The Sorting Hat Character Analysis

The sentient hat that's responsible for sorting students into different Houses. While it always sings a song before the Sorting Ceremony, this year the hat takes a newly political tone. It suggests that sorting students is actually a bad idea, as it keeps students from connecting with each other. It also implies that between the four Hogwarts founders, Helga Hufflepuff was the only one who had the right idea when it came to education: rather than choosing students for a particular quality, like bravery or intelligence, she declared that she'd take everyone and treat them equally.