Yahoo News 8 new Harry Potter plot holes created by the films
It's well known that there are a few tiny plot holes in the Harry Potter series. Let's be fair – which of us could write a dense series of books without making a mistake here or there? The thing is, sometimes in the films the mistakes aren't JK Rowling's, but entirely new ones that have been added in the scriptwriting process.
So, here's a list of a few of the 'oopsies' that the films managed to add to the Harry Potter canon. Well done, folks: you give a lot of people things to talk about ;)
1. Philosopher's Stone – Snape's guarding the stone… isn't he?
It's an important plot point in Philosopher's Stone. Snape can't be the villain – he's helping to guard the Philosopher's Stone. But is he? There's the dog, Fluffy – Hagrid's offering. The plants, obviously Professor Sprout. The flying keys, Flitwick. McGonagall's giant chess set. The Mirror of Erised, put there by Dumbledore. And, um, nothing by Snape.
In the Harry Potter books, he is guarding the stone. He has a cunning trap made up of several bottles of potion, and a logic puzzle. But in the film? Oops…
2. Chamber of Secrets – you can't use magic at home
In Chamber of Secrets, Harry gets into trouble for using magic at his house, even though it was really Dobby the House Elf who did it. Hell, in Order of the Phoenix, he nearly gets expelled and his wand broken for (actually) using a Patronus charm against Dementors.
Yet at the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban, there he is in the film, happily playing with his wand under the covers. By which we mean practising the Lumos charm, obviously. But there's no comeback at all for that. No criticism, no complaints from the Ministry. What the hell? And why on earth does Harry risk it?
3. Prisoner of Azkaban – who the hell are the Marauders?
In the book of Prisoner of Azkaban, Remus Lupin explains to Harry that he, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew created the Marauders' Map, and that the nicknames Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail belonged to each of them. In the film, no such explanation occurs, yet in later films Harry refers to Sirius as Padfoot and Peter as Wormtail.
Yes, of course there's the argument that Harry could have been told the information 'off screen', as it were. But for any watcher of the films who hasn't read the books, this sudden renaming of key characters must be entirely mysterious!
4. Goblet of Fire – no prize for the Tri-Wizard Tournament?
Okay, so the entire Goblet of Fire story is one big plot hole, book and film. But the film manages to add another couple to the mix. One's the fate of Barty Crouch Junior, who could presumably back up Harry's story about Voldemort being alive since he doesn't get shown getting Kissed by a Dementor. The other is the fact that there doesn't appear to be a prize for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Which is fine for the storyline of this particular film, but does cause other issues.
See, Harry gives Fred and George Weasley the money he wins, and it's with this money that they start Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop in Diagon Alley. But without that, how the bloody hell do two kids from a family who are well known to be poor manage to buy a shop in the best part of town? Organised crime. It's the only logical answer…
5. Order of the Phoenix – the sudden appearance of Thestrals
You can only see Thestrals if you've seen death, all right? Oh, and 'fully internalised it', which is JK Rowling's explanation for why Harry couldn't see them at the end of Goblet of Fire after watching Cedric die.
So okay, in the books she's kinda-sorta-maybe got the Thestral angle covered. Harry was very young when his parents died and didn't understand what he was seeing. He hadn't processed Cedric's death until he'd had the summer to contemplate things.
But what about Quirrell? In the books, Harry passes out and doesn't see Professor Quirrell die in Philosopher's Stone. In the films, however, he most certainly does. And has plenty of time to internalise what he's seen. So why hasn't he seen Thestrals ever since then? Why does he magically start seeing them in Order of the Phoenix when he's never done so before?
6. Half-Blood Prince – destroying the Millennium Bridge before it's built
Okay, okay, this is just done for dramatic effect, we're sure. But at the beginning of …Half-Blood Prince, the Death Eaters are seen destroying the Millennium Bridge. Now, don't get us wrong, we've always thought the Death Eaters couldn't be as stupid as they sometimes appear, but even they can't be clever enough to destroy something before it's actually built, right?
This film should take place in 1996, and construction on the bridge wasn't even started for another two years. And time-turners only allow you to go back in time, not forward.
And no, the films aren't done on a different timeline to the books. The headstones of Lily and James Potter, showing their death dates, prove this. So… um…?
7. Deathly Hallows Part 1 – a random magic mirror
Harry and friends are stuck in Malfoy Manor's basement when Harry suddenly finds a magic mirror which allows him to contact (as it will turn out) Aberforth Dumbledore, who sends Dobby to rescue them. But where the hell did the mirror come from? In the books, Sirius gives Harry the mirror in Order of the Phoenix. In the films – yeah, no.
The filmmakers have to retcon in the fact that Sirius gave Harry a mirror, with no explanation as to why Harry never used the darn thing at useful points in the past (for example, when Sirius was apparently being held captive by Voldemort).
Without the books' backstory, it does look a bit ridiculous. "Hey, look at this magic mirror I suddenly found in my pocket! How convenient!" Yeeeeaaahhh…
8. Deathly Hallows Part 2 – what happened to Crabbe?
Everyone knows Draco has two sidekicks, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Heck, Ron and Harry even use Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle in Chamber of Secrets. They're always there, all the way through, and in the books it is Crabbe who sets the Fiendfyre off in the Room of Requirement in Deathly Hallows. But bizarrely, for some reason in the films Crabbe is replaced by Blaise Zabini, with no explanation given for Draco's new choice of henchman.
Yeah, turns out there was a reason for that, but not exactly a storyline-related one. The actor playing Crabbe got himself into a little bit of trouble with the law, and was thus… unavailable for duty, shall we say? Instead of recasting the character, as the filmmakers had to do more obviously with Dumbledore, the decision was made to stick Zabini into Crabbe's role without explanation.
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