The magical witchcraft and wizardry game Hogwarts Legacy is immensely close to releasing, which means players are about to embark on their journey to Hogwarts for the very first time.
Upon arriving at the school, players will be faced with one of the most exciting and daunting decisions of the entire game: choosing which of the four distinctive Hogwarts houses they want to be sorted into.
This choice is an important one because it will determine which common room players call home, what colors they wear, and perhaps most importantly, it will affect various gameplay aspects. Each of the four Hogwarts houses—Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor—comes with a myriad of traits associated with them.
How to choose your house in Hogwarts Legacy
Shortly after your arrival in Hogwarts, you’ll be led to the dining hall where the Sorting Hat will be waiting for you. The Sorting Hat will start identifying you as a couple of questions will pop up on the screen to determine your house.
- Choose “I can’t wait to start classes” or “I can’t wait to get out and explore.”
- Your answer to the first interaction won’t make a difference.
- In the second interaction, you’ll be presented with four options, and each option will represent a house.
- Gryffindor = Daring
- Slytherin = Ambition
- Hufflepuff = Loyalty
- Ravenclaw = Curiosity
Each house also has a dedicated short cutscene.
How to change your house in Hogwarts Legacy
Players can change their houses in Hogwarts Legacy by loading into a save prior to their interaction with the Sorting Hat. At the time of writing, there doesn’t seem to be a built-in option that allows players to change their houses in the middle of their process.
Is there a difference between houses in Hogwarts Legacy?
For the most part, your Hogwarts Legacy house does not affect the general story and instead simply has an impact on more basic gameplay aspects including the following.
- The most important difference between the four Hogwarts houses is the house-exclusive quests that will only be available for players to complete when they are a member of each of the four houses.
- Slytherin: Players within this house can complete the “Scrope’s Last Hope” quest. In this quest, players will work with the house elf that serves the Black family and will explore a grotto.
- Hufflepuff: This house has the “Prisoner of Love” quest that allows players to visit Azkaban. This is the only way in all of Hogwarts Legacy that players can visit the prison.
- Ravenclaw: Players within this house can complete the “Ollivander’s Heirloom” quest. This quest tasks them with helping Mr. Ollivander track down a missing wand and visiting the Owlery at Hogwarts castle.
- Gryffindor: Fans of the Harry Potter novels will love the nod to an iconic book scene in the Gryffindor-exclusive “The Hunt for the Missing Pages” quest. In this quest, players will help Sir Nicholas, also known as Nearly Headless Nick, as he attempts to persuade the Headless Hunt to finally let him join just as he will do once again many years later with Harry Potter himself. Players will get to visit the Hogwarts Kitchen, witness a frighteningly festive party of ghosts in the Hogsmeade graveyard, and play an explosive pumpkin mini-game.
- Players will have a general color scheme for certain outfits, especially their school robes and uniforms, based on the Hogwarts house that they choose.
- It will be easier to interact with certain NPCs depending on which house you are in because they will be regularly hanging around your common room and around many of your classes.
- Slytherin: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, and Imelda Reye
- Hufflepuff: Poppy Sweeting, Lenora Everleigh, Adelaide Oakes, and Authur Plummly
- Ravenclaw: Amit Thakkar, Duncan Everett Clopton, and Samantha Dare
- Gryffindor: Natasi Onai, Garreth Weasley, Nellie Oggspire, and Cressida Blume
- The look, feel, and location of players’ common room, which is where they live while attending Hogwarts, differs drastically to represent each of the four unique Hogwarts houses.
While these are all relatively small features that change depending on which Hogwarts house you choose, there is also one major quest that is exclusively available to those who choose a specific Hogwarts house. Any Hogwarts Legacy player who is hoping to visit the infamous wizarding prison of Azkaban must choose to play as a Hufflepuff because a quest to visit this location is only accessible to them.
So far, no other exclusive quests that are tied to a specific house have been discovered. But if any are, we will update this guide with that information here.
Related: Hogwarts Legacy has Harry Potter’s first trans character despite J.K. Rowling’s transphobic comments
If you’re still unsure which house you want to choose when playing Hogwarts Legacy, here is a complete breakdown of everything you need to know about the four Hogwarts houses and how you can determine which one you want to be sorted into.
Slytherin
- Colors: Green and silver
- Animal: Serpent
- Founder: Salazar Slytherin
- Traits: Ambitious, determined, resourceful, independent, confident, loyal, prideful, bold, brave, natural leaders, intelligent, arrogant, pragmatic, clever, daring, calculated, goal-oriented, judgemental, and cunning
- Common room location: Slytherin dungeon
- Element: Water
- Notable witches and wizards: Draco Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter, Severus Snape, Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort), Horace Slughorn, Leta Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Dolores Umbridge
The Harry Potter films and books gave Slytherin a bad reputation, but this Hogwarts house is so much more than what the franchise made it seem. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child redeemed the reputation of this house a little bit with Scorpius Malfoy, but any true fan in the community will agree Slytherin deserves better representation and is so much more than what the books and films make it out to be.
Slytherins are exceptionally crafty, determined, smart, and bold individuals. Although there are many negative assumptions associated with this Hogwarts house, Slytherin is a wonderfully complex house full of equally intriguing students to match the wide variety of traits associated with it.
While the Harry Potter films and books make Slytherin out to be evil and the opposite of Gryffindor, which is depicted as the “good” house, the two have more in common than they do differences. Harry Potter himself exemplifies this fact with the immense battle the Sorting Hat has when choosing whether to place him in Slytherin, which seemed to be what the hat truly wanted, or Gryffindor, which is what Harry Potter himself desired.
