Once again, Voldemort found himself reminiscing about his time as a Dark Lord. He was still having a few issues with looking in mirrors to see his current face, but that was starting to pass. No, today he was wondering where other things had started to go wrong and strangely enough, one of his lesser minions actually provided an epiphany.
He had been walking down a hallway in the Manor when he overheard a couple of the Death Eaters talking. Thinking to relieve his sour mood at yet another failed mission, he listened for a moment to see if they said something worth punishing. A small graced his thin lips as he heard one trying to persuade another to be the bearer of some bad news. Yes, this would be most worthy of a few Cruciatas curses here and there, and maybe a killing curse for the fool who sought to avoid his duty. Just as he was preparing to burst into the room and lay down some minor lessons in being proper minions, one of them said something odd.
"Look, I don't care what your news is. I ain't tellin' the boss about YOUR fuck ups. I was Slytherin, not Gryffindor. You want an idiot, go find one of them to take your place."
Something in Voldemort's mind clicked when he heard this. Taking his hand off the doorknob, he quickly moved away so he wasn't discovered to think this little episode through. He could always come back and Crucio them later if he wanted.
Now, sitting on his throne in the twilight of the poorly lit room, he thought about his decision to use Slytherins for his Death Eaters. Sure, ambitious people are easy to manipulate. A few promises, usually empty, here and there and they always did what you wanted. But they were never loyal, they always, always, were out for themselves first and the moment you were an obstacle or they thought they could get away with betrayal, they would turn on you. Insane Bellatrix was an exception.
Gryffindors were often just as easy to get moving down paths you wanted, but they always had that annoying right and wrong gibberish getting in the way. Their bravery and all the notions of self-sacrifice made them simple minded and weak. Wormtail was an exception, well, to the brave part anyway. He was still simple minded and weak.
He had respected several of the Ravenclaws. In fact, some of them were parts of his core Death Eaters. They were infinitely useful as ward breakers and researchers. Then he realized he had no Hufflepuffs that he could recall. This made him wonder.
Would he have won the war the first time around if he had gathered the House of the Loyal and Hardworking to be his minions?