crow]

Is it frequent for Snake Secondaries to model / perform Badger Secondary ?

Depends what kind of Badger secondary! I'd guess that they're more likely to model Courtier than Bookkeeper style Badger secondary (see @wisteria-lodge's post about these here).

That is, they're more likely to kind of collect people who like and trust them, and call upon that community to help them and each other. They probably find it easy to learn the Badger mirroring thing, too.

Snakes are Improvisational secondaries and a lot of them don't particularly like doing the sheer amount of (sometimes very boring, usually not immediately rewarding) work that Bookkeeper style Badgers do. I'd expect that model to be less common; it's a LOT to maintain.

[spaceyspaceysarah]

Shout out to my Hufflepuff Secondary Model. It’s just SO. CUTE. And nice and sweet. Very apt for a 5’0 girly girl. Which makes it really fun to suprise people with my actual Slytherin Secondary (although I feel like Slyth’s using Huff Secondary Model is probably super common).

I’m very obsessed with Sorting Hat Chats. No shame. I hope my two followers don’t mind me posting about this lol.

[air-in-words]

My Sorting Hat Chats Journey

So, hi! I'm back!

I've been doing fun stuff off in the real world, but I decided to talk a little bit about my own Sorting Hat Chats sorting journey, and how it says a lot about self-acceptance, and how understanding who you really are can sometimes only come from being an active participant in life. Here we goooo...

The Beginning

So, my initial sorting was a Burnt Badger/Bird. This had struck me, because I'd never considered myself a Badger in ANY media. I was seen by my friends as a borderline loner, someone who didn't need anyone else. And yet, all the signs were there.

Looking back on my life, I've always migrated in groups, always looked for a nesting ground, and truly that's all I want. A place to nest, a place to rest, where I can feel safe and surrounded by people who love me. But, after a childhood filled with bullying, I found myself embarrassed of my bold face need for friends, and, for some reason, decided getting too close to people for too long was unwise, so I could probably never have a permanent home. And yet, I always found myself in these little "groups," little packs of people that all travel together.

I've always had these friend groups, where everyone knows each other, we all hang out together, and yet it always manages to eventually fall apart. I asked one of my friends how this keeps happening, and who keeps setting up these groups. She blinked sort of vaguely and said, "uh, you do." It was such a strange realization to look back and see myself as the "shepherd" I was, always creating a flock wherever I went. I had always been the spoke of my friend wheels, the only one that was friends with everyone, or actively tried to be friends with everyone. And I would attempt to hold it together, but it would always ultimately shatter, and I'd leave to find and form another. Family is important to me, and it isn't enough for me to bond with one person. I like for all my friends to be friends with each other, for us all to hang out together and enjoy each other's company.

So, although I still struggle, Burnt Badger came out on top, and I believe is still at the top to this day. I still search for belonging. I still search for family. And, yet, my heart seems to have no intention of unburning. Until recently, I had no idea why.

On the other hand, the secondary I received, Bird, seemed to fit like a glove, and was very obvious to me. I've been called the Encyclopedia before, I was made fun of for being caught reading the dictionary like it was a book, and I always seem to have a "fun fact" for every occasion. And all of this seemed to flow directly into me trying to use these facts and this knowledge to win people over, to get to see me as someone that could be their friend, or that I could be reliable as a member of their "group." So, Burnt Badger/Bird simply made sense. The reasons for me avoiding unburning my primary were irrelevant.

The Now

I'd been gone from this side of Tumblr for a bit, and decided to return on a whim. Saw @wisteria-lodge still posting as much as ever, and saw a lot of my posts had been passed around in the meantime (thank ya by the way) and decided to dive back in, because since then, so much of my life has changed. I've had certain people out of my life for a while that were a hindrance on my self-acceptance, I've moved out of my childhood home, and left a job I've had for the past 5 years. I've been forced to constantly LIVE, to make choices, actual choices, and have been offered the chance to be who I truly am, unapologetically.

So, I took the quiz again, curious if I would come up any different.

I got Burnt Badger/Burnt Snake.

This time, I was almost insulted. A flush of memories, of past feelings came to me, most of all the need to push back, to insist in exasperation I'M NOT A LIAR, as though I was tired of defending myself. As hard as I tried, I somehow couldn't seem to get Bird secondary to reappear.... at all. Which was so crazy, because before, that was pretty much all I could get.

So, I went to the experts, the aforementioned wisteria-lodge and @sortinghatchats .

I looked through the Snake secondary tags and found myself lost in memories I had pushed down, so far down even I couldn't find them, wracked with shame and a need to hide this side of myself, something I'd hidden so well I'd pretty much convinced myself it had never existed.

Being a Bird had always been a choice for me. I decided that was what people must want, becoming intelligent, knowing all of these things, showing off, that would make people like me. But, although I can devour books like nobody's business, and I tend to worry and whinge before every major decision, feeling unprepared, I would always find myself falling short of my own expectations. The amount of times I'd promised myself and others to create a plan and study hard, ultimately fail to do so, and then lie to everyone about it was astounding. My public image continued to be "air-in-words the smart girl" but my private image was still LIAR and FAKE.

