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I just posted this on a list as a comment but it struck me as something I'd throw out and see what other people thought. Some may know I've always been very wary of the idea of "The Good Slytherin," that mythical character that's supposed to be introduced and so redeem the house in canon, but it still seems to be a favorite fandom idea. (Isn't Phineas awesome enough??!) This came up in a discussion of Slughorn as such. Now, Slughorn obviously is not a Death Eater and he's never sung 'Weasley is Our King' so I guess that puts him above every other Slytherin in canon so far, but still,
I think sometimes fandom, possibly in its desire to see that "Good Slytherin" makes Slughorn into a much better man than he is. To me, while Slughorn isn't a villain, what he stands for is something very real, not particularly good, and not exactly in keeping with some of the other ideas of the book. (I know--what a shock--an ethical idea that seems to be contradicted elsewhere in the story!)
Slughorn runs his Slug Club on the same ideas as the Ivy Leagues run their admissions (and having just read an article that broke down how that worked I'm even more convinced of this). Slughorn looks for kids that fit what he wants "Slug Club" to mean: they seem like they're going to be a success in terms of money, power and fame. This does not have to mean a special talent or good character, it just means they seem like they've got better chances of being rich and famous.
He's not, as I've seen argued elsewhere, someone who is admirable because he judges on abilities and not blood or anything like that. Blood matters to Slughorn--plenty of his kids are chosen for their bloodlines first, just as the Ivy League focuses a lot on legacies (both Draco's father and grandfather were friends of Slughorn, and Draco himself would have been a shoe-in for the club had Slughorn not been avoiding DE children specifically this year). We know he buys the Pureblood superiority idea--even Harry the usually dim picks up on how "surprised" he sounds at Lily's talent coming from a Muggleborn (as if anyone in Harry's family could possibly be less than exceptional!). He avoids the children of DEs at the moment for political reasons, but does not seem to have ever had a problem with including students supporting Pureblood ideology.
Exceptional Muggleborns are let in, but preference is certainly given to Purebloods from known families (is Hermione the only current Muggleborn? Was Lily the only one in her day?) There's a mixture of things Slughorn is looking for, and sometimes one thing overrules another. Neville is invited originally for his family connections, but seems to rule himself right back out by being unexceptional and awkward. Belby is also too nervous and awkward to make a good impression, and when it turns out his family connections are useless too, he's rudely ignored. McClaggen naturally endears himself for all the same reasons he'd endear himself to the Omegas of "Animal House" while Neville would be pantsed and hung up a tree. Neville and Belby could both grow up to be brilliant herbologists, but it's not glamorous, so not interesting to Slughorn, I'd guess. Far from being a teacher who recognizes talent no matter who has it, Slughorn is comically uninterested in talent if it comes in the wrong person.
It's ironic, really, that despite all the years of Snape's favoring Slytherin the biggest example of teacher favoritism we get is from Slughorn towards Harry. Once he's rejected someone he just doesn't care about them. Imagine being in a class where the teacher fawns over one student all the time, keeps talking about how much he liked his mother. A class where one time you're given a difficult assignment that whole class kills themselves on, and the favorite can't do it at all and gives a joke answer, the teacher still holds him up as an example! I don't know...this just doesn't seem like a decent chap (as he's been described) at all. This is favoritism of the most annoying kind, far beyond one single "look how well Malfoy crushed his slugs" in first year. I don't think Harry would like it if he wasn't benefiting from it (I know—what a shock for Harry!). I know when I'm in a situation where there's a group of "special" people that I can't get into, I generally leave. I don't have to be one of the best, but I have to know there's no arbitrary thing keeping me from being one of the best--like I'm not pretty enough or rich enough or have a good family or I'm just "not the type."
That in itself doesn't make him a bad guy, obviously, but then there's the idea of his "helping others." He does enjoy networking, bringing his famous friends together to make them more well-connected and so himself more well-connected. But if we're looking for a Slytherin who was in any way good I'm going to have to hold out hoping for some of our fallen Slytherins who may have made greater mistakes and done worse things than Slughorn at first, but at least may also have made a decision to do something right for the right reason.
