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Description
Wizards throughout the Harry Potter world live in voluntary segregation from the Muggle (non-magical) society. The wizarding population commonly regards Muggles as disadvantaged due to their lack of ability to perform magic. When taken to extremes, this becomes the belief that Muggles are inferior and that marriage between wizards and Muggles taints the magical race.
Importance in series
J K Rowling has been questioned on the importance of blood purity in the Harry Potter books. In a news-round interview discussing book four, [1], she said: From the beginning of Philosophers Stone, prejudice is a very strong theme. It is plausible that Harry enters the world wide-eyed: everything will be wonderful and it's the sort of place where injustices don't happen. Then he finds out that it does happen and it's a shock to him. He finds out that he is a half-blood: to a wizard like Lucius Malfoy, he will never be a true wizard, because his mother was of muggle parentage. It's a very important theme.
Segregation in the Wizarding World
The general public considers the notion of such strict segregation obsolete and false, but some who would benefit the most from it strongly disagree. There is some evidence that the idea of blood purity has enjoyed greater support in the past and is in decline as Muggle ancestry becomes more and more common. Indeed magical ancestry and ability are unrelated in reality as some of the most powerful characters in the series were muggle-borns.
Categories by Blood
The wizarding world is divisible into three main classes by purity: pure-blood, half-blood, and muggle-born. The term half-blood may be used as an insult, particularly from a pure-blood wizard. The term mud-blood is a severe insult describing someone with no wizarding ancestors.
Pure-blood
Pure-blood wizards have no Muggles whatsoever in their genealogical pedigree, or have deluded themselves over the generations that this is the case. The few remaining families are all interconnected. Over the course of the series, several prominent families the reader is introduced to subsequently die out, thus limiting the pure-blood gene pool even further.
J.K. Rowling, in response to fan questions, has said that to be considered pure-blood, one's grandparents must have all been wizards. She also mentioned that some of the more severe schools of thought may require several more generations of wizards to be considered pure-blood.
The strongest proponents of blood purity are unsurprisingly pure-blood themselves. (A notable exception is Lord Voldemort, whose mother was a pure-blood witch and whose father was a Muggle.)
By no means is pure-blood status a guarantee of a person's attitude. Attitudes do tend to run in families as children are brought up to support their parents' views, but even families that consider Muggle marriage disgraceful and immoral have their black sheep.
Blood traitor
A blood traitor is a derogatory term for a pure-blood who does not consider blood purity to be of any importance. This label has been applied to the Weasley family and Sirius Black.
Half-Blood
Half-bloods are wizards that are not muggle-born, but whose heritage includes one or more muggle grandparent(s). That is, if a person has 25% or greater muggle heritage, than they are disqualified from being a pure-blood. Half-bloods are the most common kind as the magical folk would have dwindled to extinction without marrying Muggles. Blood purity fanatics regard half-bloods as an inferior kind of wizard, though they think of them as superior to muggle-born wizards.
Muggle-born
Muggle-borns are the occasional witches and wizards born to Muggle parents. What causes them is unknown, likely due to the intentional obscurity of magic's technical details. Though their magical abilities do not seem to be significantly affected, in fact many have been among the most powerful, blood purity fanatics regard them as little maybe even no better than the sub-wizard Muggles and they are the most persecuted type of magical persons.
Mudblood is a highly insulting expression, meaning "dirty blood", for a Muggle-born that clearly identifies the user as prejudiced. The term Mudblood is comparable to the word "Nigger" used towards people of African descent in America.
Between Both Worlds
Some Characters are stuck between both the magical and the muggle worlds. These are people who have knowledge of but no ability in magic.
Squibs
A Squib is a person of wizarding heritage but lacking magical ability. A rare anomaly in the classification system, they appear to be the same as a muggle, but they can see Dementors, as is said by Arabella Figg. Things that are hidden from muggles with spells (rather than by the very nature of the hidden thing), however, seem to be visible by squibs, as evinced by Argus Filch being able to work at Hogwarts, which appears as dangerous old ruins to muggles. This allows them the choice to inhabit the wizarding world. Many live an unfortunate life, some (like Arabella Figg) prefer to function on the border of the magical and non-magical societies. The Ministry of Magic does not keep records of squib births.