I would still somehow get all A's. I was very good at remembering facts and excellent at taking tests. I always thought of them like little tricks themselves, meant to trip you up, but if you paid attention, you could figure out the patterns and be able to bluster your way through stuff you might not even fully understand. You can figure out certain words through context clues, and I was always very comfortable trusting my memory with little preparation beforehand. And yet, I still lied and told everyone I'd studied, at least as a child, before high school.

Math was what eventually messed me up, and sent my self-image whirling into the ground. My grades suddenly went from straight A's to D's and F's. My parents were aghast, what had happened??? I was so intelligent, so smart, such a good student. What had gone wrong?? And, although I never admitted it outloud to them, I knew the answer. With math, you can't trick your way out. You either know how to do it and give the right answer, or you don't. And I had never studied a day in my life, never practiced, never worked hard at all. It was my horrible little secret and math had outed me. It continues to out me, because rather than actually work at it and get better, I managed to keep my grades through high school afloat by leaning on my other grades and taking remedial math courses with a teacher who loved me very much and would let me off easy. To this day, honestly, I can barely count. I might actually have some form of dyscalculia, but I know that if I were willing to try a little harder I could get better. But, why would I do that, when this way works just fine? Just coasting through? But, again, no one could know. Not even myself.

Through high school, I began letting people in on my secret Snake, because being a "slacker" was suddenly cool. I still couldn't let my parents know, or the teachers, but coming clean about not being a keener was what earned me new friend groups. I wasn't some weirdo who actually studied all the time: I was a kid who maybe did 60-70% of my homework and slid by on my good memory and general interest in learning. And my reputation. My reputation was key to my success.

College would be the thing that completely threw me to the ground. There were simply too many sirens singing at me, distractions pulling me away from my work. I'd never looked less like a Bird than in college. I was always skipping class, always not studying, and in fact, would openly fail most of my courses. And I just didn't seem to care. I slid into what I guess must have been a sort of neutral zone, but I wasn't happy. The mask was slipping off and I needed out. I couldn't keep up this charade anymore. It was stifling, trying to be a Bird, going to college for a very Bird degree, surrounded by actual Birds, it was all very much what I didn't want. I wanted something less "academic," less, well, boring. Maybe more Snake like.

And, so, here we are. Currently dropped out of college, living in an apartment with my friend, away from my parents' prying eyes, and with a new job that I chose for myself. On the brink of finally understanding myself, and maybe accepting myself as I am.

My Badger primary is burned because of my Snake secondary. Because I thought I was a sham, a liar, a con, and I didn't feel like I deserved to have people close to me. Those traits are bad, and I was a bad person. No one should be tricked by me.

But, after reading some of the stories from the experts and other Snake secondaries, I found this crazy thought, that perhaps being this way isn't a bad thing. Maybe I'm not a bad person. Maybe it's okay to be who I am. Maybe I can use these "powers" for good, and they aren't inherently evil.

So, at least for now, I'm choosing to identify as Burnt Badger/Burnt Snake with Bird Model. Seeing how it feels to accept myself and not try and force myself to be who I think I should be, or who others want me to be (which is a Snake secondary thing in the first place. Lol!)

For Fun, Here's Some Crazy Actual Snake Secondary Things I've Done That I'm Trying to Be Less Ashamed of Now

When I was little, I used to make up crazy stories about things I'd done to seem more interesting. The one that makes me cringe the most is that my uncle has a statue in his backyard that comes to life and goes on adventures with me. My uncle DID have a statue in his backyard that I really loved but no, it didn't (and still hasn't) come to life.

Some of these, I can't explain, like this one, where I somehow had more than one teacher convinced I'd handed in every piece of homework before the one I was giving them the sob story about that day. I literally had a teacher look me in the face, tell me I'd been handing in my homework really well thus far and knew I was trustworthy, so they'd let me slide with no mark against me. Meanwhile, I had missed the homework for the past THREE WEEKS IN A ROW. I just smiled and let it go. Variations of this situation happened throughout high school and college. And, no, I had no good reason not to do the homework. I just didn't want to do it. Lol.

I usually live in the "neutral state" around my close friends, since I think it's disrespectful not to be straight with them, but I have had to turn it on to help them occasionally. One of my friends was having issues with an ex of hers, she was thinking that maybe she should go back out with the guh, and I had been my blunt, neutral self the whole time, telling her flat out that that was a bad idea. But, it wasn't working. "Neutral state" isn't like a Lion's forceful natural state, I guess. So, I decided I would have to push her in a certain direction to help her get through it. I told her she should go back out with him, and although she did sort of call me out for lying, knowing I didn't actually want that, I told her she should if she really think she should. The dude didn't last one date without showing his ass again, and she thanked me for making her do that. Lol.

Finally, at least for this list, my most prized shameful memory, is when I was taking an acting class in college. We were supposed to create a wordless scene as our final, and I hadn't prepared anything, so I just skipped the day we were supposed to do them. But, I decided to show up for the last day to see if I could still somehow pass. She's going through the grades, and looks up and asks me, "I don't have anything written down for you, I can't remember, did you give a performance or not?" I knew I hadn't then, but decided to give one now. I told her yes I had done one, don't you remember came up with a name on the fly. The same friend from the last story was staring at me like she was about to burst. She thought for a moment, then exclaimed, "ah, of course! Yes, I think I remember. I remember you'd done pretty well. What grade did I give you?" I hedged my bets and said A-. Lol. I had never been filled with more pride shame in my life.