The Slytherin common room sits deep in the dungeons and is a moody, intricate place for students to convene and relax. Stunning stained glass windows within the common room provide Slytherin students an up-close look at the lake surrounding Hogwarts where they may just catch a Merperson or Grindylow swimming by.
Hufflepuff
- Colors: Yellow and black
- Animal: Badger
- Founder: Helga Hufflepuff
- Traits: Loyal, compassionate, hard-working, dependable, fair, inclusive, empathetic, naive, dedicated, accepting, humble, moral, selfless, well-rounded, sociable, patient, modest, giving, and kind
- Common room location: Hufflepuff basement
- Element: Earth
- Notable witches and wizards: Newt Scamander, Cedric Diggory, Nymphadora Tonks, Pomona Sprout, and Teddy Lupin
Hufflepuffs are extremely accepting, hard-working, and caring people. Generally, those in this house care deeply about others, are welcoming to all, and are known to be immensely hard-working but not boastful or competitive with their accomplishments.
This Hogwarts house is known for having strong ties to the earth element, which is why the common room is decked out with plants. Students within this house also tend to perform exceptionally well in Herbology and are also known for being animal lovers that enjoy caring for magical creatures.
While Hufflepuff is often overlooked in favor of the other houses or thought of as the house that will take anyone, this Hogwarts house has immense heart and is just as strong as others. Their acceptance, empathy, and selflessness make them the kindest and most morally sound Hogwarts house, which may be why they’re the only one of the four houses that don’t have a known notorious dark wizard that went on to do terrible things.
Hufflepuff’s common room is situated down in the basement but feels like the lightest and brightest common room of all because it is completely adorned with lush green plants, blazing lights, and radiant yellow decorations. Plant and animal lovers will adore the decorations within this common room.
Ravenclaw
- Colors: Blue and bronze
- Animal: Eagle
- Founder: Rowena Ravenclaw
- Traits: Intelligent, clever, disciplined, witty, curious, creative, sharp, imaginative, wise, intuitive, original, accepting, dependable, independent, oblivious, perfectionist, unique, calculated, detached, and intellectual
- Common room location: Ravenclaw tower
- Element: Air
- Notable witches and wizards: Luna Lovegood, Filius Flitwick, Sybill Trelawney, Gilderoy Lockhart, Cho Chang, Garrick Ollivander, Myrtle Warren (Moaning Myrtle), and Quirinus Quirrell
The Ravenclaw house places the greatest emphasis on intelligence and creativity. This house is all about the pursuit of knowledge and the demonstration of exceptional skill. Because of this, most members of the Ravenclaw house tend to be very goal-driven, talented, and academically focused.
While intelligence is usually associated with academic brilliance, those within the Ravenclaw house are not always focused on what might be expected. Ravenclaws may demonstrate exceptionalism in any way they see fit such as being a master painter, a dueling connoisseur, or an expert Herbologist. Difference and uniqueness are valued in this house because what is divergent is not only intriguing but also immensely important for sustaining curiosity.
The Ravenclaw common room sits high up in Hogwarts castle with a view of the surrounding area. It is decked out with signature house colors of blue and bronze with many star and sky accents to provide a magical place for Ravenclaw students to unwind.
Gryffindor
- Colors: Scarlet and gold
- Animal: Lion
- Founder: Godric Gryffindor
- Traits: Brave, determined, prideful, courageous, steadfast, loyal, resilient, passionate, stubborn, impulsive, chivalrous, daring, selfless, rebellious, fierce, reckless, heroic, protective, and confident
- Common room location: Gryffindor tower
- Element: Fire
- Notable witches and wizards: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Neville Longbottom, and Rubeus Hagrid
The main trio of the Harry Potter franchise is made up of three Gryffindor characters and this thus tends to be the most popular and widely known Hogwarts house. Members of this house are generally known for being exceedingly brave, determined, and heroic.
Like Slytherin, Gryffindor also has a rather controversial reputation. This house has come to be somewhat despised by some members of the wizarding world who feel it is overrated and its members can be overly vain or prideful. The seemingly blatant favoritism the Gryffindor house receives throughout the Harry Potter franchise also contributes to this reputation and rightfully so since all of the houses should be regarded equally.
While Gryffindors can be blinded by their pride or recklessness, all the houses come with both positive and negative traits as well as witches and wizards that represent the houses in both positive and negative lights. Gryffindors are generally chivalrous and stubborn individuals whose hearts are always in the right place.
If you’re seeking a homey, cozy place to relax, the warm and inviting Gryffindor common room is perfect for you. The Gryffindor common room sits high up in a tower of the castle and is adorned with red and gold accents, a myriad of detailed paintings, and stunning stained glass windows that cast the entire room in a warm glow.
Which Hogwarts Legacy house should you choose?
Ultimately, you should choose the house that sounds most intriguing to you. This can be based on complex reasons like which one you feel you resonate with most or a more basic reason like simply which color palette appeals to you most or which common room you like best since both will be centric to the majority of your Hogwarts Legacy gameplay.
If you’re still struggling to decide because you’re interested in more than one house, you’re certainly not alone as most members of the wizarding community also feel they can only be properly represented by more than one Hogwarts house. This is likely because all four Hogwarts houses have immense overlap in their core traits and most people are too unique to completely align with just one house.
Being part of multiple houses in one Hogwarts Legacy save isn’t an option, but players can create more than one save and choose a new Hogwarts house each time. This means players can choose to create different versions of themselves across distinctive saves or create an entirely new character for each Hogwarts house.
Another way to help yourself narrow down which Hogwarts house you wish to call home is by taking sorting quizzes. The best way to go about this process is to find a bunch of Hogwarts house sorting tests to take and to take them all and compare the results.
