#[slam dunks anise into slytherin]

[arcelian]

Tales of the Abyss Hogwarts Houses

Here's something I've been working on for... almost two years apparently??  Some friends and I started an Abyss Harry Potter AU a while back, and sortinghatchats was brought up, and I ended up trying to sort all the main characters using their system.  So here it finally is!

Obvious disclaimer: while I've had feedback from said friends while making this it's still ultimately subjective; I've written explanations for all the main chars (protags and villains) but if you disagree with any of these that's okay! (and you should tell me because I will be interested!!)  There's also some bonus major npcs at the end that I didn't write explanations for bc they're.... bonus....

Also disclaimer: this uses sortinghatchats' two-house sorting system, so if you've never heard of it before you might want to look at this post first so you don't get confused by my references to primaries and secondaries and other stuff!

Full thing under the cut bc Long.

Heroes

Luke: Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Luke is definitely Hufflepuff primary, even before his character development; he was so isolated that he didn’t really have much understanding of or attachment to anyone outside of the manor, but even then he was quick to empathize with others.  Even pre-development he shows concern for others’ wellbeing, shown most explicitly with Ion and with his reluctance to kill.  Most of his role models as a child are very discriminatory, so he tends towards that at first, but by the endgame he’s trying to save everyone, up to and including his enemies who are actively trying to kill him.

For secondary, he’s the most ridiculously stubborn Gryffindor I’ve ever seen, to the point that the rest of the party yelling at him about how he’s making incredibly stupid, impulsive decisions is a fairly regular occurrence, even post-development.  He almost has to be physically dragged out of Sheridan during the disaster, he chases Spinoza halfway across the world to prove a point to Asch, etc.

Tear: Gryffindor/Gryffindor

Tear is the sort of person who prioritizes justice and morality above anything else.  She is kind and apologetic to Luke when they first meet, then treats him coldly when she starts seeing him as rude and selfish, then is the first person to support his efforts to become a better person.  She’s also willing to turn against anyone, even her own family or the Order of Lorelei itself, if she feels their actions are unjust, and will do whatever it takes to correct that injustice.  She is capable of performing Slytherin when necessary, but she feels most at home in Gryffindor.

Guy: Slytherin/Hufflepuff (models/adopts Hufflepuff primary & Slytherin secondary)

Guy’s a bit hard to get a handle on at first, but if you look close he’s actually Slytherin primary; he’s just very warm and friendly in his regular interactions.  However, there’s really only a few people he’s very attached to; before and during the beginning of the game, that includes his family, but that expands to include Luke, and the rest of the core party to a lesser extent.  He also adopts Luke’s Hufflepuff mindset as a moral code for the part of the world he’s not emotionally invested in, which is what causes the confusion.

He is Hufflepuff secondary though, perfectly happy to spend years on his revenge plan, or sit in Aramis Spring for hours, or devote himself to helping Luke grow.  He can model Slytherin as a secondary as well, but in the end his more favoured tactic is calm, stubborn persistence.

Natalia: Gryffindor/Gryffindor (models Hufflepuff primary)

Natalia has Hufflepuff leanings as well, but ultimately she’s actually Gryffindor.  She values her people, yes, but that’s because she believes that it’s her duty as a princess, so she models Hufflepuff.  However, in the end, she puts that duty above all else, as she does when she chooses to fight Largo for the sake of her people, for example.  She does slip towards burning for a short time during the heritage plot, but manages to pull herself back up.  By the time of the peace conference, she’s returned to doing what Gryff/Gryffs do best: seeing injustice and marching straight in to right it.

Jade: Slytherin/Ravenclaw (models Ravenclaw primary)

Jade is almost always the smartest person in the room, and he takes pleasure in knowing that (and lording it over everyone else).  He’s also incredibly logical and methodical, trying to study a situation from every angle before deciding on a course of action - he just happens to have enough experience to do this incredibly quickly.  Overall Jade is a good example of a hypercompetent Ravenclaw secondary - his ability to draw on an extensive knowledge base is what makes him such an effective threat.

Despite that, when push comes to shove he really wants to protect his people over all else, and when he’s sufficiently stressed he begins to fall back on this instinct, which is why he’s a Slytherin primary with a Ravenclaw model, and not a Ravenclaw ignoring his gut feelings to do what’s logical to him.  For example, his pre-Rem conversation: “I would ask you to die, yes. If I were an Emperor, with a country to consider.  But as your friend, I feel compelled to stop you.”  Jade’s desire to follow his Ravenclaw-model idea of what is correct is ultimately secondary to his Slytherin instinct to protect his own.

