As one would expect, every student will be sorted into one of four Hogwarts houses depending on their skills and values. The houses are an integral part of the Harry Potter universe, but movies and other media have spent a little too much time focusing on Gryffindor and Slytherin, to the detriment of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Hogwarts Legacy has an opportunity to correct this, and give these two fantastic houses the attention they deserve.
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The Gryffindor and Slytherin Bias
Whether it is the Harry Potter books or the movies, Gryffindor and Slytherin get an inordinate amount of attention. To some degree, this is unavoidable due to the nature of the story being told. Gryffindor, on its surface, is the house for heroes, and the values associated with the house are the same values one would associate with heroism. This includes bravery, strength, and a willingness to do what is right. Consequently, most of the heroes in the series get sorted into Gryffindor, including Harry, Hermione, and most of the Weasleys. With the story being told from Harry’s perspective, it is only natural that the series would get to explore Gryffindor and its dormitory quite often.
Slytherin is presented as Gryffindor’s antithesis. While both houses value ambition and courage, Slytherins are driven by self-serving desires while Gryffindors are driven by chivalry, and in the same way that Gryffindor produces most of the franchise’s heroes, Slytherin produces the bulk of the Harry Potter villains, including Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Draco Malfoy. Slytherin is usually depicted as a dark house, an image emphasized by the serpent on its crest and the house dormitory which is located in the castle’s dungeon.
How Hogwarts Legacy Can Better Incorporate Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
Despite not featuring much in the Harry Potter movies or books, Hufflepuff is an important part of Hogwarts. It is closely associated with Herbology, and students who are good at the subject typically come out of Hufflepuff. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the Hufflepuff common room is decorated with magical plants that sing and dance. It is also the common room closest to the Hogwarts Kitchens, and one gains entrance by tapping a stack of barrels in the correct rhythm. Ravenclaw House is for intellectual and hard-working students, and to enter the house’s common room, students have to answer a riddle.
The houses could be better incorporated by playing to their strengths. Players who are in Hufflepuff House should be able to reap benefits from plants in the Hufflepuff common room and have access to useful magical plants such as Gillyweed and Mandrakes. If players are not in Hufflepuff, then they should consider making friends with a Hufflepuff student to gain the necessary supplies. Similarly, Ravenclaw students should be able to learn more spells than the average student, making it an appealing house to get sorted into when up against Slytherin and Gryffindor which have so much star power. Spells will be a crucial part of Hogwarts Legacy because, as trailers have revealed, players will be able to engage in magical duels.
Hogwarts Legacy is set before Harry Potter’s time, reducing the need for the game to zoom in on Gryffindor or Slytherin. This should allow Avalanche to focus on Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, which are often neglected. Although it may not initially seem so, both houses are just as special as Gryffindor and Slytherin, and they deserve to be thoroughly explored, too.
Hogwarts Legacy is scheduled to release in late 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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