Half-blood

Warning!

At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery & Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells & Harry Potter: Magic Awakened & Hogwarts Legacy.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

"Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

— Ron Weasley regarding half-blood statistics^[src]

Potter family 2 - Harry as baby — Half-blood Harry Potter was the son of a pure-blood wizard and a Muggle-born witch

Half-blood was the term commonly given to wizards and witches who had known Muggle or Muggle-born parents or grandparents.^[1] By the 1990s, half-bloods were the most common type of wizard or witch, as the pure-blood wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.^[1]^[2]

Overview[]

It should be noted that any wizard or witch who was neither pure-blood nor Muggle-born was considered half-blood, even if they had two magical parents; they need not have had exactly half-Muggle/half-wizard heritage. Those with at least one Muggle or Muggle-born grandparent were considered half-blood.

Non-magical children born with at least one magical parent were considered Squibs by the wizarding community rather than Half-bloods or Muggles.^[3] Examples include Martha Steward (II),^[4] Dolores Umbridge's brother,^[5] and Gilderoy Lockhart's two sisters.^[6] Because of their Muggle parentage, many end up assimilating into the Muggle population as they would have more trouble thriving within the magical community.

Magical children born to a Muggle-born and a Muggle are also considered half-bloods, such as Penny and Beatrice Haywood.

Treatment[]

"You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare... He dared — he dares — he stands there — filthy half-blood — "

— Bellatrix Lestrange's prejudice against Harry Potter's half-blood status^[src]

Potter family2 — Harry Potter and his children are half-bloods with known Muggle ancestry

Those who believed in the importance of blood purity considered half-bloods to be inferior because of their Muggle heritage, though superior to Muggle-borns. It could be argued that half-bloods in the eyes of those who believed in blood purity bridged the gap between "respectable" and inferior. As such, some families such as the Malfoys allowed them to marry into their pure-blood family and could do so without affecting their family's pure-blood status. In spite of this, this never deterred "respect" from families such as the Blacks, Gaunt and the Lestranges against the Malfoys.^[7]

Other more fanatical families such as the Gaunts, Blacks, and Lestranges required all marriages to be those of pure-blood.^[7]^[8] Members of these families were more likely to use "half-blood" in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; Bellatrix Lestrange did so on multiple occasions,^[9] and the portrait of Walburga Black often equated half-bloods with Half-breeds.^[10]

Severus Snape OOTPF — Severus Snape, "Half-Blood Prince"

Some bigoted half-bloods expressed prejudice towards those with Muggle heritage, despite having some themselves, and clung only to what wizarding heritage they had. Notably Lord Voldemort persecuted Muggles and Muggle-borns, despite the fact that his mother (Merope Gaunt) was a pure-blood witch and his father (Tom Riddle Snr) was a Muggle. He denied his Muggle heritage, instead emphasising his wizard ancestors; his legend-entitled nickname was "Heir of Slytherin" because his most notable wizard ancestor (Salazar Slytherin) was a famous pure-blood champion, which made himself more believable.^[11] Severus Snape may have been another example; his self-entitled nickname was "Half-Blood Prince"^[12] because his mother (Eileen Prince) was a pure-blood witch and his father (Tobias Snape) was a Muggle.^[13]

However, Remus Lupin reported that he never used the nickname openly. This, as well as Snape's membership in the Death Eaters, suggests he may have been ashamed of his Muggle heritage, at least in his early life. In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else.^[14] Ironically (or perhaps because of), regarding the prophecy concerning his defeat, Voldemort chose to go after the half-blood Harry Potter instead of the pure-blood Neville Longbottom.

When the British Ministry of Magic fell under Voldemort's control in 1997, Muggle-borns were openly persecuted and pure-bloods were favoured above all else. Half-bloods were still accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and in the British Ministry of Magic, but were not treated as well as the pure-blood members.^[15]^[16] This was repealed once Lord Voldemort was officially defeated.

