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What is, in your opinion, the most poorly written part in the Harry Potter books or movies? (self.movies)

submitted ago by snowboardinafghan

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[–]peregrintk95 35 points36 points ago

Harry's speech to Albus Severus in the epilogue, hands down.

[–]Freakears 21 points22 points ago

The epilogue in general could have used work.

[–]BlackRaptor 11 points12 points ago

Lord of the Rings, now that was a fucking epilogue.

[–]SomeCalcium 8 points9 points ago

Thought you were finished with the book? Nope, here's a few more hours worth of material to get through.

[–]bellx90 4 points5 points ago

Meh, at least it wasn't as drawn-out as the first book, with literally hundreds of pages of pointless-dialogue while wandering through the shire neighbourhood and talking to Tom Bombadil...

[–]metacontent 0 points1 point ago

If you can't get through the shire then you don't deserve to read the rest of the book.

[–]YouSomeDays 1 point2 points ago

Same was disappointingly true for the book as well.

[–]Freakears 2 points3 points ago

I was referring more to the book, but whatever.

[–]gambalore 0 points1 point ago

The only thing I liked about the epilogue was that it existed. The closure that it gave was half-hearted and predictable, but I liked that Rowling threw it in there to make it clear that this was the end of the saga and there wasn't going to be any more stories with those characters.

[–]Freakears 0 points1 point ago

True. I liked the existence of the epilogue. It just could have been better written.

[–]bellx90 2 points3 points ago*

Many parts of the 7th book in general.

like the part where readin Rita Skeeter causes Harry to have an existential crisis...how stupid is this guy? Did he forget everything about this character, what she wrote about himself, etc?

and then he's all like "herpderp, the yellow-press wrote it, it must be true!"

In the former books: some of the ridiculously overpowered magic that's never used to solve any problem, unless it's plot convenient. Time travel? Hurr, that timey-wimey thingies all got smashed in the deatheater-battle, that's why they're never user or mentioned again. The bullshit-radar went off the chart with that one...

The deathly hollows? Never mentioned before, introduced by a dead "Mr. Exposition" character to feed the audience highly-relevant plot information that bears no relevance to any of the previous books.

And finally, the scenes in D's memory which heavily implied that Voldemort was basically "born evil". How stupid is that?

[–]dinnerordie17 1 point2 points ago

I feel like a doushebag for getting all serious on this but the Time Travel in Harry Potter is moddeled on the fact that it doesn't work properly if what you change in the past removes the reason for you travelling back in time in the first place.

That's why they don't use it for anything else, the only get to use it in the third book because there is an extremely convenient setup of events that allows them to rescue Sirius without it actually removing the conditions that made them travel back in time to rescue him in the first place, that's why Dumbeldore and Hermione are all like: YOU MUST NOT BE SEEN, she says something like "You might accidentally attack yourself" but really it's because it could mess up the whole time travelling thing.

[–]eduffy 12 points13 points ago

Burning The Burrow down in the HBP movie

[–]BritishHobo 0 points1 point ago

Why so? Not to disagree with you, but I see a lot of people complain about it and I've never really seen many reasons (not to say you have none, haha). First time it annoyed me too, because it never happened in the book, but on rewatch I don't mind it.

[–]EasilyRemember 0 points1 point ago

The big issue for me is not so much the scene itself, as what it implies about the screenwriting process. The writing staff cut so many good scenes, some of which forced them to make alterations to the original story... It'd be one thing if they were "forced" to cut all that stuff due to time constraints, but if that were the case, then why the hell would they have time to make up a completely new scene? Especially one that has zero ramifications on the plot for the rest of the series...? It's just absurd. They should've used those few minutes to incorporate some more stuff from the books.

[–]BritishHobo -2 points-1 points ago

Fair enough. This is pretty much how I feel about Prisoner of Azkaban. Like I get that it's a whole style, Cuaron's trying to make it his own, but when they pretty much had to cut most of the Marauders plot, and yet they still included so much weird, unrelated stuff, it's a little annoying.

Which I can kind of see which Half Blood Prince. Snape's story gets so butchered in that movie, and instead they make it a whole high school romance thing. But for some reason I just don't mind it there. I still really love the movie. I don't know, I just love the whole style and mood of it.

[–]sbmer44 12 points13 points ago

I heard that the epilogue was written really early on, and that's why it read more like Sorcerer's Stone than the later books; I wish she would've updated it.

I wish there would've been more time for Neville's backstory, especially his grandmother and the visit to St. Mungo's, in the movies.

[–]williamspensfan 0 points1 point ago

Maybe an appearance by Professor Lockhart

[–]Oh_Becky 22 points23 points ago

In all honesty, the climax for the 7th book. Maybe it's just me, but I think Harry should have died. Dead. Not have an epiphone and save everyone and everything. I think him living on to marry the perfect girl and have kids and just live happily ever after was just too... sweet. I think his death would have been the ultimate ending, the ultimate awesome, amazing, beautiful sacrifice.

[–]darwins_bitch 2 points3 points ago

Seconded, the ending sickened me. It was like being force fed white sugar through a funnel.

