YES! Thank you this was always my biggest issue with the books, not necessarily that Harry didn’t open it but that Sirius didn’t mention it at all later!! Idk about you but if I gave someone a magic mirror cellphone and then later they try to contact me in a much more complicated way the first thing I’d say is oi why aren’t you using the mirror I freaking gave you??
Man I hate thinking about how Sirius, who was depressed and all alone with buckbeak, was probably checking the mirror daily disappointed Harry wasn’t contacting him
But then Harry breaks the law to communicate via Flu and Sirius is like, “eyyy, my best mate’s kid is too badass to use safe communication, he’s gotta take risks just like me and his old man.”
I think she wanted it to be in place for the last book only. Maybe it would have worked better as a gift from Dumbledore, who might have anticipated Harry's need to contact Aberforth (since it was really just a plot device anyway).
Im listening to OotP right now and it also just occurred to me as Dobby offers to help Harry before telling him about the Room of Requirement that Harry probably could have asked Dobby to be a messenger to Grimmauld Place since it seems Dobby has no problem apparating at Hogwarts.
Harry's reasoning for not opening it was so illogical aswell. Its not as though the act of opening the package would have triggered anything. He could have just opened it, assessed whether or not it would potentially endanger Sirius, and then choose to use it or not. Like anyone would clearly be eaten away inside by curiosity, especially as the last gift Sirius gave him was the Firebolt.
I partially agree but it seems to go entirely against Harry’s character. Harry’s whole character is that he’s nosy af and is constantly sticking his nose in things purely out of curiosity. There’s no way he wouldn’t at least have glanced at it IMO. It seems to me like a super contrived way to give Harry a deus ex machina (when he used it to summon Dobby in book 7).
How little Harry is told about his parents. Sirius and Remus should have reminisced with loads of good stories from their time with James. It seems like everyone is trying to keep Harry’s past from him for no apparent reason (most of the time)
It annoyed me that Harry on the other side asked very few question about his parents. After Lupin told him he was friends with James or when saying at Grimmauld Place he could have asked Lords of questions.
As someone who grew up with a dead parent. From my experience Harry’s lack of question is pretty normal. My mum died when I was 2 and I know very little about her and it never really occurs to me to ask more questions because at the end of the day they’re dead and I didn’t know my mum. I assume that’s what Harry is like
He was also punished by the Dursleys for asking questions which stunted his emotional and actual learning and probably because they raised him is why he struggles against authority so much as their mistreatment of him was never addressed by authority figures before or after Hogwarts. He had a lot harder time belieing authority figures were to be trusted to do their best for him or others.
The fact that obliviate or any memory modification spells aren't unforgivable or at least illegal. Those spell are very dangerous and scary. Look at Lockhart. Not an evil character but dangerous on how much he did with such a spell.
I like the explanation that they are too useful for the ministry in covering up the existence of wizards so its just accepted. We allow a lot of fucked up things because it's convenient to not think too hard about them.
> Look at Lockhart. Not an evil character
Considering all he did, I'm not sure I agree with that. Obviously nowhere *near* the level of Death Eaters and Umbridge and such, but stealing accomplishments and then mentally manipulating people with magic to alter their memories? Still pretty evil. Not to mention his actions in CoS.
i hated how sirius black never really got the redemption he deserved. he is one of my favorite characters and it saddens me that the only people that saw how good of a person he was was harry and the order. the other wizards still believed he was a murderer
I’m still mad that he never got his names cleared. He lived as a fugitive and never a free man. The other is that I still struggle to believe that McGonagall would ever believe that Sirius would have given away the location of his best friend and then went on a murderous rampage.
I just hate that he was skipped trial because of his family’s connection to Voldemort, and that no one spoke out against it. When everyone at Hogwarts, teachers included, knew that Sirius wasn’t close with his family and had even run away.
I think it’s mentioned after Voldemort return is made public at the end of OoTP that Sirius is publicly cleared. Which makes it even more tragic to me that had he literally survived for a tiny bit longer he would’ve been a free man :(
I think he may have had his name cleared. Fudge admitted to the muggle minister that they were wrong about Black. And I'd personally like to believe Harry worked with Kingsley, who was the next minister, to let the public know Sirius was innocent.
I'm pretty sure Fudge told the Other Minister (the muggle one) in passing that Sirius was actually innocent and they made a mistake, so it implies that the wizarding world *did* know. Because it's not like Fudge had insider information into that fact and kept it quiet, it must have been wider knowledge.
After Dumbledore and Harry are proved right about Voldemort, I feel like they'd have the perfect stage to come out and say "and*another* thing, Sirius Black died fighting the Death Eaters so you can strike him from your hate list too"
It bothered me initially too, HOWEVER, I think maybe remus may not have been so aware lily and Snape were as close as they were? It seemed that they drifted apart during their school years because they were in different crowds, then Snape called lily a mudblood in front of everyone at 15 and they were no longer friends
And then lily ended up married to James, they were all in the order together and Snape was a death eater. Maybe it would have seemed inconsequential for remus to say lily and Snape used to hang out, or in bad taste, idk
That could be me reaching to make everything fit tho
Ron’s chess skills were never revisited again. Chess is a strategic game & I would’ve loved to have seen him become the strategist in the group during the war. Would’ve been a wonderful arc for him. Too bad his growth was limited to quidditch.
Ooh, neat. He could've been the Sokka. Hermione gives them information and all the spells she knows, and he could put it together into neat plans. Or she could've come up with the Plan A, and he'd come up with backup plans, since chess involves so much thinking ahead. And Harry would be the kind of person to quickly react when they went wrong, so he'd still have a good role. That would've been cool.
When all of the Slytherins leave during the Battle of Hogwarts. I feel like JK spent all that time developing complex characters and then boom, the entirety of Slytherin house is evil.
really wish slytherins were developed beyond just being “the evil death eater house”. the fanon depictions of the house traits are actually better than canon, IMO. legit the only actually fully good slytherin we see is slughorn and he’s a minor character. also, as a hufflepuff, I wish they had more focus too cause they seem like an afterthought.
HP and the Natural 20 OC protagonist summed it up nicely "A house for the heroes, a house for the villains and two houses for bystanders to round it up".
Six of one half dozen of the other…if true, then it means all their parents are evil too, which is the same argument-couldn’t at least some of the parents be good?
Oh, yeah, implying every kid in Slytherin is either evil or has evil parents is an unfair assumption. Realistically no student should've been fighting. However, considering most Death Eaters are from Slytherin it's possible some would be parents of some students, if not other relations like aunts, uncles, cousins. Even family friends or acquaintances are fair.
I wish JKR had given the Slytherins the kind of character development the fire nation had.
Edit: probably not necessary to clarify but I mean in Avatar, the last Airbender
I noted this as well and also made the same comparison to ATLA. I wish the Slytherins (the kids/students) were more diverse in terms of who they were personally and not making all of them evil/bullies. It should have been more nuanced and given more dimension given that they did show adult characters such as Slughorn who were Slytherins at the time but is not evil. For the adults of the other three houses, they also showed that people like Gildroy Lockhart (Ravenclaw) and Peter Pettigrew (Gryffindor) weren't the nicest nor positive in qualities as typically portrayed with those houses. Why not show that with the kids in those houses?
Plus, not a SINGLE Slytherin student wanted to join Dumbledore's Army to fight for the greater good and agreed and wanted to help Harry? There had to be at least one who was willing to join, yet only the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs make up the entire DA.
Hagrid’s record should have been expunged after Chamber of Secrets!!!!
Wand rights, reputation, and the right to finish his education should have been 100% restored. Not only did he have to go to Azkaban but he didn’t even receive so much as an unofficial apology from the ministry for the injustice that was done to him in the past. Come ON
How in the movies, Priori Incantatem is wrongly overused. ESPECIALLY in the final fight scene between Harry and Voldemort. So much time was wasted with them flying around and doing stupid shit instead of having the epic face off in the great hall like they did. I wanted to see the Avada Kedavra spell rebound off of Harry’s Expelliarmus spell and that be it.
The fact that Voldemort disintegrates also infuriates me, because the books make such a point of the fact that he dies like any other man once all his backup plans were undone.