[ethereal-skye]

Burned Badger Secondary // Bird Model

as according to @sortinghatchats‘ system, requested by an anon.

motifs: sunflowers, sand, sea

[stellarspecter]

took the sortinghatchats quiz again and it turns out I'm just a burned hufflepuff all the way through! hate that pottermore got something right lol

[saotome-michi]

Hufflepuff Secondary with a Slytherin Model 

“Work is its own reward… but there’s nothing wrong with being clever about how you go about doing it.” 

[galahadsgurl]

This makes so much sense.

So I had always wondered why I always got Hufflepuff on Pottermore quizzes, but Slytherin always felt like it fit for me too. Well, I just took this quiz at @sortinghatchats and it EXPLAINS SO MUCH!!! 

Apparently, I am a Burned Hufflepuff Primary, with a probable (yeah, that’s not probably, it’s pretty well yes) Slytherin Primary Model, and a Hufflepuff Secondary. 

Here are my results! 

We think you're a Burned Hufflepuff Primary and a Hufflepuff Secondary.

A burned Hufflepuff can look a lot like an unburned Slytherin: a small, close-knit community of friends and family who they will do anything for; someone who doesn’t hold themselves responsible for the plights and struggles of strangers. A burned Hufflepuff has shrunk their circle of responsibility down to a manageable level. However, while that set-up is morally satisfying to a Slytherin, a Hufflepuff who has burned feels selfish when they abandon people who need them in order to prioritize the people they love most.

Hufflepuff Secondaries work. They're the ones who show up, reliable and trusted.

You also may have a Slytherin Primary Model.

Slytherin House is the house of ambition and friendship. If you model Slytherin Primary, you also value these things and like to live by them-- but you wouldn't feel guilty for dropping your ambitions, friends, and loved ones in the service of other, higher priorities (whether that's helping people in need, preserving your community values, or crusading after a cause that calls to you). But you'd like to value the close-knit loyalties and self-love of a Slytherin. It's good, solid, and satisfying. But if push came to shove, it would feel selfish to stick to that simple morality of "me and mine first."

(aesthetic belongs to NOT ME! Please tell me who owns this? It’s awesome!!!)

[knightessren]

not my fault pottermore’s a bitch idiot coward this one is my new best friend

[painted-crow]

Bird? Bird. Bird Bird.

Hey there. I've been going in circles about my sorting since I discovered the SHC system and would appreciate your help in figuring it out. Although I'm convinced I'm at least some sort of Badger and Bird combo, possibly with some Lion in there somewhere, I'll let you decide based on the word vomit below. 😆

Nonny, I have no idea how Tumblr is going to format an ask this long when I post it, so in the interest of letting people actually read the words you've put effort into (and making sure my reply is also trackable), I'm copypasting this so it'll behave more like a submission. Yours is a recent ask I think, so hopefully you see it! I'll briefly post the original once this is up, so you get the ping.

As a kid, my family called me a walking encyclopedia. I spent a lot of my time burying my head in books and magazines in an effort to understand the world around me rather than engaging with people. National Geographic, atlases, and the Magic Treehouse series were particular favorites of mine, but sometimes I would sprinkle in some fantasy novels here and there when I felt like reading something more creative and fun.

Nice, this is a whole lot of Birdsec up front. Wonder why you need me to confirm this for you.

Along with a genuine curiosity about history and science, I felt a sense of security in gathering knowledge and would let it guide my decisions (What a fucking nerd, am I rIGHT?)

Shoosh, you are perfectly cool.

Also, I would constantly correct everyone and anyone if I felt they didn't understand something or were completely uninformed, even if butting into that conversation was rude (then again, it could also be that I was too young to understand that there was a time and place for speaking).

Probably. Can I take a guess here that you were an asynchronous development (aka "gifted") kid? Maybe even twice exceptional ("gifted" and also neurodivergent)? I don't have that info obviously, I'm just guessing.

@wisteria-lodge just came out with a great post about "gifted" kids (and why that term is garbage).

A lot of twice exceptional kids get "missed" with diagnosis (hi!) and don't know there's a name and a reason for the struggles they have to deal with, especially social struggles. I can't diagnose you, of course, but that might be something to read up on if you haven't already.

(Good places to start are @adultingautistic and @adhd-alien on tumblr, or the YouTube channel HowToADHD. Be very wary of any source that's targeted almost completely towards parents of autistic or ADHDer kids, or anything that feels infantilizing in general. ND folks are just different, not broken or oversensitive or immature. If a source doesn't seem to know that, you know they have at least one huge piece of bad info. Their other stuff probably isn't better.)

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program.

It felt wrong to let them have an incomplete picture.

Ooh, an Idealist primary. Probably Bird. Could still be Lion?

I was very outspoken about what I thought was right and wrong, and why, which was usually some fun fact I had read in a book or heard through someone else.

Yeah, no, that's Bird.

Even when I would play basketball, I would play better if I understood the theoretical and technicalities of the game and how to work within the rules. I had to understand the why before I could even begin to execute. In a realm where physicality was seemingly more important, I still managed to find a playing and learning style that allowed me to stay in my head.

