Have you ever wondered why Harry is considered as a half-blood while both of his parents are talented wizards? Have you ever wondered why all of those pure-blood families are so proud of their supremacy as if their descendants will inherit their pure-blood as well? Or have you ever wondered why Hermione has magical ability while her whole early life was totally in muggle world, whilst Mr. Filch isnât able to perform magic while his life is surrounded by wizards and magic? Quite interesting isnât it?
In the wizarding world, there is a certain term to define the purity of magical blood which flows inside your vein called âblood statusâ. The more wizards in your family tree, the purer your magical blood is. And vice versa, the more Muggle ancestors you have, the âmurkierâ your blood will be. But of course, this is only a term, nothing more. Some people pay less attention towards their blood status. They donât care whether their friends are coming from a Muggle family, having a lot of half-bloods in their family tree, or even marrying a Muggle later on. However, some people pay too much attention! And they take their blood status (and their relatives and colleagues) seriously.
Not gonna lie, people who take this blood status seriously will raise a prejudice towards witch/wizard who have Muggle blood or Muggles themselves. They will start their supremacy which leads to the idea that they are better just because not a single drop of Muggle blood inside their veins. They will think the wizard/witch from the Muggle family doesnât belong to the âwizarding worldâ. But, before we discuss any further about blood status, itâs good for us to understand many types of blood status.
(1) SQUIB
Squib, so-called âWizard-born Mugglesâ, are individuals born into a wizarding family (or at least one of their parents was a wizard) but unable to perform magic and lack of magical ability. The appearance of Squib is unpredictable. They couldâve been born from a racist pure-blood supremacy, from an ancient pure-blood family, even from a powerful wizard. They just appear out of nowhere.
Squibs are often looked down upon by wizards. The presence of squib makes a pure-blood community uncomfortable (as always). To be honest, every community feels so. Orford Umbridge, who was tolerant enough to marry a Muggle, left home when he found out his second child was a Squib (yes, Dolores Umbridgeâs younger brother was a Squib). Even the Weasley family, a family of âblood traitorsâ for hanging out with Muggles and Muggle-borns, never discussed Mollyâs second cousin who was a Squib and worked as an accountant.
Around 1968 or 1969, the Squibs tried to fight for their rights. But pure-bloods refused to respect the Squib (of course). In 1990, the Ministry no longer kept records of Squib births, disregarding Squib efforts to obtain their rights. Because of this kind of treatment, some Squibs choose to âleaveâ the wizarding world. They went to Muggle schools, did Muggle jobs, married Muggles, and lived Muggle lives.
Though there is a âfamily goalâ to keep supportive towards their Squib relatives, living as a Squib in a magical world is not that easy. Martha Steward, Ilvermorny founderâs daughter, felt this way. And so, she left her lovely family. On the other hand, there are also Squibs who are still related to magical life, such as Argus Filch. Ron Weasley believes Filchâs unpleasant attitude towards the students was due to the painful feeling of living as a Squib in the wizarding world.
(2) MUGGLE-BORN
Sketchily, Muggle-born is a wizard/witch who was born from non-magical parents. How could they inherit magical ability then? How is it possible that a mundane DNA can âproduceâ magical DNA? So hereâs the point. Muggle-born is actually getting their magical abilities from their distant ancestors (really really distant). They were the descendants of Squibs who married Muggles, and subsequent generations did not understand the magical heritage of their ancestors. Several generations later, the magical legacy returns unexpectedly. It sounds like it makes sense, doesnât it?
It is possible that other wizards will emerge in the same generation, such as The Creevey Brothers, who were born into Muggle families and were both wizards. The opposite case occurred to The Evans Sisters, where Lily was a witch while Petunia remained a Muggle. Could you imagine the envy and jealousy Petunia possibly felt towards Lily? Petunia probably imagined Lily had exciting experiences and adventures in a magical world, little did Petunia know, Muggle-born is not well-welcomed in the wizarding world. Not to mention those pretentious families with their pure-blood supremacy who think Muggle-born is lesser than them (thanks to Lily Evans and Hermione Granger for being the brightest witch of their age, and prove that prejudice wrong).
