Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’ll be discussing ten more of the darkest moments of the Harry Potter series
that were left OUT of the films.
If you haven’t watched Part 1 of this series, go and check it out afterwards:
Top 10 Darkest Moments LEFT OUT of the Films.
Now, onto today’s picks for darkest moments that never made it from page to screen…
Bill Weasley’s Disfigurement
In the aftermath of Dumbledore’s death, Snape, the werewolf Fenir Greyback and a group
of Voldemort’s Death Eaters flee Hogwarts Castle.
But as they attempt to get away, fighting ensues between those same wizards and a group
of Order of the Phoenix members.
Of course, one of those wizards involved is—you guessed it—Bill Weasley, who, in the novel,
barely walks away from this fight—a rather stark contrast to the movie.
After being viciously attacked by the werewolf Fenir Greyback, Bill’s face is absolutely
DESTROYED to the point that his injuries are defined by Harry as being “grotesque”.
As a relatively minor character in the movies, I guess it’s no surprise that the film adaptation
of The Half-blood Prince didn’t portray this much gorier detail—with Bill only sustaining
a few rather insignificant scars on his face instead.
In the movie, it’s all rather glossed over, really.
In the book, however, we’re given all the gruesome details after Bill’s encounter
with Fenir.
“Harry looked over Hermione’s shoulder and saw an unrecognisable face lying on Bill’s
pillow, so badly slashed and ripped that he looked grotesque.”
In fact, this is the scene that prompts Bill’s fiance—the enchantingly beautiful Fleur
Delacour—to announce, “I’m beautiful enough for the both of us”, which makes
a lot more sense due to how much more horrific Bill’s disfigurement is in the novel.
Barty Crouch Senior’s Murder
While it’s true that we learn about Barty Crouch Senior’s murder in The Goblet of
Fire movie, the details surrounding his death are not all that clear.
In fact, the audience only sees a glimpse of Barty Senior’s lifeless body—without
any further information, other than the fact that the murderer is believed to be his son,
Barty Crouch Junior.
Compare this to the disturbing description we get of his murder—provided by Barty Crouch
Junior himself—in the book…
“‘I killed my father.’
‘Noooo!’
wailed Winky.
‘Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?’
‘You killed your father,’ Dumbledore said, in the same soft voice.
‘What did you do with the body?’
‘Carried it into the Forest.
Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak…Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father.
I went back to my father’s body.
Watched the map.
When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father’s body.
He became a bone … I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug
earth in front of Hagrid’s cabin.’
… The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder
as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.”
Yikes, what a psychopath.
Hermione Holding Rita Skeeter Captive
In The Goblet of Fire, Rita Skeeter is the nosy reporter who loves a good sensationalised
story.
Pursuing story after story that taints Harry’s name and reputation, the movie version of
this instalment shows her to be a rather irritating character, to say the least.
However, we never really see anyone do much about this—which is distinctly different
from the actions of Hermione in the book, in which the bright young witch, who fears
EXPULSION worse than death, not only breaks the rules—she breaks the LAW—capturing
Rita Skeeter in the form of a beetle and holding her hostage in a jar.
You see, Rita Skeeter, it turns out, was actually an unregistered Animagus and could transform
undetected into an insect.
“‘Oh, Rita hasn’t written anything at all since the third task,’ said Hermione,
in an oddly constrained voice.
‘As a matter of fact,’ she added, her voice now trembling slightly, ‘Rita Skeeter
isn’t going to be writing anything at all for a while.
Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her.’
…‘No, you see … Rita Skeeter’ – Hermione’s voice trembled with quiet triumph – ‘is
an unregistered Animagus.
She can turn –’ Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out
of her bag.
‘– into a beetle.’
‘You’re kidding,’ said Ron.
‘You haven’t … she’s not …’ …‘No, I’m not,’ said Hermione, beaming.
‘I caught her on the window-sill in the hospital wing.
Look very closely, and you’ll notice the markings around her antennae are exactly like
those foul glasses she wears.’