You are a loud Birdsec, and I suspect the reason you're piling up all this evidence for me is that you also have more unwarranted insecurity about it than the Shaq-A-Roni (not sponsored) has cheap greasy salami.

TLDR; I was an arrogant shit as a kid, lmao.

Bullshit.

I mean, maybe you acted that way. But I don't think you're seeing the whole picture.

Some kids have the bad luck to grow up interacting with adults like this...

Adult: you are Smart, and therefore worthy of Positive Attention.

Kid: ok I will work very hard at being Smart, because I value your opinion and want Positive Attention.

(later)

Kid: can I have the Positive Attention? I am very Smart. look at this Smart thing I did

Adult: bad! arrogant! only We may bestow the label of Smart, and declare worthiness of Attention, when it is convenient to Us!

Kid: but I did the same thing...

Adult: yes but now it's annoying. you should know this, you're Smart.

Of course, there is some reasoning to adults' wanting kids to learn social norms about modesty. But generally they don't explain this well, and the kids who continue to act "arrogant" are at least a little bit attention starved.

Kids wanting attention isn't a bad thing. It's a totally normal and natural need. It's not selfish of them to want feedback and praise; that's just a human thing, and kids need it for development. Kids who get called arrogant are mostly just following the rules adults have set for their interactions.

You can call an adult arrogant, but an adult has the ability to choose not to interact that way. They can opt out of the entire premise that intelligence is what makes them worthy, and they have a lot more freedom to set boundaries. Kids' choices are much more constrained, and they don't always realize they have a choice when they do, because their freedom and autonomy is always growing and it takes time to figure out how to use that. (Also because they don't always have the freedom and safety they should.)

So if you grew up in an environment like this, even if that interaction above was... more subtle, you shouldn't blame yourself for the coping mechanism you picked up--even if it feels bad or shameful to look back on, or you want to act differently now. Feeling shame is also normal, it's just not very productive. Once more I'll point at the works of Brené Brown--you can probably find her books in the library.

Since you're a Birdsec, I wonder if you ever had a "Trying To Impress You" Actor Bird mask. I definitely did, and it became so automatic that it took me ages to realize that it was there and I could take it off. Then I discovered how much energy that thing had been taking to maintain. Yikes.

This garbage isn't limited to one Sorting, btw. The school system and societal expectations fling it at all of us.

Being self-deprecating, and calling yourself nerdy, arrogant, or other labels like that can stem the accusations of arrogance, but it's not the healthiest way to talk to or about yourself. You don't need to put yourself down. You don't need to impress anyone. You're worthy whether you impress people or not.

Be kind to your child-self, is what I'm saying. It's hard, but remember they're a kid, and they're still part of you. Have compassion for them.

During my high school years, I developed social anxiety which also led to depression. Through a lot of therapy and some friends that I would use as a sounding board, it became apparent that the main trigger for my anxiety was concern with doing the right thing in dealing with people (as well as the usual fear of judgment and suffocating feeling of being around large crowds).

Yeah, primary anxiety. Not fun. Also, maybe,,, RSD? Again, not here to diagnose you with anything, just something to read up on.

My thinking was very big picture, too much at times, and I was so worried about considering every single variable and possibility that analysis paralysis became a common frustration for me.

Do I have some sort of bias that's affecting how I treat this person? Why does this work for me but not for this other person? Am I being ignorant by choosing this? Am I really getting to the bottom of this issue or did I make a wrong turn somewhere and now have completely lost sight of it?

Textbook Exploded Bird. Hugs, that's tough.

It looked a lot like caring about what other people thought of me, but really I was concerned with how my thinking and opinions could be negatively affecting those around me.

I wonder who this voice is, cutting you down. The implication that you're obsessed with your own image, how people see you, is a common thread between this and the "arrogance" thing you're worried about. Does that accusation really come from you? Or was it something someone else told you?

You're not just self-conscious. Someone has taught you to be self-conscious about being self-conscious. And look, maybe they meant well or whatever, but this isn't helping you.

(Also, this anxious self-examination? It's a stressed-out Birdpri habit. Your Sorting is the easiest part of this ask to answer.)

Hurting someone else was the result of a flaw in my system. The way that I treated people was a direct reflection of who I was and my goodness as a person; if I made a wrong decision and hurt somebody, then I was a monster.

You and the Bird from my last ask. (Unless you're the same person, lol.) Go read that post here.

And, being somewhat young at the time, I made wrong decisions constantly.

Well, yeah. Everyone does.

I would constantly ask friends, "Should I have done X instead?" in order to gain perspective on every single tiny detail of a social situation. It got so bad that I was extremely burnt out by the middle of my sophomore year and struggled with basic social interactions. I was paralyzed. (Is this what Burning is like? Not totally sure. Maybe just Undecided?)

It's more Explodey, but could be charred too. Again, see that linked post.

Over the years, I had to learn how to not constantly analyze myself and my motivations because it was heavily affecting my quality of life. I have since gotten better, but still do fall into the trap of over-psychoanalyzing myself from time to time, much to my friends' dismay.

