Overview

The Sorting Hat has been used for decades, to sort students into their own house.
After those first few awe-inspiring steps into the castle, students enter the Great Hall. It will be their home for the next seven years, and some feel a bit of trepidation as they wait to be sorted. How is the sorting done, though? The answer is the Sorting Hat. But just what is the Sorting Hat?
It was sewn roughly 1,000 years ago and was owned by the famous Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He and the other founders were concerned about how students would be sorted into houses once they were all dead and gone. After much deliberation, they came together to enchant the Sorting Hat so their legacy could go on. This enchantment placed upon the hat gives it the ability of Legilimency, which allows the hat to peer into a person’s thoughts and place them in a house based on who they are.
The Sorting Hat is seen at the welcoming feast at the beginning of each year and takes its duties very seriously. Each new student is called by name and they sit on a stool at the front of the Great Hall. The Sorting Hat is placed upon their head, and the hat speaks quietly to the student it is placed on. After it reaches a decision, it announces it to the Great Hall, and the student goes to join others at the appropriate table. It is noteworthy to say that when the Hat isn’t sorting students at the welcoming feast, it lives on a shelf in the current Headmaster or Headmistress office. Prior to the sorting, the Hat sings a song that it has made up and it is similar from year to year, but will always be a little different. There can also be warnings in the songs that the Hat creates, although it is somewhat unclear as to how the Hat knows to warn the students of impending dangers. Regardless of how the Hat knows, the advice it gives is always the same: “Stand together, be strong from within.” This was corroborated by Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor House Ghost.

Extras

Many times the Sorting Hat has been accused of being wrong, but it is a stubborn thing and will always back its original decision. This can be seen in the case of the infamous Peter Pettigrew. The hat deliberated on whether to place him in Slytherin or Gryffindor and, as we all know, he ended up in Gryffindor. There are many people who think this was a mistake on the part of the Sorting Hat; the Hat denies it made any mistakes at all. Harry Potter also thought the Hat made a mistake and asked if it was sure about what it said in regards to him doing well in Slytherin during his second year at Hogwarts.
Very rarely the hat will have trouble placing a student in a house. This is referred to as a ‘hatstall’; it is when the Sorting Hat takes longer than five minutes to make a decision. Previous Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was one such case. The Hat didn’t know whether to put her in Ravenclaw because of her intellect, or Gryffindor because of her bravery and loyalty. The decision to place her in Gryffindor was later seen as proper because she became Head of House. Along with Legilimens, it should go without saying that the Hat is a sentient being, capable of thought and conversation, a sense of humor, and a rather extensive memory. One such instance that showed this humor and memory was in 1991 when he sorted Ronald Weasley into Gryffindor. The hat stated, “Ah! Another Weasley. I know just what to do with you….. Gryffindor!” The same can be said, although lacking in humor, for the Malfoy family when young Draco was immediately sorted into Slytherin.
The Sorting hat is also inexplicably tied to the Sword of Gryffindor. It is said that only a Gryffindor who is true of heart, brave, and loyal to the house of Gryffindor can pull the Sword from the Hat. There are two instances of this occurring: once when Harry Potter fought the fabled basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets during his second year at Hogwarts, and then again by Neville Longbottom when he refused to join the ranks of Voldemort’s Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts. There are quite a few famous, and infamous, witches and wizards associated with the Sorting Hat, other than the founders.
1858: Angus Buchanan was a squib who decided to place the hat on his head. The hat kindly responded, “you are a good-hearted chap, but no wizard”.
1991: Harry Potter’s sorting was a difficult decision, and the hat chose based on Potter’s preference. The theory that surrounds the reason why it was so difficult lies in Voldemort transferring part of his soul to Potter when he was a baby. Because Potter was a horcrux, the hat was picking up on his soul and that of Voldemort.
1991: Hermione Granger: the hat was divided between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw due to her intellect.
Tom Riddle had the hat placed on his head and was almost immediately placed into Slytherin.
1991: Neville Longbottom argued with hat and said he was better off in Hufflepuff, but the hat placed him in Gryffindor; He proved himself during his 7th year during Battle of Hogwarts when he pulled the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat. Sometimes thehat will see the potential in a person and place them in a house that may seem intimidating to help them achieve.

Sorting Songs

1991

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

1994

A thousand years or more ago
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favourites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!

1995

In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach"
The four good friends decided.
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided.
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there, so I can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those Whose ancestry's purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light.
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning just like him.
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest
and taught them all she knew,
Thus, the houses and their founders
Maintained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
for several happy years,
but then discord crept among us
feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four
had once held up our school
now turned upon each other and
divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
must meet an early end.
what with duelling and with fighting
and the clash of friend on friend.
And at last there came a morning
when old Slytherin departed
and though the fighting then died out
he left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
were whittled down to three
have the Houses been united
as they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
and you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
because that is what I'm for.
But this year I'll go further,
listen closely to my song:
though condemned I am to split you
still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfil my duty
and must quarter every year
still I wonder whether sorting
may not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
the warning history shows,
for our Hogwarts is in danger
from external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
let the Sorting now begin.

Credits/References

Written by the library team
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.