Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the very first chapter of the Harry Potter series- the Philosopher’s
Stone. Since the Philosopher’s Stone book was first released in 1997, it has achieved
massive commercial success worldwide. In fact, the book received so much praise that it spawned
6 more books from Rowling- each expanding on the magical world that we grew to love
so much.
As you can imagine, the success of the franchise didn’t go unnoticed by filmmakers, and so
it wasn’t long before the very first Harry Potter film adaptation was released in 2001.
However, like with any film adaptation, certain things were left out from the books. It can
be hard to condense a book in to the duration of a reasonable film-length, and certain aspects
just don’t work on the big screen- so this is always expected.
The Philosopher’s Stone is the shortest of the Harry Potter books at 223 pages, so
it has the least ‘meat’ so to speak, but it’s also the introduction to the series,
so filmmakers needed to ensure that the film had a large impact. In my opinion, those who
worked on the first film arguably had the hardest job-as if the film flopped then people
would have lost faith in the franchise. On the plus side, at just 223 pages- the Philosopher’s
Stone had, in some ways, the least ground to cover- which means that it left out fewer
elements of the book than any other film. They were able to comfortably include nearly
everything without having the film drag on for hours. With that said, however, they still
missed quite a few things!
Now, one thing to bear in mind is that certain aspects of the books were just overtly omitted
from the film franchise as a whole. Things like Peeves the Poltergeist, a large number
of the quidditch matches, and the clarification of the existence of ‘squibs’.
But in today’s video, we’re going to be discussing the Philosopher’s Stone specifically.
What did they miss?
First of all, they miss an entire game of Quidditch against Hufflepuff. I know I know,
we can’t just be watching quidditch match after quidditch match, but this match was
fairly significant because Snape refereed it. Acting as the referee for the match only
increased Harry’s suspicion toward him, which resulted in Harry wanting to end the
match quickly. This added pressure results in Harry catching the snitch and ending the
matching early- in fact, Harry ended the match in record time.
Next, the film simplified Harry and Hermione being caught out of bed. After being caught,
Argus Filch escorts Harry/Hermione to McGonagall's office for punishment, where she decides that
they will need to serve detention. That same night, both Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom
were also caught out of bed, which meant that they would need to serve detention as well.
However, in the film Neville never serves his detention in the Forbidden forest, and
is instead replaced with Ron. This is because the circumstances in which they were caught
changed.
Next, Centaurs Bane & Magorian were completely omitted from the film (though they do sort
of appear in Order of the Phoenix), and instead the only Centaur with any emphasis placed
on him was Firenze. In the film, Bane chastises Fireze for helping Harry:
"For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been
foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!"
In the book, the Centaurs are introduced as a proud race of stargazers that do not meddle
with human affairs.
Next, the film glosses over Draco challenging Harry to a duel, which occurs in chapter 9:
The Midnight Duel. In this chapter, Draco challenges Harry to a duel and they agree
to meet at midnight in the Trophy room. When they arrive in the Trophy room, they find
that they were set up with Draco. In an attempt to get away from Filch and Mrs Norris, they
run away, and unintentionally stumble upon the room containing Fluffy on the third floor
corridor.
Bearing Fluffy in mind, let’s segue in to the next missing plot points. In the film,
when the trio encounter Fluffy he’s already asleep with a magical harp playing next to
him. This is slightly different
in the book:
You see, in the book Harry brings a flute along with him- intending on using it to lull
Fluffy to sleep. When they arrive, Fluffy is asleep from a magical harp, which is consistent
between the book/film. However, the primary difference here is that the enchantment on
the harp wears off, forcing Harry to play the flute- subsequently putting Fluffy back
to sleep.
This brings us to my next point- the challenges/puzzles on the way to the Philosopher’s Stone. In
the films, though the trio still face MANY challenges- a few were actually omitted. One
was an additional troll that was put in place to protect the stone, and another was the
‘potion puzzle’.
“They stepped over the threshold and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway.
It wasn’t ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up
in the doorway leading onwards. They were trapped…”
"Brilliant. This isn't magic — it's logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards
haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here for ever."
Now, I don’t really care that they got rid of the troll, but I would have really liked
to have seen the potion puzzle in the films. It was an obstacle that required an immense
amount of intelligence and logic- a challenge perfect for the likes of Hermione Granger.
“Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead, Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine, Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in
line. Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide You will always find some on nettle wine's
left side; Second, different are those who stand at either
end, But if you would move onwards neither is your
friend; Third, as you see clearly, all are different
size, Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their
insides; Fourth, the second left and the second on
the right Are twins once you taste them, though different
at first sight."
And finally, the last plot point that I’m going to discuss pertains to the actual events
that transpired in the Mirror Chamber when Harry finally reaches Quirrell and obtains
the Philosopher’s Stone.
"He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection
smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked
and put the Stone back in its pocket — and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop
into his real pocket. Somehow — incredibly — he’d gotten the Stone."
In the films, Harry Potter kills Quirrell by grabbing his face and turning him to dust.
In the book, Voldemort causes his death by separating himself from Quirrel’s head.
In the film, Harry blacks out after defeating Quirrell- waking up in St.Mungos with Dumbledore
by his bedside. In the books, Harry blacks out while still in a death grip with Quirrell-
just as Dumbledore appears on the scene.
When Harry wakes, a few things are revealed, the first being that Quirrell died. The second
being pivotal information regarding why Voldemort would want to kill Harry in the first place.
And that’s it for this video! I hope you guys enjoyed it. Moving forward, I’m going
to be doing one of these videos for each film. I may not have hit every missing aspect from
the films, but I think I covered the major ones here. If there are any bits that I missed
then comment them down below.
Until next time
“The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with
caution.”