(3) PURE-BLOOD
This term refers to a wizard/witch who doesnât have Muggle, Muggle-born, especially Squib ancestors. Not a single drop of their blood is tarnished by other kinds of blood but magical blood itself. This is why pure-blood adherents are very proud of their blood status, because maintaining blood purity over decades and generations is not easy. They even have an exclusive list of pure-blood families called âSacred 28â, though the existence of truly pure-blood families is still questionable. Even if there was a marriage to a Muggle or the birth of a Squib into a pure-blood family, they would immediately be removed from the family tree and no longer be considered as a family, as Mrs. Black did.
There is one issue here. When you require pure-blood descendants, then you have to marry fellow pure-bloods. Since pure-blood families are decreasing through the ages, you may have no choices, donât you? So, many of them practice inbreeding marriage which will give rise to mental issues. Apart from blood purity, their descendants also inherit instability mentally as well as high tension of emotion. This explains why some pure-blood families such as Gaunt, Lestrange, or Black, have a tendency of being a âtoxicâ family because of their lack of temper. Meanwhile, the Malfoys are well-aware of this consequence, hence many non-pure-bloods appear on their family tree.
(4) HALF-BLOOD
Most people think half-blood will only happen when Wizard and Muggle get married. Well, that statement is not absolutely wrong, but actually half-blood is more than that. Half-blood is the most common blood status in the wizarding world nowadays. In short, if the wizard is neither Muggle-born nor pure-blood, and has at least one Muggle ancestor, then the wizard is half-blood. Apparently, many modern witches/wizards think blood purity is no longer a point. They see the fact that it is easier to marry a Muggle, or Muggle-born, or fellow half-blood rather than marrying their second cousin. Itâs crystal clear then, even though Harry Potter was born from a talented witch mom and wizard dad, he is still considered as half-blood due to his Muggle ancestors from his mom. Voldemort also was considered as half-blood through his Muggle dad, despite his hatred towards Muggle and Muggle-born.
Is it possible half-blood becomes pure-blood again after many years?
Well, there are two opposite answers for this: YES and NO.
That âyesâ answer refers to Rowlingâs inspiration to create blood status, which is from Nazi Propaganda. This propaganda stated that, âif a person with 1 Jewish 3 German grandparents married to someone with pure German blood, then their child would be CONSIDERED as German blood even though they had Jewish ancestorsâ. So, this status only focuses on parents and grandparents, no need to seek a long line of ancestors. For example, if Delphini (half-blood through his Muggle grandfather, this is only example and there is no way Voldemort has daughter) gets married to Scorpius Malfoy(pure-blood) then their children will be pure-blood.
To be honest, I prefer ânoâ as an answer because whatâs the point of their inbreeding, racist towards Muggle and Muggle-born, as well as calling another pure-blood who befriend with Muggle as âblood traitorâ, if being pure-blood could be that easy? Moreover, itâs quite clear that pure-blood has no Muggle ancestor and half-blood has at least one Muggle ancestor. So, there is no way half-blood becomes pure-blood again even though after many generations.
Then, there would be a possibility of pure-blood being extinct?
Yes, If they keep marrying Muggle, Muggle-born, or half-blood instead of fellow pure-blood. But indeed, thatâs the point of intermarriage: to avoid extinction. Not only the extinction of pure-blood, but also the extinction of the wizarding community.
What about Hagrid and Madam Maxime who are half-wizard and half-giant, are they considered as half-blood as well? Or Fleur who is half-wizard and half-Veela? Is Teddy Lupin considered as half-blood because his mom was a witch and his dad was a werewolf? Well, there are other terms to describe their blood status. But not in this post. So see you in Part 2!!!!
