As audiences watch the Fantastic Beasts series, including the recent The Secrets of Dumbledore, they have gotten to know some of the Harry Potter characters in a whole new light. Previously, Aberforth and Grindelwald were only explored for a short time. Now, audiences can see exactly why Grindelwald was such a nefarious enemy and the nuances of the relationship between the Dumbledore brothers.
Of course, many fans have argued that these versions of the characters do not line up with those that were described in the Harry Potter books. This has started many discussions about whether Fantastic Beasts fits into the story’s original canon. However, these significant character differences are common in book-to-screen adaptations since movies have much less time to include the complexities of the characters’ various choices. In Harry Potter, several characters even came across as morally better than they were in the books. Harry, Lupin, Dumbledore, and even Voldemort himself, were often watered down in the films, which left out some of the characters’ most questionable decisions.
Harry Potter
In both the books and the movies, Harry is considered morally good. Part of the theme of the series is that despite having been through so many terrors, Harry still valued life and made incredibly selfless decisions without any second thought.
However, this was not quite as cut and dry in the book as in the films. An example is how Harry struggled to decide whether he should go after the Deathly Hallows or the Horcruxes. Harry knew that Dumbledore had wanted him to look for Voldemort’s soul fragments, but he was deeply tempted to fall into the Hallows’ pitfall right along with Grindelwald and Dumbledore himself.
Hermione Granger
In the movies, Hermione often serves as the voice of reason for her best friends, providing some of the wisest quotes in Harry Potter. Her book smarts and eternal goodness never steered them wrong. However, in the books, Hermione had a significant character fault that was altogether absent in her movie counterpart.
In the books, Hermione had difficulty seeing things from outside her perspective. If she believed that she was right and someone else was wrong, there was little that could be done to change that perspective. When Harry thought Draco was a Death Eater, she shot him down. When she believed that the Deathly Hallows couldn’t be real, she laughed at her friends for believing in them.
Remus Lupin
Of Harry’s various Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers over the years, Remus Lupin was easily one of the best. He was a kind man with a good heart, and he really knew his stuff about Dark creatures and magic.
However, the movies left out a lot of Lupin’s personal struggles. He had internalized many of the prejudices the wizarding world felt against werewolves and let those influence his perspective of anyone who loved him. He resisted marrying Tonks simply because he thought she should not be married to a beast and even considered leaving her and his child out of fear of how he would affect their lives.
Sirius Black
After having lived under the abuse of the Dursleys for so many years, Harry was thrilled at the prospect of having a godfather and being able to finally have a real family. In the movies, Sirius provided Harry with advice and love while, admittedly, sometimes mistaking him for James.
In the books, Sirius did this as well, but he had several moments that revealed that he might not have been the role model that Harry needed. For example, in a Sirius quote that should have been in the movies, he ridiculed Harry in Order of the Phoenix for not being enough like James. He was feeling angry and trapped when he said it, but it still profoundly hurt Harry’s feelings and began a cycle of doubt over whether James and Sirius were morally good people.
Severus Snape
In the movies, Alan Rickman portrayed Severus Snape as the silent hero. He protected the students of Hogwarts with his life and never needed any thanks for the danger he put himself in again and again. However, this was not strictly true of his book character.
Where the movie version of Snape was always calm and collected, the book version was anything but. When Sirius escaped, Snape all but stomped and screamed in rage. When he believed that Dumbledore was giving Harry information that he was from him withholding, he blatantly whined and challenged the headmaster. Snape surely wasn’t an all-bad character, but he wasn’t as good as the movies made him seem.
Petunia Dursley
Petunia Dursley was a pretty horrible guardian in both the books and the movies. Despite the fact that Harry was her sister’s son, she treated him with nothing but contempt. However, in the film, it was easy for audiences to imagine her earning redemption, with a deleted scene even showing her lament over her sister’s death.
However, Petunia’s character in the book makes it impossible for her to gain any sympathy. This version of Harry’s aunt physically abused him (once trying to hit him with a frying pan) and starved him. This behavior became even worse when it was revealed that Petunia really had once loved her sister and was simply jealous of her status as a witch.
Fred And George Weasley
It’s difficult not to love Fred and George Weasley. They are funny, playful, and intelligent, which combined to make them the great joke-product inventors that they would become. In the movies, they are also seen as being compassionate, helping a first year who had been punished by Umbridge.
In the books, Fred and George could be downright cruel, causing them to be unpopular with some Harry Potter fans. For example, in Order of the Phoenix, the pair locked a Slytherin boy in a cabinet and left him there for several days without help. Ultimately, they are lucky he didn’t die.
Molly Weasley
Molly Weasley accepted Harry into her family with open arms, instantly making her the ultimate mother of the Harry Potter series. She gave him Christmas presents every year, and in the movies, she was nothing but fiercely protective of her loved ones.
This was still true of Molly in the books, but she also tended to be overly judgemental. She intensely disliked Sirius and made efforts to get in the way of his relationship with Harry. Then, when Bill became engaged to Fleur, Molly treated her with nothing but disrespect, even insinuating that she would leave Bill after he had been attacked by a werewolf.
Albus Dumbledore
Dumbledore has faced much criticism in both the books and the movies. It can’t be denied that he raised Harry with the intent that he would one day sacrifice himself to save the wizarding world, but that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to his sins.
In the books, Dumbledore’s involvement in Harry’s troubles is much clearer and led readers to conclude that he was a “good” character in Harry Potter that rubbed them the wrong way. He often knew that Harry was putting himself in danger, such as when he went after the Philosopher’s Stone. However, he did nothing to prevent Harry from confronting Quirrell, wanting to let him test his strength. Throughout the series, Dumbledore allowed Harry to come near death several times over, which was exactly what made Harry doubt whether Dumbledore even cared about him to begin with.
Voldemort
It can’t be denied that Voldemort is evil through and through in both the books and the movies. He murdered Harry’s parents and tried to kill students on several different occasions. However, the version of Voldemort’s character in the movies was morally tame compared to his book counterpart.
In the Half-Blood Prince book, Harry saw several more memories of Voldemort’s younger days than those seen in the movie. These included the young Tom Riddle murdering his father and grandparents in cold blood and framing his uncle for the crime. Then, later, he murdered an older woman he had pretended to have a close relationship with, all so he could take Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup, and, like he did his uncle, Voldemort blamed this crime on the woman’s poor house elf. This all showed Harry just the kind of man he was dealing with, a detail that was missed in the movies.