[–]SomeCalcium 3 points4 points ago

I'm glad they cut the whole, "And nobody loves you! Aha! Take that! and that! Woohoo! Everyone's cheering me cause I get so much love and you get none!"

[–]galith 4 points5 points ago

Rowling stated she felt bad on account of how shitty a life Harry had and that in her view it would have been tragic for Harry to never really see happiness, not that I agree with her, but I can see where she's coming from when you invest so heavily in your own characters.

[–]CrossingTheT 4 points5 points ago

To never really see happiness?

I think he got closer to happiness at the end of each book than most of the other characters did.

Neville - now there's a character who deserved happiness.

[–]a_can_of_solo 0 points1 point ago

he had to come back to fit the christ hero allegory

[–]HarryBridges 1 point2 points ago

They're children's books: Harry can't die, nor can Ron or Hermione. Dumbledore was bound to die and I was kind of surprised that Hagrid didn't as well, but the core three children clearly had to live.

[–]darkmessiah 3 points4 points ago*

If you knew me, you'd know that I love a good redemptive dying of the protagonist.

However, I disagree with this sentiment for the basic fact that Harry's dying needs to be redemptive.

Here are two ways (could be more, it's late) that allows a protagonist to die and make it meaningful:

  • The whole world is against the protagonist, except for a very small group of allies, even one. His death will hold his enemies at bay for his allies to escape or destroy some kind of evil "heart"

  • Protagonist must be a flawed character, whether he killed many in his past or didn't care about those around him. This will lead to point one.

Here's how to make the Harry Potter franchise work like the first one:

The Ministry of Magic and Death Eaters are breaking into Hogwarts. Battling goes on, blah blah blah. Ministry of Magic and Death Eaters started to get really destroyed and run. Voldemort needs to finish it, and finds Harry. They duel, Voldemort actually kills Harry. The good guys are in disbelief, Ginny starts boiling in rage, attacks Voldemort, gets killed as well. Then, everyone starts to surround Voldemort and starts screaming random spells at him. He gets utterly fucked up and dies.

Photography Direction:

In my head (my head is at the movies), Harry is lying on the ground, dead, and the camera, in god's eye view (staring straight down at him) slowly ascends, and soon passively reveals Ginny trying to attack Voldemort and dying, then as the camera ascends enough, it shows that Voldemort is completely surrounded, and soon all the spells hit him; he only deflects a few, kills some, but the audience can't see who since the camera is so high up now. He gets fucked up, doesn't just go into smoke but physically falls to the ground.

Visualization of how the ascension will work (not the weird spinning and stuff though.)

Oh, and no music happens at all during this scene and the next one. If there has to be one, do a quiet Leonard Cohen song for the next scene.

Handheld cam now walks slowly past each face of the survivors: some Weasleys, Ron, Hermione, whatever. They are all in shock about everything. Subtly, they all (Mrs. Weasly kneels by dead Ginny in the background) walk to gather around Harry's body, with Voldemort's at their back, ignored. They look at Harry's body, then look up at the sky together as the handheld cam slowly walks away. Smash cut to credits.

Sorry, this comment just became super self indulgent.

[–]Oh_Becky 1 point2 points ago

Hah, it works. I think with me though, somewhere deep in my brain, I wanted Neville to be the really big, celebrated hero, since he had a lot of the same shitty happenings as Harry. And that's why I found the real ending to be so... eh and bland.

[–]Antinous 1 point2 points ago

Truth. this is probably the only problem I had with the entire series.. how the climax of the final battle with Voldemort sounded like something a fifth grader could have imagined after reading the first book.

[–]williamspensfan 0 points1 point ago

So you wanted Voldemort to gain control again? If one lives the other dies. That's how that works. It would have been somewhat pointless to make 7 books for the hero to die and the villain to win and most likely just kill everyone at Hogwarts.

[–]Oh_Becky 7 points8 points ago

No, I think they both should have died. In My opinion, that's how the series should have ended. With both of their deaths. And Harry would have been able to be with his family and be happy that he did what he was supposed to do.

[–]chitwin -1 points0 points ago

not to rain on your parade but they do both "die". Not to rain on the circle jerk but come on if he did die, you;d all be on here crying about how harry died

[–]Oh_Becky 1 point2 points ago

Seeing as I don't have a dick, rain on. C=. Like I said, he should have died dead, as in permanently. Not temporarily, have an epiphone and live the perfect life. I, personally just feel as a writer that she didn't want to upset a lot of people, but that would have been the satisfying ending for me.

[–]chitwin 0 points1 point ago

Fair enough, for you that would have been the perfect ending. I guess to me the ending wasn't as important as all the rest, I have read them more times than I care to remember. I will say I'm one of those people who would have been pissed if Harry stayed dead, dude needs to have his reward. I would have rather she left the very end with their kids out though. Leave it a mystery IMO

[–]shanrath 0 points1 point ago

I completely agree. That's always been the one substantial drawback of the series for me. It's not just that it was a cop-out- the worst part of it was that it became a nearly "by the book" conclusion to a hero's journey. All the complexities of Harry's character were done such a bizarre injustice with the all too-heavy handed "savior" tie-ins stuck right at the series' ending. I understand the impulse for an author writing a YA series before the bleaker, Hunger Games times we're now living in to close on a hopeful note- hell, due to the strictures of the genre, that was the ending one had to anticipate. The disappointment, though, is that she had managed something so fantastically different with the series up until that point- it really was something to see her give in to the strange, cloying ending. Regardless, I love the books and still regard them as some of the most important things I've ever had the good fortune to read.

