The Four Founders

The Founders of Hogwarts

"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."
-- Professor Binns

Over a thousand years ago, the four greatest witches and wizards of the age shared a dream, to create a school where young people of the wizarding world could study and be trained in the magical arts they needed to become skilled, fully-trained wizards. These four great wizards each founded one of the Houses of the school that they worked together to form: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They have been referred to as The Hogwarts Four.

For a number of years, this arrangement worked just fine. Each of the founders took a group of students to be in their own house and even though they had differences of opinion about who should be trained, the house system helped them all to work together. However, as the years went by, the differences between Gryffindor and Slytherin became a serious rift. Eventually Slytherin left the school.
The Founders
Godric Gryffindor

Godric Gryffindor
Godric Gryffindor believed that anyone who showed magical ability should be allowed to attend Hogwarts.

The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Gryffindor. His sword, with rubies in the handle, has also survived and is in the possession of Dumbledore.

According to the Sorting Hat, Gryffindor came "from wild moor". (See below for more info.)

It is possible that the village of Godric's Hollow is named after Godric Gryffindor.

Helga Hufflepuff
According to the Sorting Hat, Hufflepuff came "from valley broad." (See below for more info.)

Her Famous Wizard card states that "(s)he brought people from different walks of life together to help build Hogwarts and was loved for her charming ways." (fw12)
Helga Hufflepuff.
Wizard Card for Rowena Ravenclaw.

Rowena Ravenclaw
According to the Sorting Hat, Ravenclaw came "from glen." (See below for more info.)

Her Famous Wizard card tells us that "(i)t's thought that she came up with the ever-changing floor plan. She's best remembered for her intelligence and creativity."

Rowena was dear friends with Helga Hufflepuff.

She is said to have stated: "We will teach those whose intelligence is surest." (OP11) (fw16)

Salazar Slytherin
Salazar Slytherin believed that only pure-blood witches and wizards should be allowed to attend Hogwarts. He got into an argument with Godric Gryffindor about this and eventually left the school. There was a legend that Slytherin built a secret chamber somewhere in Hogwarts that only his true heir would be able to open. This chamber, called the Chamber of Secrets, contained a monster that would finish his "noble purpose" of killing all the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts. As Slytherin's heir, Tom Riddle did open the Chamber and released the monster, a basilisk. Harry Potter defeated the basilisk with the help of Fawkes the phoenix and the sword of Gryffindor (CS).

Slytherin was a Parselmouth (CS).

There is some evidence that Slytherin was unusual looking. In CS17, the statue of Slytherin was described as being "ancient and monkey-like."

Harry Potter has many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students: Parselmouth -- resourcefulness -- determination -- a certain disregard for rules.

This is all I could think of. I used the 2nd and 6th book as my resources. Also I used Harry Potter Lexicon.

Godric Gryffindor

Godric Gryffindor, perhaps one of the most esteemed wizards in history, was born in 801AD in a small village in Cornwall. Born to wizarding parents, who spent their lives as farmers, Godric’s name is known to this day because he is one of the four founders of the magical school, Hogwarts.

Before founding Hogwarts, Godric lived at home with his parents until he came of age, and then travelled the world looking for like-minded individuals to begin a legacy of magical education.

Godric himself taught himself the art of magic. His parents, whilst magical, preferred to live their lives as near-Muggle’s. Godric however, envisioned himself as a powerful wizard, and so pored over all the books on magic he could find. Of the many magical subjects, Godric preferred Defence Against the Dark Arts, and it is this subject which he went on to teach once Hogwarts was opened.

Once he met up with the other four founders, he knew that a magical school was something he wanted to begin more than anything. He thought that they should locate it in the very depths of Scotland, hide it from Muggle’s (after all, this was the age of fear and hatred towards magical beings), and open magical education to all.

It was Godric who above all wanted to open the school to muggle-borns. For this, he received opposition from Slytherin, and this eventually resulted in one of the founder’s leaving the school.

Salazar Slytherin

Salazar, born in 789AD is descended from an English mother and a French father. Until the age of fifty, he lived with his widowed mother in their home in Wessex, learning from her all the magic he needed to become one of the most renowned and revered wizards in history.

Records show that Salazar was documented as being evil, malicious and sly, but this does not discount the fact that he was one of the four founders of the Hogwarts School.

At the inception of Hogwarts, Salazar believed that the school would be open only to magical children, yet when it became clear that Godric intended Muggle-born’s to attend the school, the in-fighting began.

