TheHarry Potterseries is great,bursting at the seams with its story. The abundance of characters, creatures, drama, and action are part of whythe booksremain best sellers decades later. However,the fact that the franchise is so narrative-driven means that fairly often realism takes a backseat to plot, with the books and films serving up story developments that are simply too good to be true.
These all-too-convenient details range from the amusing to the outright jarring, and are weak points in an otherwise stellar saga. The worst of them break the suspension of disbelief, reminding one thatthis is genre entertainment where not everything makes logical sense.
10Sirius Sees Peter Pettigrew With the Weasleys in the Daily Prophet
‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ (2004)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanhinges on Sirius Black’s (Gary Oldman) escape from prison to get revenge on Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall). His plan kicks into motion after he sees a photo of the Weasley family’s recent trip to Egypt in the Daily Prophet newspaper. Sirius recognizes Ron’s (Rupert Grint) pet rat as Wormtail, and suspects that the Animagus might still be in cahoots with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
The problem is that this is all a bit too good to be true.In a world of dragons, werewolves, and dark wizards,it seems hard to believe that the newspaper would devote limited space to running a story about a family’s overseas holiday. Sure, the book tries to explain this by saying that Arthur (Mark Williams) won money in one of the newspaper’s competitions, hence why the Daily Prophet mentioned it, but it’s still a very cute, overly neat way for Sirius to receive such an important piece of information. In a way,the entire book pivotson this one newspaper article.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their third year of study, where they delve into the mystery surrounding an escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, who poses a dangerous threat to the young wizard.
9Ron Uses Parseltongue To Open the Chamber of Secrets
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’ (2011)
Because Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is a Horcrux, he has Voldemort’s ability to speak Parseltongue, which he uses to open the Chamber of Secrets in the second book. This power makes sense and emphasizes the link between The Boy Who Lived and the Dark Lord. However,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2steps on the toes of this detail when Ron himself speaks Parseltongue to open the Chamber. He does so without any Slytherin ancestry or even practice, shrugging it off with, “Harry talks in his sleep.”
It’s a simply ridiculous moment. This plot point conveniently bypasses the need for a gradual buildup of magical knowledge or any prior foreshadowing. It’s just an easy way for the book to get Ron and Hermione (Emma Watson) into the Chamber while Harry is busy elsewhere. Plus, it undermines the longstanding notion that Parseltongue marksan inherent, often sinister, lineage.If any wizard can simply learn the snake-like sounds, then the language really isn’t so special.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord as the final battle rages on at Hogwarts.
8The Main Characters End Up With Their Hogwarts Sweethearts
After the conclusion of the main storyline inDeathly Hallows: Part 2,the story jumps forward 19 years in the epilogue, showing the characters all grown up, arriving at King’s Cross station to send their own kids off to Hogwarts. It’s a very sweet, kind of cheesy scene that, while beloved by some, has its fair share of critics who think the saga would be better off without it.
One of its most saccharine aspects is the fact that pretty much everybody ends up with their childhood sweetheart. This is a very whimsical, simplified, happily ever after.It conveniently sidesteps the messiness of relationships in favor of a tidy, feel-good ending; it’s fan service, pure and simple. The scene almost reads like fan fiction, with the pairing of Ron and Hermione particularly annoying a certain segment of the fan base. Rather than demonstrate real character development for these characters, this chapter depicts the protagonists as essentially the same as they were when they were 17, just a little grayer and in more formal clothes.
7Fred & George Don’t Notice Pettigrew on the Marauder’s Map
InPrisoner of Azkaban, Fred (James Phelps) and George (Oliver Phelps) reveal to Harry that, for years, they have been in possession of the Marauder’s Map, an ingenious device that not only lists all entrances to Hogwarts but shows the name and location of every person within it. When Harry uses the map,he’s shocked to see it displaying the name Peter Pettigrew, who is supposed to be dead. This raises the question of why the Weasley twins never noticed Pettigrew being in the castle, especially since he would have been in Ron’s bed most nights in rat form.
This raises the question of why the Weasley twins never noticed Pettigrew being in the castle…
One explanation could be that the map only shows wizards when they are in their human form, and that Pettigrew stayed as a rat for the whole of the last few years. Still, this is pretty flimsy, and alsomakes one wonder why Wormtail suddenly started walking around as a person in the third book, especially when he knew Sirius was on the loose.
6Nobody Dies in ‘Chamber Of Secrets’
‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ (2002)
InHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the infamous chamber is reopened, and the Basilisk preys upon the school once again. It claims as its victims Colin Creevey (Hugh Mitchell), Justin Finch-Fletchley (Edward Randell), Penelope Clearwater (Gemma Padley), Hermione, and the cat Mrs. Norris. However, not a single one is killed, despite the beast supposedly being among the deadliest in the world.Each of them is saved by plot armor,causing them not to look at the snake directly.
The cat sees its reflection in the water. Colin looks at it through his camera. Justin sees it through the ghost Nearly Headless Nick, while Penelope and Hermione only see it in a mirror. For this reason, they’re all petrified rather than killed. So much for being a fearsome monster.In this movie, the Basilisk’s score is 0 for 5. This is all statistically highly unlikely. Clearly, the author didn’t want to kill off any characters, both for story reasons and for not wanting the book to be too dark (at this point in the series, the novels were still lighter and more whimsical).
