Blood Status
Blood Status,also named Purity of Blood, is a concept that distinguishes between family trees that have different levels of magically-endowed members. It often results in prejudice towards those who have a large number of Muggles in their families. Wizarding society in general considers itself apart from and superior to Muggle society, which is not connected with magic. Almost all wizards have Muggles in their family trees, though some claim not to. The concept played a key role in both the First and Second Wizarding Wars. In truth, pure-blood families have ceased to exist during the 1900s.
- Page adapted from Blood Status
at the Harry Potter Lexicon.
Levels of blood purity
Muggle-borns
Those born to Muggle families but who are skilled with magic are referred to as Muggle-borns. The child of two Muggles is considered a Muggle-born. In wizarding Britain, they are allowed to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, although some other schools only admit students with wizarding heritage. Salazar Slytherin fell out of favour with the other Founders of Hogwarts because he wanted to limit attendance on the same grounds.
Those with prejudice against Muggles and their families often refer to such wizards as "Mudbloods," a highly offensive term implying that the individual has dirty and inferior blood. Those who discriminate against Muggle-borns believe that they do not deserve magic and should be excluded from the wizarding world, in spite of the fact that Muggle-borns are just as magically talented as those of other blood statuses.
Half-bloods
Wizards with families split between Muggles and wizards are referred to as half-bloods. Due to the dominance of the magic gene, children born to at least one magical parent will usually be magical themselves, meaning that a non-magical child born to a Muggle and a wizard is considered a Squib, not a Muggle; the term 'half-blood' is misleading in that it does not necessarily imply a half-and-half split in wizarding/Muggle ancestry, but rather any witch or wizard with both wizarding and Muggle heritage. By the 1990s, most of the magical population were technically half-bloods despite claims otherwise.
The ancestry of a half-blood can be:
- One pure- or half-blood parent, one Muggle parent
- One pure- or half-blood parent, one Muggle-born parent
- Two magical parents, known Muggle ancestry
The term can be an insult, depending on the context in which it is used.
Some half-bloods also express prejudice against those with Muggle ancestry, despite having it themselves, often clinging to what wizarding heritage they do have.
Pure-bloods
Pure-bloods are wizards and witches with a family tree devoid of Muggle members; or, at least, they have convinced themselves of this by removing any non-pure-bloods from their family trees. At the very least, one must have all magical grandparents to be considered pure-blood, though extremists would require no known Muggle ancestors. Thus, some would consider the children of Harry and Ginny Potter to be pure-bloods because all four of their grandparents — James and Lily Potter, and Arthur and Molly Weasley — were wizards and witches. Others, however, would consider them half-bloods because their paternal grandmother was Muggle-born, thus they have known Muggle ancestry.
Many pure-bloods consider themselves to be akin to royalty in the wizarding world, or at the very least the elite. They often disdain those of different blood status and Muggles, some even arguing that Muggle-borns should not be admitted into the wizarding world.
To be pure-blood is an uncommon trait, and their numbers continue to decline over time. There appears to be a continuous stream of new families entering the wizarding world as children from non-wizarding backgrounds with magical ability, and as a result those with long pure-blood lines are relatively rare. To maintain their "pureblood pedigree", some families have practised inbreeding, accounting for the mental instability of certain family members. Those same families tend to disown members who accept Muggles or Muggle-born wizards into their lives. These family members would be deemed "blood traitors".
Squibs
Squibs are individuals from wizarding families that have not shown skill in magic. Squibs can choose to keep in contact with wizarding society, whereas Muggles have little to no contact. Squibs are generally looked upon with disdain by most wizards and witches. Squibs are able to use magical devices, such as magic detectors, or other items whose magical capabilities are inherent, but not devices such as wands, which require magical abilities in the user. Muggle-borns are descended from Squibs.
Half-breeds
Half-breeds are humans with at least one non-human parent, although witches and wizards with non-human ancestry further back would also be considered half-breeds. They are very rare, and have traits of both species, such as the ability to use magic and spell resistance in half-giants. Prejudice against half-breeds appears to be relatively common in the wizarding world, which is intolerant toward non-human peoples in general.
Known half-breed types
- Part-giant (see Giants)
- Part-Veela
- Part-goblin (see Goblins)
Interrelation
It is stated all "pure-blood" families are interrelated. This would mean (even if pure-blood families exist) all families are interrelated. All half-bloods have at least 1 pure-blood ancestor from a pure blood family (thus pure-bloods and half-bloods are related). Muggle-borns are children of Muggles and have the magic gene because of a squib, half-blood or pure-blood ancestor. Squibs are born into half-blood/pure-blood families but do not possess the power to use magic (though they are carriers of the gene). Half-breeds are half-bloods/pure-bloods with a non-human ancestor. Muggles can become related and produce half-blood children when mixed with half-bloods/pure-bloods. A muggle may marry a squib and their descendants know nothing until the gene resurfaces randomly.