Muggles who know about magic
Another group that lives on the border between the magic and non-magic world are muggles who are aware of wizards and may take some advantage of magic cast by others in their lives. These include muggles who married wizards (like Seamus Finnigan's father), muggles with a relative that is a wizard (like Hermione's parents), and certain high-ranking individuals in muggle society (such as the British Prime Minister).
Notable Pure-Blooded Families
The Black family
Status: Extinct
Most of the members of the Black family were highly devoted to the Dark Arts. The Black family home is 12 Grimmauld Place, which contains many artifacts of dubious origin; there is also a family tree, now highly incomplete. The reason for the incompleteness is that whenever the family produced anyone the elders disapproved of, the rejected one was disowned and burned off the tapestry. This is what happened to Sirius Black, and to Andromeda Black, who married muggle-born Ted Tonks. The Family Tree, called Toujours Pur (French for "Always Pure"), was made on a tapestry, which Mrs Black (Sirius Black's mother) put a permanent sticking charm on, to make sure that Sirius could never throw it away. Sirius Black's mother died circa 1985. She was either very old (especially when you consider that her children were so much younger) or unnaturally aged. Mrs. Black believed in purity of wizard blood and on that basis favoured her younger son, Regulus, who shared that philosophy and even became a Death Eater. Mrs. Black survives only as a horrible, life-sized portrait hanging in the entrance hall on the ground floor of Grimmauld Place. The portrait, hung behind mouldy curtains, shows a screaming, unpleasant-looking old woman in a black cap, drooling, eyes rolling, yellowing skin. She screeches terrible epithets at anyone who disturbs her. Kreacher, a house-elf devoted to the Black family, worshipped her.
Other Blacks include:
- Sirius' Aunt Elladora, who started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they were too old to carry tea trays,
- Araminta Melliflua, who tried to force through a Ministry bill that would make Muggle-hunting legal
- Uncle Alphard (who was also blasted off the family tree, possibly for leaving Sirius some money in his will)
- Phineas Nigellus, the least popular headmaster in Hogwarts history.
Although there are several living family members, including Bellatrix Lestrange (ne Black) (escaped supporter of Lord Voldemort), Narcissa Malfoy (ne Black) (mother of Draco and wife of Lucius), and half-blood Nymphadora Tonks (Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix), none of them bear the name of Black. Regulus Black, Sirius's brother, was murdered on Voldemort's orders when he got cold feet. The last surviving bearer of the family name, Sirius Black, was murdered by his cousin, Bellatrix, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and thus the Black family line has ended.
The Malfoy family
Status: Extant
According to Hagrid, there is not one decent member of the Malfoy family. The Malfoys identified in the series are Lucius Malfoy, his wife Narcissa, their son Draco, and his father Abraxas.
The Malfoys are purebloods and Lucius is a Death Eater. Draco is in the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts and is in Slytherin House. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry suspects that Draco has been branded with the Dark Mark and thus would be a Death Eater like his father. Abraxas Malfoy (Lucius' father and Draco's grandfather) died of dragon pox. Dobby was their former house-elf freed by Harry Potter.
In the movies, Draco is played by Tom Felton and Lucius is played by Jason Isaacs.
"Malfoy", in old French, means "bad faith". It is therefore a very appropriate name for people who pretend to be righteous but are secretly in the service of Voldemort.
The Weasley family
Status: Extant
The Weasleys are a pure-blood family, but are considered by some others to be blood traitors as they do not demonstrate "proper respect" and pride in their purity. They were also one of the poorest wizarding families in the series, though this may have changed since Arthur Weasley got a promotion.
The Longbottom family
Status: Extant
The Longbottom family includes Neville Longbottom and his parents Frank and Alice Longbottom who are both mentally incapacitated from being tortured by Death Eaters.
