Slytherin

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Salazar Slytherin
Alias(es)	Slytherin; Professor Slytherin
Species/Race	Wizard; later existed as a ghost before being restored to a living body 233 278 496
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Hogwarts; co-founder of Slytherin House
Occupation/Role	Hogwarts founder; Dark Arts researcher; duelist; mentor
Status	Alive in a new, younger body 496
First Appearance	Chapter 233

Background & History

Early life and Hogwarts' founding

Slytherin was born into a powerful pure-blood family noted for its Dark Arts inheritance. He had access to rare family records, including Legilimency, and developed a distrustful, calculating outlook early in life 564 566.

Alongside Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw, Slytherin became Li Weide's student. Li taught him advanced Dark Arts, Potions, duelling, and the principle that enduring loyalty should be built through mutual benefit rather than coercion 564 565 570.

When the founders planned Hogwarts, Slytherin advocated for a House that would cultivate only shrewd, ambitious elites. He opposed admitting Muggle-born students, considering them a waste of educational resources; the eventual four-House structure allowed each founder to apply separate admission standards 569 570.

Departure, legacy, and death

After leaving Hogwarts because of ideological conflicts with the other founders, Slytherin left behind several concealed legacies:

• A trial and hidden study intended to temper his descendants. 215 217
• Annotated student essays, Dark Arts manuscripts, spellbooks, and research notes. 216
• The Chamber of Secrets and a Basilisk intended to threaten the school. 218 375
• Research on Obscurials, Obscuruses, curses, and human experimentation. 256

Slytherin later explored the Great Tomb in Eastern Europe and returned carrying an unknown consciousness entity. The entity lived within him, fed on his life force, and was ultimately identified as the cause of his death 216 485.

Return in the modern era

More than a thousand years after his death, Slytherin awoke as a ghost in Hogwarts' Wizard Tower. Mistaking Li Weide for a Muggle-born intruder, he attacked him with venomous insect curses and trapped him in an illusionary duel 233 234.

Li Weide's magical ability forced Slytherin to reconsider his assumptions about Muggle-born wizards. Though he did not immediately abandon his prejudice, he acknowledged the decline of pure-blood families through inbreeding and gradually accepted that his surviving descendants were no longer purely blooded 237 279.

Li later created an Obscurus garment that let Slytherin solidify his ghostly form, use magic, touch objects, and travel outside Hogwarts. The artificial body could not eat and prevented him from passing through walls 278.

While searching for his former wand at Ilvermorny, Slytherin encountered Cain, a vampire who had stolen and remotely controlled Slytherin's original body. Cain escaped after a battle aided by Miravia 477 478. After learning the true cause of his death, Slytherin accepted Li Weide's offer of a new body and returned to life 485 496.

Appearance

As a ghost, Slytherin appeared as a hunched, bald old man resembling the statue in the Chamber of Secrets. He could disguise himself as an unremarkable thin ghost by concealing his robes, cane, and long hair 233 256.

• Milky-white and translucent in his natural ghostly state. 278
• Often associated with a crooked wand, distinctive robes, and a cane. 234 256
• Regained a tangible body through Li Weide's modified Obscurus garment. 278
• Was later revived in a new, younger body. 496

Personality

Slytherin is proud, short-tempered, and intensely protective of his reputation as one of Hogwarts' Four Founders. He reacts badly to disrespect, particularly when Li Weide humiliates or manipulates him, but repeatedly works with Li when the arrangement serves his interests 238 262 279.

His fighting philosophy is ruthless and goal-oriented: he values initiative, lethal pressure, deception, and any tactic that secures victory. He considers modern duelling overly restrained compared with the life-or-death battles of his era 235 263.

Originally a committed blood-purity supremacist, Slytherin distrusted Muggles, Muggle-borns, and half-bloods. Li Weide's talent, Tom's growth, and exposure to modern Muggle technology forced him to reassess parts of that worldview, though his contempt for Muggles did not disappear completely 246 279 281.

Despite his arrogance, Slytherin is capable of loyalty and remorse. He is genuinely invested in Tom's potential, feels shame over Bloody Baron's actions toward Helena, and ultimately accepts the importance of trust and reciprocal interests 256 316 565.

Abilities & Skills

Dark Arts

Slytherin is an exceptionally accomplished Dark wizard with extensive knowledge of lethal curses, magical experimentation, and combat magic.

