Were the snakes in Harry Potter actually on the good side?
We know there were a few snakes in Harry Potter. We also know the serpent is the official mascot of Slytherin. But were the snakes we saw actually good?
Harry Potter is know stranger to snakes in the series but were they actually good guys? We’re taking a closer look!
The boa constrictor
We certainly had a pretty good first meeting with the snakes of Harry Potter. The boa constrictor at the zoo couldn’t have made us love him more if he tried. Not only did he have a kind conversation with Harry, but he was actually genuinely thankful for Harry letting him out of his glass prison. Even though it was an accident on Harry’s part. This is also where we learn that Harry is able to communicate with snakes. A skill we later learn is rare and usually doesn’t bode anything remotely good.
Not only did the constrictor have a lovely little chat with Harry, but as a bonus we got to see him scare the pants off Dudley. That’s something that every fan of the series can appreciate.
The Basilisk
We know the Basilisk of Slytherin has a bad reputation. Especially since it was spoken of as the only resident of the Chamber of Secrets. But does that automatically make the Basilisk an entity of evil? The Basilisk didn’t really have any free will if you recall that the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle, could control the snake. So we never really got the opportunity to see who the Basilisk really was.
Sure, she tried to kill Harry and was almost successful, but that was once again due to the control of Tom Riddle. What if Harry had been the one able to control her? I definitely think things would have been vastly different in this case.
Nagini
Nagini is really one that we know very little about. What we do know is that she has a very close bond with Voldemort and because of that we assume she was evil. But we don’t know if she teamed up with Voldemort of her own free will or not. Even if Nagini did team up with Voldemort of her own free will, we have no idea what she knew of him when she teamed up with him in the first place.
The truth is that Nagini did do a lot of bad things as Voldemort’s bidding. But most of this was done after she had become one of the wizard’s Horcruxes. At that point, there wasn’t much Nagini got to decide to do on her own.
So what do you think? Were these snakes bad, good, or just misunderstood? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Don’t forget to check with Wizards and Whatnot daily for all your Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts needs!