Slughorn's self-interest is such that he does not make this choice, no matter how much easier it should be. This is a guy who presided over Tom Riddle's original network, has mentored any number of Death Eaters. He comes to Hogwarts in sixth year not to help anyone but for his own reasons: he wants Harry for his collection and he wants the protection of Hogwarts. DD wants him there for his own reasons as well: he wants the Horcrux memory.
The thing is, Slughorn doesn't give it to him. The guy may be too passive and self-interested to join Voldemort so that by default makes him not one of the bad guys, but does it really make him a good guy? Someone who would sit on that kind of information, tamper with a memory Dumbledore has said was important to fighting Voldemort, refuse to hand it over when asked because it makes him look bad? When Harry finally gets the memory he tricks it out of a drunken Slughorn who won't remember it in the morning.
Can Slughorn be that good and still 100% selfish? Isn't this kinda like Lupin not telling about Sirius because it would make him look bad, or not putting a stop to Snape being turned upside-down because...well, just, no thanks? As a teacher doesn't Slughorn essentially stand for the very same things are troubling elsewhere--a small elite group of "winners" who hold themselves above others? When McClaggen thinks Harry should let him on the Quidditch team because they're both Slug Clubbers Harry thinks he's crazy, but in fact that's what the Club is about. Personally, I find Hermione's love of the Club a little disturbing, as well (and I like that I do). She seems to be quite flattered by the attention, and given that it's Hermione I wouldn't say the *only* reason she's there is that she's Harry's friend. But still, there's something a little humiliating in thinking that she's the one person who takes the Club seriously, while Harry's the one who knows just how Slughorn feels about Muggleborns.
To put it more simply, yes Lily Potter was a favorite of Slughorn's. But you know? So was Lucius Malfoy. Honestly, I think another ironic thing about Slughorn is that one of the best things that could happen to Draco Malfoy is that, as Harry observes, Slughorn rejects him so that he has to "rely on his talent." Draco is cut off from this usual easy way to privilege, and that can, imo, only be good for him. Actually, it's possibly even better that no matter how talented Draco is (and I do think he's always been good at Potions) he can't win Slughorn's favor, so he has to learn to be satisfied within himself instead of relying on outside praise.
I think sometimes fandom, possibly in its desire to see that "Good Slytherin" makes Slughorn into a much better man than he is. To me, while Slughorn isn't a villain, what he stands for is something very real, not particularly good, and not exactly in keeping with some of the other ideas of the book. (I know--what a shock--an ethical idea that seems to be contradicted elsewhere in the story!)
Slughorn runs his Slug Club on the same ideas as the Ivy Leagues run their admissions (and having just read an article that broke down how that worked I'm even more convinced of this). Slughorn looks for kids that fit what he wants "Slug Club" to mean: they seem like they're going to be a success in terms of money, power and fame. This does not have to mean a special talent or good character, it just means they seem like they've got better chances of being rich and famous.
He's not, as I've seen argued elsewhere, someone who is admirable because he judges on abilities and not blood or anything like that. Blood matters to Slughorn--plenty of his kids are chosen for their bloodlines first, just as the Ivy League focuses a lot on legacies (both Draco's father and grandfather were friends of Slughorn, and Draco himself would have been a shoe-in for the club had Slughorn not been avoiding DE children specifically this year). We know he buys the Pureblood superiority idea--even Harry the usually dim picks up on how "surprised" he sounds at Lily's talent coming from a Muggleborn (as if anyone in Harry's family could possibly be less than exceptional!). He avoids the children of DEs at the moment for political reasons, but does not seem to have ever had a problem with including students supporting Pureblood ideology.