[–]MaximusNerdius 11 points12 points ago

I have always hated the convenient way that nobody ever listens to the person who has the pertinent useful information until it's too late. That and how Dumbledore was more interested in Harry figuring things out on his own than he was with actually stopping Voldemort and saving innocent lives.

I also really hate the generally whimsical nature of magic and the purposely arbitrary ways in which it works.

[–]bearachute 1 point2 points ago

I also really hate the generally whimsical nature of magic and the purposely arbitrary ways in which it works.

Man, you have no soul! I find Rowling's magic to be one of the best depictions, and it reveals her as a lover of language.

[–]ShatteredIcon -1 points0 points ago

But that's pretty common in most series involving children. I do agree with you on the magic. It also seems like Rowling cheated with the limitations. they say you can't just create food and drinks, but I remember in the 2nd book, when they first get to the school, they are eating in one of the offices (snapes?) and Mcgonogal gives them a plate of sandwhiches and a pitcher of juice, and they infinetley refill.

[–]willo7 5 points6 points ago

don't the tables refill with food from the kitchens? apply the same here on a smaller scale. it's not created by magic, just moved from place to place

[–]chitwin 2 points3 points ago

And 1 point for the correct answer, Hermoine says it in one of the books.

[–]ShatteredIcon -1 points0 points ago

Probably, I'm probably remembering wrong.

[–]PalermoJohn 0 points1 point ago

Dumbledore not pushing Harry in a direction and letting him do things of his own will instead makes much more sense after the last book. Probably the only acceptable course of action for Dumbledore.

[–]Dan_BikeMan 9 points10 points ago

This isn't so much the writing, as it is the direction they took it in, but I didn't really care for the way they handled Voldemort and Harry's final duel in DH Pt. 2. The flying around Hogwarts and goddamn fistfight may have suited film better, but I prefer the one-on-one duel with everyone watching, where Harry explains exactly why Voldemort is fucked.

Oh, and this is even more fanboyish, but they took out the part where Harry used the Elder Wand to fix his original one. In the last movie he just snaps the Elder Wand in half.

Besides those (the last movie is fresh on my mind), I would have to go with the epilogue in general. Also Chamber of Secrets, not that big a fan of that book/movie.

[–]aveganliterary 13 points14 points ago

Hate that they never properly explain the Marauder's Map, or who the four creators are/were in the films. Also that Remus was barely mentioned after POA.
The completely illogical way they altered Ginny's personality. Book Ginny would have never done something so ridiculous as tie Harry's shoes for him (unless, perhaps, his hands were broken). I hated the way their first kiss was done as well, no reason to not do it properly.

[–]onesound 10 points11 points ago

cough blowjob cough

[–][deleted] ago

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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

I don't think you'd make the connection watching the movie without reading the books.

[–]H0neyBadger 0 points1 point ago

I second this, it only jumped out at me because of reading the books. I saw the name on the map, and they maybe referred to Peter Petigrew as wormtail once or twice? The only time I know for certain was when they were in the shrieking shack w/ Sirius and Lupin.

[–]aveganliterary 0 points1 point ago

I blatantly said "in the films", there's no might about it. They didn't explain it at all in the films, they just alluded to it over time by throwing out the nicknames. No actual explanation was given, and plenty of non-readers did not put two and two together (I've had to explain it to many people).

[–]air0day 5 points6 points ago

I find the final film to be totally unsatisfying from a narrative standpoint. It's structured in a way for there to be certain payoffs and those payoffs don't come. It makes the entire production feel sort of seat-of-your-pants-written, without forethought.

I haven't read the books but my understanding is that these aspects are all preserved from them.

Examples:

  • Malfoy is set up as a conflicted, troubled youth. The bully that eventually finds redemption in the final part. It's even set up this way: Harry saves Malfoy when the room of requirement is on fire, and he starts to see the good in Harry. Then when Voldemort is standing in front of the class and asks for Malfoy to join, he does. It would have been much better from a character arc standpoint for Malfoy to refuse, not even returning to his own parents, and standing with his school against Voldy, knowing he was doomed for doing so. Additionally, the person who killed the snake and thus made it possible for Harry to defeat Voldemort should have been Malfoy, not Neville.
  • Speaking of Neville, there are a lot of scenes in the movies devoted to the fact that Bellatrix killed Neville's parents. But rather than having him defeat her, Ginny and Ron's mom does it. It would have been much better for Neville to have done that, perhaps defending Luna since he's got a thing for her.

There are more examples like this but those are the two that bug me the most.