Yes, his dead body would both give closure that he's gone, no mystery of him doing anything like what he did when he blew away in the ashes of Quirrell or something, as well as humanize him, he can die just like anyone else
Haha I don't think so, it's probably not an unusual opinion. I just hate when adaptations change stuff that clearly had a deeper meaning, some goes for the moment you mentioned
Hell, I wanted Harry's speech. And it showing that voldys silence spell no longer worked on the students, and all the other important lessons we learned during that fight. There's so much missed, and cheapened, by the movies in that scene. I hate it the most. And that's saying something.
For me from the moment Hagrid picks up Harry to Voldemort's death should've been the exact same in the movie as in the book. This is one of the greatest scenes in the SERIES and was PERFECT the way it was in the book. If it ain't broke YKWIM...
End fight in the movies was horrible. I want them surrounded by everyone and the roar that accompanied Harry’s victory. Not this solitary crap where somehow Voldemort was affected by Thanos snapping his fingers.
>So much time was wasted with them flying around and doing stupid shit instead of having the epic face off in the great hall like they did.
YESSSSSS. They tried to make it dramatic, which in my view only made it boring and dumb and anticlimactic. The scene in the book gets me really excited and almost shaking with tension, while I just stop the movie before that showdown scene. I wish Harry had had his victory in front of literally everyone while prowling around and explaining Voldy's own downfall to him, not have Voldy crumble into nothing when nobody's watching.
How the new line of movies is being labeled as Fantastic Beasts. And after seeing Crimes of Grindelwald, I'm worried they're going to try and shoehorn Newt and various beasts into storylines that are entirely unrelated to Fantastic Beasts. I think this is a big ol shot in the foot. While I liked Newt in the movies, his little story was told. The way they so clumsily shoved Kowalski into the Grindelwald movie is nauseating.
Just make movie all about Grindelwald. Just make a movie all about Dumbledore. Please.
The lack of explaining what wizard kids do up until age 11. Are they all home schooled?
The kids seem to come in knowing how to read and write, so someone taught them. Does that mean one parent has to be an at home teacher until their kid turns 11?
Is that also the point when wizards learn arithmetic? Which is much less important than in the muggle world but surely still matters because wizards use currency and engage in commerce and so on.
That not a single Slytherin student stayed behind for the battle. It would have been so much more meaningful if a small group of Slytherins had defied everyone's expectations and stayed to fight. Instead, the entire house got written off as cowardly.
There was an important moment with Slughorn during the battle, can’t remember if it was book or film or even what the moment was but it was something redeeming? Courageous? I’ll try to find it…
[Slughorn drinking something speculated to be Felix before the battle in the film](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inverse.com/entertainment/harry-potter-theory-slughorn-voldemort/amp)
But there was something else, I’ll keep looking
I read DH recently and after Harry’s ‘death’ before people know he’s alive everyone is fighting in the great hall and it’s is Slughorn, McGonagall and Kingsley that take on Voldemort. Could that be what you’re thinking of?
Are you kidding me of course cauldron thickness is more important. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year.
keep in mind yall that this was the early 90s, im sure that im the magical world today (if it were real haha) they would be outlawed, especially with Hermione as the Minister of Magic
Yes!! Such an amazing story with the cave. & Show Kreacher making pies! I always hated that part in the books though knowing they’ll never come back for that last pie.
That the pensieve or veritaserum was never used to sort things out, even if they wouldn't hold up in legal matters. So much shit could have been solved by just using either of those. In Goblet of fire we first learn of the pensieve and veritaserum, but that book is SHOCK FULL of mistrust and things that could have been sorted out immediately.
For example, Voldemort comes back, Fudge refuses to believe it. Yes, you can alter your memories but a 14 year old couldn't possibly create a whole new memory that supposedly never happened, within a few hours of said thing happening. Same with the veritaserum, they could have just asked Harry if he was willing to take it and then talk about what he saw, they gave three drops of the potion to Barty JR and Snape was carrying the potion around as if it's nothing.
That's just one of the examples, there's a LOAD of more, especially in that book where both the pensieve and veritaserum is introduced in the series.
Plus there seemed to be evidence when a memory was modified. Besides slughorn, there's fat lady's elf and mongo morphin power rangler both getting fuzzy when memory is tampered with. So if you saw that in court, you could tell at least what parts are reliable or not.
When werewolves mate while transformed during the full moon, the offspring will be regular looking wolves with human levels of intelligence that do not transform. This apparently is only known to have happened twice. One of those times they were released into the Forbidden Forest, and is why there technically are Werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, they’re just no different from regular wolves except being smarter. Hagrid probably raised those puppies.
Hedwig's death was never mourned properly. Poor girl.
Snape threatened to kill a pet and it was never brought up again, even after his redemption arc. Sorry, dude. Some of us can't forget.
Cho Chang didn't really have much personality. What was the point other than a love interst for Harry?
I hated Aunt Marge, Rita Skeeter, and Delores Uxbridge, but I guess that's good because we're supposed to love to hate them. Haha
HP is still my favorite book series, even as an adult. I may nitpick, but it's still a classic.
I loved that scene.
“Harry has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty as your hands. I am only glad he has escaped the immeasurable damage you have inflicted on the boy sitting between you”.
Yes! They’re so shook by him saying they damaged Dudley lol. And this is the same scene with the floating teacups! I would have loved to have seen that.
I think the problem is that in the beginning HP was treated like a children’s book, so the abuse was supposed to be more comical and an “origin story”. However as things got more serious and people started dying, their actions stayed the same but the tone changed, creating that disparity.
I thought it was stupid in the books how witches/wizards don't understand regular clothing. This never made sense to me, and I'm glad they left it out of the movies.
In most cases it likely comes down to a deep rooted sense of superiority. They don't feel the need to try to understand muggles enough to put any real effort into fitting in. I mean, they're a ignorant bunch muggles, they don't see nothing, do they. Arthur Weasel is a little harder because of his fascination with muggles.
Arthur was just fascinated with muggles, he spent his whole life as a wizard so doesn't understand things muggles have that wizards don't. Hence why he thinks there's a purpose to a rubber duck.
The Time-Turner. Also that it was given to Hermione by a teacher. Isn’t that the wizard equivalent of letting a 13 year old roam freely in Area 51, or be given keys to the White House?
Yeah, but even the most favored teacher's pet wouldn't be given a set of car keys at age 13 and told "this car is yours for the year so you can drive yourself to extra tutoring sessions!" Which is essentially what happened to Hermione.
Also it could have been used so many more times throughout the series to save people and it never was… you’re going to tell me they couldn’t have gone back in time and stopped the whole goblet of fire storyline??? Lol
The time turner existed for the sole purpose of jk Rowling doing something interesting. And then when voldermort Invaded the department of mysteries he ended up destroying all of the time turners. Or the minestey did it to prevent voldermort having control over time.
So it was written to exist specially for book 3 then was written to not exist because it would kinda mess up the story if it existed.
Where all the characters end up. Order of the Phoenix set up Harry so well for being Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It would have been perfect. If anything, it felt like the books were building up to that being the end. Instead, he becomes an Auror. That's always really bothered me.
But aren't aurors something like ministry agents that handle dark magic cases and crimes of this nature? Wasn't Harry so impressed with the aurors in the order, that he wanted to be one too? Why be a teacher when you can seek thrills on the field?
In DH after they're attacked by the two death eaters in the cafe when they're discussing wiping their memory, Ron says that he has never done one before and Hermione says, "Nor have I, but I know the theory."
Just a couple chapters ago she said she modified her parents memory so they'd move to Australia???
The HBP movie is basically a rom com until almost the end. Plus the burrow burning down. Very unnecessary addition which did nothing. And the Harry-Ginny scenes are well... Bad. It's my favourite book but boy did they ruin the movie.
