But why would Salazar have left Al-Andalus and travelled to Ireland?

HG

We start with an extreme closeup of a pair of eyes. Pull back slowly to see the face of SALAZAR SLYTHERIN, one hand shading his eyes as he watches something off-screen in front of him. We keep drawing back, revealing a sunlit green countryside behind him. The sounds of battle start to fade in.

We pull back until we can see Salazar full-length. He stands with one hand on a shoulder-high standing stone; his other hand is holding his wand, pointed downwards. Then we rotate the camera, orbiting Salazar until we are behind him. Past him, we see what he is watching: the BATTLE OF TARA.

In the valley and on the slopes of the hill, the High King of Ireland is fighting the son of the Viking King of Dublin. The future of Ireland hangs in the balance - and things aren't going well. From Salazar's vantage point, we see the Irish banner swaying, surrounded by foes. The Vikings are massing for a charge.

Cut back to Salazar, to see him smile. He taps his wand against his thigh thoughtfully, then lifts it and takes aim.

SALAZAR: Serpensortia.

The Viking lines fall into sudden dissaray. The camera cuts down to show why: masses of snakes are writhing up from the grass of Tara, coiling around their legs. We see the Irish rally and charge the Vikings, and the Viking banner falls. Then we go back to Salazar.

SALAZAR: Vipera Evanesca.

The snakes evaporate into smoke, letting the Irish continue their attack. Salazar smiles, turns away, and walks off down the hill.

Cue main titles.

Didn't expect that!

Ought to say, I do like the idea of Salazar as a sympathetic, protagonist character - he seems pretty bloody flawed, from what the wiki says.
And flaws are always lovely, aren't they?

Is this going to become the new Wednesday Plug? Pretty please? :P You know this would make a great fanfic.

As for Salazar's Muggleborn prejudices, I remember seeing something the other day; considering the time period, he was probably afraid that Muggleborns, raised in an anti-magic-slash-highly superstitious environment, might have tried to tell others where to find Hogwarts, or commit suicide believing themselves to be possessed by demons, or go on to become Dark witches and wizards, believing their souls were doomed anyway so they might as well have fun for it.

Not that this is necessarily my headcanon but I did find it interesting.

...Now to think of how him leaving the Basilisk could be made sympathetic... maybe he put it in the Chamber to guard the school in a time of great need, but as the years passed and his name became synonymous with "anti-Muggleborn", the legends became twisted and "Enemies of the Heir" was immediately assumed to mean Muggleborns?

And now I have a mental image of Slytherin facepalming at Riddle as he goes around loosing the Basilisk on the school. "No, no, no, you idiot! I put her there to protect the castle, not terrorize it!"

Sign me right up for this! Very excellent work building it up. I didn't quite realize what was going on until the end, but I began to suspect at the first mention of a wand. ^_^

Hm, I didn't know Ravenclaw was Scottish. Given her nobility, do you think she's the one responsible for providing Hogwarts' location? Her castle, or perhaps she let them build it on her land?

I want to see magic-using Vikings. Can't help but imagine this in context with the show Vikings, and that would just be all kinds of madness. Not one of those guys should be allowed to touch a wand. {X D

... Bit of a shame that a show with Salazar as the protagonist must eventually conclude with his fall and exile from Hogwarts. Still, he does get his "ha ha, joke's on you" moment, what with the Chamber of Secrets, so I guess that's all right. Leave the audience with a bit of foreshadowing for the Chamber's eventual opening. Could be quite satisfying, dramatically.

So yeah, this should be a thing immediately. {= D

~Neshomeh

Though the Maya are far too far south, even assuming some of the semi-questionable research insisting that the South American civilisations had contact with China or Africa is true.

If you really wanted to make it more likely I would say one of the groups the Vikings would have come in contact with would make a better option by far.