Hey, recovery! We love to see it ❤

Even if it's not perfect, this is still really important for you. You're working to move past the struggles you've had to deal with. Congrats! ✨

One pattern that I have noticed over the course of my life is that people trust me more quickly than they trust other people, hence the mediator reputation. I think there is a part of that that was related to my social status and the fact that I wouldn't have anyone to tell, nonetheless being able to help others helped me develop a lot of confidence and decent interpersonal/communication skills.

Did you pick up a Badgersec model/performance/Actor Bird mask as your default social mode? It's possible, and if so, same :p

I have had people who have told me about their mental illnesses, childhood trauma, secret hate for their s/o or family member, etc within a week of knowing them. (For a while it got to the point of me being a bit of an enabler of toxic behaviors, which I've corrected since then) Most of them are lucky that I'm nice enough to keep their secrets, lol.

I get this too--outside the blog, I mean, and completely unprompted. It's kind of strange when it just... happens to you!

That's an experience connected with Badger secondaries and Badgersec models.

I did have one incident recently that involved one person in my friend group crossing of boundaries so blatantly and harmfully and constant gaslighting that I confided in a few friends about how I'd been mistreated and what this person had told me about themselves as reasons that I thought they were a terrible person, and within a few days that person was out of the group.

I didn't need to lie, I didn't need to exaggerate the truth, and I didn't even need to do much else other than tell these few friends about the red flags, and they still took my side. It felt horrible at the time, and still does as I retell it, and I constantly ask myself how I let this person lie to and confuse me for so long without realizing it.

Well done, asking for support when you needed it! Aside from protecting yourself (a worthy and important cause), you protected your friends from this person potentially doing the same thing to them.

Also, you have good friends. And probably a Badgersec model.

Don't blame yourself for not defending yourself earlier, either. It takes time and experience to learn how to set boundaries and figure out when someone is acting in bad faith.

In the least rude way possible, I have to ask: do you have access to therapy? You need some self-compassion, you're way too hard on yourself. That's not a judgment on you; a lot of the advice I'm offering, I gathered from personal experience.

(Hopefully I'm not just projecting. I have to make a lot of guesses in these posts.)

I'm sorry for the lengthy ask, but hopefully there was some helpful information somewhere within that whole shpeel.

I think you already knew you were a double Bird, underneath all the self-doubt. You just needed someone to tell you that you're a good enough double Bird.

It's okay. You are. You belong, I promise.

- Paint

[wisteria-lodge]

Character Analysis - Sorting Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

a quick note on why I’m moving away from the HP terminology

So @sortinghatchats is brilliant. Absolutely my favorite character (and person!) analysis system. Instead of one house, you get two - a PRIMARY (your motivation, why you do things), and a SECONDARY (your toolbox, how you get things done.) A very stripped down refresher --

IDEALIST PRIMARY Lion/Gryffindor - I do what I feel is right. (MORAL) Bird/Ravenclaw - I do what I decide is correct. (LOGICAL) LOYALIST PRIMARY Badger/Hufflepuff - I do what helps my community (PEOPLE MATTER) Snake/Slytherin - I do what helps me/my inner circle (MY PEOPLE MATTER)

IMPROVISATIONAL SECONDARY Lion/Gryffindor- Charge! React! Smash the system! Snake/Slytherin- Transform, adapt, find the loophole. BUILT SECONDARY Bird/Ravenclaw - Plan, make tools, gather information. Badger/Hufflepuff - Community-build, caretake, call in favors.

Now let’s talk Sherlock Holmes!!!

***

Mycroft Holmes has a terrifying Bird secondary. He knows everything. He sees everything. He holds all the information in his head, all the time, and can tell you exactly how it connects. “Spymaster Mycroft” didn’t become proper fanon until 1970: in the books he’s more like a human computer, or a Mentat from Dune. This man is incapable of improvising. He hates casual conversation, hates changing his routine, just wants to sit and process and plan. He is the cartoon version of a Bird secondary.  

Mycroft is so insanely ‘big picture’ that he barely notices specific individuals. He’s off in in the corner thinking about currency regulation and the situation in Siam. In “The Greek Interpreter” he hears about a woman who might be starving to death… and sort of vaguely puts it on his to-do list. Sherlock ends up handling it.

You could make a case for either a Bird or Lion primary. But I’m going with Lion. Mycroft values instinct like Lions do (”All my instincts are against this explanation.”) And Sherlock describes him as someone who “would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.” This is teasing, but it’s a joke about a Lion who just sort of feels the answer, not a Bird who needs a reason to be correct. Mycroft’s Cause, the one we see him respond to emotionally, is the smooth functioning of his world. He has a little pocket carved out for his brother, but if he had to choose between the country that he embodies and Sherlock Holmes’ well-being, it’d be England every time.

Knowing that Mycroft has that much power but doesn’t care about individual people makes Sherlock... uncomfortable. It takes him a while to even mention his brother to Watson. And then he lies about how important Mycroft’s job is. Thematically, this where Moriarty comes in. James Moriarty – the older genius hiding deep in the establishment, running a criminal empire from behind a tenured professorship, never getting his hands dirty – is Dark Mycroft. Because Sherlock is pretty sure his brother is one of the good guys. He’s pretty sure Mycroft isn’t going to break bad and go full-on ‘ends justify the means’ supervillain.