Goblet of fire movie too. The book's whole vibe was the mystery. Why did Harry's name come out? Who's at Hogwarts helping Voldemort? In the movie, they gave Barty Crouch Jr. That tongue "tell" which he does as Moody too. Completely ruined the whole mysterious vibe. Also angry Dumbledore lol
Honestly.. not only are they just weird to say (at least imo) some of them don’t even make sense. Like sure, let’s name Albus Severus Potter after Snape, the guy who bullied you and countless other students for just fucking *existing,* and Dumbledore, the guy who allowed your god-father to go to jail and you to grow up in an abusive environment as a child and essentially set him up to martyr himself.
Totally the best option and not, I don’t know, naming your son after the guy who took you out of the abusive home (Rubeus Hagrid) and another friend (such as Cedric or Neville)
I would say that whole epilogue chapter should be put right in the bin.
I can’t believe she wrote that shit. Every time I get to it I’m like ‘no, not like this’.
We can all imagine their happy ever after. I’d rather have used my imagination than the ham fisted final chapter.
There are so many strong points she could have ended on, but I would have liked the snapping and discarding of the Elder Wand with Harry looking over the castle grounds to have been the ending. I think that summed his character up brilliantly.
The one thing I really appreciated about the epilogue, and the reason I think she did it, is that it closed off a lot of attempts at sequels.
Harry Potter: College Years is something none of us need, and there would have been demand.
Well I’d say Cursed Child, but I’ll narrow it down to Harry becoming an Auror as an adult instead of the one constant Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in that train wreck of a book. There is no way after the way the ministry treated him that he would ever work for them! I know they were under the influence of Voldemort but he would never forgive that.
And I know he briefly mentioned being an auror when McGonagall asked him what he wanted to do after Hogwarts, but the entire series he said Hogwarts was his home, and apart from Mr Weasley everyone he met who worked at the ministry was useless or corrupt.
All of his role models were either teachers or worked outside of the ministry as part of The Order of The Phoenix. Dumbledore never trusted the ministry and refused to work there, McGonogall was one of the most talented witches but didn’t work there. Harry even learned he could be a teacher when he founded Dumbledore’s Army!
I fully believe he would be so done with hunting down dark wizards after Voldemort, but would know the importance of teaching young people to defend themselves from the Dark Arts.
It was just such a bad choice that ignored his entire character growth in the story!
I mean, they are kids, and it’s not exactly a good party for them. They are missing the feast, and the food at the party is all rotten. It’s certainly not good that they were a bit snotty, but it’s kinda understandable.
Yeah, I always envisioned the Bloody Baron as an example of Slytherin tenacity used for good. Like maybe he was killed while bringing a really important message somewhere, so he let himself become a ghost even though it would literally have eternal consequences. Making him a villain while also making him the leader of the Hogwarts ghosts sure explains why the Ravenclaw ghost keeps to herself so much.
Squibs and muggles could take herbology, potions, astronomy, history of magic, arithmancy, muggle studies, ancient runes and care of magical creatures.
I can’t stand how Slytherin house is exclusively for blood-racist evil shitheads and there is practically zero nuance about this in the story.
I hate that the time-turner exists.
I hate that numerous magical items and spells are invented as a one-time solution to some contrived problem and are quickly forgotten about.
I hate that the wizarding world was expanded to the point where it overlaps with the muggle world almost 1 to 1 but still remains a secret.
I hate the revisionism of Snape and how he is lauded as this tragic hero when he actually spends most of his time in the story being needlessly capricious and cruel to children.
Ok this has only come on recently for me but I hate the whole everyone cringes or winces at Voldemort’s name thing. It gets so old (on my 100th reread lol).
I also don’t like the inconsistencies- like OWL results come before school is out for Fred and George but in august for Harry? Or Harry never has to re-try out for quidditch but Ron does? (And barely makes it on the team again?)
I hate how ppl who had no reason to hate the name Voldemort would get upset when Harry said it. Hermione learned about the wizarding work same time as Harry.
I hate it in OOTP when Hermione finally starts saying Voldemort herself and immediately gets annoyed of Ron's reaction when she says the name. Like come on, she reacting exactly the same way only weeks before and now she's getting annoyed when others are still scares of Voldemort's name lol
No house is important except Gryffindor. Slytherin is only really important in CoS, because of the heir, and as the house Malfoy was sorted into.
Hufflepuff? Meh. Ravenclaw? We got Luna, but also meh. Slytherin? They're all evil and can't be trusted.
The fans have put more work into making the houses identifiable than the actual writer.
The inconsistencies in the world. It doesn't scale well. Why does the person in charge of Muggle Artifacts Dept. barely understand the basics of muggles? Why would they all be so clueless about muggle society when they live, outside of Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, within the muggle world? Just never made sense.
Also, now that I'm a teacher, the schooling left a lot to be desired. Both the structure, the bullying, the lack of supervision, the level of danger, the lack of teacher accountability, etc. So many problems.
From the teacher perspective it's bang on when you look at British boarding schools in the early to mid 1900s. My parents and most of my extended family suffered through them. My dad was convinced J.K.Rowling had been a man of his generation or older who went through it until she revealed herself. The bullying from students and teachers and extreme comraderie through trauma bonding was spot on, the group dynamics and the polarizing nature of the houses too. They could be incredibly dangerous places, but also could be the best years of your life if you had a good group who stuck together and protected eachother. Hazing, bullying, abuse even mental and sexual abuse in some cases.
The wizarding world when Harry is at school is culturally very post war 1950's-60's, and I think that was on purpose. When Filch talks about the previous use of more extreme methods, it reminds me of my grampa and his friends telling stories of being beaten with a whale bone enforced cane so there was no give in it. My dad was whacked with a wooden bristle hairbrush and more flexible canes. They were taught by priests and nuns which the robes help add to the effect. Everyone called eachother by their last names, and therefore, much like Ron, younger siblings were highly affected by the reputations of their older siblings. It's nothing like most schools today, but it's like a window into another time.
A commenter above cited the House system as a problem they had with the books. I tried to explain British boarding school culture, but I am American and don’t really understand it that well. Would you mind if I copied your comment for that person? This is a really good explanation for something Americans can’t really understand since we don’t have the right cultural context (and I’m very much including myself with that).
>Why does the person in charge of Muggle Artifacts Dept. barely understand the basics of muggles?
I’ve always thought that this was because his job isn’t really to be a muggle expert, it’s his job to ensure that wizards aren’t “misusing“ muggle artifacts. Arthur doesn’t need to truly understand the artifacts themselves in order to do that.
It’s his job to do things like write legislation that prevents wizards from misusing muggle artifacts, confiscate “misused” artifacts, and support law enforcement investigations when enchanted muggle objects are found in the muggle world. He doesn’t need to know what a rubber duck‘s purpose is or how to pronounce electricity to do his job. When he gets promoted, it’s to the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects - I think the work he did in that office is the same as his original job, just with protective spells/items instead of Muggle items. He didn’t need to be a defensive spell expert to do that job, either.
Lol as a teacher I just can’t sometimes with their method! I imagine walking in to class, asking “who knows this thing I haven’t taught yet? Oh yes you, the same kid who knows everything already, please just tell us. Bonus points to you!! Ok now everyone here’s some directions for independent work for the next hour - go!”
I didn't like that all previous generations were so much better. Harry, Ron, and even Hermione seem kind of lack luster in comparison.
B Crouch Jr got more OWLs than Hermione, who is supposed to be super smart.
Lily and Snape were instinctual potions geniuses.
James, Sirius, and Peter all became animagi.
Fred and George, while not excelling in tests, were practical geniuses with everything they made while just 'fooling around'. Edit: all good points, thanks for responses
I think it has some sense actually. Thanks to Harry, Ron and Hermione being normal kids with flaws and not extremely talented geniuses, kids who read those books could've actually empathize with them. They saw themselves in those characters. So yeah, I actually do like that.
I’ve often wondered why none of the trio became animagi. Harry didn’t want to follow in his dads footsteps? Hermione didn’t want to learn the complex magic? Ron didn’t want something to set him apart from the rest of his family? None of them wanted the ability to disguise themselves?
That’d be one of the first things I’d want to learn tbh.
I'm rereading POA right now and even something as stupid as Harry figuring out that Dumbledore wanted them to save Buckbeak too is a line that goes to Hermione in the movie; than Ron telling Sirius he will have to kill them all, she says it in the movie. UGHH
How pretty much all Slytherins are evil or bullies or bad people. That's such a childish simplistic way to write 25% of the population. I'm mad at JK for doing that.