[–]JustyB76 0 points1 point ago

Speaking of Neville, there are a lot of scenes in the movies devoted to the fact that Bellatrix killed Neville's parents.

Actually, Neville's parents aren't dead. Bellatrix and her husband tortured them to the point of insanity through the use of the cruciatus curse and they are alive in St. Mungos hospital. They decide to never go into this in the movies however.

[–]air0day 1 point2 points ago

Either way, Neville is the one for whom Bellatrix's actions are of the "it's personal" variety, so it would have been better for him to defeat her IMO.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

They do in OOT, when Neville and Harry are in the Room of Requirement.

[–]skeetsqueakskeet 14 points15 points ago

Hermione's Time Turner!!! Wtf? Rowling is going to introduce time travel into the series and use it ONLY in one book and for taking extra classes? Even if she had added a caveat like, it only works on Hogwarts grounds, that would have made it so much more reasonable.

[–]drummerx357 1 point2 points ago

I agree that it was clearly introduced solely for POA's plot, but there are points made that it is very difficult to get access to a time turner because of how dangerous (both within the universe and as a plot device) time travel is, and that all existing time turners were destroyed (how convenient...) when the gang breaks into the Ministry in OotP.

[–]tediousliving 5 points6 points ago

All the sex scenes were to short.

[–]beforrester2 2 points3 points ago

The HBP movie. The entire plot revolves around Draco Malfoy building the magical cabinet so he can sneak the Death Eaters through to help fight his way to dumbledore and kill him. In the movie, the Order isn't there, and no battle to ensue, so there's no narrative reason for malfoy to need reenforcements, so the whole driving mystery of the plot is rendered fuck-all.

In the books, I hate the epilogue and I hate how the whole hallows and the entire wand-lore stuff became so important just in the last book. If the wand-rules had been established and emphasized and used from the very beginning, it wouldn't have seemed like a lazy deus ex machina

[–]SageOfTheWise 0 points1 point ago

I never understood why they screwed up the 6th movie as badly as they did. Theirs the whole magical cabinet plot you mention, where they just forgot to add the climax. You'd think they'd love nothing more than an excuse for the movie to end with a huge action sequence. They also tried as hard as they could to remove the half blood prince plot, which seemed a little silly, since you know, it was the name of the movie.

[–]beforrester2 0 points1 point ago

Thing is, it's my second favorite of the movies on a purely visual level after PoA, and I really liked the buildup even though it was different. The action setpieces were all really short and tiny, or pulled out of the script's ass, but I thought they really worked for what they were, especially the harry/draco duel in the bathroom. The acting was uniformly excellent and I loved a lot of the smaller character moments (one that stands out is Harry and Hermione talking about what it feels like to watch the person you love be with someone else). I liked the cave a lot. I loved Jim Broadbent as Slughorn. I think the look managed to be colorless without being bleak. I pretty much liked everything about the movie until it left out the climax.

[–]thmsbsh 5 points6 points ago

I never truly understood quite what Voldemort's motivation for evil is - and quite why he is able to garner so much support in TDH. The regime is obviously based on the Nazi party, insofar as it normalises prejudice (though the muggle-Jew relationship isn't one I particularly want to make a big thing out of), but I neve understand quite WHY? What problems was Voldmort able to "solve"? Hitler was seen to save Gemany from economic crisis by essentially blamin Jews/homosexuals/trade unionist etc - yet there pears to be very little muggle-hating in the wider world.

[–]ShatteredIcon 4 points5 points ago

It was for the most basic reason, pure blooded people HATED muggles wth a passion and believed they should be exterminated or at the very least enslaved. The german's didn't really hate the jew's completley, just hated them for what they were tricked into believing they did. And the reason voldemort got so many followers was that he told people what they wanted to hear, was very skilled, and wasn't half bad looking when he was "normal"

[–]thmsbsh 0 points1 point ago

Okay, but it's clear from the books that the racist-purebloods are a total minority. Especially in TDH, quite why does he regain his power quite so quickly? And like... I just can't get to grips with what Voldemort's long-term goals ARE. Okay, so, kill Harry, oppress a few Muggles... what would have happened if Harry had lost? As a result there was never any question of the book ending in any other way than Good, and so just... lost a bit of an edge, I think.

I dunno, you can always chalk it up to Magic. But still.

[–]ShatteredIcon -2 points-1 points ago

He gains his powers back so quickly because of the old George Lucas excuse, the force (except in this case it's magic). While racist purebloods are a minority, the powerful ones are racist, while the less powerful (weasley's and Longbottom's for example) are accepting. I honestly have no idea what Voldemort really wanted, but I guess it was the old "rule the world" thing. That part was kinda lazy, I've gotta admit. It was so unoriginal.

[–]mielove 2 points3 points ago*

Fear. He had been mistreated by Muggles his whole life and easily fell into the anti-muggle mania that existed amongst many pure-bloods once he went to Hogwarts. His life experience serves as a parallel to Harry's in this way and shows how their choices later defined them even if they had a similar upbringing.