Salazar left the school just fifty years after it was founded, leaving a legacy behind that remains to this day. Legend has it that he created a ‘chamber of secrets’ and hid a monster within, but to this day has never been proved.

After leaving the school, Salazar married a woman who had lived in his childhood village, Anna Bryant.


Rowena Ravenclaw

Renowned as the most studious of the four founders, Rowena was a fierce, wealthy Welsh-woman with a huge intelligence. Born in 893AD, Rowena didn’t develop her magical powers until she was thirty-one years old. Once she had, however, she wasted no time in learning everything there was to know about the magical world and magic in general.

With her preferred subject being Transfiguration, Rowena travelled the world looking for scholar’s who could teach her more about this branch of magic. It was in a tavern in the depths of Bulgaria that she met with Godric Gryffindor, where he told her of his dream to open a wizarding school, and sensing that this was a man with the same ideals as her own, offered him a substantial sum of money to build his school.

Rowena was known to be a well-liked woman, though those meeting her for the first time said she appeared as harsh and cold. She gave her school house the colours blue and bronze, because she thought they were the most regal, and gave her house the symbol of an eagle, because she believed they are the most majestic of birds of prey.

Helga Hufflepuff

The last of the four Hogwarts founders, Helga was a full-blooded Swede. It was in her childhood village she lived for most of her life (being the oldest of the four founders at the opening of Hogwarts), and it was at her local market she met with Rowena and Godric who welcomed her to their cause.

She was a kind, gentle woman, who made a career of selling healing potions before becoming one of the founders. Known in her village as 'Galen Helga’ (mad Helga), a woman with an obsession for badgers, but this was a front she put on so the Muggles would not know of her true profession.

Godric Gryffindor

Godric was born into a kind and loving family where he had three younger sisters. Unfortunatly, the youngest died at the age of 13. She caught a bad case of Dragon Pox and there was nothing anybody, not even Helga, could do in those times. Before he came together with the four other founders, he was the Guardian of the Tower in Hogsmeade. This roughly translated as the ruler or the Governor. It was on his land that Hogwarts was built and today, there is a rumour of a whole network of secret passages that would lead from Hogwarts to his own private rooms and library.

He was best at Charms and Defensive Hexes. While he was Guardian of the Tower, he used his talents to protect the land from the evil forces in neighbouring lands. He was brave, even at a young age, when he took on three armies, one by one, single handed while his father was severely injured.

When he and the other three founders came together, he contributed his hat, which he had charmed to think and use Legilimency to the school so that when the Founders died, Hogwarts could still continue to be open for students wanting to learn the arts of magic. He also drew the designs for the floor plan of Hogwarts, since it was on his land, and gave the idea for the enchanted great hall. He got along fantastically with both Helga and Rowena, but Salazar and Godric had a clash of personalities that made Salazar leave.

Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena was a widow when she first met Godric, Helga and Salazar. Her husband had been killed over a petty dispute and since then, she had vowed to gain so much knowledge that she and those she taught would never be in such a situation again. She was ruthless in her quest for knowledge and wrote a countless number of books. She was careful, conscientious, logical and thoughtful.

She had come to Hogsmeade to search for more knowledge on the history of various charms and the theory behind the hexes. She had heard of Godric’s talent and came to him to ask for help. Her strength was Transfiguration, Runes and Arithmancy. She had dabbled in Divination and found that she was a natural Seer.

She was the founder of the Hogwarts Library, the most extensive Library in Europe, even back then! She was the one who built on Godric’s plan for the great hall and the one who created the spells they would need for construction. She also decided to have a lake and grounds in which students could relax between lessons and exams. She also formed the base for what are now known as OWLs and NEWTs. She was quiet but strict and, in her mind, she was extremely disappointed in the way her two male colleagues had acted.

Salazar Slytherin

Salazar’s mother had abandoned him at birth because his father had died tragically when she was eight months pregnant with him. Soon after, when Salazar was three weeks old, she died too. He had been brought up by one of the crones in a nearby village of Hogwanton. When he was in his twenties, he left Hogwanton and moved to Hogsmeade, where, under the ruling of Godric, he became even more bitter and resentful on the inside but cool and collected with a detached atmosphere on the outside. He was a master of Occlumency and his frame of mind made him a brilliant potion maker.