…Hermione took the glass jar back from Ron and smiled at the beetle, which buzzed angrily
against the glass.
‘I’ve told her I’ll let her out when we get back to London,’ said Hermione.
‘I’ve put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can’t transform.
And I’ve told her she’s to keep her quill to herself for a whole year.
See if she can’t break the habit of writing horrible lies about people.’”
What’s most disturbing about this turn of events in the novel is what it reveals about
Hermione’s darker instincts, and the pleasure she gets from keeping Rita Skeeter held captive
in a JAR, and preventing her from returning to her human form.
Of course, she means to eventually let her out—but, realistically, Rita could’ve
died in there, and it all just seems a little unsettling to me.
Voldemort Setting Neville’s Head AFLAME
In the final movie of the series, we witness Neville become a hero several times over,
with his ultimate act of bravery being when he stops Nagini—Voldemort’s beloved pet
snake and final Horcrux—from killing Ron and Hermione by beheading her with the Sword
of Gryffindor.
Sadly, in the film, the context of what happens here is completely lost.
Where did Neville come from—and how in Merlin’s Beard did he GET the sword?
Well, for those of you who’ve read the book, you know that he actually pays quite the price
to retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor.
After standing up to Voldemort and rejecting his invitation to become a high-ranking Death
Eater, Neville is made a spectacle by the Dark Lord who not only paralyses him, he sets
his entire head ON FIRE.
“He pointed his wand at Neville, who grew rigid and still, then forced the Hat on to
Neville’s head, so that it slipped down below his eyes.
…‘Neville here is now going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue
to oppose me,’ said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, he caused the Sorting
Hat to burst into flames.
Screams split the dawn, and Neville was aflame, rooted to the spot, unable to move, and Harry
could not bear it…”
The Death of Bertha Jorkins
In The Goblet of Fire film, the Dark Lord learns about the upcoming Triwizard Tournament
through Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Junior and devises his plan to capture Harry Potter
from the information these two wizards provide.
In the book, however, it’s the character of Bertha Jorkins—who’s completely removed
from the plotlines of the film—who spills the details of the Tournament and then pays
the ultimate price for having that information, which tragically results in her utterly disturbing
murder.
After brutalising her body and mind in order to break the Memory Charm that had been placed
on her, Bertha was too damaged for the Dark Lord to possess, so instead he did what he
was known to do when people lost their value to him—he murdered her.
Helena Ravenclaw’s FULL History
In the second instalment of The Deathly Hallows, we learn that Hogwarts’ Ravenclaw ghost
The Grey Lady is none other than founding member Rowena Ravenclaw’s daughter—Helena
Ravenclaw.
And while Harry’s encounter with Rowena is certainly a little spooky in the movie,
it’s nowhere near as dark as her FULL history that she shares with Harry in the novel, for
in the book we get a far more extensive and much darker account of what happened to Helena
after she stole her mother’s diadem and ran away.
“‘Then my mother fell ill – fatally ill.
In spite of my perfidy, she was desperate to see me one more time.
She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me.
She knew that he wouldn’t rest until he had done so.’
Harry waited.
She drew a deep breath and threw back her head.
‘He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding.
When I refused to return with him, he became violent.
The Baron was always a hot-tempered man.
Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me.’
‘The Baron?
You mean –?’ ‘The Bloody Baron, yes,’ said the Grey
Lady, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white
chest.
‘When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse.
He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself.
All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence … as he should,’
she added bitterly.’”
Peeves the Poltergeist and His Darker Instincts
Peeves the Poltergeist was glaringly absent from the Harry Potter movies, and while much
of his behaviour would’ve added to the lighter side of the films, there are also many darker
instincts within Peeves that were left out of the movies as a result.
Throughout the books, Peeves typically played fairly harmless pranks on students and teachers
alike—with Filch, the castle’s caretaker, being a particularly favoured target.
However, some of his practical jokes were a little more on the alarming side.