This muggle hate that existed in many wizarding circles is historical. Don't forget that muggles vastly outnumber wizards and witches. Magic isn't an unstoppable force that protects from all harm. Back in the Middle Ages wizards/witches lived alongside muggles. Yet this was an uneven relationship. Not only were wizards/witches continuously harassed about helping muggles with their day-to-day issues - many muggles also started to fear them and started killing as many of them as they could. Several muggles were also mistakenly killed in such witch-burnings and it was overall a chaotic and violent time. To protect the wizarding minority the Ministry of Magic signed The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1692. The wizarding world went underground from then on.

In modern times many wizards/witches wished to lessen such restrictions. For example the Ministry of Magic started making contact with and cooperating with the Muggle authorities. Laws were also being made to protect Muggles from accidental (and obviously purposeful) magic. The wizarding world had been self-segregated. In modern times more and more people wished for further integration with the muggle world, not least because many witches and wizards were starting to marry into muggle families.

Voldemort of course had a primary scapegoat for what he perceived to be the downfall of the wizarding world. He was definitely suspicious of half-bloods (yet not entirely so, being that he was one himself). His main scapegoat was muggleborns who he saw as the epitome of the corruption of wizarding society. What Voldemort wanted? Power. He wanted wizards to take their rightful place as superiors to muggles and to separate muggles (including muggle-borns and other traitors) from the rest of wizarding society. This wish is based on the historical fear that the alternative would happen if the other side (Dumbledore & Co) got their way.

Also, I don't see the Nazi allegory when it comes to Voldemort at all. It's Grindelwald who's the clear allegory of Hitler. If you want to find an allegory of Voldemort the closest I can think of is Apartheid in South Africa...

[–]Isunova 2 points3 points ago

The entirity of Order of the Phoenix. It was atrocious!

[–]qazaibomb 1 point2 points ago

THIS. OOTP was too long and too negative. other than the DA, Harry has nothing going for him. his teachers a bitch, he cant play quidditch, hes under a lot of schol/hw stress, he cant get the girl, his godfathers in danger, and oh yeah, fucking Voldemort's back, and no one believes him.

[–]Isunova -1 points0 points ago

Yeah man. Compared to the rest of the books, OotP felt the weakest. There was too much unnecessary shit and not enough good stuff. It dwelved too much on Harry being a crying little bitch.

Ironic how it was the longest book, but the one with the least amount of substance. It was hard to press through to the end of book 5.

[–]Antinous 2 points3 points ago

I respectfully disagree... OOTP was one of my favorites because it was so dark and mysterious. The stress involved was what made it hard to put down. Also perhaps all the negativity reminded me of my high school years...

[–]YouSomeDays 3 points4 points ago

I feel like that high school memory is what turns people away. You can't help but think, "Nah, this is way too close to the stupid angst I had spewing out of me at Harry's age."

[–]Antinous 2 points3 points ago

well a lot of readers are/were in fact angsty high schoolers.. so you know.. identification and stuff.

[–]YouSomeDays 0 points1 point ago

Of course, but once you've moved on from that mindset, it's one you look back upon with embarrassment.

[–][deleted] ago

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[–]_Meece_ 1 point2 points ago

Are you sure it wasn't his father who was a prefect because Voldemort is about 30 years older than Lucius.

[–]aveganliterary 0 points1 point ago

I think you're thinking of Snape. Lucius was a prefect when Snape became a Slytherin, which makes the ages correct. Dumbledore is supposed to be very old. The ages work out, you just have to accept that due to giant blood and dark magic (respectively) Hagrid and Voldemort look younger than they really are.

[–]deciple87 2 points3 points ago

The Half-Blood Prince was a set-up film for The Deathly Hallows. That pissed me off because it took away all of the action/story from the ending of the book. From page 606 to the end of the book, it is fucking awesome. I mean Hogwarts was a fucking battlefield where the DA is fighting back against the Death Eaters and in the movie it was just Bellatrix running around laughing, and then out of nowhere Snape's like "Yo man. I'm the HBP. Peace!"

And that's it...

Although I did like how all the students mourned Dumbledore's death...but I did want to see the big funeral.

[–]CowboyNinjaD 1 point2 points ago

I thought it was a cop out that Harry didn't actually have to kill Voldemort. They sort of set up the idea that Harry might use the killing curse by having him use the two other Unforgivable Curses earlier in Book 7. But in the final duel, Harry does the disarming spell while Voldemort does the killing curse, and Voldemort somehow ends up dead. I think Voldemort should have just ended up disarmed and stunned from that exchange. And when some of the older wizards offered to execute Voldemort, Harry should have picked up the Elder Wand and done it himself.

I'm not saying this because watching Harry kill someone would have made me feel good. It's actually the opposite. This series was ultimately about a big messy war with tons of casualties, and I think it was a disservice to the overall narrative and all the characters to let Harry get through the whole thing without getting his hands dirty.

[–]itsCarraldo 1 point2 points ago

Apart from Book 1,3 and 6 the rest were just a complete let down.

CoS was just a filler, 4 was the introduction to the weakest villain character of all time, 5 was where she forced herself into a corner because there was no way she could proceed in the plot without dropping a shit load of information that she made up to keep the next 2 books relevant. And 7 was without a doubt the greatest cop-out by any writer we've seen.