He was the person who used Godric’s ideas and Rowena’s floor plans to actually build the castle and repair it. Because of his job, he was able to build in his Chamber of Secrets that was the home of his basilisk egg. He always sneered at those who were weak and didn’t do everything they could to get what they wanted. He looked down on Muggles because they had no magical power or ability. He was brought up to hate all things that were beneath him as a defence mechanism (crones needed to survive). He also contributed to the Room of Requirement as all the founders did and he fixed all of the plumbing.

He did not want to admit Muggleborn student to learn at Hogwarts but the other Founders over rode the decision. He and Godric got into a huge brawl over purity of the Wizarding race and therefore, he left the school in anger, never to return again.

Helga Hufflepuff

Helga was a gentle young witch with incredible Healing powers who lived in Hogsmeade. She was the one who had healed Godric’s father from the battlefield and the one who had tried in vain to save his youngest sister. She also had an uncanny knack for handling animals and plants, so she taught Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts as well as her duties as the nurse. Astronomy was her hobby as she had spent a considerable amount of time with centaurs that lived near her home. Along with her duties as professor and nurse, she also welcomed the new students into their dormitories, regardless of which house they were in and helped out in the kitchens.

As she was such a mother figure, she decorated the whole of the castle and took it upon herself to create a rose garden for the grounds that Rowena had designed. She was distraught when Salazar and Godric had their fall out and was the only one out of Rowena, Godric and herself who actually asked Salazar for forgiveness, through no fault of her own and begged him to stay for the good of the students. She never though of herself: only of others.

Godric Gryffindor,

When Godric was 11 he found he had more magic then he could ever had dreamed. He was the most powerful wizard of his time. When He had turned 15 he was asked to join the knights of the round table, he accepted but after assisting them to kill a dragon, he immeditally left. For 3 years Godric wandered around the country try to decide what he could do to help the wizarding world. During this time he rescued a young girl from a band of witch hunters, the girl had aslo amazing powers. Godric taught her all he knew. He married her but she died giving birth to his first son, the son, who he named Arthur,( after the king), died 6 months later from bad frost bite.

Godric was best in DADA, and Charms. When at Hogwarts he taught both of those classes and Astronamy. Godric is believed to have been buried on the grounds, in hope that his spirit powerful magice essance would help/encourage young students to keep trying at their learnings.

He desinged the hogwarts floor plans, but it was all the founders who helped built it, Salazar helping the most. He contributed his hat his sword and his heart into hogwarts. Even though he griefed for his dead wife he was a magnificant teacher and Headmaster.


Rowena Ravenclaw

Rowena had just been married at 16 when she was invited to help create Hogwarts. But it wasn't until almost eight years later that it was complete. Rowena had five children but that time her first two, who were twins, were some of hogwarts' first students. She was deeply saddened when Godric asked her husband to be the protector of Hogwarts. 6 years later he was murdered by a gang of dragon riders.

Rowena taught devination and Transfiguration. SHe helped Helga in the garden. two women were the best of friends. Rowena came up with the idea of the Room of Requirement, and common rooms for each house, the heads of house decided the animal symblos, also her idea, and the colors.

She wasn't devestated when Salazar left, he was a sexist pig and had a horrible personality. Even thought he had built the castle he was greatly despised by Rowena.


Helga Hufflepuff,

A good kind woman with many intrests, She prefered working in the gardens, and smiling. She had a great healing ability and was the village healer before she was asked to teach at hogwarts.
Helga never married but was asked several times some say the reason is because she didn't want to hurt anymans feelings.

She taught Herbology and Care of Magical creatures. She was the first nurse and deputy Head. She always laughed and wore yellow. She was only mad once, at Godric for chasing Salazar away.


Salazar Slytherin.

Never had any friends and only felt hate. Until he saw a woman he imeditally felt in love with her. This woman was Rowena Ravenclaw, He was deeply upset that she was already married, but still tried to win her heart but she didn't have any contempt for him. When Godric had givin her husband the job as protector, he hatched a plan. Salazar sent for 5 professinonal assasins it took three years for the letter to get there as it was intercepted 4 times. In the end Her husband was killed and Salazar tried to court Rowena but her heart was broken and she became quiet.

Salazar taught potions, and Arithmancy. He only took pure bloods and taught them. He created a passage were he kept the basilisk egg. In Slytherin's locket he placed the directions to open it.

He and Godric had a fight over two things- One aonly teaching purebloods and -two Rowena Ravenclaw. Both men loved her but the real reason Salazar left was because of her. After leaving Salazar remarried to a beautiful witch named Morgana they named their fist son Galahad and their first daughter Rowena.

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I hope you've enjoyed my version of the Four Founders.