"Salazar Slytherin was the founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. He was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pure-blood supremacy."
"The term 'pure-blood' refers to a family or individual without Muggle (non-magic) blood. The concept is generally associated with Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whose aversion to teaching anybody of Muggle parentage eventually led to a breach with his three fellow founders, and his resignation from the school." - Pottermore ergo Word of God/author intent
""We’ll teach just those whose ancestry’s purest." - Sorting Hat song, with the Sorting Hat having known Salazar personally and been enchanted by him.
We know the Basilisk and its Chamber can only be entered by Parseltongue speakers, which none of the Founders were. It seems rather odd to create and lock away a weapon that only people who are specifically of your bloodline (and therefore presumably purebloods) can use :P Not to mention that it specifically was attacking CHILDREN who studied in the school, and that it was only bred by Dark Wizards because it had been BANNED as an example of the Dark Arts re: animal breeding. He also wanted to TEACH the Dark Arts to children (not defending against it, the actual Dark Arts), so I'd say that's fairly worrisome right there.
"Slytherin's discrimination on the basis of parentage was considered an unusual and misguided view by the majority of wizards at the time. Contemporary literature suggests that Muggle-borns were not only accepted, but often considered to be particularly gifted. They went by the affectionate name of 'Magbobs' (there has been much debate about the origin of the term, but it seems most likely to be that in such a case, magic 'bobbed up' out of nowhere)."
So it's literally only Salazar who was worried about them, kind of the same way that any racist group loves to blow dogwhistles and use fear of another group to arm themselves and claim to be 'defending their people'. Nothing was ever said about him being scared of the Muggle parents of Muggleborns. When JKR talked about witch trials and witch hunts, she made it clear that mostly Muggles were killed AND when it was witches/wizards being killed, it was because a group of wizards/witches called the Scourers took advantage of it to falsely accuse other magical people and kill them.
"“Far away from the jurisdiction of their native magical governments, many indulged a love of authority and cruelty unjustified by their mission,” Rowling writes. “Such Scourers enjoyed bloodshed and torture, and even went so far as trafficking their fellow wizards.”
On their power trip, at least two Scourers, Rowling says, were partly responsible for the Salem Witch Trials, which massacred a number of “utterly innocent” witches, as well as some non-magical settlers. Salem, Rowling reveals, altered the course of history for American wizardry. It caused a mass exodus of witches and wizards from America and scared most pure-blood families still overseas from emigrating to the New World. For that reason, the majority of subsequent American wizards were Muggle-born, which prevented pure-blood elitism from taking over in North America the way it did in Europe (later perpetuated by Voldemort and his cult of Death Eaters)."
The threat to wizards never came from Muggles. It came from other wizards. They were the ones killing witches and wizards over ancient blood feuds, which, let's face it, most Muggleborns wouldn't have because they wouldn't have been part of the Magical world long enough to build up such hatred and feuds! If Salazar ever pretended that the magical world was in danger from them, especially back when human technology was so limited, it would've been the same sort of racist dogma as Hitler trying to make the Jews seem like a threat, or Trump claiming Mexicans are invading. It'd be nothing but cheap self-justification for his own prejudices which history does not bear out.
JKR has been explicit about pureblood prejudice being a bad thing, including comparing it to the Nazis/Holocaust in an FAQ on her old official site, now archived on the Wayback Machine"
"Why are some people in the wizarding world (e.g., Harry) called 'half-blood' even though both their parents were magical?
The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents.
If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda."
Ergo, by trying to restrict the school to only purebloods, Salazar was showing his prejudices quite clearly. I would say that level of bigotry alone, trying to deny an education to children based off their race, would classify him as a villain even without everything else.
After all, it's an analog to our world. If a government figure said that only white kids are allowed to attend an art school, there would be screams of segregation and racism immediately.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not arguing he's pure evil (I've written him before) but his beliefs are racist and well-documented in canon.