The movies? Deathly Hallows Part 1 was fucking magnificent. Part 2 was lame with the whole voldemort fight sequence.

[–]beebzz 1 point2 points ago

Harry Potter as a character. He Is "The chosen one" for no other reason than that he has no parents. His only character flaw is that he has an evil side whitch is also very poorly executed. I love the weasley family though.

[–]Batatomic7 7 points8 points ago

Hate to be 'that potter fan', but it also has to do with the fact that Voldemort "marked him as his equal" and a part of Voldy's soul resided within him. Granted, this still doesn't mean he's the "chosen one" because of anything that he did, but either way, the latter part of his journey still unfolded as more of a choice than as destiny.

[–]qazaibomb 2 points3 points ago

his biggest character flaw is that he is moody and easy to anger. hes also pretty gullible, as he thinks with his emotions rather than his mind. this is shown through the end of OOTP where harry makes the mistake of trying to save sirius. so no, hes not a character with one flaw.

and yes, all the weasleys are awesome. except percy. hes a dick.

[–]Hewhospeaks 0 points1 point ago

Thats not true actually, he was chosen and has no parents because of the prophecy that a boy would be born to kill Voldemort. The prophecy could only apply to him and Neville and Snape (or wormtongue??) told Voldy it was Harry. Harry's evil side also comes from Voldemort. I presume if all this didn't happen, then he could quite likely have the same character flawa as James Potter i.e. arrogance, overconfidence etc.. I think he didn't get these qualities as he grew up with the dursleys's who treated him badly resulting in hi turning into a humbled modest person.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

I think throughout the books Harry has a great deal of flaws that he overcomes, the same as the average person.

The first two really deal with Harry's ignorance of the wizarding world and that the he can defeat this through learning.

The third is a real scared of the dark book, and the ability defeat that comes not from the spell Expecto Patronum, but having faith in the spell itself.

The fourth I think reaffirms friendship and the strengths it supports, and really presents Harry's final duty. I think there's a lot of themes of moral duty, or at least the duty that the wizarding world holds dear.

The fifth really shows Harry being let down by the Ministry and finding hope in the order.

The sixth has a great deal of hopelessness in it. There's lot of struggle in it, but no one gives up. This book shows a last decay of the world before the events of the last book.

The final book is about redemption, Harry overcomes great evil. Malfoy defies his father. Snape comes clean. Nevil kills Nagini and allows Voldemort to be killed, a good effort considering he's retarded. Anh why shouldn't it be about redemption?

Harry has a had a shit life. Right from the begining he was granted an easy way out by joining Slytherin. Throughout he was offered chances to join the Deatheaters but never took them. Harry really represents every one of us, and the hundreds upon hundreds of problems we face in our shitty lives, but as long as we have magic we'll be alright.

[–]beebzz 0 points1 point ago

In terms of children's books it is by far one of the most creative and most imersive but in the realm of fantasy books and cinema the stories in harry potter suck quite frankly. I know many potter fanatics that claim they are the best fantasy series out there, which to a fantasy snob like myself is a complete joke

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

Well what epic fantasy series would you recommend? I've been looking for something for a while.

I think the thing with Harry Potter is that it's very close to a lot of people's hearts. I myself grew up with the books. Re-read them nearly every year, even have a HP tattoo. It's also very British which I love. I totally GET Harry Potter.

[–]beebzz 0 points1 point ago

Name of The Wind!!! It is a very unknown book series but it is fantastic.

[–]MichaelKoban 1 point2 points ago

I always hated how she threw in new stuff with everybook. "Oh, you've been a wizard for X amount of years and never heard of Y" [Y= Wizard Olympics, Quidditch Cup, etc.]

Its like if an alien came to earth and it took him 3 years to hear about the Olympics. It just always felt like when there was a TV show that was in its 3+ season, and throws some random thing in to keep it fresh. I believe in mentioning things then not going into detail for worldbuilding (ala, STARWARS [mentioning the "Clone Wars in IV {which wasn't expanded upon until YEARS later} or Bothan Spies, etc]).

[–]IckleFirstie 3 points4 points ago

I prefer it to the 600-page infodump that would happen if we got all the worldbuilding from the start.

[–]SuccessfulRepoST 0 points1 point ago

Most of the 7th book. The series clearly peaked during the Voldemort history in book 6. Sadly book 7 felt rushed in comparison. The whole "hiding in the woods" scene was painful to read as the characters would just pointlessly bitch and moan at each other. There were so many loopholes and ridiculous revelations that just angered me. The room of requirements that was destroyed by Umbridge could simply stop Voldemort by asking it to? Come on.

[–]Soak96 0 points1 point ago

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality

[–]BatwingDarling 0 points1 point ago

The Half-Blood Prince movie never explaining what the nickname 'The Half-Blood Prince' actually means. I mean come on! Of all the things to leave out, they neglect the fucking title.