Parentage[]

Magical & Muggle[]

Wizard(s)	Magical/Squib parent	Muggle parent
Bowman Wright	Mother	Father
Rionach Steward^[17]	Isolt Sayre (pure-blood)	James Steward
Minerva McGonagall^[18]	Isobel Ross	Robert McGonagall
Malcolm McGonagall
Robert McGonagall Junior
Celestina Warbeck^[19]	Father	Mother
Tom Marvolo Riddle^[20]	Merope Gaunt (pure-blood)	Tom Riddle Senior
Dolores Umbridge^[21]	Orford Umbridge	Ellen Cracknell
Sybill Trelawney^[22]	Father (pure-blood/half-blood)	Mother
Remus Lupin^[23]^[24]	Lyall Lupin	Hope Howell
Severus Snape^[25]	Eileen Prince (pure-blood)	Tobias Snape
Gilderoy Lockhart^[6]	Mother	Father
Quirinus Quirrell	One Muggle parent, unknown on which side.^[26]^[27]
Penny Haywood^[28]	Mother (Muggle-born)^[29]	Father^[30]
Beatrice Haywood^[28]	Mother (Muggle-born)^[29]	Father^[30]
Seamus Finnigan	Mother	Father
Dean Thomas	Father	Mother
Ivy Warrington^[31]	Warrington sisters' mother	Warrington sisters' father
Winifred Warrington
Daniel Page^[32]	Kaleena Page	Gorman Page

Pure/half-blood & Muggle-born[]

Wizard(s)	Pure/half-blood parent	Muggle-born parent
Albus Dumbledore	Percival Dumbledore	Kendra Dumbledore
Aberforth Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore
Garrick Ollivander^[33]^[34]	Gervaise Ollivander (pure-blood)^[34]	Mrs Ollivander^[34]
Nymphadora Tonks	Andromeda Black (pure-blood)	Edward Tonks
Harry Potter	James Potter (pure-blood)	Lily Evans
Alfred Cattermole	Reginald Cattermole	Mary Cattermole
Ellie Cattermole
Maisie Cattermole
Cresswell brothers	Mrs Cresswell	Dirk Cresswell
Hugo Granger-Weasley	Ronald Weasley (pure-blood)	Hermione Granger
Rose Granger-Weasley	Ronald Weasley (pure-blood)	Hermione Granger

Both half-bloods[]

Wizard(s)	Parents
Edward Lupin	Remus Lupin
Edward Lupin	Nymphadora Tonks

Muggle or Muggle-born grandparent[]

Wizard(s)	Pure-blood parent	Half-blood parent with Muggle or Muggle-born parent
Albus Potter	Ginny Weasley	Harry Potter (Muggle-born mother)
James Sirius Potter
Lily Luna Potter
Delphini	Bellatrix Lestrange	Tom Riddle (Muggle father)

Unknown status[]

Wizard(s)	Ancestor
Porpentina Goldstein	At least one known No-Maj/Muggle or No-Maj-born/Muggle-born grandparent.^[35]
Queenie Goldstein
Aurelius Dumbledore	Half-blood father and Muggle-born paternal grandmother, mother's status unknown.^[36]
Mundungus Fletcher
Hannah Abbott	At least one known Muggle parent or grandparent
Susan Bones^[37]
Millicent Bulstrode^[37]
Mandy Brocklehurst^[37]
Michael Corner^[37]
Tracey Davis^[37]
Anthony Goldstein^[37]
Wayne Hopkins^[37]
Megan Jones^[37]
Sue Li^[37]
Abigail Grey^[38]		Pure-blood father and half-blood/Muggle-born mother
Constance Pickering	Witch mother,^[39] at least one Muggle grandfather.^[40]
Constance Pickering's sister
Constance Pickering's brother (II)

Behind the scenes[]