But… like… he could.

Sherlock Holmes is also defined by his Bird secondary. His deductions, data, knowledge of crime – it’s his loudest trait. But it’s a model. He tells us it’s a model. This “habit of observation and inference which I formed into a system” is something he built – and honestly, he probably built it for Mycroft. The Holmes brothers don’t do conversations, they have deduction games. Sherlock never wins, but at least he plays on Mycroft’s level.

(Everything about Sherlock Holmes makes more sense when you think about Mycroft. Like the “brain-attic” metaphor. How did Sherlock get this idea that there’s some fast-approaching limit to the actual pieces of information he can fit in his head at once? Because he knows someone with far, far greater processing power).

Underneath this logical Bird secondary model, Sherlock Holmes has something that looks a lot more Snake He’s moody and mercurial. He improvises on the violin to help himself think. He loves acting. He loves disguises. He crushes on Irene Adler because their Snake secondaries have so much fun playing together. And when it’s important, Holmes goes full-on Snake. Need to get Watson away from Moriarty? Better forge a letter sending him on a fake errand.

And as far as primaries go...  he’s a Badger. Sherlock Holmes cares about people. Oh wow does he care about people. If he doesn’t protect his client, it’s not a win – even if he solved the case with some brilliant bit of detection. He despises blackmailers, because they destroy lives in a cold, impersonal way. (At least murderers care.) He doesn’t mean to upset people with his deductions, and apologizes when he gets too coldly Bird: “Pray accept my apologies. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem, I had a forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you.” When Watson talks about the “depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask,” Holmes is thirty seconds away from going vigilante killer because somebody hurt John Watson.

But the feeling isn’t just Watson-centric. Holmes doesn’t require Watson at his side the way a Snake would, because as long as he knows Watson is safe and happy, he is content. Holmes need-bases. It’s important that he works for people who need him. He generally dislikes working for the rich or upper-class (Soviet Russian Sherlock Holmes was totally a thing, they didn’t have to change much). He also has a *real* problem with overworking himself, which is very much a Badger primary and not Snake primary thing to do

He even community-builds. His Baker Street Irregulars, his connections over at Scotland yard, his tribe of interesting contacts and informants. Holmes values community. To him, community = safe. He loves London, but isolated rural areas makes him nervous:

“[in London] there is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbors, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going... But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields… think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.”

And don’t get me wrong. Holmes loves his double Bird armor. It makes him feel powerful, and hides the fact that he cares so damn much. He likes to pretend he doesn’t: to care is to be weak, ineffective, and untrustworthy. (Mycroft is probably to blame for this bit of thinking too.) But Sherlock Holmes is still able to take off his Bird. He takes it off around Watson. 

Dr. John Watson is a bright charging Lion secondary who is completely incapable of telling a lie. He’s ex-military. He’s Holmes’ muscle/backup. He’s got a gambling problem. And the thing about Holmes and Watson’s dynamic is that while Holmes calls the shots about 90% percent of the time, when it’s important – Watson goes full unstoppable-force Lion. And Holmes just buckles.

“Well, I don’t like it ; but I suppose it must be,” said I. “When do we start?” “You are not coming.” “Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honor – and I never broke it in my life – that I will take a cab straight to the police station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you” “You can’t help me.” “How do you know that? You can’t tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken.” Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so.”

Watson’s absolutely a Lion Primary too. First going into medicine, then joining the army even when that’s not the best career move? At the beginning of A Study in Scarlet, Watson is in terrible shape. Can’t sleep. Can’t stand loud noises. He’s “spending such money as I had considerably more freely than I ought.” But it’s not so much the PTSD as it is the the lack of purpose that’s getting to him. He talks a lot about his “meaningless existence” and how how “objectiveless was my life.” That’s a hurting, burned Lion, without a Cause.

And then Sherlock Holmes stumbles in. Overnight Watson’s life has meaning. He is going to help Holmes bring criminals to justice. He is going to make sure Holmes gets the recognition he deserves. And he’s going to get him clean. (ACD gets massive kudos for being against recreational cocaine and morphine use). The things Watson loves about Holmes, things like his “high sense of professional honor” – those are things that get under the skin of a Lion Primary. This is a guy with pictures of abolitionist preachers framed on his wall. John Watson’s not subtle. 

“You don’t mind breaking the law?” [said Holmes] “Not in the least.” “Nor running a chance of arrest?” “Not in a good cause.” “Oh, the cause is excellent!” “Then I am your man.”

And of course, Holmes got lucky in Watson too. Holmes is a Loyalist primary who distrusts other Loyalist primaries – you can’t really blame him, he comes across so many repulsive ones in his day job. (Interestingly, the handful of times Holmes absolutely misreads a motive – “Yellow Face,” “Missing Three-Quarter,” “Scandal in Bohemia” – it’s because he’s going up against a Loyalist primary who is using their powers for good.) 

But Watson is a trustworthy, dependable, predicable, honorable, Idealist who can  look like a Loyalist because his Cause is so focused on one person. So Holmes can be secure in his doctor’s devotion while also getting to lean on the instincts of someone just unflinchingly moral.

tl;dr

Mycroft Holmes – Lion Bird. An extremely big picture Lion whose Cause involves keeping England together. He’s the light-side counterpart of Professor Moriarty.