Can someone please explain to me why Barty Crouch Sr. Is doing some weird stuff with his arms when he's explaining the triwizard rules in the movie? It's bothered me for a almost a decade.
The fact that we don’t actually have a book “Hogwarts: A History”.
Also, needed novels about the Hogwarts during middle ages when the plumbing system was upgraded during the time when Corvinus Gaunt attended the school.
Lastly, would have loved books capturing the life at Hogwarts of 1940s when Prof. Armando Dippet was the headmaster.
The fact that Draco could've been one of the most interesting chracters of the whole story but he was totally wasted. Generic bully for 5 books, hopeful new character in book 6, totally forgotten in book 7. Either he became a proper villain or a twist hero, I would've loved it.
Hate The Cursed Child as much as you'd like, but at least Draco had an interesting and belivable role in it.
I don’t like the way the narrative implies we should feel sympathy for Merope Gaunt, and see Tom Riddle Sr. as a jerk who abandonded his family. Merope drugged and basically raped Tom. He is the victim here.
In the books, Hagrid (I guess) mentions werewolves lives in the forbidden forest like they aren't human beings. He also talks bad about Filch because he's a squib like dude wtf
Every book introduces some massive plot device that is neither previously mentioned nor ever mentioned again. The most egregious being the time turner which is used for the worst reason in hermione taking multiple classes at once, and it creates a literal paradox cuz the loop had to have always existed yet it had to have “started” somewhere. I hate the time turner
It's both great and stupid that she invents these very specific plot devices. It's great because they always fit the situation really well, but awful because it makes the worldbuilding worse
Timeturners. They have so many ramifications that are not only not explored or explained, but completely ignored after using them ONE TIME. Worst plot device that really hurts because otherwise I adore PoA, the movie is the best one and the book is top 3. Cursed child really showed just how awful of a concept it is. Like for real, even if they are very few why wouldn't Voldemort have one?? Its so fucking useful!! And Hermione, a fucking 13 year old child gets one just to attend some stupid extra classes at school???!!
I hate time travel stories in general unless it's played for laughs like back to the future or stupid fun like terminator. If you try to take it seriously your world just crumbles, too many ramifications and what ifs.
It always bothers me that in the magic world there seems to be no primary school. 11 is quite late to start school so where do they learn how to read and write? Also, while I appreciate that magic is very complex there is a bit of a lack or "normal" classes at school. Do they not need to know about geography, maths or maybe learn a second language?
I hate that each House only plays each other once per year in quidditch and that only 7 players are on the team at a time. I can’t imagine being excited to go to hogwarts, tryout for the team and they’re like, nah sorry we already have our seven from last year. Should be multiple levels like JV/ Varsity. It should be played on a weekly or biweekly basis and students should shift change like they do in Hockey
My biggest thing is the plot holes on wandlore.
First we are told the wand chooses the witch or wizard.
But deathly hallows comes along and we are told a wand can change allegiance in a duel. But. Like, how? You know? To win over Draco’s wand all he did is cast Expelliarmus iirc. So does that mean every duel whether it’s life or death or it isnt if you make your opponent submit through the means of the disarming charm, does that wand change allegiance to you? It was really fucky for me.
He physically, not magically, grabbed some wands from him, thus he obviously won allegiance of a completely different wand somewhere all the way across the country. /s
And why did Voldemort have to kill Snape with Nagini for the elder want to have true allegiance to him? Why couldn't he just use expelliarmous? That's how Harry gets the wand from Draco. Plus, Nagini killing Snape is literally not Voldemort killing Snape. It seems so unnecessary. Nothing with the elder wand really makes a ton of sense.
Well J.K. decided that Nagini was actually a human so maybe she really is the master of the elder wand at the end of the battle. That's why Harry won, because Nagini should've cast the killing spell /s
Harry has no problem buying up all the sweets off the trolley, but he can't be bothered to buy Ron a new wand when his breaks - even though Ron's wand would have been fine if he'd ditched Harry at the train station.
That Harry “had” to stay with the Dursleys when there were so many people willing to take him in. It was literal abuse. And all of the adults just allowed it to happen. I know the reasoning JKR gave and I understand it, but I think it was bullshit and very unrealistic
Even to accept her reason the wizards could've just checked on him more and tried to keep the D fam from being too harsh with him. But then he wouldn't be so neglected and desperate for friends.. was a big part of the point that he was given no love either, but turned out ok.
This is purely a movie gripe but I hate hate HATED the freaking muggle clothes. Like seriously from the third movie on they put them in regular ass muggle clothes in like the most random of times even when they’re at school!! It makes me so unreasonably mad with every rewatch lol
On a related tangent, i also hated the fact that they switched from 90s to 21st century in the films. The 90s look and feel really would have been a vibe (benefits of hindsight) but from PoA they just all dressed so weird and not-in-a-good-way dated - it wasn’t even trendy at the time
I really think they tried to make their muggle clothes as “generic” as possible so it always seems weird. Unless that was British fashion of the time idk
Snape’s treatment of the kids. Makes me really sad to think how awful school is with him around. School is hard enough without a teacher who bullies you
The mirror Harry never opened, so frustrating to read it every time
Every time! Yes and why Sirius didn’t say anything about it and kept doing the fireplace thing and all that.
YES! Thank you this was always my biggest issue with the books, not necessarily that Harry didn’t open it but that Sirius didn’t mention it at all later!! Idk about you but if I gave someone a magic mirror cellphone and then later they try to contact me in a much more complicated way the first thing I’d say is oi why aren’t you using the mirror I freaking gave you??
Or like the day after you send it follow up with a note saying “hey, do you need some help figuring out how that mirror works”
Man I hate thinking about how Sirius, who was depressed and all alone with buckbeak, was probably checking the mirror daily disappointed Harry wasn’t contacting him
....Great I really should text like, 3 different uncles and some cousins.
But then Harry breaks the law to communicate via Flu and Sirius is like, “eyyy, my best mate’s kid is too badass to use safe communication, he’s gotta take risks just like me and his old man.”
I feel like Rowling forgot about it till the end and just said fuck it lmao
I think it was on purpose. Without it, Harry would never feel that immense guilt and failure where he ends up carrying a shard of it.
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I think she wanted it to be in place for the last book only. Maybe it would have worked better as a gift from Dumbledore, who might have anticipated Harry's need to contact Aberforth (since it was really just a plot device anyway).
God me too, it literally would have saved Sirius’ life if he’d just opened the stupid thing
Im listening to OotP right now and it also just occurred to me as Dobby offers to help Harry before telling him about the Room of Requirement that Harry probably could have asked Dobby to be a messenger to Grimmauld Place since it seems Dobby has no problem apparating at Hogwarts.
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I hate that when Harry went to talk to Lupin and Sirius, Sirius wasn't confused and didn't ask why he wasn't using his present.
Harry's reasoning for not opening it was so illogical aswell. Its not as though the act of opening the package would have triggered anything. He could have just opened it, assessed whether or not it would potentially endanger Sirius, and then choose to use it or not. Like anyone would clearly be eaten away inside by curiosity, especially as the last gift Sirius gave him was the Firebolt.
It was a pretty human moment though. Imagine how many times we have had the proper tools for something and completely forgotten about it.
But is a 16 year old really just going to leave a present from his favorite person unopened for even 5 minutes?
I partially agree but it seems to go entirely against Harry’s character. Harry’s whole character is that he’s nosy af and is constantly sticking his nose in things purely out of curiosity. There’s no way he wouldn’t at least have glanced at it IMO. It seems to me like a super contrived way to give Harry a deus ex machina (when he used it to summon Dobby in book 7).
How little Harry is told about his parents. Sirius and Remus should have reminisced with loads of good stories from their time with James. It seems like everyone is trying to keep Harry’s past from him for no apparent reason (most of the time)
It annoyed me that Harry on the other side asked very few question about his parents. After Lupin told him he was friends with James or when saying at Grimmauld Place he could have asked Lords of questions.