[–]chitwin -1 points0 points ago

Hermoine figures it out in the book, snapes dad is a muggle, His mother is a witch with the last name Prince, Half (magic)-blood Prince (mothers maiden name)

[–]BatwingDarling 0 points1 point ago

I remember that from the book, I just meant that I hated how they never bothered to explain this in the movie. The film completely skipped over it.

[–]brutusbombastic 1 point2 points ago

In DH part 1, when the trio is at the Lovegood house and Luna's father calls the bad guys on them, the deatheaters arrive instantly and, instead of just capturing an unsuspecting Harry Potter, they beat the shit out of the house. They just fly through it over and over again until Harry, Ron and Hermione finally leave. And if that wasn't bad enough, they Apparate in the one fucking forest where the other group of bad guys happened to be camping. And they get captured there. Why didn't they just get captured in the house? That movie was about four hours long! Why would you stuff it with such stupidity and bad luck?

Also, not explaining why Harry came back to life. How am I supposed to care about the final confrontation if Harry is apparently invincible?

[–]bbchan 1 point2 points ago

It's been awhile since I've read the books, so I'm basing this off the last movie... but one thing that bothered me was the fact that Harry could see more easily into Voldemort's mind, but why was it not the other way around? And if it was, why didn't Voldemort take more precaution or more action into finding Harry and killing him?? WHY???

[–]topher3003 0 points1 point ago

Harry could see into Voldemort's mind because a piece of Voldemort's soul was trapped in Harry's body the night he killed Lily and James, which is also why Harry had to "die".

[–]bbchan 0 points1 point ago

Well I know about that, but why wasn't it the other way around? At first couldn't he see into Harry's mind?

[–]topher3003 0 points1 point ago

I think he could sense when Harry was in his mind, but since none of Harry's soul was in Voldemort's body he didn't have the same type of access.

[–]mielove 0 points1 point ago

They added this into the films as a plot device. Watching Harry spend 45 minutes looking through the Room of Requirement for the Diadem doesn't look good in a film. Rather they added the element that he was able to "feel" the Horcruxes.

[–]shmowow 1 point2 points ago

The last part of the last movie had one of the worst screenplays I have ever heard in my entire life.

[–]RamblinMan51 1 point2 points ago

I would've liked to see more "oh shit, the muggles are beginning to catch on" moments.

[–]MeMyselForWho 0 points1 point ago

The scene with Harry chasing after Snape after he killed Dumbledore in the HBP book was so much more vivid and powerful than the movie.

[–]stuckit 0 points1 point ago

Harry, as admittedly most children would do, tends to spend time avoiding studying. He however is avoiding studying magic. He is actively avoiding studying magic when the biggest evil wizard of all time is trying to kill him and everyone he knows. He should be making Hermione look like a slacker.

this annoys me about most story lines, where people find out they are magical and/or special, and all they do is cry about wanting a normal life, know evil shit is coming to kill them, and dont immediately set out to be the badass.

[–]mielove 0 points1 point ago

This is what I love about the HP series. It's realistic. Lets say a kid from an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon was taken out of their environment and given books about new and exciting things... They'd be very interested - at first. Then later on they'd be just as interested as any other kid.

[–]stuckit 0 points1 point ago

That's absolutely true of most children. But as a teenager who knows that if i dont shape up, there is a dude who is going to try to kill me every year, until we have a battle royale, I would be studying my ass off.

[–]myprocrastination 0 points1 point ago

DH: part two - I was so disappointed with this movie. The book spends time giving us back stories that give characters like Dumbledore a whole new depth. The movie apparently thinks it more important to show us Rowena Ravenclaw being a drama queen and spend 5 minutes on an epic fly-around-hogwarts-clawing-at-each-others-faces cheesefest between Harry and Voldemort. Killed the whole movie for me

[–]Telescopy 0 points1 point ago

I didn't read the books so I don't know if this was different there. But I hated how little importance was shown when one of the Weasley twins dies in the last movie. Although not a main character, they were part of the entire saga. He just died and the family is shown crying for a minute, then acting like nothing happened shortly after.

[–]H0neyBadger -1 points0 points ago

I hate the fact that they always make Harry seem so challenged when it comes to magic. I mean, he uses the same 5 or 10 spells through the whole thing? I don't get that. Did he stop learning after year 2? Sure he learned about new beasties and other types of powerful magic, but when did he learn the intense stuff? His father turned himself into an animagus for crying out loud and Harry is still screaming "expelliarmus!" (I know I'm spelling shit wrong, but i.d.c.)

Also, how he kills Voldemort, the strongest evil wizard ever... he reflects his spell back at him? I felt so fucking robbed. Oh yeah, I mean I'm sure the hundreds of wizards Voldemort killed didn't try that... or that his parents would have thought that... Reflect his spell back at him? No, I'll just use my body as a shield thank you.

Another fucking thing, I'll touch on both the movie and the book. What the fuck is with sitting all mopey and shit in the woods in the last book? "Harry, we have no idea where to go!" "Well Harry, we could sit in the woods and get angry at each other?" "Excellent idea Ginger-Boy!" I mean what the fucking fuck, that entire Part 1 movie could have been done in 30 minutes if they had cut the bullshit. The book at least had more interpersonal character development in it during the woe-is-us forest scene. The movie is just them staring at each other and picking their noses.