Sherlock Holmes – Badger Snake. Builds a loud Double Bird model, partly for pleasure, partly have a relationship with his brother, and partly because dealing with so many low-life Loyalist primaries makes him distrust those instincts in himself.

Dr. John Watson - Double Lion. When we meet him he’s pretty burned, due to his twin Causes of Queen and Country not really working out. Luckily, he meets Sherlock Holmes, and finds a new Cause in him.

[bolinity]

(i keep thinking about how I kept getting a hat stall between gryffindor and hufflepuff primaries for bolin in that sorting hat thing. It took me forever to decide which should be his main primary house and his model primary house lol

secondary was easy though.)

[honey-hybrid]

My Sortinghatchats Houses: My Results

I did the Sortinghatchats quiz over on itch.io, https://ejadelomax.itch.io/sortinghatchats Your Primary House defines WHY you do things: your reasons, motivations, and drive. Your Secondary defines HOW: your methods, actions, and behaviors.

And these are my results: I’m a Slytherin Primary (Or possible Burned Hufflepuff Primary).

I care about those close to me, and I’d do almost anything for the people I consider my friends and family. I’m ambitious and I follow my own rules. I actually have a list of directions of how to react, act in and deal with certain situations. My empathy is actually rather low, so I learned my own brand of ‘empathy’ to make up for that, so I can be there for the people I care about. I can be selfish at times, or seem that way. My own desires are what drive me, a good portion of my desires though are for the people I care deeply about to be happy. I try to stick with the ones I care the most about. 

I’m a Griffindor Secondary

I have my own rules that I abide by, and I meet my problems head on, I try my best to be and can be a lot of the times direct and blunt to the point of hurting peoples feelings. I hate going by the rules or being limited, I don’t like being told what to do and I adore chaos. I tend to find myself in situations where theres discord or strife and I can get carried away. I have my own brand of integrity and I absolutely will stand up for what I believe in. I know how to face my fears.

[viridianllamasinthesilentspace]

Sorting “Hadestown”

Our Hades cares about very few things, but when he cares, he cares intensely: Namely, about Persephone, Hadestown, and the system of rules he uses to govern it. The prequel song we get about his past with Persephone, Epic II, is a story about a Slytherin who “unpetrifies”. He starts off cruel and overly logical, made of metal and machines—

Heavy and hard is the heart of the king King of iron, king of steel The heart of the king loves everything Like the hammer loves the nail

—but upon meeting Persephone, he’s so struck by her beauty (and, we’ll assume, the beauty of her personality) that he unpetrifies.

But even that hardest of hearts unhardened Suddenly, when he saw her there Persephone, in her mother’s garden Sun on her shoulders, wind in her hair

The smell of the flowers she held in her hand And the pollen that fell from her fingertips And suddenly Hades was only a man With a taste of nectar upon his lips

This song also gives us a dual framing of Hades that gets developed throughout the rest of the album, that of The Man and The King. The Man Hades loves Persephone and that’s pretty much it. He’s a one-person Slytherin [Primary]. The King Hades has an Idealist Primary model, and he gives a walk-through of his system in his catechism-inspired Why We Build the Wall. The way he approaches this system, as a logical call-and-response, points to his Ravenclaw Secondary. We see that in other places, too, first when he seduces Eurydice with talk of practicality and stability, and again when he talks about how the danger in Orpheus is his ability to create a ripple in Hades’ plans and bring the whole thing crashing down around them.

In Hadestown, Hades runs the mines and often talks about money. The contrast with Orpheus’ pull toward the natural (see Wedding Song) is in what makes the things associated with Hades valuable and that his whole operation is based on taking something naturally occurring (ore, raw gems) and inducting them into a created system of value. This association of Hades with man-made industries like mines and money, and possibly some bleed-over from his Secondary, make him feel like a Ravenclaw; but we don’t actually know enough about how he came upon his system to discern whether or not it is. If he’s got a Gryffindor model instead, it’s likely a Stripped Gryff—one that wished once for a higher idealism but has had to settle for something that feels more “realistic”. This would explain his particularly sharp disdain for the bright-eyed Orpheus, and why Hades’s bargain is particularly and cruelly designed to shatter a Gryffindor.

Either way, though, it’s his Idealist model and not his Slytherin Primary that Orpheus upsets, threatening to throw a wrench in the delicate balance of order and power in his city (which he bemoans in How Long? and His Kiss, the Riot).

Whether or not Persephone chose to marry Hades isn’t talked about in Hadestown, but either way, she’s made the best of the situation with her beautifully community-based Hufflepuff Secondary. We meet her amidst a throng of workers, whose affection she obviously has, as she offers them spring leaves and summer rain and a glimpse of the sun, because she empathizes with them and this will make them happy.

Wipe away your tears, brother Brother, I know how you feel I can see you’re blinded by the sadness of it all But look a little closer and Everything will be revealed Look a little closer and There’s a crack in the wall

Her big reveal is that she has access to a crack in the wall around Hadestown, something that Hades doesn’t know about and specifically believes would, if it existed, bring down the entire system he has in place.