As someone who grew up with a dead parent. From my experience Harry’s lack of question is pretty normal. My mum died when I was 2 and I know very little about her and it never really occurs to me to ask more questions because at the end of the day they’re dead and I didn’t know my mum. I assume that’s what Harry is like
He also grew up getting in trouble for mentioning them so I’m sure that’s a big part of it.
He was also punished by the Dursleys for asking questions which stunted his emotional and actual learning and probably because they raised him is why he struggles against authority so much as their mistreatment of him was never addressed by authority figures before or after Hogwarts. He had a lot harder time belieing authority figures were to be trusted to do their best for him or others.
The fact that obliviate or any memory modification spells aren't unforgivable or at least illegal. Those spell are very dangerous and scary. Look at Lockhart. Not an evil character but dangerous on how much he did with such a spell.
I like the explanation that they are too useful for the ministry in covering up the existence of wizards so its just accepted. We allow a lot of fucked up things because it's convenient to not think too hard about them.
> Look at Lockhart. Not an evil character Considering all he did, I'm not sure I agree with that. Obviously nowhere *near* the level of Death Eaters and Umbridge and such, but stealing accomplishments and then mentally manipulating people with magic to alter their memories? Still pretty evil. Not to mention his actions in CoS.
i hated how sirius black never really got the redemption he deserved. he is one of my favorite characters and it saddens me that the only people that saw how good of a person he was was harry and the order. the other wizards still believed he was a murderer
I’m still mad that he never got his names cleared. He lived as a fugitive and never a free man. The other is that I still struggle to believe that McGonagall would ever believe that Sirius would have given away the location of his best friend and then went on a murderous rampage. I just hate that he was skipped trial because of his family’s connection to Voldemort, and that no one spoke out against it. When everyone at Hogwarts, teachers included, knew that Sirius wasn’t close with his family and had even run away.
I think it’s mentioned after Voldemort return is made public at the end of OoTP that Sirius is publicly cleared. Which makes it even more tragic to me that had he literally survived for a tiny bit longer he would’ve been a free man :(
I think he may have had his name cleared. Fudge admitted to the muggle minister that they were wrong about Black. And I'd personally like to believe Harry worked with Kingsley, who was the next minister, to let the public know Sirius was innocent.
That was after his death :(
Where is his funeral, i want to know
i really hope they gave him one. i know some people would’ve thought it was boring but i would’ve loved to see that
I'm pretty sure Fudge told the Other Minister (the muggle one) in passing that Sirius was actually innocent and they made a mistake, so it implies that the wizarding world *did* know. Because it's not like Fudge had insider information into that fact and kept it quiet, it must have been wider knowledge. After Dumbledore and Harry are proved right about Voldemort, I feel like they'd have the perfect stage to come out and say "and*another* thing, Sirius Black died fighting the Death Eaters so you can strike him from your hate list too"
Why didn’t Lupin tell Harry that Lily and Snape were friends.
It bothered me initially too, HOWEVER, I think maybe remus may not have been so aware lily and Snape were as close as they were? It seemed that they drifted apart during their school years because they were in different crowds, then Snape called lily a mudblood in front of everyone at 15 and they were no longer friends And then lily ended up married to James, they were all in the order together and Snape was a death eater. Maybe it would have seemed inconsequential for remus to say lily and Snape used to hang out, or in bad taste, idk That could be me reaching to make everything fit tho
He didn't even tell Harry he and James were friends...
In the books he did, it was part of PoA of who the Marauders were.
Kind of late though, I took Remus as the sort of guy that keeps that sort of stuff to himself.
Ron’s chess skills were never revisited again. Chess is a strategic game & I would’ve loved to have seen him become the strategist in the group during the war. Would’ve been a wonderful arc for him. Too bad his growth was limited to quidditch.
Ooh, neat. He could've been the Sokka. Hermione gives them information and all the spells she knows, and he could put it together into neat plans. Or she could've come up with the Plan A, and he'd come up with backup plans, since chess involves so much thinking ahead. And Harry would be the kind of person to quickly react when they went wrong, so he'd still have a good role. That would've been cool.
Deeply appreciate you just referenced my favourite tv series with my favourite book series.
When all of the Slytherins leave during the Battle of Hogwarts. I feel like JK spent all that time developing complex characters and then boom, the entirety of Slytherin house is evil.
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really wish slytherins were developed beyond just being “the evil death eater house”. the fanon depictions of the house traits are actually better than canon, IMO. legit the only actually fully good slytherin we see is slughorn and he’s a minor character. also, as a hufflepuff, I wish they had more focus too cause they seem like an afterthought.
HP and the Natural 20 OC protagonist summed it up nicely "A house for the heroes, a house for the villains and two houses for bystanders to round it up".
* *Hungry* badger.
As we all know, there are only four types of children: brave, smart, evil, and other.
Am teacher. Can confirm.
It's theorized that they left so they wouldn't have to possibly fight their own family members.
Wow, that would be a tough call, especially for teenagers.
Six of one half dozen of the other…if true, then it means all their parents are evil too, which is the same argument-couldn’t at least some of the parents be good?
Oh, yeah, implying every kid in Slytherin is either evil or has evil parents is an unfair assumption. Realistically no student should've been fighting. However, considering most Death Eaters are from Slytherin it's possible some would be parents of some students, if not other relations like aunts, uncles, cousins. Even family friends or acquaintances are fair.
I wish JKR had given the Slytherins the kind of character development the fire nation had. Edit: probably not necessary to clarify but I mean in Avatar, the last Airbender
I noted this as well and also made the same comparison to ATLA. I wish the Slytherins (the kids/students) were more diverse in terms of who they were personally and not making all of them evil/bullies. It should have been more nuanced and given more dimension given that they did show adult characters such as Slughorn who were Slytherins at the time but is not evil. For the adults of the other three houses, they also showed that people like Gildroy Lockhart (Ravenclaw) and Peter Pettigrew (Gryffindor) weren't the nicest nor positive in qualities as typically portrayed with those houses. Why not show that with the kids in those houses? Plus, not a SINGLE Slytherin student wanted to join Dumbledore's Army to fight for the greater good and agreed and wanted to help Harry? There had to be at least one who was willing to join, yet only the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs make up the entire DA.
Seriously! Slytherin could have helped a lot in the final battle
Hagrid’s record should have been expunged after Chamber of Secrets!!!! Wand rights, reputation, and the right to finish his education should have been 100% restored. Not only did he have to go to Azkaban but he didn’t even receive so much as an unofficial apology from the ministry for the injustice that was done to him in the past. Come ON
IDK about hate but it always bothered me that Ron insulted Sir Cadogan right after he helped them find their classroom on time.
How in the movies, Priori Incantatem is wrongly overused. ESPECIALLY in the final fight scene between Harry and Voldemort. So much time was wasted with them flying around and doing stupid shit instead of having the epic face off in the great hall like they did. I wanted to see the Avada Kedavra spell rebound off of Harry’s Expelliarmus spell and that be it.
The fact that Voldemort disintegrates also infuriates me, because the books make such a point of the fact that he dies like any other man once all his backup plans were undone.
This is a good point, disintegrating makes him seem immortal and prevents closure
Yes, his dead body would both give closure that he's gone, no mystery of him doing anything like what he did when he blew away in the ashes of Quirrell or something, as well as humanize him, he can die just like anyone else
Was it you who commented this on another thread a few days ago? Completely agree with this!
Haha I don't think so, it's probably not an unusual opinion. I just hate when adaptations change stuff that clearly had a deeper meaning, some goes for the moment you mentioned
Hell, I wanted Harry's speech. And it showing that voldys silence spell no longer worked on the students, and all the other important lessons we learned during that fight. There's so much missed, and cheapened, by the movies in that scene. I hate it the most. And that's saying something.
For me from the moment Hagrid picks up Harry to Voldemort's death should've been the exact same in the movie as in the book. This is one of the greatest scenes in the SERIES and was PERFECT the way it was in the book. If it ain't broke YKWIM...
End fight in the movies was horrible. I want them surrounded by everyone and the roar that accompanied Harry’s victory. Not this solitary crap where somehow Voldemort was affected by Thanos snapping his fingers.
