6 Major Plot Points Left Out of the Harry Potter Films
I’m sure you know at least one Harry Potter super fan in your life—someone who has read the series multiple times since childhood, has a collection of Harry Potter paraphernalia (and/or tattoos), and will most certainly educate you on the ins and outs of what was actually in the book while you’re trying to peacefully watch the film. If you don’t, you do now.
While I understand that not everything in a piece of literature can or needs to be adapted into its film version, there are a few things directors left out of the Harry Potter series that I felt should’ve been included. As a stand-alone film series, the movies themselves are pretty good. The characters are decently developed, the acting ranges from standard to excellent at times, and the cinematography and graphics improved exponentially as the films progressed. For someone who has never read the books, I can imagine that they are satisfied with the films, however, they may be left with a few questions. As my group of friend’s token Harry Potter master, I have been on the end of answering many of these questions, questions which I felt could’ve been answered simply with the inclusion of these 6 book plot lines.
Regulus Black
The film mentions him in the brief explanation of the note R.A.B. left inside of the fake locket of Slytherin, however they do not go into detail about the life of Regulus, or how he came to possess the true horcrux in the first place.
To start off, unlike his rebel brother Sirius, Regulus was a true representative of the Black family when he was sorted into Slytherin. Less charming and handsome than his older brother, Regulus strived to live up to the name of Black. A stereotypical Slytherin in every way, Regulus joined the newly founded regime of Death Eaters when he was freshly out of Hogwarts. However, he soon realized that their ideals and his own did not align as he originally thought. He realized the death eaters weren’t about freeing wizards from concealment from the muggle world—they were essentially about wizard racism and enslavement.
He then set off (barely able to call himself an adult) on a quest to destroy Voldemort and his horcrux, a journey which would ultimately lead to his death. Along with his house elf, Kreacher, Regulus made his way to the cave Harry and Dumbledore visit in the 6th book. He then orders Kreacher to feed him the potion, take the real horcrux from the basin and replace it with the impostor, and leave him there in the cave where the Inferi would surely kill him. Kreacher does as he is ordered, and keeps his secret for many years until the famed trio discovers it.
No one realizes the sacrifice that Regulus made, least of all his brother Sirius, assuming that when he disappeared he was killed off by Voldemort for getting regretting his choice to become a death eater.
Dudley’s Goodbye
One of the most touching parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was near the very beginning of the books, as Harry is preparing to leave the Dursley’s forever. After managing to convince his Aunt and Uncle to go into hiding in fear of Voldemort and his followers, Harry shares a tense goodbye with them. Vernon accuses Harry of lying in a twisted plot to take over Number 4, Privet Drive, when Dudley finally comes to his senses and admits he wants to go wherever the Order is taking them for protection.
Harry goes on to tell the Order members who are there to help that the Dursley’s have always viewed him as a waste of space, when Dudley interrupts. “I don’t think you’re a waste of space……you saved my life,” he says, and shares an awkward goodbye handshake with his only cousin. He doesn’t exactly apologize for the torture he’s put Harry through—but it is certainly a step forward for their relationship, one that openly acknowledges that maybe Harry does hold value in his eyes in some way.
This scene was originally filmed but did not find its way in to the final cut of the movie. Not only is it a touching moment between the cousins, but it would’ve provided some final closure for the first villain Harry had ever known—his family.
Dumbledore’s Past
Dumbledore, aside from Harry and Voldemort, is one of the pivotal main characters that graces the pages of Harry Potter. Timeless and powerful, Dumbledore is the driving force of good in the Harry Potter series. But in the films, we don’t know much of his background aside from the fact that he had a sister who died young, and has an ill-tempered brother named Aberforth who owns the Hog’s Head bar.
The books go into far greater detail about the illustrious Albus Dumbledore, shedding light on his character’s youth and revealing how this shaped him to become the greatest wizard in history.
As a child, Dumbledore showed great promise at Hogwarts, far outperforming other students and achieving greater things than anyone had ever seen from someone his age. Upon graduation from Hogwarts, he prepared to travel across Europe with his friend when tragedy struck. His mother passed away suddenly, leaving a teenaged Aberforth and Albus the sole caretakers of their fourteen-year-old mentally disturbed sister, Ariana.
A few years previously, Albus’s father had been sentenced to Azkaban for the murder of three muggle boys, a crime which he did commit in retribution for the boy’s torture of Ariana. Their acts left her mentally unwell and uncontrollable in her magic. Prone to fits, Ariana had uncontrollable spurts of magic, leaving Dumbledore’s mother to hide her away and become her full-time caretaker. Upon her death, it was now the responsibility of the two brothers.
Although he cared for Ariana, Dumbledore viewed this as a waste of his genius and talent, and resented having to abandon his plans to travel. That is, until he met and befriended Gellert Grindelwald, the nephew of a neighbor, and consequently became obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. Young Albus and Gellert had grand ideas of uniting the Hallows, and unlike the Dumbledore we know and love, using the Hallows to control muggles (for their own good, of course).
