The problem with being a fan of a book-gone-movie franchise is that the movies never fully live up to the expectations the books set. This is mainly because translating pages to screen time can result in hours-long films, so scriptwriters and film editors have to make important decisions about cuts. And these cuts are based on marketing, cultural appeal, etc. It is trying to balance what will tell the story and sell the movie.

The Harry Potter franchise is entirely guilty of this. Though we love the movies for what they are, there are some significant differences that we can’t overlook. Fair warning, we’re going to be picky. Oh, and beware of the spoilers.

Here are the top 10 things the Harry Potter movie franchise got wrong.

Related: 10 Ways The ‘Jurassic Park’ Franchise Got It Wrong

10 Sneaky Snake

*Adjusts glasses* Okay, where do we begin? Oh, yes, the first movie. Harry is a Parseltongue—he can talk to snakes. Remember the scene in the movie where he first finds this out? Then dumb old Dudley comes around, and the glass to the snake pen disappears and traps Dudley in there. Anyway, the snake in The Sorcerer’s Stone is supposed to be a boa constrictor as per the book. However, the movie got a Burmese Python.

Perhaps this was to better connect him and a trapped animal raised in captivity. Burmese pythons are best known as the snakes you get as a pet when you want a big snake. Of course, they are far removed from their indigenous habitat—kind of like Harry. Both the snake and Harry should be free in their natural environment, not kept as entertainment for somebody else.

10 “He Who Shall Not Be Named” is French

The art of literature is complex, philosophical, and filled with literary criticism and opportunities to make clever connections between content and words. Understanding the author’s intent at the outset helps drive a concept home throughout any iteration of the work. In this case, we’re looking at the pronunciation of Voldemort’s name.

Let’s break up his name into two parts: volde and mort. Volde can mean a few things, but the one that I like is its Old Norse etymology meaning “to cause.” Mort is French for “death.” Put the two together, and you get “to cause death.” That said, the proper pronunciation of mort does not have a hard ‘t’ at the end—you drop that sound and allow the ‘r’ to fall in the back of the throat. Now, if you don’t speak French, you just cut the word short.

In the original audiobook of The Sorcerer’s Stone, the narrator got the pronunciation right—and JK Rowling confirmed that he was correct. However, they pronounce the ‘t’ in all the movies at the end of Voldemort’s name.

8 Your Mother’s Eyes

Harry Potter is supposed to have his mother’s eyes in the books. Lily’s eyes are green—that’s a fairly straightforward character descriptor. Daniel Radcliff does not have green eyes, and the film’s directors didn’t seem to make a big fuss over it either. Why? Health reasons.

Radcliff had colored contacts that he was supposed to wear, but he had a bad reaction to them. Hollywood had to settle on a blue-eyed Harry Potter.

7 If I Could Turn Back Time, I Wouldn’t Have a Time Turner

How the heck did Hermoine fit in so much study time? Professor McGonagall’s Time Turner! It was a complicated way to work around one of Hermione’s defining activities as a character and ultimately caused quite a few problems with the movies.

The Time Turner works by turning the small hourglass for each hour you want to go back. If the chain of the Time Turner is long enough, multiple people can travel through time (the chain has to be able to fit around their neck, too). Rectifying the pre-destination time travel rationale will be left for a different article.

Anyway, in the books, the understanding is that when you use the Time Turner, you must be especially careful that no one sees you, especially your past selves. In the movies, Hermione and Harry really don’t seem to care.

The object caused a few more issues, like where you travel back in time, and Rowling eventually destroyed them all in Order of the Phoenix.

6 A Bunch of Old Guys

Harry’s parents were in their early 20s when they had him in the book. Snape, Lupin, and Sirius were his parents’ classmates (remember, Snape loved Lily). That makes them about the same age as Lily and James (if they were still alive). Yet, in the films, these characters are all portrayed by much older actors—they do not look like they are in their mid-30s, and if they are, boy, life’s thrown them a hard decade.

This doesn’t necessarily change the fact that Alan Rickman made the best Severus Snape, but it does make you wonder how the age difference would have affected the dynamic between the characters in the movies.

5 Ginny Weasley

If you’re simply watching the Harry Potter films, you may be questioning how on Earth Harry ended up with Ginny. The scriptwriters really did a disservice to her character and depicted her as this character who is just there to be a love interest and nothing else. The books, however, do an excellent job of throwing reason after reason why Harry would fall in love with Ginny. Rowling has even stated in interviews that whoever was going to be with Harry needed to be strong, independent, and his equal.

You don’t get that from the movies too much. Ginny is just another Sakura (for those who get the Naruto reference).

4 Voldemort’s Death

It’s true. Sometimes, deaths in literature aren’t that flashy. It’s the description surrounding the death that makes the death exciting. When you translate this to a cinematic depiction, you have to work with the death visually instead of textually. That’s why Voldemort’s death in Deathly Hallows Part 2 is so different.