Due to his parents' condition, Neville was raised by his grandmother, whose full name is revealed to be Augusta Longbottom in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Mrs. Longbottom is a forceful, strong woman who wears green robes, a fox-fur scarf, a distinctive hat topped with a stuffed vulture,and carries a large red handbag. Neville loves her, but he is a bit scared of her as well. She is Frank Longbottom's mother and she treats both Neville and his parents very unsentimentally. When Neville's mother Alice gives him a bubblegum wrapper, Gran dismisses it and tells Neville to throw it away. Neville pockets it, however.
Another member of the family is Neville's grandfather, who is deceased. Neville saw him die, though a cause of death has never been given and nothing else about him has been revealed. This grandfather is the reason he can see the thestrals.
Neville also has an Uncle Algie, who is mentioned many times and gives Neville his toad and Mimbulus mimbletonia. However, as of book 6 he has not appeared in person.
The Crouch family
Status: Extinct
The Crouch family figures prominently in the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bartemius Crouch was the head of the family. His son was named after him. Winky the house-elf served the family until she was sacked. When Barty Crouch Jr. was kissed by a Dementor, the Crouch bloodline ended forever.
Barty Crouch's unnamed wife was a short, wispy witch who had the terrible and sad experience of watching her husband renounce their son and condemn him to Azkaban. She was ill and dying at the time and she convinced her husband to allow her to trade places with her son in the wizard prison. Mother and son drank Polyjuice Potion to take each other's appearance. She died shortly thereafter in Azkaban and was buried by the dementors outside the walls under her son's appearance and name.
The Gaunt Family
Status: Extinct
The last descendants of Salazar Slytherin, their obsession with blood purity has caused them to often marry their own cousins. Consists of Marvolo Gaunt and his children Morfin and Merope, Marvolo's wife was presumably a first cousin, or at least the last of her own line of the family.
Merope Gaunt is the witch who died shortly after giving birth to Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later changed his name to Lord Voldemort.
Marvolo died of old age and Morfin rotted in Azkaban after being framed by Voldemort for the murder of Voldemort's father and paternal grandparents. As Voldemort is a female-line descendant of this family, Slytherin's line still exists through him; however, he does not carry the Gaunt name, which ended with his uncle Morfin's death.
The Lestrange family
Status: Extant
Consists of Rodolphus Lestrange, his wife Bellatrix Lestrange and his brother Rabastan Lestrange. Along with Barty Crouch Jr., the Lestranges tortured the Longbottoms. They were formerly imprisoned until they escaped along with other Death Eaters.
Notable Individuals
Notable Pure-Bloods
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James Potter
Ernie Macmillan
- Horace Slughorn
Notable Half-Bloods
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Muggle Ancestry
- Seamus Finnigan: Muggle father, pure-blood mother.
- Dean Thomas: Muggle mother, father a wizard wrongly presumed to be a Muggle.
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Harry Potter: James Potter was pure-blood, Lily Evans Muggle-born.
Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort): Father, Tom Riddle Sr., was a Muggle; mother, Merope Gaunt, pure-blood.
Severus Snape: Mother was a pure-blood witch, Eileen Prince; father was Tobias Snape, a muggle.
Remus Lupin: A half-blood per J.K. Rowling's interview (World Book Day Chat).
Nymphadora Tonks: Father, Ted Tonks, was Muggle-born, mother, Andromeda Black, pure-blood.
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Other Ancestry
- Olympe Maxime: Part-giant, Part-wizard
- Filius Flitwick: Part-goblin, Part-wizard (goblin ancestry is minimal)
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Fleur Delacour: Part-veela
Rubeus Hagrid: Hagrid's father was a wizard, while his mother was a giant.
Notable Muggle-borns
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Penelope Clearwater
Colin Creevey
Dennis Creevey
Dirk Cresswell
Justin Finch-Fletchley
Hermione Granger
Lily Potter
- Ted Tonks
Notable Squibs
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Argus Filch
- Mrs Arabella Figg
Intolerance
Voldemort (secretly a half-blood, but a muggle hater) formed a group named the Death Eaters, many of whom were pure-blood wizards who believed that any half-blood was inherently inferior to them. They committed a number of atrocities in the name of blood purity.
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