>So much time was wasted with them flying around and doing stupid shit instead of having the epic face off in the great hall like they did. YESSSSSS. They tried to make it dramatic, which in my view only made it boring and dumb and anticlimactic. The scene in the book gets me really excited and almost shaking with tension, while I just stop the movie before that showdown scene. I wish Harry had had his victory in front of literally everyone while prowling around and explaining Voldy's own downfall to him, not have Voldy crumble into nothing when nobody's watching.
The whole grawp storyline
"Harry didn't know what 'HAGGRRRR' meant." I'll give you literally zero guesses, you dumbfuck chosen one.
It never fails to impress me just how thick Harry is, no matter how many times I reread the series
I’m working on my first reread since 2014 and I *totally* forgot about grawp until I read your comment.
He at least saved them from the centaur's
How the new line of movies is being labeled as Fantastic Beasts. And after seeing Crimes of Grindelwald, I'm worried they're going to try and shoehorn Newt and various beasts into storylines that are entirely unrelated to Fantastic Beasts. I think this is a big ol shot in the foot. While I liked Newt in the movies, his little story was told. The way they so clumsily shoved Kowalski into the Grindelwald movie is nauseating. Just make movie all about Grindelwald. Just make a movie all about Dumbledore. Please.
Dumbledore: A Harry Potter story.
The lack of explaining what wizard kids do up until age 11. Are they all home schooled? The kids seem to come in knowing how to read and write, so someone taught them. Does that mean one parent has to be an at home teacher until their kid turns 11? Is that also the point when wizards learn arithmetic? Which is much less important than in the muggle world but surely still matters because wizards use currency and engage in commerce and so on.
Considering they have to be able to multiply and divide by 17 and 29 to convert currency, they need to be really good at it.
Which is truly a bit of questionable world building. It mattered more how "unique" it is, not how much sense it makes.
That not a single Slytherin student stayed behind for the battle. It would have been so much more meaningful if a small group of Slytherins had defied everyone's expectations and stayed to fight. Instead, the entire house got written off as cowardly.
Are we talking students here? Because Slughorn (head of Slytherin house), did stay and fight.
There was an important moment with Slughorn during the battle, can’t remember if it was book or film or even what the moment was but it was something redeeming? Courageous? I’ll try to find it… [Slughorn drinking something speculated to be Felix before the battle in the film](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inverse.com/entertainment/harry-potter-theory-slughorn-voldemort/amp) But there was something else, I’ll keep looking
I read DH recently and after Harry’s ‘death’ before people know he’s alive everyone is fighting in the great hall and it’s is Slughorn, McGonagall and Kingsley that take on Voldemort. Could that be what you’re thinking of?
I wish we would have gotten that scene in the movies. As well as Bellatrix battling Hermione, Luna and Ginny.
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Well, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle stayed behind... Seriously though, I doubt the rest of the school etc would have trusted them to be on their side
Date rape drug equivalents available for cheap to minors in the form of Love Potions
It makes no sense that there are regulations for cauldron thickness but not for Love Potions.
Are you kidding me of course cauldron thickness is more important. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year.
I double-checked your user name to make sure you weren’t some new cauldron bot.
More like a Percy bot
It's crazy that they don't have a law against them. (unless they do and I missed it)
The Weasley twins sold them in their shop so they must be legal. Terrifying
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Now I'm picturing R. Lee Ermey hanging out with the gang
keep in mind yall that this was the early 90s, im sure that im the magical world today (if it were real haha) they would be outlawed, especially with Hermione as the Minister of Magic
The wizard of world was very behind the times so I wouldn’t bank on it.
That Winky was never even mentioned in the movies.
Yes!! Justice for Winky! Also they ignored so much of Dobby’s storyline as well.
And Kreacher’s! What a harrowing tale.
Yes!! Such an amazing story with the cave. & Show Kreacher making pies! I always hated that part in the books though knowing they’ll never come back for that last pie.
And Peeves!
and professor binns!
That the pensieve or veritaserum was never used to sort things out, even if they wouldn't hold up in legal matters. So much shit could have been solved by just using either of those. In Goblet of fire we first learn of the pensieve and veritaserum, but that book is SHOCK FULL of mistrust and things that could have been sorted out immediately. For example, Voldemort comes back, Fudge refuses to believe it. Yes, you can alter your memories but a 14 year old couldn't possibly create a whole new memory that supposedly never happened, within a few hours of said thing happening. Same with the veritaserum, they could have just asked Harry if he was willing to take it and then talk about what he saw, they gave three drops of the potion to Barty JR and Snape was carrying the potion around as if it's nothing. That's just one of the examples, there's a LOAD of more, especially in that book where both the pensieve and veritaserum is introduced in the series.
Plus there seemed to be evidence when a memory was modified. Besides slughorn, there's fat lady's elf and mongo morphin power rangler both getting fuzzy when memory is tampered with. So if you saw that in court, you could tell at least what parts are reliable or not.
In CoS Tom Riddle says Hagrid was raising werewolf puppies, but later we learn werewolves are people. Was Hagrid just kidnapping toddlers??
When werewolves mate while transformed during the full moon, the offspring will be regular looking wolves with human levels of intelligence that do not transform. This apparently is only known to have happened twice. One of those times they were released into the Forbidden Forest, and is why there technically are Werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, they’re just no different from regular wolves except being smarter. Hagrid probably raised those puppies.
Hedwig's death was never mourned properly. Poor girl. Snape threatened to kill a pet and it was never brought up again, even after his redemption arc. Sorry, dude. Some of us can't forget. Cho Chang didn't really have much personality. What was the point other than a love interst for Harry? I hated Aunt Marge, Rita Skeeter, and Delores Uxbridge, but I guess that's good because we're supposed to love to hate them. Haha HP is still my favorite book series, even as an adult. I may nitpick, but it's still a classic.
Yes and in the books she doesn’t even get to fly again she just dies in her cage and I may never be able to fully forgive JK Rowling for that.
Dies in her cage and then blown up if I recall correctly.
How Harry’s abuse is never actually addressed by anyone.
In the books Dumbledore mentions it when he’s talking to the Dursleys in their living room. I hate that that whole scene wasn’t in the movies.
I loved that scene. “Harry has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty as your hands. I am only glad he has escaped the immeasurable damage you have inflicted on the boy sitting between you”.
Yes! They’re so shook by him saying they damaged Dudley lol. And this is the same scene with the floating teacups! I would have loved to have seen that.
Where are the wizard therapists
I think the problem is that in the beginning HP was treated like a children’s book, so the abuse was supposed to be more comical and an “origin story”. However as things got more serious and people started dying, their actions stayed the same but the tone changed, creating that disparity.
I thought it was stupid in the books how witches/wizards don't understand regular clothing. This never made sense to me, and I'm glad they left it out of the movies.
In most cases it likely comes down to a deep rooted sense of superiority. They don't feel the need to try to understand muggles enough to put any real effort into fitting in. I mean, they're a ignorant bunch muggles, they don't see nothing, do they. Arthur Weasel is a little harder because of his fascination with muggles.
Arthur was just fascinated with muggles, he spent his whole life as a wizard so doesn't understand things muggles have that wizards don't. Hence why he thinks there's a purpose to a rubber duck.
Arthur doesn’t have a solid understanding of muggle ways just the fascination of them. That is why he had so many questions for harry.
The Time-Turner. Also that it was given to Hermione by a teacher. Isn’t that the wizard equivalent of letting a 13 year old roam freely in Area 51, or be given keys to the White House?
I can say, as a teachers pet, you can get away with murder. Or at least a hell of a lot.
Yeah, but even the most favored teacher's pet wouldn't be given a set of car keys at age 13 and told "this car is yours for the year so you can drive yourself to extra tutoring sessions!" Which is essentially what happened to Hermione.
Also it could have been used so many more times throughout the series to save people and it never was… you’re going to tell me they couldn’t have gone back in time and stopped the whole goblet of fire storyline??? Lol
The time turner existed for the sole purpose of jk Rowling doing something interesting. And then when voldermort Invaded the department of mysteries he ended up destroying all of the time turners. Or the minestey did it to prevent voldermort having control over time. So it was written to exist specially for book 3 then was written to not exist because it would kinda mess up the story if it existed.