Then, tragedy struck once more. In a duel sparked from Aberforth’s mistrust of Gellert and resentment of Albus, the three young wizards battled fiercely—a battle that was lost by all when a killing curse struck Ariana, killing her instantly. No one knew who fired the curse that killed her, a fact that tortured Dumbledore all his life and humbled him greatly. After the incident, Grindelwald fled, reuniting with Dumbledore years later in a famous duel that won Dumbledore none other than the Elder Wand.
As Harry learned of Dumbledore’s past, it was then that he realized what Dumbledore must’ve imagined in the cave while drinking Voldemort’s protective concoction—that it was his own curse that killed his little sister. And furthermore, he realized that Dumbledore had lied to him many years ago about what he saw in the mirror of Erised. Not a pair of socks, as Dumbledore had revealed, but most likely the image of a happy, reunited family.
Winky, the House Elf & Mrs. Crouch
Ever wondered how Barty Crouch Jr. got out of Azkaban? The answer—his mother. Knowing she was sick and dying, Mrs. Crouch begged her husband to get their only child, a child he convicted, out of Azkaban.
After concocting a plan, the two smuggled in Mrs. Crouch disguised as Barty Jr., with the help of polyjuice potion, into Barty’s cell, where Barty Jr. would transform into her and leave with Mr. Crouch. The dementors, who are blind, could not see and therefore could not sense the difference; a human soul is a human soul. Mrs. Crouch continued to take polyjuice potion in Azkaban until she died shortly after and was buried there, still disguised as her own son.
After the escape, Mr. Crouch kept a tight leash on his son using the Imperius curse and his house elf Winky to control Barty Jr. Years passed and eventually Barty Jr. was able to fight off his father’s controlling curse, enabling him to seek out Voldemort once more and return to his aid.
Winky convinced Mr. Crouch to allow his son to attend the Quidditch World Cup under an invisibility cloak, where he ultimately fought off the imperius curse, escaped Winky and cast the dark mark into the sky, escaping his father’s control forever and paving the way for Voldemort’s regeneration.
Winky was then fired/freed by Mr. Crouch, and looked after by Dobby in the Hogwarts kitchens, where she spent her days getting drunk off butterbeer, all the while knowing her beloved master’s darkest secret.
The Longbottoms
Harry Potter was not the only chosen one. There was another boy, born at the end of July whose parents had thrice defeated Voldemort—the stipulations of the fated prophecy—and that boy was Neville Longbottom. The movies do touch on this a little, but they do not go into full detail. In the end it was Voldemort’s choice to mark the Potters as his victims instead of the Longbottoms, making Harry the unlucky victim and hero of the story rather than Neville.
Furthermore, even though Neville’s parents escaped death, the fate that awaited them is far worse. Tortured for information by the Lestrange couple and Barty Crouch Jr., Frank and Alice Longbottom were left mentally insane, fit only to live out their days in St. Mungo’s wizarding hospital, where Neville visited them frequently with his grandmother.
In the 4th book, Harry, Ron and Hermione run into the Longbottom’s in their hospital room, in a mistaken attempt to find Mr. Weasley after his snake attack incident. Accidentally being persuaded to sit and visit with the poor, memory damaged Professor Lockhart, the trio stumbles upon Neville and his grandmother visiting his parents.
Neville eventually goes on to grow into a courageous character who lives up to his Auror parent’s name, further proving that Voldemort willingly chose his own downfall in marking the Potters as his enemy rather than the Longbottoms.
Merope Gaunt
Finally, we come to the sad tale of Voldemort’s mother, Merope Gaunt. Living with her pureblood, purist father and crazy brother, Merope was verbally abused every day, leaving her unable to perform magic to the best of her ability. Although destitute and old, Marvolo Gaunt felt he was superior because he was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Her brother Morfin, who was crazy and liked to torture muggles and nail snakes to the door, didn’t add to her miserable life either.
And although Merope was not the greatest witch there was, she was not inept like her father thought. When a chance opportunity left Merope free of her brother and father, she was finally able to live her life freely. This gave her the chance to get what she had always wanted—the handsome muggle from across town, Tom Riddle.
From here, Dumbledore speculates that she brewed a love potion and ran off with Tom Riddle to be married. After becoming pregnant, Merope, in the hopes that being with her long enough had allowed Tom to grow to love her, stopped giving him the love potion. Upon breaking free of the obsessive, infatuation causing potion, Tom immediately left a pregnant young Merope to return to his family without a second thought.
Destitute and having no family or friends to turn to, Merope sold her only prized possession—the locket of Slytherin—for way less than it’s worth to Borgin and Burkes. She had her baby shortly after in an orphanage, where she died giving birth. Her only request was to name the baby Tom Marvolo Riddle.
It is here that we speculate that Voldemort’s ultimate downfall—his inability to love—was an effect of being conceived under the powers of a love potion. Understanding this key part of Voldemort’s history is key to understanding Voldemort himself, and understanding Voldemort proved to be greatest weapon against him.