This is also shown during his backstory: Nebilim was part of his inner circle, and her death and Jade’s failure at properly replicating her causes him to begin to Petrify.  His Ravenclaw model was built primarily as a way of coping with this loss and preventing it from happening again.

Interestingly enough, by the end of the game Jade’s added Luke to his inner circle, to the point of adopting some of Luke’s Hufflepuff primary tendencies, shown with his plans to resume his fomicry studies for the sake of the remaining replicas.

Anise: Slytherin/Slytherin

Anise is incredibly Slytherin!  Her major motivation is protecting Ion and her parents, and she will do anything to further that goal, including lying, spying, and sucking up to every rich person she meets.  Most of Anise’s struggles during the game are a result of her guilt over being forced to act against her inner circle (her parents, Ion, and eventually the rest of the party).  This comes to a head during her traitor subplot, when she’s forced to choose between her parents and Ion, shows off her Slytherin secondary with her plan to save both, and is heartbroken when her attempts ultimately fail.

Asch: Burned Slytherin/Gryffindor

Asch started off as a Slytherin primary, with his family, Natalia, and Van among his inner circle, but was Burned after the kidnapping incident and stopped trusting anyone.  During the events of the game, the group, especially Natalia, started to pull him out of the burned state, but he wasn’t able to do so entirely before the endgame.

On the other hand, Asch is, like Luke, a Gryffindor secondary.  He’s stubborn and hardheaded, refusing to follow any path but his own, especially when Luke is involved.  He’s also surprisingly blunt and honest, choosing to explain things to Luke at the beginning of the second act despite his personal feelings towards him.  Unfortunately, the combination of this secondary and his burnt Primary lead him to ignore the party’s suggestions and offers to help, which ultimately lead to his downfall.

Villains

Van: Burned Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Van is a good example of a villainous Gryffindor.  When he was young he was likely an idealist, believing in the Score, or at least his family’s duty as descendants of Yulia - but when Hod was destroyed, he lost his faith in those duties and Burned his primary.  He chose to destroy the Score that betrayed him, and by extension the world that allowed it to exist, and refuses to be swayed by any outside arguments because he is no longer capable of seeing any other solution.  And he chooses to sacrifice anything that could get in the way of his goal, even his sister or the lord he was sworn to protect.

To reach that goal, Van spends years working his way up to the position of Commandant in the Order, charming and manipulating everyone around him, and just generally being a very effective Hufflepuff secondary.  Van’s most dangerous attribute is his relentlessness, with his ability to gain people’s trust as a close second.  Using it, he manages to draw the God-Generals and Mohs to his side, and several others including Luke only oppose him once they’re far enough from him to break free from his influence.

Interestingly enough, Van’s sorting is an inversion of Luke’s, with his Gryff/Puff opposing Luke’s Puff/Gryff.

Legretta: Burned Slytherin/Ravenclaw

Legretta is another Burned Slytherin primary, with her brother’s death and her confrontation with Van as the catalyst for her primary burning.  By the time the game happens she’s stopped being able to trust her heart, because she’s no longer sure whether her feelings are actually hers or if they’re being caused by the Score.  In the meantime, she’s adopted a rather Ravenclaw-like mindset in order to cope with her loss of trust: her reason for destroying the Score is to find out whether or not it’s manipulating her feelings.  The Score is the greatest threat to both her and her loved ones, and until she can confirm that she’s safe from it she refuses to let herself care about anyone.

She is, however, a true Ravenclaw in her secondary, with her gambit to follow Van to restore her primary showing that off best.  She is careful and methodical, following the plan to the best of her abilities, thorough in everything she does.  This even shows in the flashback to her assassination attempt, as she apparently did enough research beforehand into the Closed Score and Van’s actions to know that her brother’s death was foretold there.

Dist: Slytherin/Gryffindor

As a Slytherin primary, Dist is an extreme example of the ‘selfish ambition’ Slytherin stereotype.  His ultimate goal is to win back Jade’s approval, to make Jade happy; it’s the driving force behind all his actions.  Unfortunately for him, he fundamentally misunderstands who Jade is and what he wants, which is why he’s so unsuccessful in reaching that goal, but that is his goal regardless.