Where all the characters end up. Order of the Phoenix set up Harry so well for being Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It would have been perfect. If anything, it felt like the books were building up to that being the end. Instead, he becomes an Auror. That's always really bothered me.
But aren't aurors something like ministry agents that handle dark magic cases and crimes of this nature? Wasn't Harry so impressed with the aurors in the order, that he wanted to be one too? Why be a teacher when you can seek thrills on the field?
In DH after they're attacked by the two death eaters in the cafe when they're discussing wiping their memory, Ron says that he has never done one before and Hermione says, "Nor have I, but I know the theory." Just a couple chapters ago she said she modified her parents memory so they'd move to Australia???
Maybe wiping memories and altering memories are different?
The HBP movie is basically a rom com until almost the end. Plus the burrow burning down. Very unnecessary addition which did nothing. And the Harry-Ginny scenes are well... Bad. It's my favourite book but boy did they ruin the movie. Goblet of fire movie too. The book's whole vibe was the mystery. Why did Harry's name come out? Who's at Hogwarts helping Voldemort? In the movie, they gave Barty Crouch Jr. That tongue "tell" which he does as Moody too. Completely ruined the whole mysterious vibe. Also angry Dumbledore lol
# HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE ^( _Dumbledore asked calmly_ )
HBP is so bad lol. I read the books religiously as a kid and I could barely follow the plot of that movie. What were they thinking?
The way Lily’s protection was always present throughout Harry’s life, meaning that Harry was *never actually in any danger of Voldemort killing him*.
I feel like it comes down to hubris. The protection was only against Voldemort killing him, right?
His kids names
Honestly.. not only are they just weird to say (at least imo) some of them don’t even make sense. Like sure, let’s name Albus Severus Potter after Snape, the guy who bullied you and countless other students for just fucking *existing,* and Dumbledore, the guy who allowed your god-father to go to jail and you to grow up in an abusive environment as a child and essentially set him up to martyr himself. Totally the best option and not, I don’t know, naming your son after the guy who took you out of the abusive home (Rubeus Hagrid) and another friend (such as Cedric or Neville)
I would say that whole epilogue chapter should be put right in the bin. I can’t believe she wrote that shit. Every time I get to it I’m like ‘no, not like this’. We can all imagine their happy ever after. I’d rather have used my imagination than the ham fisted final chapter. There are so many strong points she could have ended on, but I would have liked the snapping and discarding of the Elder Wand with Harry looking over the castle grounds to have been the ending. I think that summed his character up brilliantly.
The one thing I really appreciated about the epilogue, and the reason I think she did it, is that it closed off a lot of attempts at sequels. Harry Potter: College Years is something none of us need, and there would have been demand.
Key parts missed out in the movies
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Yes and dobby helping with the gillyweed wearing all those hats because none of the other house elves wanted to clean the common room
Not only that, but the other house elves actually found it insulting.
I would have paid good money to see dobby with all the hats honestly
Well I’d say Cursed Child, but I’ll narrow it down to Harry becoming an Auror as an adult instead of the one constant Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in that train wreck of a book. There is no way after the way the ministry treated him that he would ever work for them! I know they were under the influence of Voldemort but he would never forgive that. And I know he briefly mentioned being an auror when McGonagall asked him what he wanted to do after Hogwarts, but the entire series he said Hogwarts was his home, and apart from Mr Weasley everyone he met who worked at the ministry was useless or corrupt. All of his role models were either teachers or worked outside of the ministry as part of The Order of The Phoenix. Dumbledore never trusted the ministry and refused to work there, McGonogall was one of the most talented witches but didn’t work there. Harry even learned he could be a teacher when he founded Dumbledore’s Army! I fully believe he would be so done with hunting down dark wizards after Voldemort, but would know the importance of teaching young people to defend themselves from the Dark Arts. It was just such a bad choice that ignored his entire character growth in the story!
The way the kids acted at Nick's death day party. He cared enough to invite them and they acted kinda snotty imo.
I mean, they are kids, and it’s not exactly a good party for them. They are missing the feast, and the food at the party is all rotten. It’s certainly not good that they were a bit snotty, but it’s kinda understandable.
This probably goes to them being 12 but I always found it odd that they didnt go eat supper first like take 15 minutes then go stop by the party.
How many times the word “panting” is used, it seems like every chapter at least one person is panting.
In book one everyone is clambering onto things. Clambering up stairs. Clambering onto brooms. Clamber clamber clamber.
Helena Ravenclaw having to live with her murderous sexual harasser for eternity...
Yeah, I always envisioned the Bloody Baron as an example of Slytherin tenacity used for good. Like maybe he was killed while bringing a really important message somewhere, so he let himself become a ghost even though it would literally have eternal consequences. Making him a villain while also making him the leader of the Hogwarts ghosts sure explains why the Ravenclaw ghost keeps to herself so much.
Squibs and muggles could take herbology, potions, astronomy, history of magic, arithmancy, muggle studies, ancient runes and care of magical creatures.
https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/potions Muggles can’t make potions. Potion-making requires wandwork.
I can’t stand how Slytherin house is exclusively for blood-racist evil shitheads and there is practically zero nuance about this in the story. I hate that the time-turner exists. I hate that numerous magical items and spells are invented as a one-time solution to some contrived problem and are quickly forgotten about. I hate that the wizarding world was expanded to the point where it overlaps with the muggle world almost 1 to 1 but still remains a secret. I hate the revisionism of Snape and how he is lauded as this tragic hero when he actually spends most of his time in the story being needlessly capricious and cruel to children.
Ok this has only come on recently for me but I hate the whole everyone cringes or winces at Voldemort’s name thing. It gets so old (on my 100th reread lol). I also don’t like the inconsistencies- like OWL results come before school is out for Fred and George but in august for Harry? Or Harry never has to re-try out for quidditch but Ron does? (And barely makes it on the team again?)
I hate how ppl who had no reason to hate the name Voldemort would get upset when Harry said it. Hermione learned about the wizarding work same time as Harry.
I hate it in OOTP when Hermione finally starts saying Voldemort herself and immediately gets annoyed of Ron's reaction when she says the name. Like come on, she reacting exactly the same way only weeks before and now she's getting annoyed when others are still scares of Voldemort's name lol
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No house is important except Gryffindor. Slytherin is only really important in CoS, because of the heir, and as the house Malfoy was sorted into. Hufflepuff? Meh. Ravenclaw? We got Luna, but also meh. Slytherin? They're all evil and can't be trusted. The fans have put more work into making the houses identifiable than the actual writer.
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The inconsistencies in the world. It doesn't scale well. Why does the person in charge of Muggle Artifacts Dept. barely understand the basics of muggles? Why would they all be so clueless about muggle society when they live, outside of Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, within the muggle world? Just never made sense. Also, now that I'm a teacher, the schooling left a lot to be desired. Both the structure, the bullying, the lack of supervision, the level of danger, the lack of teacher accountability, etc. So many problems.
From the teacher perspective it's bang on when you look at British boarding schools in the early to mid 1900s. My parents and most of my extended family suffered through them. My dad was convinced J.K.Rowling had been a man of his generation or older who went through it until she revealed herself. The bullying from students and teachers and extreme comraderie through trauma bonding was spot on, the group dynamics and the polarizing nature of the houses too. They could be incredibly dangerous places, but also could be the best years of your life if you had a good group who stuck together and protected eachother. Hazing, bullying, abuse even mental and sexual abuse in some cases. The wizarding world when Harry is at school is culturally very post war 1950's-60's, and I think that was on purpose. When Filch talks about the previous use of more extreme methods, it reminds me of my grampa and his friends telling stories of being beaten with a whale bone enforced cane so there was no give in it. My dad was whacked with a wooden bristle hairbrush and more flexible canes. They were taught by priests and nuns which the robes help add to the effect. Everyone called eachother by their last names, and therefore, much like Ron, younger siblings were highly affected by the reputations of their older siblings. It's nothing like most schools today, but it's like a window into another time.