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The second installment of boy wizard Harry Potter’s adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A mysterious elf tells Harry to expect trouble during his second year at Hogwarts, but nothing can prepare him for trees that fight back, flying cars, spiders that talk and deadly warnings written in blood on the walls of the school.
5None of the Basilisk Victims Are Sent to St. Mungo’s
Related to the whole “nobody dying to the Basilisk thing” is the fact that none of the victims are sent to St. Mungo’s, the magical hospital. The students who saw the Basilisk were all petrified (a fairly serious medical condition), butthey were simply kept in the school’s hospital wing rather than taken to the magical equivalent of the ICU. The Hogwarts authorities basically take the “give them a Tylenol and see what happens” approach to the problem. I mean, where did Madame Pomfrey (Gemma Jones) study? The Hanna-Barbera School of Medicine?
The Hogwarts authorities basically take the “give them a Tylenol and see what happens” approach to the problem.
At this point, the teachers didn’t even know that the monster was a Basilisk, so they had no clue whether the students were at imminent risk of dying.The decision to keep the victims at Hogwarts was purely narrative-driven.After all, while visiting the petrified Hermione, Harry and Ron find a scrap of paper in her hand mentioning the Basilisk. This info helps them figure out the nature of the beast as well as the location of the chamber, kicking the third act into gear.
4Bellatrix Happens To Drop a Hint That the Cup Was in Her Vault
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1’ (2010)
InHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,the quest for Voldemort’s Horcruxestakes center stage, with every clue steeped in danger and mystery. Yet an incredibly implausible moment occurs when Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) casually drops a hint that Hufflepuff’s Cup is hidden within her Gringotts vault. Voldemort had entrusted her with safeguarding it. Given Bellatrix’s fierce loyalty to the Dark Lord, it’s hard to believe that she would inadvertently reveal such critical information. This would be like a senior government official mentioning nuclear secrets in casual conversation. Voldemort would certainly not be pleased.
This scene is basically just a plot device intended to hurry the story alongand expedite the discovery of the Horcruxes. TheHarry Potterstories are great, but they do frequently turn to tricks like this, where stuff happens for no good reason other than because of the plot. What’s next? Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) sharing Voldemort’s location on his Instagram story?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
3Regulus Didn’t Tell Anyone About the Locket Except Kreacher
The sixth movie,Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, ends with a heartbreaking twist: the locket Horcrux that Harry and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) sacrificed so much to get turns out to be a fake.The real one had been switched out by Regulus Black, Sirius’s brotherand an erstwhile Death Eater, who turned against Voldemort. He hoped to find a way to destroy it, saying as much in the note he left inside the locket for the Dark Lord to find. However, Regulus tells nobody that he’s done this, other than the crotchety house-elf Kreacher.
If he had thought about sharing this information with Dumbledore or another member of the Order (like, say, his brother), then they might have been able to get rid of this piece of Voldemort’s soul.
Why, Regulus?! If he had thought about sharing this information with Dumbledore or another member of the Order (like, say, his brother), then they might have been able to get rid of this piece of Voldemort’s soul. It can’t even be argued that Regulus was trying to keep his theft secret, as he confessed to what he did in the note that he left for Voldemort. All in all,it makes no sense that Regulus would risk his life to take the locket, but then take no meaningful steps to actually destroy it.
2The Time-Turners Are Broken in the Department of Mysteries
‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ (2007)
Time travel formed a major (and awesome) part of the third story, but it also introduced a ton of narrative problems.The existence of Time-Turnersimmediately raised all kinds of awkward questions, like why didn’t Dumbledore just use to go back and stop Voldemort? Clearly aware of the yawning plot holes she had created,J.K. Rowlingincluded a scene inHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixwhere the Ministry’s supply of Time-Turners is accidentally destroyed in the Department of Mysteries.
This is certainly one way to quickly eliminate a problematic story element. While this thankfully does put the time-travel issue somewhat to rest, this moment isincrediblyconvenient, on multiple levels. Like,it’s a little too perfect that the Ministry would keep all of its Time-Turners on one shelf, with no safety precautionsor even Styrofoam padding in case of an accident like this. The idea that such powerful magical technology would be treated so carelessly is hard to buy.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
With their warning about Lord Voldemort’s return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.
1Harry & Sirius Forget About the Mirrors in ‘Order of the Phoenix’
The most frustratingly convenient plot point inHarry Pottercomes in the fifth story. At the start ofOrder of the Phoenix, Sirius gifts Harry half of a pair of two-way mirrors.The idea is that they will be able to use the mirrors to communicate with each other throughout the year. The perfect opportunity to use the mirror arises later when Harry has a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. Harry races to get in touch with Sirirus -but completely forgets about the mirrors.
The perfect opportunity to use the mirror arises later when Harry has a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries.
Instead, he tries to reach Sirius through the fireplace in Umbridge’s (Imelda Staunton) office, which leads to a lot of important plot developments. When this fails, Harry and his friends literally fly to the Ministry to see whether Sirius is there.It’s wild that the mirrors were introduced and then played almost no role in the story, making their inclusion feel more like a mistake than anything else.
NEXT:10 Fantasy Book Series That Are Perfect From Start to Finish