[–]BleedingPurpandGold 0 points1 point ago

Percy never paid any price for his early betrayal of his family. Rowling set up a perfect chance for him to rectify his general dickheadedness by sacrificing himself in the Battle of Hogwarts. Instead, he lives while Fred is killed right next to him.

[–]aveganliterary 0 points1 point ago

I think a big part of that was that life sucks sometimes. War doesn't care why you're there or whether you deserve to die; sometimes assholes live while good men die. If all the beloved characters had lived it wouldn't be Harry Potter, it'd be Twilight. Besides, how the hell should he have sacrificed himself? It's not like stepping up and going "oh, kill me instead" would have done anything except get them both killed.

[–]apple-pine93 -1 points0 points ago

All of the books and all of the movies.

[–]xiic 1 point2 points ago

The Harry Potter movies 3,4,5 when the books became so long that they began making highlight reels of the books and passed them off as movies.

[–]Konar 0 points1 point ago

so effing true

[–]Planet-man 1 point2 points ago

The whole thing with Voldemort using Nagini to kill Snape was just so frigging contrived. The whole point was that he needed to personally kill the Elder Wand's master to win it for himself. Last time he ordered a minion to do it(Snape to Dumbledore), it didn't work. So what does he do? Kill Snape with a curse like usual? Nope, randomly orders another living creature to do it and then leaves the room before Snape has even died. For all Voldemort knew it could've made Nagini the master of the Wand, and he'd have to kill his LAST Horcrux. Or Snape could've had an anti-venom, being the best potioneer in the world. It was just a stupid contrived way to have Snape wounded and wanting to give Harry the memories before actually dying. I expected a lot better from Rowling.

[–]mielove -1 points0 points ago

Er... he couldn't kill Snape because he believed Snape was the Master of the Elder Wand. And the Elder Wand (which was currently in Voldemort's possession) cannot harm its master. So therefore short of strangling him to death he had few other non-magical means of killing him at the moment. o.O And wands only choose witches or wizards as their masters - not snakes. Wand lore 101...

[–]Planet-man 0 points1 point ago

  1. Voldemort is more than capable of killing somebody using magic without using his wand.
  2. Wand lore is iffy when it comes to the Elder Wand. Maybe it wouldn't have made Nagini its master, but it could've easily counted that as death by external causes and not allied with anybody, robbing the wand of its power, like Harry intends to do after the battle. At the very least, why take that chance?
  3. Leaving before Snape was actually dead instead of waiting 30 seconds to make sure his plan didn't get fucked. James Bond villain stupid.

If you stretch and hem and all that, yeah, it's just barely believable. But it's still outrageously contrived and much below what I expect, and usually receive from Rowling. It added to the whole fanfiction atmosphere that section of the book had.

[–]mielove 0 points1 point ago

1.) No he's not. He's hardly good enough at wandless magic to kill someone. And given that he has a weapon - Nagini - close by I don't see your reasoning for why he wouldn't use her.
2.) I don't think you realise what a wand is. A wand is not a source of power - it's simply used for channeling power. Only magical beings can use wands. Nagini isn't even borderline - she's as non-magical as a creature gets. You're really gasping at straws here. You may as well argue Voldemort shouldn't have attempted to remove the wards of Hogwarts because this may have triggered a self-destruct mechanism. Both things could happen but those things happening is what is extremely unrealistic and contrived - not what actually happened.

3.) No, it's the other way around actually. It wouldn't be realistic of him to "wait around." Why would he want to? He wants to find Harry and kill him. Snape is dying from a mortal wound and is in no state to apparate out of there when he leaves him. He's also (in the book) in the Shrieking Shack in the middle of nowhere where no-one would find him. Voldemort knows how poisonous Nagini's venom is and that Snape won't survive the bite. He has no way of knowing someone would get to him before he dies. In fact, from Voldemort's view the idea would be absurd. Him staying around to watch the slow death of a loyal servant whilst also wasting valuable time in finding Harry would have been out of character.

[–]Planet-man 0 points1 point ago

  1. Voldemort....
  2. It's never clear what kind of snake Nagini is, but she's certainly not as "non-magical as a creature gets" given that her venom causes spell-resistant wounds(OOTP) and is used in a very powerful potion(GOF). And just.... so many other reasons. Additionally, like I said, the wand could've just counted that as an animal killing Snape and lost allegiance to anybody. "Self-destruct mechanism if you remove the wards" is as just as realistic as the Elder Wand having tricky allegiances? It's a ****ing stronghold to protect children.
  3. So you're where all these Bond-villain plots keep coming from.... I thought you were a myth.

[–]apple-pine93 -2 points-1 points ago

All of the books and all of the movies.

[–]SoManySpiderWebs -2 points-1 points ago

The middle of the fifth book. I was a huge fan of the first 4 and was so damn excited when number 5 came out. But halfway through I got bored and put it down.

[–]BattleStagDan -2 points-1 points ago

Hunger Games

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