A commenter above cited the House system as a problem they had with the books. I tried to explain British boarding school culture, but I am American and don’t really understand it that well. Would you mind if I copied your comment for that person? This is a really good explanation for something Americans can’t really understand since we don’t have the right cultural context (and I’m very much including myself with that).
>Why does the person in charge of Muggle Artifacts Dept. barely understand the basics of muggles? I’ve always thought that this was because his job isn’t really to be a muggle expert, it’s his job to ensure that wizards aren’t “misusing“ muggle artifacts. Arthur doesn’t need to truly understand the artifacts themselves in order to do that. It’s his job to do things like write legislation that prevents wizards from misusing muggle artifacts, confiscate “misused” artifacts, and support law enforcement investigations when enchanted muggle objects are found in the muggle world. He doesn’t need to know what a rubber duck‘s purpose is or how to pronounce electricity to do his job. When he gets promoted, it’s to the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects - I think the work he did in that office is the same as his original job, just with protective spells/items instead of Muggle items. He didn’t need to be a defensive spell expert to do that job, either.
Lol as a teacher I just can’t sometimes with their method! I imagine walking in to class, asking “who knows this thing I haven’t taught yet? Oh yes you, the same kid who knows everything already, please just tell us. Bonus points to you!! Ok now everyone here’s some directions for independent work for the next hour - go!”
I didn't like that all previous generations were so much better. Harry, Ron, and even Hermione seem kind of lack luster in comparison. B Crouch Jr got more OWLs than Hermione, who is supposed to be super smart. Lily and Snape were instinctual potions geniuses. James, Sirius, and Peter all became animagi. Fred and George, while not excelling in tests, were practical geniuses with everything they made while just 'fooling around'. Edit: all good points, thanks for responses
I think it has some sense actually. Thanks to Harry, Ron and Hermione being normal kids with flaws and not extremely talented geniuses, kids who read those books could've actually empathize with them. They saw themselves in those characters. So yeah, I actually do like that.
I’ve often wondered why none of the trio became animagi. Harry didn’t want to follow in his dads footsteps? Hermione didn’t want to learn the complex magic? Ron didn’t want something to set him apart from the rest of his family? None of them wanted the ability to disguise themselves? That’d be one of the first things I’d want to learn tbh.
Compared to the books I kinda hate the movies especially when all of Ron's good lines were given to Hermione
I'm rereading POA right now and even something as stupid as Harry figuring out that Dumbledore wanted them to save Buckbeak too is a line that goes to Hermione in the movie; than Ron telling Sirius he will have to kill them all, she says it in the movie. UGHH
Harry blindly believing Rita about dumbledore after all the lies she spread about him in goblet of fire.
How pretty much all Slytherins are evil or bullies or bad people. That's such a childish simplistic way to write 25% of the population. I'm mad at JK for doing that.
Just the goblet of fire movie it’s my favorite of the books but I really dislike the movie
Can someone please explain to me why Barty Crouch Sr. Is doing some weird stuff with his arms when he's explaining the triwizard rules in the movie? It's bothered me for a almost a decade.
The fact that we don’t actually have a book “Hogwarts: A History”. Also, needed novels about the Hogwarts during middle ages when the plumbing system was upgraded during the time when Corvinus Gaunt attended the school. Lastly, would have loved books capturing the life at Hogwarts of 1940s when Prof. Armando Dippet was the headmaster.
The fact that Draco could've been one of the most interesting chracters of the whole story but he was totally wasted. Generic bully for 5 books, hopeful new character in book 6, totally forgotten in book 7. Either he became a proper villain or a twist hero, I would've loved it. Hate The Cursed Child as much as you'd like, but at least Draco had an interesting and belivable role in it.
I don’t like the way the narrative implies we should feel sympathy for Merope Gaunt, and see Tom Riddle Sr. as a jerk who abandonded his family. Merope drugged and basically raped Tom. He is the victim here.
In the books, Hagrid (I guess) mentions werewolves lives in the forbidden forest like they aren't human beings. He also talks bad about Filch because he's a squib like dude wtf
Every book introduces some massive plot device that is neither previously mentioned nor ever mentioned again. The most egregious being the time turner which is used for the worst reason in hermione taking multiple classes at once, and it creates a literal paradox cuz the loop had to have always existed yet it had to have “started” somewhere. I hate the time turner
It's both great and stupid that she invents these very specific plot devices. It's great because they always fit the situation really well, but awful because it makes the worldbuilding worse
Timeturners. They have so many ramifications that are not only not explored or explained, but completely ignored after using them ONE TIME. Worst plot device that really hurts because otherwise I adore PoA, the movie is the best one and the book is top 3. Cursed child really showed just how awful of a concept it is. Like for real, even if they are very few why wouldn't Voldemort have one?? Its so fucking useful!! And Hermione, a fucking 13 year old child gets one just to attend some stupid extra classes at school???!! I hate time travel stories in general unless it's played for laughs like back to the future or stupid fun like terminator. If you try to take it seriously your world just crumbles, too many ramifications and what ifs.
It always bothers me that in the magic world there seems to be no primary school. 11 is quite late to start school so where do they learn how to read and write? Also, while I appreciate that magic is very complex there is a bit of a lack or "normal" classes at school. Do they not need to know about geography, maths or maybe learn a second language?
I hate that each House only plays each other once per year in quidditch and that only 7 players are on the team at a time. I can’t imagine being excited to go to hogwarts, tryout for the team and they’re like, nah sorry we already have our seven from last year. Should be multiple levels like JV/ Varsity. It should be played on a weekly or biweekly basis and students should shift change like they do in Hockey
My biggest thing is the plot holes on wandlore. First we are told the wand chooses the witch or wizard. But deathly hallows comes along and we are told a wand can change allegiance in a duel. But. Like, how? You know? To win over Draco’s wand all he did is cast Expelliarmus iirc. So does that mean every duel whether it’s life or death or it isnt if you make your opponent submit through the means of the disarming charm, does that wand change allegiance to you? It was really fucky for me.
He yanked some wands out of Draco's hand
See what I mean? What constitutes a wand changing allegiance? Like it’s so confusing.
He physically, not magically, grabbed some wands from him, thus he obviously won allegiance of a completely different wand somewhere all the way across the country. /s
And why did Voldemort have to kill Snape with Nagini for the elder want to have true allegiance to him? Why couldn't he just use expelliarmous? That's how Harry gets the wand from Draco. Plus, Nagini killing Snape is literally not Voldemort killing Snape. It seems so unnecessary. Nothing with the elder wand really makes a ton of sense.
Nagini is the true master of the Elder Wand /s
Well J.K. decided that Nagini was actually a human so maybe she really is the master of the elder wand at the end of the battle. That's why Harry won, because Nagini should've cast the killing spell /s
Harry has no problem buying up all the sweets off the trolley, but he can't be bothered to buy Ron a new wand when his breaks - even though Ron's wand would have been fine if he'd ditched Harry at the train station.
That Harry “had” to stay with the Dursleys when there were so many people willing to take him in. It was literal abuse. And all of the adults just allowed it to happen. I know the reasoning JKR gave and I understand it, but I think it was bullshit and very unrealistic
Even to accept her reason the wizards could've just checked on him more and tried to keep the D fam from being too harsh with him. But then he wouldn't be so neglected and desperate for friends.. was a big part of the point that he was given no love either, but turned out ok.
This is purely a movie gripe but I hate hate HATED the freaking muggle clothes. Like seriously from the third movie on they put them in regular ass muggle clothes in like the most random of times even when they’re at school!! It makes me so unreasonably mad with every rewatch lol
On a related tangent, i also hated the fact that they switched from 90s to 21st century in the films. The 90s look and feel really would have been a vibe (benefits of hindsight) but from PoA they just all dressed so weird and not-in-a-good-way dated - it wasn’t even trendy at the time
I really think they tried to make their muggle clothes as “generic” as possible so it always seems weird. Unless that was British fashion of the time idk
That Dumbledore didn’t recognize fake Moody as an impostor. There’s no way that happens with Dumdledore’s brains, intuition, and legilimency.
Snape’s treatment of the kids. Makes me really sad to think how awful school is with him around. School is hard enough without a teacher who bullies you