the sorting hat holds great power, the power to sort each student into the house they feel is best suited and the sorting hat also holds part of each of the founders of houses. The last few songs the sorting hat sang though have been giving warnings. in the fifth book, which is the last sorting song that is shown in the books, though we do hear about the one in the 6th book just not the correct wording
"hat say anything interesting?" asked harry. "more of the same really...advising us all to unite in the face of our enemies, you know"
In the fifth book however, some of the song appears quite odd.
"but this year i'll fo further, listen closely to my song:
though condemned i am to split you, i still worry that it's wrong,
though i must fufill my duty and must quarter every year
still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear"
it confuses me i admit. well let me know what you think....

There is no doubt that it means all four houses have to unite. But there is something more and I can't quite put my finger on it. Any thoughts?

I don't think it means too much. Well, not that quote from the song at least. Remember, most students in Howarts are clueless to the war between good and evil. I think its just the hat's way of trying to warn everyone who doesn't already know whats going on.

Theres no doubt that the songs mean things and that their messages of help. But what the messages mean when taken a part. i don't know. i do not have my books on me at the moment. but i know that thses messages are important and shouldn't be taken as ajoke. although Harry tends too.

Merlyn1771 Posted Yesterday, 08:12 PM
"I don't think it means too much. Well, not that quote from the song at least. Remember, most students in Howarts are clueless to the war between good and evil. I think its just the hat's way of trying to warn everyone who doesn't already know whats going on"

you may be right, it may just be the sorting hat trying to warn the students but the wording just seems quite odd to me

listen closely to my song: it tells the students to listen closely, something it has never done before. this i admit may be just to get the students to understand about the war.

though condemned i am to split you, i still worry that it's wrong,: condemned seems like a funny word to use for me. why should it be condemned to split them?

though i must fufill my duty and must quarter every year this seems fine, i cant find any other meaning in that if anyone else can, let me know.

still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear": this is the line that confuses me the most. does the sorting hat know what is going to happen? i dont understand this so if anyone else thinks they do tell me!!

I think that it means that everyone needs to unite and show that even though they are sorted into different houses there can still be bonds of friendship and love. Since it has been mentioned in several different books it has to be significant and should play a role in book seven.

Quote from Ilias:
still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear": this is the line that confuses me the most. does the sorting hat know what is going to happen? i dont understand this so if anyone else thinks they do tell me!!


maybe it is a hint that something has to be sorted right before Harry can kill the Voldemord
and if it is not sorted right Voldemord will win.

or is he worriing about something else

its all so damn comfusing...but then i guess its meant to be. I just feel the wording of it is not quite right. The hat has just been saying about how sorting is bad, then suddenly it may not bring the end it fears. what end? voldemort winning obviously, or anything else? but how could sorting help it? maybe im reading too deeply. someone help me with an idea though cos its uber troubling

this is a interesting idea HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM i will write more later

well if we see the sorting hat again then maybe it will stress the importance of working together

i think in the other books it just served as a warning that LV is back and that they are more powerful united

this might also serve as a warning to harry not to reject his friends like he did in OOTP

yeah i guess it is just symbolizing unity etc. hmmm im still not fully convinced there isnt something more though. oh well

hey,
i think that the song is only to unite them. i dont know if anybody has mentioned this but remember Nick said in the fifth book it stays in Dd's office so i daresay he picks up some news. this is true. lets see.

we don't really anything abou that at this point for all we know it could mean nothing or it could be of great importance all we can do is speculate but i do think the words of the sorting hats mean something quite big more than meets the eye maybe it knows something that it is unbound to say like the house elves they are not allowed to say things they have heard form they're masters without badly punishing themselves but the hat could be allowed to say anything at all. perhaps it heard something whilst it was in dumbledore's office maybe something dumbledore was keeping from them who knows. thank you for reading. the dark lord knows all.

Yes, like hogwarts said, the Sorting Hat was kept in Dumbledore's office. No doubt it picked up things. Another thing to keep in mind is that the founders put some brains in me so i could choose instead! What kind of brains could they have possibly put in? Could it be some of the founders' own minds? And about the whole "I feel bad about splitting you up", thats probably because everyone has to unite against Voldemort. Together strong, apart weak, that kind of thing. Also, the different houses kind of (well definitely) have rivalrys, and i think thats another issue its talking about. Forget your petty quarrels and your slight differences, and unite against Voldemort as one!

i havnt ever really thought to much about the hats songs...im not that into reading what should be sung...hem nm me...but this has god point...i dont know why but for some reason i started thinking maybe one person from each house has to help with the distruction of LV...i dunno maybe like draco, luna, harry/neville, ummm im not sure who from hufflepuff...hmmm anyways thats just oneof my many ramblings. hem...any way....i think the hat has a good point and... ill leave it at that!

but this year i'll fo further, listen closely to my song:
though condemned i am to split you, i still worry that it's wrong,
though i must fufill my duty and must quarter every year
still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear

is there any link between that verse and "the founders put some brains in me so i could choose instead"? up till year 5 the sorting hat seems proud of that he alone gets to decide who goes into which house, and even more proud that the founders "put some brains" in him. then suddenly, in the 5th book the sorting hat is "condemned" to sort. hmmmm.

also we must remember "it was Gryffindor who found the way, he whipped me off his head"

any thoughts?

I believe "the end I fear" is simply the destruction or breaking apart of the school. Hogwart is an ancient school and for it to be destroyed or shut down would be the thing the sorting hat fears. By sorting students, it in a sense divides the students both now and in the future. It is not coincidence that most of the death eaters are slytherins. I agree it wants unification.

I think lias is on to something. I agree they are connected. I think that it is condemned to split the houses, in a sene dividing them.