• Casts venomous insect curses and powerful Fiendfyre. 233 234
• Learned and demonstrated a curse that melts a target into cursed black slime. 276
• Conducted experiments involving Dark wizards, Obscurials, and other human subjects in his era. 235 256
• Preserved research on the Blood Moon Curse, the Snake-Eye Curse, and other dangerous magic. 216 245

Combat and Duelling

Slytherin's combat style focuses on forcing opponents into fatal responses rather than exchanging conventional spells.

• Uses feints, mismatched incantations, Transfiguration, physical attacks, and lethal pressure to control a battle. 263 316
• Defeated Li Weide in a training battle despite possessing less raw magical power in his ghostly state. 263
• Taught Li Weide that victory takes precedence over elegance, fairness, collateral damage, or conventional duelling rules. 263
• Continued fighting effectively through Li Weide's magical clothing during his battle with Cain. 478

Parseltongue and Legilimency

As a member of the Slytherin bloodline, Slytherin can communicate with snakes through Parseltongue. He also learned Legilimency from his family's magical records 566.

• Could command his original wand into dormancy through Parseltongue. 475
• Can communicate with snakes, but not other animals without magical assistance. 566
• Uses Legilimency as a means of judging others' intentions. 566

Scholarship and Mentorship

Slytherin possesses deep knowledge of ancient magic, Potions, curses, combat, and Hogwarts' hidden architecture.

• Annotated students' work and maintained a hidden study of manuscripts and spellbooks. 216
• Guided Tom Riddle through ancient-magic texts in the Chamber of Secrets. 408
• Taught Li Weide combat methods, curse research, and the principles behind older forms of magic. 245 263
• Helped Dumbledore compile material on the harmful effects of the Dark Arts for Hogwarts' curriculum. 366

Ghostly and Artificial Body States

Slytherin's ghostly form initially prevented normal physical interaction and limited his ability to use magic. Li Weide's Obscurus garment temporarily overcame many of those limitations 262 278.

• The garment gave him a solid-feeling body, spellcasting ability, and senses of touch and smell. 278
• It could not let him eat and removed his ability to pass through walls. 278
• Li Weide later restored him fully with a new living body. 496

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Original wand — A serpentwood wand with a Basilisk horn core, designed so that only Slytherin's descendants could use it. It could be put into dormancy through Parseltongue. 475
• Obscurus garment — Modified by Li Weide to give Slytherin's ghost a physical form and sustained spellcasting capability. 278
• Protective watch — Li Weide's automated defensive device; its silver components shielded Slytherin from Cain's attacks. 478
• Slytherin's Study — His hidden Hogwarts research space, containing manuscripts, annotated essays, curses, and Dark Arts materials. 216 217
• Chamber of Secrets — A secret Hogwarts chamber built by Slytherin and formerly inhabited by his Basilisk. 225 375

Relationships

• Li Weide — Initially adversaries, then reluctant partners and mutual mentors. Li supplied Slytherin with a physical form and later a new body, while Slytherin trained him in combat, curses, and ancient magic 237 263 278 496.
• Tom Riddle — Descendant and student. Slytherin took pride in Tom's talent, trained him in combat and ancient magic, and gradually accepted him despite his half-blood background 246 316 408.
• Godric Gryffindor — Longtime friend, fellow founder, and frequent sparring partner. Their opposing temperaments lead to constant arguments and duels 564 565 500.
• Helga Hufflepuff — Fellow founder and former colleague. Hufflepuff confronted him over the Basilisk and later revealed the mission connected to his resurrection 375 497.
• Rowena Ravenclaw — Fellow founder whose Diadem and daughter Helena remained tied to Slytherin's later actions at Hogwarts 256 390.
• Helena Ravenclaw — Ravenclaw's daughter, who calls him “Uncle Salazar.” Slytherin was angered and ashamed to learn that his former student, Baron, killed her 256.
• Albus Dumbledore — A respected modern wizard who sought to make Slytherin an ally. Slytherin acknowledged Dumbledore's ability despite their ideological differences 278 280.
• Cain — A vampire who stole and remotely controlled Slytherin's original body. Their conflict exposed the fate of Slytherin's body after his death 477 478.
• Miravia — Assisted Slytherin against Cain, striking the vampire with an Ancient Magic-enhanced Killing Curse and allowing Slytherin to escape 478.

Notable Quotes

“Victory is the ultimate goal!” 263

“I don't like stupid students. They'd better be shrewd and have lofty ambitions! My Slytherin will only cultivate elites.” 570