As a fan of a book-to-film franchise it’s sometimes hard to remember that filmmakers have money restrictions, time restraints, and a lot of other people to please before they can make fans happy. It’s all a matter of opinion on where you stand, but the Harry Potter films have done a good job in capturing the spirit of J.K Rowling’s original book series. But with Deathly Hallows Part 1 upon us, now might be a good time to catch everybody up on the important things that Book Harry knew and Film Harry doesn’t know at the end of Half-Blood Prince. These omissions to the previous films may cause continuity issues that both fans and casual film goers will notice as they watch Harry’s epic journey to defeat Voldemort come to an end.
During the making of the first five Potter films, Deathly Hallows hadn’t been published yet so the screenwriters consulted with author J.K Rowling to make sure that they weren’t cutting any important plot details. But in Half-Blood Prince, the most important plot detail, Harry’s quest to defeat Voldemort, became a footnote in favor of teen romance. While this has been common throughout the Potter franchise, it is now more important than ever that Harry’s plans to finally rid the magical world of Voldemort are known to the audience. Half-Blood Prince was essentially a prequel to the finale and much of the knowledge that Film Harry should know has fallen out of the Astronomy Tower along with Dumbledore. If these omissions are not explained or included in Deathly Hallows it will make the film a bit jarring to watch even for fans.
Here are some important details that Film Harry should have known by the end of Half-Blood Prince:
- Book Harry knows that Dumbledore suspects that the remaining Horcruxes are Hufflepuff’s Cup, Nagini,
something of Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor’s and the part of Voldemort’s soul that resides in his new body. Film Harry doesn’t know any of this which is problematic considering that the next two films follow Harry journey to find and destroy these Horcruxes. Either Harry will suddenly possess this information without the audience knowing where he got it from, or he will have to find out from another person.
- Ginny hid Film Harry’s potion book while his eyes were closed and so he doesn’t know where it is hidden. Remembering where he left the book leads Harry to one of the last Horcruxes he has to destroy. Perhaps Ginny will tell Harry when the time comes, and if so that won’t be until towards the end of Part 2 when he sees her again.
- Film Harry doesn’t know that he has inherited Grimmauld Place. When Harry, Ron and Hermione go into hiding it could be confusing for the audience to go back to a place that they have not seen or talked about since the fifth movie.
- Film Harry doesn’t know why Tom Riddle was orphaned. Book Harry knows that Tom Riddle was orphaned because his witch mother was deserted by his bewitched muggle father and then she died soon after giving birth to him. It was his grandfather’s ring that was the Horcrux Dumbledore destroyed in the last movie. The lack of this information means that we miss out on a lot of the psychology behind the creation of “Lord Voldemort”.
There are various other missing details that will possibly change Harry’s journey throughout the next two films however they can easily be fixed with a bit of film magic. The problem is not that they can’t be included in the next two films, but that the films will have to use precious time to include these details just so that the audience can be caught up on Harry’s situation. However, money-making decision or not, it is a good thing that Warner Brothers decided to split the last book into two films. Deathly Hallows is packed with its own action, and as one film it wouldn’t have been possible to revisit missing information. With a total of over five hours running time, Deathly Hallows 1 and 2 will hopefully give fans and general audience a satisfying ending to this beloved saga. The only hope is that these extra details won’t slow the pace of the films down.