For example, in The Order of the Phoenix, he gleefully chases Professor Umbridge off
school grounds—as he beats her with both a walking stick and a sock full of chalk.
Considering Umbridge literally tortured students during her time as the Professor Against the
Dark Arts, I suppose this sendoff wasn’t all that unsettling.
But, then again, he didn’t just save this type of behaviour for sadistic teachers.
In fact, there were more than one occasion in which Peeves was violent towards students,
jeopardising both their safety and their lives.
During Harry’s time at Hogwarts, one of Peeves’ main targets was Neville Longbottom,
forcing the boy to set his own pants on fire and dropping objects on his head as he tried
to walk to class.
Although always portrayed lightly, these acts were clear representations of Peeves inclinations
towards violence.
His behaviour in 1876 is yet another example of his violent nature, when the caretaker
that year, Rancorous Carpe, attempted to capture Peeves.
It did not go well at all, with Peeves escaping the trap and going on an epic rampage around
the castle, firing off crossbows, guns and a small cannon at students, which resulted
in the school’s three-day evacuation.
Dumbledore’s Dark Past
In the films, we only briefly hear of Professor Dumbledore’s dark past, with much of his
relationship with Gellert Grindelwald and views as a young wizard left out.
In The Deathly Hallows book, however, we hear first-hand from Dumbledore about his more
disturbing behaviour in his youth.
In particular, he explains how he was incredibly arrogant, believing his talents to be wasted
as his younger sister’s guardian after the death of both his parents.
While this is rather disappointing, it’s not all that DARK—his thoughts regarding
Muggles, however, are.
In a rather disturbing admission, Dumbledore acknowledges to Harry that as a young man,
he believed that humans should be subjugated and ruled by witches and wizards, believing
magical beings to be a superior race.
“Grindelwald.
You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me.
Muggles forced into subservience.
We wizards triumphant.
Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution.”
Kreacher's Tale of Regulus Black’s Death
There’s a much more in-depth description of the death of Sirius Black’s younger brother,
Regulus, in The Deathly Hallows novel when compared to the films, with the Black family’s
House Elf Kreacher explaining the dark details of exactly what happened to his former masters.
In the book, the rather miserable House Elf explains that, after pledging himself as a
Death Eater at the age of just 16, Regulus inevitably had a change of heart and no longer
wanted to serve the Dark Lord.
Instead, after learning of Slytherin’s locket, its role as a Horcrux, and Voldemort’s hiding
place for it, Regulus goes after it—intent on destroying it at any cost.
Regulus ventures to the cave with Kreacher, drinks the potion, takes the locket, replacing
it with a replica, and gives the real thing to Kreacher, ordering the House Elf to return
home without him.
As you can imagine, Regulus does not survive this ordeal and Kreacher last sees him being
dragged underwater by the Inferi to his death—but not before he had left a note for Voldemort
to find in the fake locket.
“To the Dark Lord I know I will be dead long before you read
this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.”
The Attack on Ariana Dumbledore
The highly disturbing past of Albus Dumbledore’s younger sister is not a subject that’s really
touched on in the films.
While the movies do provide us with the context that Ariana was kept somewhat hidden from
the public due to her ailing health, they never really get into the WHY of Ariana’s
rather odd situation.
But in the books, much more detail is provided.
And it’s certainly on the darker side of things—for not only do we come to know that
Ariana Dumbledore was killed around the age of 14 during a disagreement gone wrong between
Albus, his brother Aberforth and Gellert Grindelwald, we also learn how her condition came to be.
In The Deathly Hallows novel, it’s revealed that she was attacked as a small girl—no
more than six years old—by a group of Muggle boys.
After witnessing her do magic, they tormented her to the point that she became traumatised
beyond recovery.
Many speculate that this “attack” may have even become quite physical in nature,
which would explain why their father, Percival Dumbledore, went after the boys, an act which
resulted in Percival being sent to Azkaban.
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video!
What did you think?
Do you agree with my picks?
Did I miss any dark moments from the books that are LEFT OUT of the films?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Until next time…remember…
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."