Exceptional Muggleborns are let in, but preference is certainly given to Purebloods from known families (is Hermione the only current Muggleborn? Was Lily the only one in her day?) There's a mixture of things Slughorn is looking for, and sometimes one thing overrules another. Neville is invited originally for his family connections, but seems to rule himself right back out by being unexceptional and awkward. Belby is also too nervous and awkward to make a good impression, and when it turns out his family connections are useless too, he's rudely ignored. McClaggen naturally endears himself for all the same reasons he'd endear himself to the Omegas of "Animal House" while Neville would be pantsed and hung up a tree. Neville and Belby could both grow up to be brilliant herbologists, but it's not glamorous, so not interesting to Slughorn, I'd guess. Far from being a teacher who recognizes talent no matter who has it, Slughorn is comically uninterested in talent if it comes in the wrong person.
It's ironic, really, that despite all the years of Snape's favoring Slytherin the biggest example of teacher favoritism we get is from Slughorn towards Harry. Once he's rejected someone he just doesn't care about them. Imagine being in a class where the teacher fawns over one student all the time, keeps talking about how much he liked his mother. A class where one time you're given a difficult assignment that whole class kills themselves on, and the favorite can't do it at all and gives a joke answer, the teacher still holds him up as an example! I don't know...this just doesn't seem like a decent chap (as he's been described) at all. This is favoritism of the most annoying kind, far beyond one single "look how well Malfoy crushed his slugs" in first year. I don't think Harry would like it if he wasn't benefiting from it (I know—what a shock for Harry!). I know when I'm in a situation where there's a group of "special" people that I can't get into, I generally leave. I don't have to be one of the best, but I have to know there's no arbitrary thing keeping me from being one of the best--like I'm not pretty enough or rich enough or have a good family or I'm just "not the type."
That in itself doesn't make him a bad guy, obviously, but then there's the idea of his "helping others." He does enjoy networking, bringing his famous friends together to make them more well-connected and so himself more well-connected. But if we're looking for a Slytherin who was in any way good I'm going to have to hold out hoping for some of our fallen Slytherins who may have made greater mistakes and done worse things than Slughorn at first, but at least may also have made a decision to do something right for the right reason.
Slughorn's self-interest is such that he does not make this choice, no matter how much easier it should be. This is a guy who presided over Tom Riddle's original network, has mentored any number of Death Eaters. He comes to Hogwarts in sixth year not to help anyone but for his own reasons: he wants Harry for his collection and he wants the protection of Hogwarts. DD wants him there for his own reasons as well: he wants the Horcrux memory.
The thing is, Slughorn doesn't give it to him. The guy may be too passive and self-interested to join Voldemort so that by default makes him not one of the bad guys, but does it really make him a good guy? Someone who would sit on that kind of information, tamper with a memory Dumbledore has said was important to fighting Voldemort, refuse to hand it over when asked because it makes him look bad? When Harry finally gets the memory he tricks it out of a drunken Slughorn who won't remember it in the morning.
Can Slughorn be that good and still 100% selfish? Isn't this kinda like Lupin not telling about Sirius because it would make him look bad, or not putting a stop to Snape being turned upside-down because...well, just, no thanks? As a teacher doesn't Slughorn essentially stand for the very same things are troubling elsewhere--a small elite group of "winners" who hold themselves above others? When McClaggen thinks Harry should let him on the Quidditch team because they're both Slug Clubbers Harry thinks he's crazy, but in fact that's what the Club is about. Personally, I find Hermione's love of the Club a little disturbing, as well (and I like that I do). She seems to be quite flattered by the attention, and given that it's Hermione I wouldn't say the *only* reason she's there is that she's Harry's friend. But still, there's something a little humiliating in thinking that she's the one person who takes the Club seriously, while Harry's the one who knows just how Slughorn feels about Muggleborns.
To put it more simply, yes Lily Potter was a favorite of Slughorn's. But you know? So was Lucius Malfoy. Honestly, I think another ironic thing about Slughorn is that one of the best things that could happen to Draco Malfoy is that, as Harry observes, Slughorn rejects him so that he has to "rely on his talent." Draco is cut off from this usual easy way to privilege, and that can, imo, only be good for him. Actually, it's possibly even better that no matter how talented Draco is (and I do think he's always been good at Potions) he can't win Slughorn's favor, so he has to learn to be satisfied within himself instead of relying on outside praise.