I think the sorting hat's songs definitely are significant. I agree that "the end I fear" is the distruction of Hogwarts. They need to all be united and strong and fight together. They can't have rivalries between the houses because of silly things like winning the house cup when out there is someone who would love to have a chance to destroy Hogwarts and kill them. If they stand united, they will have a greater chance of surviving, but if they are fighting amongst themselves, they will have a hard time defeating Voldemort and his death eaters.

Yes you're right about that. Me and my friend were only yesterday discussing the songs and what they meant. I hope (if we get any snippets of Hogwarts in the next book) that we find out a new song, because it will give us hints and clues about the book!
I know you're all saying that the houses should stand together (and you're right) - but really what are the chances of that? maybe some of them, but there is no way that the slytherins and gryffindors will work together - maybe this will come into play in the next book?
.X.

I don't think this particular quote from the sorting hat is anything of particular importance.

"but this year i'll go further, listen closely to my song:
obviously, its just asking the students to listen because he has some good advice coming up...

though condemned i am to split you, i still worry that it's wrong,
he's condemned to split them because he is a magicked hat... I doubt he has any choice but to sort the new students into thier houses, making him condemned. But he's afraid that drawing the students apart and making them rivals, just because they are in different houses

though i must fufill my duty and must quarter every year
again, he must sort the new students


still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear"
just like DD said, if they cannot stand together to fight the evil and be united, then maybe they won't have the strength to defeat LV.

I think the sorting hat should be taken literally, I don't see any hidden messages

"but this year i'll go further, listen closely to my song:
though condemned i am to split you, i still worry that it's wrong,
though i must fufill my duty and must quarter every year
still i wonder whether sorting may not bring the end i fear"

i can see how the hat is upset about splitting the students ... its obvious that the houses need to be united. the hat is unhappy about this, but that's what it was made to do, so he does it. however, he mentions that in the end, sorting the students might not bring the end he fears. this to me means that even though the students are sorted, the students then have a chance to see their true streangths and build upon them, based on which houses they're put in. even though there is competition and even hatred between the houses, the students will be able to overcome them in this time of need and their streangths can be brought forward, therefore uniting them to a cause, but they're still split by their own streangths and personalities. four different, powerful individuals were able to combine their streangths and create Hogwarts, but remain individuals with their own talents and other things.

This is kind of interesting.probably the reason why from the fifth year and the sixth year sorting songs have been so..... so depressing and warnful is because that the sorting hat can sense something evil has apeared meaning voldemort.and he is trying to warn the students that the magic world isnt safe anymore and that everyone must be terribely cautious.

"There is "more to the Sorting Hat" than what was presented in the first six books; we will "find out what it becomes" in book seven. "

the hat belonged to Gryffindor right??? and the founders put "their brains in me so i could choose instead"??? so maybe the hat is referring to sorting out the differences b/w gryffindor and slytherin b/c it proabbly has some of slytherins "brains". maybe harry also will need to sort out his similarities with both gryffindor (his house; the sword) and slytherin (parseltongue; being like tom riddle) in order to defeat Voldemort.
Just an idea....

You bring up an interesting part of book 5.

And after reading and analyzing book 6 many many times, i think i mayt have a theory.

to defeat the dark arts, the houses must unite.

and at the end of book 6, harry expresses a pity for Malfoy being controlled by voldemort to save himself and his family.


perhaps an alliance between gryffindor and slytherin is not impossible.

maybe a joint effort to liberate lucius and with malfoys help and experience with powerful dark objects..defeat voldemort?

who knows..

it means that even though the hat is bound to split the students into 4 houses (quarter) it still has a mind of it's own and think it's wrong to split them up and they would be together unified. kind of like a house elf which can thinks on it's own but still does the master / makers bidding (except the hat doesnt have to iron it's hands or "jump off the topmost tower" )

Big T

the reason that the wording seems weird is because it stills has to make it poetic and part of the song

JKR had stated in an interview that when the hat is on a student's head, the voice he or she hears is the voice in the students heads. In other words, the student hears their own thoughts. But when the hat is speaking any other time-DD's office to Harry, the hat's song, etc.-it is the voice of the founders. I believe that the hat has the founders' "essence" in it just like the former headmaster's portraits. I believe this is what the hat is going to become-the founders. Not living or breathing or anything, but JKR did also say that the founders are going to play a role in DH. I'm not sure how the hat is going to do this-through just their voices, their "essence" coming out of the hat, a pensive of sorts, or something. Guess we will just have to wait and see!!

I think that it means that every one needs to unite. Such as the ministry and the Order. It can not have just the Order they are too small and the ministry doesnt have a good wizard but the Aurors. They need to unite or else nothing will work out.

People are stronger as a whole or team. If the four houses were to unite they would be stronger rather than if they were enemies.

well, in Harry Potter's world, people are 'sorted' when they are born. Pure blood, mudblood, muggleborn, muggle... and some, (the DE and Voldy) judge them on that. The sorting hat has nothing to do with that, but maybe it had a double meaning and was also saying people shouldnt let their births divide them.

I really have absolutely no idea-- that was just a random thought to throw into the mix!!

i think the hat is saying that everyone needs to be united and that by dividing them into their houses he is giving them one more reason to look at each others differences. I believe that hat is torn between duty to divide and his conscience to tell them that he feels that any divisions at this time could prove fatal. I also feel this a warning that standing seperating themselves from other at this time is the worst thing they could do. Safety in numbers. Remember everyone always says that and now it is being seen here. It was stressed in book four with the whole tri wizard tournament. The good wizards need to unite in order to stand a chance against Voldemort and his followers. The students can't let their differences stand in the way of working together.