Harry Potter introduced the audience to a variety of magical objects, and one of the most memorable ones is the Sorting Hat, whose decisions in the first movie have been questioned over the years, making way for a theory on how it really sorts Hogwarts students. The Wizarding World is one of the richest and most beloved worlds in the fantasy genre, and it all started in 1997 with the publishing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in a series of seven novels telling the story of “The Boy Who Lived” and Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all who had dangerous plans for both the Muggle and Wizard world.
The Harry Potter book series made the jump to the big screen in 2001, with the saga coming to an end in 2011 after the seventh novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was split into two movies. The Harry Potter saga continues to be one of the most beloved movie series in film history, and while the Wizarding World keeps expanding now with the Fantastic Beasts series, the Harry Potter movies, their events, characters, and objects continue to be analyzed by viewers, who come up with a variety of theories to explain some of the saga’s biggest mysteries that can’t be explained by the books, either.
One of the most memorable and iconic objects from the Wizarding World is the Sorting Hat, a sentient, magical hat used to sort the youngest Hogwarts students into their respective houses. However, the Sorting Hat’s decisions have been questioned by viewers, leading to the question of how exactly it determines which house each student belongs to, and this has made way for a theory that says the Sorting Hat can actually see the future.
How Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat Works
As mentioned above, the Sorting Hat is a sentient, magical hat used to determine which of the four Hogwarts Houses – Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff – each new student belonged most to. The Sorting Hat once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, and according to the legends, it was a normal hat until Gryffindor and the other Hogwarts founders enchanted it with their combined intelligence, thus solving the problem of how students would be sorted when the four of them were dead. Although it’s the Sorting Hat who decides to which Hogwarts house each student belongs, it also takes the student’s wishes into account, such as when Harry Potter whispered not to be sent to Slytherin, after which the Sorting Hat sent him to Gryffindor (though it insisted that he would have achieved great things had he become a Slytherin). As for how the Sorting Hat decides the best house for each young student, it’s said to be based on the strongest qualities of each student, and while it rarely sent students to the wrong house, the Sorting Hat became notorious for refusing to admit when it made a mistake, and always backed its decision no matter what.
The Sorting Hat’s Decisions Don’t Always Make Sense
With that in mind, there have been some occasions in which the students didn’t exactly embody the main qualities of each house and behaved the complete opposite of what is expected from each house – for example, a coward Gryffindor, a Ravenclaw who failed their exams, a selfless Slytherin, or a lazy but academically gifted Hufflepuff. Viewers and readers have debated over the years about whether the Sorting Hat correctly sorted Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco when they arrived at Hogwarts, as at the time, they didn’t seem to embody the main qualities and characteristics of their assigned houses. Young Neville Longbottom, for example, was incredibly cowardly and was scared of everything, and young Draco Malfoy wasn’t exactly cunning (but he was very full of himself), and while they eventually embodied the most important traits of their assigned houses – Gryffindor and Slytherin –, this happened many, many years later.
Theory: The Sorting Hat Can See The Future
The above-mentioned “mistakes” of the Sorting Hat led to a theory that suggests the Sorting Hat doesn’t base its decisions on the strongest traits of each student, but on their future. The theory says the Sorting Hat can actually see the future, which is why it sent Neville to Gryffindor even though he was an endlessly scared young boy, as the Hat saw that he would become a worthy Gryffindor student (and a key element in Voldemort’s defeat), and why Draco was sent to Slytherin, as his family’s connection to Voldemort and the latter’s return would bring out a darker side of him (though he also had a kinder side). The Sorting Hat, then, instead of measuring the students’ potential based on their traits, takes a quick look at their future and makes its decisions based on that.
However, there are some details that play against this theory, the biggest one being the fact that Peter Pettigrew, widely labeled as the biggest coward in the Wizarding World, was a Gryffindor. While some viewers and readers argue that he was brave as he had the courage to betray his friends, join Voldemort, and fake his death, these aren’t actions aligned with the values of Gryffindor, and they weren’t done out of courage and bravery but out of cowardice and fear. Of course, the Sorting Hat isn’t perfect and even if it saw the future, it could still make mistakes when deciding which house is best for each student, but Pettigrew being a Gryffindor was a massive mistake.
How The Sorting Hat Theory Changes The Harry Potter Saga
Supposing the Sorting Hat can see the future and that’s how it decides the best house for each student, that would only make way for more questions about its decisions and even the traits that each Hogwarts House values the most. As Harry Potter eventually defeated Voldemort, and it was proven on different occasions throughout the Harry Potter saga that he was worthy of being a Gryffindor (such as when he pulled out Godric Gryffindor’s Sword from the Hat), it would make no sense that the Sorting Hat would have considered sending him to Slytherin and didn’t just because Harry asked him. The most questionable decision, however, would be sending Peter Pettigrew to Gryffindor, but given his actions, it would have been very difficult to place him in one Hogwarts house if the Sorting Hat took a look into his future. Perhaps the Sorting Hat could see just one possible future based on the traits of each student at the time, thus why some of its decisions were correct and others not so much.
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