In the GBC version of the first video game, there is a boy in Slytherin who went to Charm School and is listed as being likely half-blood.^[41]
On the draft class list, Hannah Abbott was listed as a Muggle-born,^[37] but in a later interview, Rowling stated that she had always thought of Hannah as a pure-blood. To compromise, she was made a half-blood.^[42]
An interesting fact of note is that despite the ideals that pure-bloods are inherently more powerful wizards, several of the most powerful or particularly adept wizards and witches in the series are in fact half-blood, such as Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Harry Potter.
The trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger consists of all three types of wizards: Harry being half-blood, Ron being Pure-blood, and Hermione being Muggle-born.
Due to the lesser detailed nature of the first three books of the series, some fans became confused on the definition of the term half-blood as the series continued and matured. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets gave the impression that the term was based on the child's parents and not necessarily beyond that lineage. As the series continued and became more detailed, Rowling was finally able to properly describe the full meaning of the term in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 7 (Mudbloods And Murmurs)
↑ FAQ at J. K. Rowling's official site - "The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents. If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda."
↑ Squibs" at J. K. Rowling's official site
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Gilderoy Lockhart" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "The Malfoy Family" at Harry Potter (website) - "From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practise of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree."
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt) - Marvolo Gaunt: "Centuries it’s been in our family, that’s how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way!"
↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil)
↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 4 (Number Twelve Grimmauld Place)
↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 17 (The Heir of Slytherin)
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 28 (Flight of the Prince)
↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33 (The Prince's Tale)
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 12 (Silver and Opals) - " "“The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left,” said Hermione stubbornly. “I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggle-borns they hate, they’d be quite happy to let you and Ron join up.”""
↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 29 (The Lost Diadem) - Neville: "They don’t want to spill too much pure blood, so they’ll torture us a bit if we’re mouthy but they won’t actually kill us."
↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 13 (The Muggle-Born Registration Commission) - "“No, no, I’m half-blood, I’m half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he was, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he’s a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you — get your hands off me, get your hands off —”"
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor McGonagall" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Celestina Warbeck" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 13 (The Very Secret Diary) - "'Half-blood, sir,' said Riddle. 'Muggle father, witch mother.'"
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Sybill Trelawney" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ World Book Day webchat, 4 March 2004
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Remus Lupin" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 30 (The White Tomb) - "He's just like Voldemort. Pure-blood mother, Muggle father... ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the Dark Arts, gave himself an impressive new name — Lord Voldemort — the Half-Blood Prince — how could Dumbledore have missed?"
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor Quirrell" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 2, Side Quest "A special Celebration of Hogwarts Teachers"
↑ ^28.0 ^28.1 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, Side Quest "Penny for Your Thoughts"
↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5 Defence Against the Dark Arts
↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, Chapter 3 (Detention Before Extension) - History of Magic Lesson "Medieval Assembly of European Wizards"
↑ The Warrington sisters' father was a Muggle while their mother was a witch, making the twin sisters half-blood.
↑ His father was a Muggle and his mother a witch, making him half-blood.
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Mr Ollivander" at Harry Potter (website)
↑ ^34.0 ^34.1 ^34.2 Garrick Ollivander fact file at Pottermore
↑ See this image of Porpentina Goldstein's MACUSA identification card on display as part of a prop exhibition in Japan. Both of their parents died of Dragon Pox, showing that they were wizards, which means that their Muggle heritage was more distant.
↑ Aurelius's biological father Aberforth was a wizard, but his biological grandmother Kendra was Muggle-born, so Aurelius was half-blood. Including this, his mother was possibly a Muggle, though she was from Godric's Hollow at one point which houses mostly Wizardkind.
↑ ^37.0 ^37.1 ^37.2 ^37.3 ^37.4 ^37.5 ^37.6 ^37.7 ^37.8 ^37.9 Harry Potter and Me
↑ Abigail's profile at the Harry Potter: Magic Awakened Facebook account (see this image)
↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite "Brilliant Event: Christmas Calamity"
↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite "Brilliant Event: Darkness Risings"
↑ This individual refers to his father, a wizard, but later refers to films. This indicates that while having magical ancestry, he had some contact with the Muggle world. Thus, he was most likely a half-blood.
↑ PotterCast 130 transcript