Merlin's Hogwarts House Isn't What Harry Potter Fans Would Think

One of the great joys of the Wizarding World is how the stories of Harry Potter blend real-life history with age-old fantasy myths and folk tales. That means that one of the most famous fictional wizards of all time, Merlin, actually existed at one point in the Wizarding World. Thanks to some well-established lore, it's also been speculated what Hogwarts house Merlin was sorted into, and the answer will probably come as a surprise to some Harry Potter fans.

Given Merlin's role in most mystic tales as a force for good in the world, it'd be fair to assume that the wizard would have been a member of the more traditionally noble Hogwarts houses, like Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. However, according to Harry Potter Wiki, it's said that Merlin was actually a member of the Slytherin house — in fact, it's rumored that he may have been taught by none other than Salazar Slytherin himself. His placement in Slytherin implies that Merlin was, in some regards, cunning and ambitious — two traits that are not only present in most Harry Potter villains, but which are also fundamentally linked to that particular Hogwarts house.

However, while most of the villains in the Harry Potter series happen to be members of the Slytherin house, the books do also go out of their way to argue that by no means are all members of Slytherin evil. At least according to this theory, it appears the great sorcerer himself might fall into that category.