Instead of falling to the floor like any body falls to the floor when it dies (but a little scarier since it’s Voldemort) as described in the book, the movie shows him crumbling away painfully with quiet finality. Furthermore, in the book, it’s Voldemort’s spell that Harry throws back at him that kills Voldemort. In the movie, Harry’s spell kills Voldemort (but not after Neville totally slays that Horcrux like a gosh darn savage).

Either way, we’re glad the b–tard is dead.

3 Calm Down, Dumbledore

The internet seems to delight in Dumbledore’s cinematic approach to asking Harry if he put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Since the Goblet spits out Harry’s name, he now must compete in the infamous competition (RIP Cedric).

A little background to the movie version of Dumbledore. After the death of actor Richard Harris, who depicted a softer Dumbledore, Michael Gambon took over and showed us a grittier side to the headmaster. As the books grew darker, so did Dumbledore’s movie counterpart to the point where franchise fans started to question the new casting.

Back to the scene. After the Goblet spits out Harry’s name, in the book, Dumbledore approaches Harry “calmly” about the issue. But, in the movie, Dumbledore turns the sentence into one word; that’s how agitated he was about it. Heck, he even pushes Harry up against the wall. Cool your tiptoe wizard shoes, Dumbledore.

2 Voldemort Has…His Mother’s Eyes, Too?

Voldemort is evil, so how better to push this than to give him red eyes? In the book, specifically Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is described as being tall, skeleton-like, and pale-faced, with snake slits for nostrils and red, cat-like eyes.

But they give him white eyes in the movie. I will say that the resurrection scene is pretty hardcore, and the white eyes aren’t a dealbreaker for me. I do wish, though, as he’s caressing his head for the first time after being reborn, he showed some disappointment at being bald.

1 The Story Behind Neville’s Parents

I love Neville Longbottom. He is the supporting underdog character who is one of Harry’s bravest, fiercest, and most loyal friends. He leads Dumbledore’s Army when Harry isn’t around; he pulls the sword out of the sorting hat and charges at Voldemort with the intent to kill; he’s the one who kills Nagini, and he’s been through hell.

The movie does not expand upon one of the essential parts of his backstory—Bellatrix Lestrange torturing his parents to the point of insanity. We understand that his parents are tortured, but we don’t get to see the scene where Neville visits his parents at the asylum. It would’ve been nice to include the scene in the movie as a way to ground the character and show the connection between Neville and Harry more.

To see exactly what he’s had to overcome in his life.

Neville, like Ginny, was cut a bit short when it came to the movies, but avid lovers of the book know just how badass he is.

The world of Harry Potter has captured the imagination of fans for a variety of reasons, not least the incredibly diverse number of creatures, plants, and supernatural entities which lead to a rich and beloved fantasy world. While some of these are familiar to many of us from a number of different sources, here are ten examples of those who have their origins in myth and folklore from around the world.

Related: 10 Interesting Secrets In Harry Potter

10 Mandrake

The famous mandrake root, introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a plant that not only screams when it is being repotted but is also a “powerful restorative” used to treat those who have been cursed, transfigured, or petrified. While the screams of the mandrake can, in some cases, be fatal, those of the younger plants only result in causing unconsciousness.

In reality, the Mandragora officinarum is not only interesting for the shape of its roots, which frequently resemble human figures, but also for its hallucinogenic and hypnotic effects. The combination of these factors makes it unsurprising that a wealth of legends have surrounded this particular plant that predates the Bible.

While in Genesis, the plant is reputed to have cured Racheal’s infertility (Genesis 30:14-17), the later writings of Josephus of Jerusalem (c. AD 37-100) describe the mandrake in a much more recognizable fashion for the fans of J.K. Rowling’s infamous series. To ensure the mandrake’s scream doesn’t kill when dug up, Josephus describes digging a furrow to expose part of the root before being tied to a dog that will then excavate the root and also perish in its master’s place.

Mentioned in the writings of famous occultists Eliphas Levi and Jean-Baptise Pitois, it was later seen as a key ingredient in flying ointments used by medieval witches to attend gatherings or meet with the Devil himself. ^[1]

9 Dragons

Some of the earliest dragon myths date back to sources such as the Indian Rig Veda (c. 1500 BC), which recounts the release of heavenly waters to the earth following the death of the great dragon Vrtra by the god Indra. Similarly, the Mesopotamian god Marduk battled the dragon Tiamat for control of humanity.