Re: Harry Potter villains
https://pottermore.fandom.com/wiki/Purebloods
"Salazar Slytherin was the founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. He was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pure-blood supremacy."
https://pottermore.fandom.com/wiki/Salazar_Slytherin_Chocolate_Frog_Card
"The term 'pure-blood' refers to a family or individual without Muggle (non-magic) blood. The concept is generally associated with Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, whose aversion to teaching anybody of Muggle parentage eventually led to a breach with his three fellow founders, and his resignation from the school." - Pottermore ergo Word of God/author intent
""We’ll teach just those whose ancestry’s purest." - Sorting Hat song, with the Sorting Hat having known Salazar personally and been enchanted by him.
We know the Basilisk and its Chamber can only be entered by Parseltongue speakers, which none of the Founders were. It seems rather odd to create and lock away a weapon that only people who are specifically of your bloodline (and therefore presumably purebloods) can use :P Not to mention that it specifically was attacking CHILDREN who studied in the school, and that it was only bred by Dark Wizards because it had been BANNED as an example of the Dark Arts re: animal breeding. He also wanted to TEACH the Dark Arts to children (not defending against it, the actual Dark Arts), so I'd say that's fairly worrisome right there.
https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/chamber-of-secrets
Plus, JKR's Pottermore article says:
"Slytherin's discrimination on the basis of parentage was considered an unusual and misguided view by the majority of wizards at the time. Contemporary literature suggests that Muggle-borns were not only accepted, but often considered to be particularly gifted. They went by the affectionate name of 'Magbobs' (there has been much debate about the origin of the term, but it seems most likely to be that in such a case, magic 'bobbed up' out of nowhere)."
So it's literally only Salazar who was worried about them, kind of the same way that any racist group loves to blow dogwhistles and use fear of another group to arm themselves and claim to be 'defending their people'. Nothing was ever said about him being scared of the Muggle parents of Muggleborns. When JKR talked about witch trials and witch hunts, she made it clear that mostly Muggles were killed AND when it was witches/wizards being killed, it was because a group of wizards/witches called the Scourers took advantage of it to falsely accuse other magical people and kill them.
"“Far away from the jurisdiction of their native magical governments, many indulged a love of authority and cruelty unjustified by their mission,” Rowling writes. “Such Scourers enjoyed bloodshed and torture, and even went so far as trafficking their fellow wizards.”
On their power trip, at least two Scourers, Rowling says, were partly responsible for the Salem Witch Trials, which massacred a number of “utterly innocent” witches, as well as some non-magical settlers. Salem, Rowling reveals, altered the course of history for American wizardry. It caused a mass exodus of witches and wizards from America and scared most pure-blood families still overseas from emigrating to the New World. For that reason, the majority of subsequent American wizards were Muggle-born, which prevented pure-blood elitism from taking over in North America the way it did in Europe (later perpetuated by Voldemort and his cult of Death Eaters)."
The threat to wizards never came from Muggles. It came from other wizards. They were the ones killing witches and wizards over ancient blood feuds, which, let's face it, most Muggleborns wouldn't have because they wouldn't have been part of the Magical world long enough to build up such hatred and feuds! If Salazar ever pretended that the magical world was in danger from them, especially back when human technology was so limited, it would've been the same sort of racist dogma as Hitler trying to make the Jews seem like a threat, or Trump claiming Mexicans are invading. It'd be nothing but cheap self-justification for his own prejudices which history does not bear out.
JKR has been explicit about pureblood prejudice being a bad thing, including comparing it to the Nazis/Holocaust in an FAQ on her old official site, now archived on the Wayback Machine"
"Why are some people in the wizarding world (e.g., Harry) called 'half-blood' even though both their parents were magical?
The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard, because of his mother's grandparents.
If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood, according to their propaganda."
Ergo, by trying to restrict the school to only purebloods, Salazar was showing his prejudices quite clearly. I would say that level of bigotry alone, trying to deny an education to children based off their race, would classify him as a villain even without everything else.
After all, it's an analog to our world. If a government figure said that only white kids are allowed to attend an art school, there would be screams of segregation and racism immediately.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not arguing he's pure evil (I've written him before) but his beliefs are racist and well-documented in canon.