When adapting a book for the screen, it’s pretty common to see that some things get changed for the film version. The reasons for this vary, but there’s only so much time an audience can dedicate to a movie. Some things are going to get removed or changed when a book becomes a movie. It’s the nature of the beast. However, if the book or book series in question is as huge as the Harry Potter series, fans might not be happy with all the changes. For the most part, the films based on the Harry Potter books are very faithful to their source material, but there are a few differences that cause some problems, either in the films they appear in or for later films for people who haven’t read the books. Here are a few of those differences.
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6 Harry Snapping the Elder Wand in Two
Distributed by Warner Bros.
The Elder Wand is one of the three Deathly Hallows, magical objects that make the possessor of all three the master of Death. Rumored to be the most powerful wand in existence, legends have sprung up that it can only be taken from its previous owner by killing them, though the book it appears in shows very clearly that’s not the case. Both Dumbledore and Harry won the wand’s allegiance without killing its previous owner. In the book version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry’s original Phoenix feather wand gets broken in a duel. He uses the Elder Wand at the end to repair it, then places the wand in Dumbledore’s tomb. In the film, he snaps the Elder Wand in two… without repairing his old wand first. This has a very easy fix. Just show Harry repairing his old wand before snapping the Elder Wand in two.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Not Explaining Who the Marauders Were
The Marauders were a group of four close friends who attended Hogwarts together. They were Moony (Remus Lupin), Padfoot (Sirius Black, Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew), and Prongs (James Potter). They created the Marauder’s Map, a magical map that shows everyone on the Hogwarts castle grounds at all times, as well as several of the castle’s secret passages. It can’t be fooled as Peter Pettigrew shows up even though he’s in his rat form. The movie version of Prisoner of Azkaban is pretty faithful to its book counterpart, up until Lupin discovers Sirius Black and the main trio in the Shrieking Shack. The movie says Lupin can operate it, but it never explains how or tells which character has which nickname. This can be a little jarring in later films for people who’ve never read the books, who might be confused as to why Pettigrew is now being called “Wormtail” or Sirius is being referred to as “Padfoot.”
4 Cutting Out the Best Memories from Half-Blood Prince
The film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince focuses a little too much on the teen romances and not enough on the important stuff, like the memories Dumbledore shows Harry about Voldemort’s past. A few of these memories do make it into the film, such as Dumbledore’s first meeting with Tom Riddle (who would eventually become Lord Voldemort) and teenage Tom Riddle asking about Horcruxes, of which he’d create seven. No other wizard had created more than one. While it’s understandable that not every memory could have made it in, there is one from the books that absolutely should have: the one where Tom Riddle is shown two valuable trinkets from two of the Hogwarts founders, which would later become two of Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes. Instead, the film adds a pointless and out-of-nowhere action scene of the Weasleys’ house getting burned to the ground. The Weasleys’ attacked in the next film, anyway. The filmmakers said they wanted to add more action to liven up Half-Blood Prince, but all the Harry Potter films have a central mystery at their core, and trying to solve any mystery involving wizards and witches is just as compelling as any action scene.
3 “DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!”
One of the most infamous changes and one of the most mocked, it’s almost impressive how one single out-of-character line delivery can be so ruinous. The context? The Goblet of Fire is supposed to select three champions from three different schools to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. However, the Goblet spits out a fourth name: Harry Potter. Immediately, several teachers including Professors Snape and Karakaroff accuse Harry of cheating. However, as the book very clearly states, Dumbledore asks CALMLY if Harry put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore is not a character who would manhandle a student and bellow at them like he does during this line. In fact, in the very next book, Dumbledore comes very close to cursing Ministry of Magic spy Professor Umbridge for doing just that.
2 The Final Duel Between Harry and Voldemort
Warner Bros. Pictures
Here’s a scene from the movies that completely misses the point its book counterpart was going for. In the book, the final duel between Harry and Voldemort takes place in the Great Hall, where everyone can see. Harry taunts Voldemort, calling him by his real name, and explains that the Elder Wand is loyal to him and will never work for Voldemort. The two cast spells at each other, but the Elder Wand, unable to kill its true wielder, has the Killing Curse it fired, reflected back on Voldemort. The book emphasizes how in death, Riddle looks like an ordinary and feeble man. It’s the ultimate humiliation for a character whose literal name means to cheat death. The film version has the duel take place in an outside courtyard with nobody around and is preceded by a scene of Voldemort and Harry flying around the castle, appearing as black smoke. When the curse backfires, Voldemort dissolves. A nice way for the visual effects team to show off? Sure, but showing him as a regular person in death, not as unique as he thinks, would have been a lot better and more in line with what the book was going for.
1 Giving Ron’s Best Lines to Hermione or Cutting Them Out Completely
It’s almost universally agreed upon that the Harry Potter films did Ron dirty. One of the most notable ways Ron got the short end of the stick was how most of his best lines were given to Hermione. One notable example of this comes in Chamber of Secrets, when Hermione is the one to explain what the racial slur “Mudblood” means in the film while Ron sits there, humorously vomiting up slugs. In the book, it’s Ron who explains what the slur means (while still vomiting up slugs), which makes sense. He grew up in Wizarding society. Harry and Hermione didn’t. The book also has Ron point out how utterly idiotic the whole idea of Wizarding blood supremacy is, a moment that is given to Hagrid in the film. The one that causes the most scorn is probably in Prisoner of Azkaban, where Harry and Hermione discover Sirius Black and Ron in the Shrieking Shack. In the book, Ron, who has a broken leg, hobbles in front of Harry and says “If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us, too.” This causes Sirius to smile, no doubt seeing his own loyalty to James Potter in Ron. Three guesses who gets the line in the movie version. Prisoner of Azkaban also has one great Ron moment completely changed. Snape calls Hermione an insufferable know-it-all. Ron defends her and gets a detention for it in the book. In the movie, he agrees with Snape. There are other moments like this across the films and while they may seem small, they do start to add up. It’s alright, Ron. We all know you deserved so much better. At least you’ll always have the chess scene and destroying the Horcrux in Salazar Slytherin’s locket.
