Slytherin is the Hogwarts faculty, associated with the dark side and evil. Slytherins are known for their ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness. The venerable ghost of the Faculty is the Bloody Baron and the magical mascot of the Faculty – is the Serpent.
The faculty was named in honor of its founder, Salazar Slytherin, a wizard, and one of the four founders of Hogwarts School. He believed that only purebred wizards should be allowed to attend his school. He was constantly at odds with the other founders of the school for this reason. Over time, the animosity between the founders of the School has reached its limits. He was eventually forced to leave the School, but before he left, he created a Chamber of Secrets where he hid his monster, a basilisk, which was supposed to kill half-blood wizards. The room was searched many times but could not be found because according to the legend, it could only be opened by the Slytherin heir who knew the serpent language.
The distinctive qualities of the students of this faculty: are cunning, and the ability to achieve their goals by any means. They are distinguished by their wit and frequent transgression of the boundaries of morality, which from the very foundation of Hogwarts has cemented Slytherin’s bad reputation
What is Slytherin?
Slytherin is the name of one of the four faculties of the great school of magic and witchcraft Hogwarts. The distinctive features of Slytherin students are cunning and dodgy. The founder of the faculty is the most cunning wizard, the serpentine Salazar Slytherin. The deans of the faculty are Professors Severus Snape and Horace Slytherin.
In terms of visual identity, the Slytherin crest is based on the official colors of the faculty, silver, and green, and depicts a Slytherin’s mascot, the snake. The crest looks very dark and dramatic, perfectly reflecting the mood and character of the faculty’s students. The serpent on the Slytherin coat of arms signifies the founder’s ability to speak the serpent language.
The Slytherin coat of arms is an English quadrangular shield with a sharp base. The background of the shield is painted green, with some metallic and brine green gradients. The ornate silver frame of the crest looks very elegant and has its lines curved and elongated. In the center of the shield is located a heraldic figure of the serpent, drawn in silver metallic shades.
The choice of the heraldic animal of Salazar Slytherin is quite understandable. The founder of the faculty possessed the rare gift of the serpentine – he could speak and understand the serpent’s language. This art gave the wizard the ability to use the serpent as his symbol.
The symbolic meaning of the Slytherin coat of arms is rather ambiguous in interpretation. Green as the main metal of the shield symbolizes hope, abundance, freedom and joy. Most, likely, this metal was taken exactly in the meaning of abundance – after all, most of the students of this faculty come from noble and wealthy families, before whom many opportunities are open. The snake as the main heraldic figure is also not typical of traditional heraldry. The snake is a very ambiguous symbol. First, it is a cold-blooded animal. It symbolizes the ability to “save face”, hide their emotions, and control them. Second, the snake is a symbol of dodginess, of the ability to get out of any situation. Snakes are slippery, thin, and twisted. Recall the words of the song of the Spreading Hat:
It may be that in Slytherin you are destined
To find your best friends.
There the cunning ones go to their goal,
No shy avenues.
Thirdly, let’s not forget another quality of the snake – wisdom. It is the snake that is associated with wisdom. No one will argue that Slytherin students are wise in their own way: they know how to analyze a situation, and they prefer to bypass open conflicts, to save face. And, fourthly, snakes don’t attack first, only if they are hurt or attacked. The snake is often considered a symbol of the “dark side,” the “afterlife.” Serpents have been ascribed dark essence, which may be why this faculty plays the role of the abode of evil in the book. In addition, the underworld – the dungeons – is also a very successful allusion to the mythological roots of the snake as a symbol. The element of snakes is water. It is believed that water magic is subordinated to the serpent’s essence.
The primary Slytherin crest has no lettering on it, however, the secondary version can be seen with a delicate inscription written along the bottom part of the coat of arm’s frame. In this case, the wordmark is set in the uppercase of a medium-weight serif typeface with sophisticated contours of the characters. The closest fonts to the one, used in this emblem, are, probably, Aretino Bold, or Villanova Serif Pro Bold.
As for the color palette of the Slytherin visual identity, it is based on the official shades of the faculty, silver, and green. Silver in heraldry symbolizes nobility, frankness, as well as purity, innocence, and truthfulness. Green means hope, abundance, freedom, and joy, but can also just mean meadow grass.