Dist also tries to emulate Jade’s Ravenclaw secondary, playing the part of the scheming mad scientist, but unfortunately for him he’s actually a Gryffindor secondary.  During most of his interactions with the party, he ends up resorting to stubborn tenaciousness to try and get what he wants.  He brags and taunts, throws robots around liberally, and absolutely refuses to consider any other options, no matter how many times Jade brushes him off.

Largo: Burned Gryffindor/Gryffindor

Like Natalia, Largo is both Gryffindor primary and secondary, but unlike her, his primary is Burned, caused by the loss of his wife and child.  He could no longer believe the Score was just, and he couldn’t trust his king to do what he believes is right.  Largo doesn’t follow Van because he believes Van’s plan is any better than the Score, though; it’s because he can no longer see a path that’s truly ‘right,’ so he latched onto Van’s convictions in an attempt to find stability.  He became the muscle of Van’s faction, preferring to use brute force and implacability over his allies’ less straightforward methods.

However, Largo still holds onto the shreds of his Gryffindor ideals.  He may not know for himself what is right, but he still places value on the idea of justice, and respects anyone who can wholeheartedly believe in something, even if he can’t agree with it.  It’s what convinced him to side with Van, but it also shows in his conversations around his final battle, as he praises Luke, Natalia, and the rest of the party for standing up for their own beliefs.

Sync: Burned Slytherin/Slytherin

Sync is a Burned Slytherin at its most extreme, caring for nothing and nobody, including himself.  Van comes the closest to being part of Sync’s circle, but in the end Sync follows him more because of their shared goal than out of any significant emotional attachment.  Sync’s Slytherin primary is also what makes it easy for him to follow Van’s plans - he has no loyalty or attachment to the world in general, and thus feels no guilt over destroying it.

Sync’s secondary is also Slytherin, as his preferred method is manipulating and toying with others instead of meeting them straight on.  He uses the curse slot he put on Guy to attack the party several times, sneaks onto the Tartarus during the planet core mission to wreak havoc, and after Ion’s death he uses their similar appearance to mess with Anise.

Arietta: Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Arrietta as a Hufflepuff primary sounds odd at first, but that’s because her Puff loyalty is very different from the stereotype.  Like most Puffs, she cares about people - but Arietta’s definition of ‘people’ is almost exclusively her monster family and friends.  With a few exceptions, she doesn’t seem to see humans as worthy of her time or respect; it’s arguable that she doesn’t even perceive herself as ‘human,’ identifying with her monsters more.  Ion, of course, is the rare human exception, with the other God-Generals counting only through Van’s connection with Ion.  However, the rest of humanity is beneath her notice, and she treats the party with active malice.  They killed her family, after all - to Arietta it’s the humans that are the real monsters.

She also shows a Gryffindor-secondary tendency to run into things headfirst, trusting her gut to do what seems right in the moment instead of doing any complicated planning.  Arrietta fights the party mainly because of her grudge over her liger mother’s death, with Van’s plans being secondary.  She also gives the party information on a whim when Ion is threatened, and just as impulsively challenges Anise to a duel after Ion’s death.

Mohs: Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Mohs is the type of Hufflepuff that prioritizes loyalty to a community or group over loyalty to the people in it.  For him, his priority is the Order of Lorelei, and all its religious ideals and traditions - he is the only major faction leader who is unable to let go of the Score when everyone else chooses to abandon it, and he resorts to increasingly desperate measures to cling to his duty.  The Score is an intrinsic part of his identity, and he just can’t cope with the knowledge that it might not be the perfect promise he believed it was.  He spends the second half of the game trying desperately not to Burn, because if the Score is destroyed, his entire identity will go with it.

Meanwhile, his tendency to use whatever means possible - even if it’s underhanded or deceitful - to ensure the Score is carried out proves his Slytherin secondary.  Even beyond his following the Order’s rules of controlling information access for the Score’s sake, he manipulates King Ingobert to try and get rid of Luke, and even goes as far as allying with the God-Generals when he thinks it’ll help him succeed.

Other

Ion - Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Mieu - Slytherin/Hufflepuff

Peony - Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Ingobert - Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Duke Fabre - Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Ginji & Noelle - Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Nephry - Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Cecille - Slytherin/Hufflepuff

Frings - Gryffindor/Gryffindor

(also shoutout to jeredu lyra slip rei for Making Hogwarts AU and thus This Post Happen)