#og sortinghatchats

Firstly, you should check out thetolkienhat, where some awesome people have created and collected a bunch of Tolkien sortings using this system. It’s really neat! And they all know this canon eight million times better than I do. Go say hi, sing their praises, contribute, etc.

I’ve read LotR a good few dozen times, but not in a few years. I’ll be working somewhat off movie canon here, though with that certainly shaded by a familiarity with and fondness for the text. Here’s our Hobbits, though! If I get inspired later, I’ll see if I can stick up the rest of the Fellowship, too.

Note: in the way we play this game, we use “primary” to mean WHY people do things and “secondary” to mean HOW.

Pippin - Hufflepuff primary/Gryffindor secondary - Heart of gold, a strong sense of duty and service, and a tendency to charge (or trip) into things.

Merry - Slytherin primary/Ravenclaw secondary - He’s possessive and loyal, and handles his problems with deliberate logic and intelligence. He has narrow focus on his allegiances where Hufflepuff Primary Pippin has a broad, non-exclusive affection for all; where Pippin charges, Merry can back him up (or yank him out of trouble) with a thought-out plan; and he’ll probably bring supplies, too.

Samwise - Slytherin primary/Hufflepuff secondary - We thought for a moment he was a Gryffindor, but we’re pretty sure all that is is that Frodo is his Most Important Person (and Morality Pet). Sam does some Big Loud Gryffindor Things but every one of them is for the sake of his Mr. Frodo, not the world, even if it does save it. He doesn’t talk about the cause, or evil, or duty— Sam crosses the world, fights orcs, and carries (and gives up) the Ring for, not the world, but for his Shire, his Gaffer, and his Mr. Frodo.

(No, let’s look at this again. Little hobbit Samwise Gamgee willing gives up the One Ring to Frodo, because in the end Frodo Baggins is more important to him than it could ever be. My Slytherin darling).

The Hufflepuff Secondary comes from the fact that Sam does not terribly engage with Ravenclaw’s planning and system building, Slytherin’s adaptability, or even Gryffindor’s charge (though he can resemble that last one fairly well) — one of his most stunning attributes will always be steadiness, sturdiness, and a willingness to buckle down and do hard work, whether it’s weeding or learning songs from Mr. Bilbo or carrying Frodo up Mt. Doom.

Frodo - Ravenclaw primary/Slytherin secondary - Frodo is very good at switching his path when things becomes irritating or difficult. He’s flexible and unattached to method— an adaptable Slytherin Secondary aimed towards quietly saving the world.  

He’s certainly not a loyalty house— dropping Sam near Minas Morgul is easy; his leaving the Fellowship near the fords sounds most like an Idealist move, making decisions for the greater good. He’s not as linked to group as Hufflepuff Pippin, who mourns their disbanding. Of course his Slytherin Sam won’t let him abandon/save them entirely, but what else would you expect form the poor garden snake.

Look, in fiction you'll get the Dramatic version of all of the sortings, because you're writing about a Most Dramatic period in their lives. And what can I say, that combination of "I build this truth from the ground up... by moving straight forward and not caring what obstacles I meet" does leads to some very dramatic personal crisises.

But I do not see Bird Lions as the embodiment of self-destruction. I see them as the embodiment of Transformation. That's why I call them the Grail Knight. They have an almost magical ability to re-create, and become something true and new. That Lion gives them that instinct to be themselves, but the Bird lets them decide and build and edit what that even means, and it's beautiful.

Here - this is a sorting that Sortinghatchats did back in the day, of healthy, ascended, baddass Bird Lion Luke Skywalker. I copypasted it out years ago and kept it for myself because it might have made me cry a little. I keep it in mind when ever I write Bird Lions because it captures, so beautifully, why I do love them so much.

Luke Skywalker is a Ravenclaw Primary who builds his moral system out of his own reasoning and out of the pieces he borrows and adopts from the people he loves. He doesn’t have a very robust or complicated system when we first meet him. He’s never had to deal with much of anything, and so he doesn’t yet have a framework (or even particularly an instinct) for how to make hard calls. He starts out childish, selfish, and impatient, but Luke has a thirst for something more once he realizes there is more out there. He takes on Obi Wan’s teachings, then seeks out Yoda’s, and begins his journey to revitalize (and redefine) the Jedi.

There are Ravenclaw Primaries who adopt a fully built system or subscribe to a morality outside themselves (ex. Javert from Les Mis) – Luke is not one of these. He does not swallow even the Jedi code whole. He edits, adapts, and constructs something he’s happier living in and which ultimately leads to his success.

Luke is a Ravenclaw Primary, and he’s one who builds his own system out of the pieces he picks up around them. While he has irrational emotional responses to things (as we all do, Ravenclaws are people too), Luke is at his best and most powerful when he can ignore them, tamp them down, and choose what to do based on the things he’s decided to live by– bits of pieces of the Jedi Order, as taught by Obi Wan and Yoda; the camaraderie and cause of his rebel friends; and the overwhelming compassion he’s chosen for himself.

This is most apparent in his final battle with the Emperor and Vader. Luke spends the majority of the series building his primary, and the final battle is its test by fire. The Emperor tries repeatedly to tear him from the system he’s chosen. Luke believes there is still good in his father, but Vader brings him to the Emperor, a betrayal of that faith. Luke is forced to watch his friends’ ships burn in the sky, is told about Leia and Han’s plans failing on the surface of the moon.