Persephone’s ability to keep this from Hades speaks not only to her general competence, but also speaks to the narrative’s awareness that Hades’ system is too rigid. It’s flawed, and Persephone knows it. But she neither tells him nor seems to lack loyalty to him because of it. In Too Long, she puts her foot down because Hades is her husband and she demands respect from him, and while they argue, they are specifically united in the final chorus and subsequent songs as lovers. She is loyal to him, and from what we see, I think it’s a Slytherin Primary’s loyalty.

While she argues for Orpheus’ chance to reunite with Eurydice, she never gets upset about it (or anything, really). It seems to be more of a “But, Hades, they’re so cute! And it’s really harmless, I promise,” type of situation, with her interest being that of a Hufflepuff Primary model. A Hufflepuff Primary model would also explain her apparent care for the workers. She loves them and cares for them because it makes her happy, but not because she feels obligated. While there’s definitely room in the text to argue for a Hufflepuff/Hufflepuff Persephone, the way I read her, she would be able to drop the workers without feeling any guilt. Caring about them is the way she enjoys herself and works toward the same socially harmonious ends as her husband; but it isn’t so much a moral calling for her.

And, after all, who better to run Hadestown’s black market than a Slytherpuff who models Puff and is married to the Boss? She’s powerful, selfish, and ruthless, but also genuine, kind, and caring. Adored, respected, and having the time of her life, helping her husband rule from behind the scenes.

Our protagonist, Orpheus, is a Gryffindor/Gryffindor who’s bitter about the failure of the world to live up to his standards of fairness. Forever the artist, singing about beautiful fantasy times in Wedding Song, he throws himself whole-heartedly into their romance and charges bravely after Eurydice when she goes with Hades. Not acting seems not to be an option for him. If Eurydice has left, then he will follow after.

Wait for me, I’m coming Wait, I’m coming with you

This means that when he crashes, he crashes hard. In If It’s True, Orpheus is balancing his misery over, potentially, never getting Eurydice back from Hades with his distrust of everyone who’s telling him so. He doesn’t trust the world to be honest and just, so he has to trust his own drive and his own guidance. It is more reliable than people telling him what is and is not possible or worthwhile.

And in Doubt, his doubts catch up to him. The pressure of the world telling him it’s impossible, that it’s hopeless, that he’s lost Eurydice for good, becomes too much and pushes past his own internal Gryffindor compass. We don’t see him after he turns around and loses Hades’ challenge, but it would not be far-fetched to think that he “stripped”, at least a little. It is that loss of faith in the internal compass that best breaks a Gryffindor. The irony of his story is that he would have succeeded if not for that doubt.

Doubt comes in With tricky fingers Doubt comes in With fickle tongues Doubt comes in and my heart falters And forgets the songs it sung Where are you? Where are you now?

Wedding Song is a sweet and fun song about being in love and planning your future together and finding happiness during hard times. But the call and response the two lovers have is more complicated than that; they don’t share perspectives even once during the song, both stuck on their own mental tracks. Eurydice wants to be pragmatic about their future together while Orpheus wants to revel in daydreams about it. He’s charging with all of his romance into their future, and she’s trying to ground them. That she presumably finds this cute doesn’t make it any less indicative of a relationship problem. After all, Hades convinces her to come with him by promising to provide what Orpheus can’t: food, warmth, a place to lie down...and a Ravenclaw Secondary.

Hey, little songbird, let me guess He’s some kind of poet—and he’s penniless Give him your hand, he’ll give you his hand-to-mouth He’ll write you a poem when the power’s out Hey, why not fly south for the winter?

It’s a calculated decision, because everything she does is calculated. And whether or not Hades knows that about her, he’s offering practicality to her just as much as he’s offering stability.

Flowers is a song mourning the life she left behind, because that’s important, too, and because she feels tricked by Hades’ cruelty toward Orpheus. This is a song about her exhaustion, and the sourness of burning enough to give up her old community. This is a very Hufflepuff song, and is somewhat about her “burning”. I don’t think she burns entirely, but her resignation to a new community without actively trying to keep her old one speaks to at least a little burning.

I remember someone Someone by my side Turned his face to mine And then I turned away Into the shade You, the one I left behind If you ever walk this way Come and find me lying In the bed I made

By the end of the story, she isn’t spiraling a Gryffindor spiral of the injustice of Orpheus’ banishment from Hadestown. She isn’t a Slytherin who’s petrifying so she doesn’t have to feel the pain of losing Orpheus. She isn’t a Ravenclaw who’s adopted a new system. She’s a Hufflepuff who’s made friends with Persephone and is wishing Orpheus a good life, even if their lives are now meant to be separate, and even if she’s edging closer toward Burned than she was before—because that’s the logical thing to do. Eurydice’s journey is one of changing community, and she deals with it like the beautiful Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw that she is. In Hadestown, she never stops loving Orpheus, but leaves for the practical reason that if she does, she’s guaranteed a life where she no longer has to worry about where her next meal is going to come from.

TL;DR

Hades: Slytherin/Ravenclaw with either a Ravenclaw Primary or Stripped Gryffindor model.

Persephone: Slytherin/Hufflepuff with a Hufflepuff Primary model.

Orpheus: Gryffindor/Gryffindor.

Eurydice: Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw, who burns just a little.