Something more recognizable to us can be found in the Iranian Zoroastrian tradition, which talks of the serpentine “azi,” described as poisonous beings that swallowed both horses and men. And once we reach the 10th and 11th centuries, the Persian Book of Kings recounts the feats of mighty heroes such as Rustum, who frequently found himself pitted against the mighty beasts. Indeed, the idea of the serpentine monster appears throughout various world mythologies: The afore-mentioned Tiamat, the Judeo-Christian Leviathan, the Hydra of Greek myth, and the Norse Jormungandr, the latter of which had a clear influence on the epic Old English poem Beowulf, where we can see the word “dracan.”

More modern depictions of dragons often draw inspiration from these tales, portraying brutal and jealous defenders of their hoarded treasure. However, it is possible that the heraldic use of the dragon has led to the traits of high intellect as well as a benevolent protector and friend to humans in many stories.^[2]

8 Pixies

Cornish Pixies, as chronicled by Rowling, are small, blue troublemakers. Traditionally, they are described as often mischievous beings that were frequently the reason for people becoming lost when traveling. Myths of pixies are not exclusive to Cornwall but also appear in Devon, Dorset, and Hampshire.

Pixies are reputedly fond of dancing and gathering together in large groups to play, cavort, or wrestle at night, such as the gathering of 600 at Trevose Head, where the celebrations were cut short when the pixie Omafra lost his laugh. Thankfully for Omfra, King Arthur was able to restore his laughter, and he returned to his pixie queen, Joan the Wad.

The pixies of Dartmoor are incredibly small and friendly. However, they do have a penchant for disguising themselves as rags in order to entice children to play. They may even help with the housework, but if you are traveling and become “pixy-led,” it may be wise to turn your coat inside out in order to find your way once more.

Far from benign, It is sometimes said that the pixies are, in fact, wandering pagan souls, stuck forever in limbo, or even the unbaptized souls of babies.^[3]

7 Boggarts

The boggart familiar to fans of the Harry Potter series bears little similarity to their mythological namesake.

With their origins in English folklore, the boggart gets its name from the Welsh “bwg” and, much like pixies, is described as being a mischievous trickster, though with a more malevolent streak.

While its origin was as a hearth-spirit, a boggart is actually a transformation of the usually helpful hobgoblin. If mistreated, it will become a boggart. Its mischievous nature will be present when becoming frightening or even dangerous as it seeks to punish those who have offended or abused it.

Boggarts are often blamed for objects disappearing, milk souring, or even dogs becoming lame. Those who dwell in swamps or marshlands have been reputed to be the cause of missing children.

In the story of “The Farmer and the Devil,” we see that even with all his cunning, a boggart can be bested. Though, let’s hope the farmer in the tale didn’t meet the wrath of Owd Hob, the Lancashire boggart king! Incidentally, those bumps in the night may just be a boggart, more commonly known nowadays as Bogey or the Bogeyman.^[4]

6 Basilisk

Another creature that differs greatly from the description given in the Potter books is the basilisk. While said to be the king of the snakes, its huge size is not reflected in the source material: Pliny the Elder writes in his Naturalis Historia that the basilisk of Cyrene is a small snake of “not more than twelve fingers in length.” It is the most poisonous of snakes, with its poison able to flow up the shaft of a spear or lance to kill both horse and rider. With venom and poisonous skin, the serpent was also said to be able to kill with a glare, turning its attention on herbs and plants if humans were not at hand.

Luckily, the odor of a weasel is all you need to repel this nightmarish creature, a legend that may have its roots in stories of the king cobra, whose natural predator is the mongoose.^[5]

5 Centaur

The centaurs of J.K. Rowling’s creation share much with C.S. Lewis’s Narnian counterparts. Healing, prophecy, and stargazing become healing, archery, and astrology in the Potter canon. While they are noble creatures, Rowling does not eschew the savagery of the original Greek myths. Wild and untamed, the centaurs are birthed by the union of Ixion and Nyphele and often are representative of the duality of human nature.

While centaurs are generally depicted as male, there have been some descriptions of centaurides, or female centaurs, with a 4th-century mosaic from Tunisia. Also, there is a mention by Ovid of a centauride named Hylonome who committed suicide following the death of her husband.^[6]

4 Yeti

Gilderoy Lockhart is said to have spent a “Year With the Yeti” in The Chamber of Secrets, which is not surprising when muggle sightings of the infamous beast have been plentiful. However, the legend of the Yeti dates back to ancient Himalayan folklore, and tales of the creature have been spread by travelers for time immemorial. Indeed, following the conquering of the Indus Valley in 326 BC, Alexander the Great demanded to see a Yeti, although he was disappointed when informed that they could not survive at such a low altitude.

Much like purported sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, little solid evidence has been presented for the existence of the creature. The famed Sir Edmund Hilary—the first man to scale Mount Everest—found what he believed to be a Yeti scalp, though it later proved to be nothing more than a serow hide, a creature similar to a goat and native to the region.

