Part of what made the “Harry Potter” franchise a massive blow is the marketable ease. Not only does the Potter brand provide an excuse to sell toy baguettes and sorcerer’s hats to children around the world, but the Harry Va magic school, Hogwarts, is also the one that divides its students into four groups or houses, all of which have their own logo.
Harry Potter himself may have managed to cross the power of friendship and courage, but the “Harry Potter” property managed to cross the power of the strong brand. Do you consider yourself a gryffindor, the courageous student house with a lion seal? Well, there is no shortage of clothing and banners of Gryffindor that Warner Bros. would like to sell you. Or maybe you consider yourself a Slytherin, the house of wrong Ambitious and cunning students with the seal of a snake. Or maybe you see yourself as more a Ravenclaw, the Brainy students’ house with the seal of an eagle.
The least popular, and perhaps the least marketable, among Hogwarts houses is the poor Poufsouffle, whose seal is the resolutely university badger. The poufs are charitably described as kind and loyal or incurred described as without talent and dull. When people laugh at “Harry Potter”, they will usually summarize the four houses like “the good, the bad, the intelligent and the other”. No need to clarify what you are supposed to be supposed to be.
The poufsouffle is the house in which no one, not even the author JK Rowling herself, did not seem to think much. But despite all that, Poufsouffle has its fans. In fact, some Potterheads believe that the house deserves much more appreciation than it is so far.
What are the common features of a pouffle student?
Spoilers Below for the fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Fire Cup”.
The specific features of a pouffle are that they are “fair and loyal”, at least according to the sorting hat of the book “Harry Potter and the sorcerer / philosopher stone. They are also “patients”, “real” and “without fear of the work”. Throughout the franchise, they are also described as nice, ready to apologize when they have made mistakes and to have a clear sense of honor that prevents them from lying or cheating.
At first glance, most of how the sorting hat describes Poufsouffle feels like low praise. These are the kind of beautiful things you say about someone when the person has no talent for you to speak first. This impression is still cemented by the description of Professor McGonagall in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” of the way the houses were founded. According to her, there were four founders of Hogwarts, who all named a house after themselves. Salazar SERSERIN wanted all the pure blood sorcerers in his house, Godric Gryffindor wanted all brave children, Rowena Ravegle wanted all intellectuals, and Helga Poufsouffle wanted, well, anyone who did not qualify for the first three categories. Basically, the other three houses are defined by what they are, while the Maison à Tlunelle is defined by what it is not.
As some fans interpreted, Poufsouffle wanted spare students who would not have hacked it in any of the three other houses. This brings extra painful irony to the events of “Harry Potter and the Fire Goblet”, where the last words Cedric Diggory – the pouffle student who benefits strongly from history – hears before he is murdered, “kill the spare part!” It looks like an appropriate (and cruel) spell that the first major death in the “Harry Potter” books involved a pouffe which was killed for the crime of non-truck.
Why are the poufflers considered to be underestimated?
But despite the way the world sees the poufs, many fans have learned to appreciate and identify with the house anyway. A major point in their favor is that Cedric Diggory is a well appreciated character who is easily up to all the qualities attributed to his house. When Harry makes him a given at some point, Cedric feels the need to return him. He also refuses to participate in the intimidation across Harry school after the fire cup selects him inexplicably to be the fourth triwizard champion. Even when Cedric has the opportunity to seize the Triwizard Cup for itself and win the tournament, he insists on sharing the prize with Harry instead.
Perhaps more, it is Cedric who is the only seventh year Hogwarts student that The Gobblet of Fire a judge worthy of the Triwizard tournament. It is easily the greatest public relations victory for poufflers in the seven pounds “Harry Potter”. Of the dozens of candidates in the four Hogwarts houses, only a chicken is chosen, and that Poufsouffle almost ended up winning everything. He would also have linked to Harry, if the malicious Lord Voldemort had not interfered. It matters to something.
The other major point of the favor of the Poufsouffles is that they remain for the battle of Hogwarts in the last book, “Harry Potter and the death relics.” Readers knew that the Slytherins would not bother to fight against the forces of Voldemort and were not too surprised when several RaviGlaws faufiléed, but I do not think that most people expected the choice of poufs. Roughly all Poufsouffle remain for the great confrontation of history. Their equal number of gryffindors, even if they are only the Gryffindors regularly announced for their bravery. In one of their last acts before the end of the books, the pouffles prove their bravery, but never ask for credit in the process.
Who are the most important poufs in the series?
Tragically, for the poufs, Cedric remained the most eminent member of his house in books even after “Fire Goblet”. Indeed, his death is much more looming on their story than surviving pouffle students like Ernie Macmillan or Hannah Abbott. Admittedly, however, this has changed when the subsequent novels brought Nymphadora Tonks, a pouffes which is very appreciated by the Fandom despite a goal barely concentrated in books and even less concentration in the “Harry Potter” films. The fact that it is a poufsouffle does not feel particularly relevant either, since it is already left from Hogwarts when it presents itself, and these divisions of the house seem barely importing among the adult characters.
Other eminent picfling characters include Professor Sprout, the Hogwarts herbology teacher who never gets much attention in the franchise either. Sprout is presented as a good competent teacher who has no wreak havoc that Hogwarts teachers like Severus Snape or Sybill Trelawney are constantly.
In particular, Professor Sprout also has a good relationship with Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor student who rarely gets good grades but who excels in the Sprout class. This connection between the two characters, combined with the constant accusations of the other “Harry Potter” characters that Neville does not really belong to Gryffindor, fueled a lot of discussions on the fans to find out if Neville should have been made a pouffe. The popularity of this theory has decreased in the Fandom over the books and that Neville became a stronger sorcerer, but for the first books, Neville served as poufs in spirit, if not in a literal sense.
Will the poufsouffle be paid more attention in the next television program?
Although many are skeptical about the next restart of the “Harry Potter” television program on HBO Max in 2027, it has a clear advantage: it can devote more time to the construction of the world. Not only has the series the chance to do good by all the minor characters of original poufs of original books, but it can even go beyond the books with the attention he is ready to give to the house.
Admittedly, a great advantage of the television medium is that the programs can throw the occasional starting episode, in which the main plot is paused to explore the life of one or two minor characters. A new example clear example of this is something like the Bill and the Frank episode of “The Last of Us” or the Beard episode of “Ted Lasso”. Not all the starting episodes are not well received by the public of course (remember that the episode of season 2 of “Stranger Things” that everyone hated?), But the “Harry Potter” franchise is the one that seems ripe for the format. In fact, fans of the number one complaint concerning the universe “Harry Potter” is that this massive magical world is only seen from the limited point of view of Harry; An occasional wandering episode which focuses on other Hogwarts houses could be welcomed with open arms by a desperate fandom for more non-Gryffindor global creation.
It is also possible that the series makes some modifications to the houses of the characters. Harry will always be a Gryffindor of course, but what happens if the show is inspired by this generalized observation of Neville and makes him a chickenfish? It would undoubtedly be a controversial choice, but it would also be a quick and easy way to ensure that the pouffles feel earlier in the show. Whatever the strategy it takes, hope that the series will include the advantages that come with its medium and use this additional time to give all the other Hogwarts are home to their moment.
