First, how many dark lords have been sorted into Slytherin? Lord Voldemort, one of the most evil Dark lords ever, is the main one. He was cunning, sly and ambitious. But could he have been better? The Harry Potter book states that teachers liked him and his charm.
But Lord Voldemort isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that when people think of him, they know he was sorted into Slytherin. Many other Dark Lords had graduated from Hogwarts, all in Slytherin as stated oleh Hagrid in the Philosophers Stone. This would have something to do with the blatant dislike for the Slytherin house.
Snobby purebloods always get sorted into Slytherin. Sirius Black was the first ever non-Slytherin from the Ancient and Noble house of Black. All known Malfoys were sorted into Slytherin as well as other children of death eaters.
Because of this, children in Slytherin are often portrayed as junior Death Eaters. A lot of children who go from Slytherin do end up being dark, but not just because of their parentage.
It is generally because other houses hate them. For what reason? For being ambitious? The classical example of this is the Marauders and Severus Snape. The reason why Severus Snape turned dark (or a large portion of the reason) was because of the Marauders torture.
And to who could Severus Snape turn to? The Marauders were Gryffindors, and were largely favoured. Minerva McGonagall was even sad about Peter Pettigrew dying, claiming to have only been hard on him to push him further. Even Dumbledore wouldn’t go against them. Dumbledore largely favoured, as shown in the Deathly Hallows, them, and they liked Dumbledore back. James Potter trusted him enough to give the headmaster his prized jubah of invisibility.
And as for other teachers, can anda name a few apart from Professor Severus Snape who ever favoured the Slytherins? Gryffindors practically rule the school at Hogwarts, and Slytherins are unpopular with the other three houses. In a Quidditch match, for example, when Gryffindor scored, the whole school cheered minus the Slytherins and a few Ravenclaws. When Slytherin scored, everyone booed, except the Slytherins.
And with a Headmaster who used to be a Gryffindor, as well as a Deputy Headmistress who used to be a Gryffindor and is the head of the house, who is going to stand up for them apart from themselves?
Not only that, but Harry Potter’s nemesis is Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin, who has two minions, described as brainless. Pansy Parkinson is described as a pug-faced girl, who speaks shrilly. The Slytherin Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint, is described as looking like he had some troll blood in him. The rest of the Slytherins are described as looking like a nasty bunch.
This makes us think that Slytherin is evil, turning them against us. But is that really fair, seeing how they are judged oleh people for their past, when the other houses hate them and the teachers do not stand up for them?