What better person to have hunted the Yeti than the great Brian Blessed? The actor/explorer has not only scaled mountains and faced off against polar bears but has published a book on his hunt for the elusive giant. If there’s anyone out there that could coax one out, I’m sure it’s the man who has been known to talk of how much female gorillas like him! ^[7]

3 Elves

Elves have a long and storied history, though none of them are the servile, meek beings found in Harry Potter.

First appearing in Old English and Norse texts, elves are indeed magical creatures and are usually described as either being possessed of incredibly long lifespans or, in some cases, immortal. Being of diminutive stature in the English and Scottish traditions, elves are often elusive, childlike, and, at times, troublesome and mischievous. Although they are not inherently evil, much of the folklore of this time recounts humans journeying to Elphame, often described as unsettling and ghostly. It’s also not unknown for elves to antagonize or even kill humans in certain circumstances.

In Norse tradition, elves are of a more human height and are even able to procreate with humans. Despite this, the alfar, as they are known, were not bound by physical laws and could pass through walls. Elves were more beautiful than humans, though men could ascend to elfhood—if worthy enough.

Yet not all elves are equal: while Freyr reigned over Alfheimr, the land of the light elves, the dark elves dwelt in Svartalfheimr, where they hid from the light of the sun, lest they be turned to stone. These dark elves were the cause of nightmares. So much so that there is even an explanation for sleep paralysis in the form of dark elves sitting on a sleeping person’s chest in the form of a mare.^[8]

2 Sphinx

The sphinx, as depicted in The Goblet of Fire, fulfills much the same role as her namesake in the myth of Oedipus, presenting our hero with a riddle that will result in his death if answered incorrectly. Depictions of the sphinx in the Egyptian tradition show a woman’s face, a lion’s haunches, and the wings of a bird. This differs from the description given in Goblet—a large leonine body with a human head.

Due to the riddles of legend, the sphinx became the symbol of not only intelligence and knowledge but also omniscience. Subsequent depictions of the sphinx, such as the Great Sphinx of Giza, are believed to show the faces of pharaohs. In this particular case, pharaoh Khafre, the pharaoh also responsible for the Great Pyramid at the same location.^[9]

1 Werewolves

Legends of the werewolf date back to the earliest known example of prosaic western literature; in The Epic of Gilgamesh, our titular hero refuses a potential lover as she had turned a previous lover into a wolf.

Greek mythology also features early depictions of werewolves: Lycaon serves the god Zeus a meal made of a sacrificed boy. In his anger, Zeus transformed Lycaon and his sons into wolves—hence the term lycanthropy.

Tales of transformation into wolves thanks to magical wolf pelts feature in the Nordic sagas. However, far more gruesome are the acts perpetrated by historical figures such as Pierre Bergut and Michel Verdun. They were purported to have sworn allegiance to the Devil and be in possession of an ointment that could to turn them into wolves. These two were burned at the stake after confessing to the murder of multiple children. Similarly, sixteenth-century Frenchman Giles Garnier was also burned at the stake after allegedly transforming into a wolf and killing and eating children.

One of the most famous real-life cases is that of Peter Stubbe, a wealthy farmer in Bedburg, Germany. After children’s disappearances in the area, he was cornered by a group of hunters who claimed to have witnessed him shapeshifting. He later confessed under torture, though while these events may have stoked rampant fears of werewolf activity around Europe, some did not believe in his guilt and thought him to be a victim of a witch-hunt. Perhaps it was more of a case of a scapegoat in wolf’s clothing.^[10]

The Harry Potter universe captured the imaginations of children and adults around the world, and continues to do so with spin-off material. The idea of a world where magical people not only exist under our feet, but use their own way of doing things and eschew most modern technology is certainly a novel idea. However, it also raises a lot of interesting questions about the world itself due to the way they interact with magic and technology, and there are some fascinating unanswered questions around many of the characters as well. 

10. Would A Gun Be Something Lord Voldemort And Other Wizards Are Prepared For? 

This is something that has bugged many fans for some time, and is a question that may never be entirely put to rest. We all know that Voldemort hates technology of all kinds, despises Muggles, and thinks them stupid and incapable. However, the question is: how much he has researched how to protect himself, even though he thinks them that idiotic? In Prisoner of Azkaban, a man named Sirius Black escapes, and an ad sent out to the Muggles calls a wand a “gun.” Later on in the book, someone from a wizarding family refers to a gun as “a kind of metal wand Muggles use to kill each other.” In other words, he has absolutely zero clue how it works. 

Now, this leads people to wonder if Voldemort, or for that matter any wizard of consequence, is prepared for this kind of threat. A bullet fires very quickly, so many people would argue even a prodigious wizard would hardly even be able to get off a nonverbal spell with a quick hand gesture in time. However, if Voldemort knew about the threat properly, he may have some kind of spell that keeps him constantly shielded from such Muggle threats. It’s also possible he simply underestimates Muggles and does not imagine ever being in a situation where he could be threatened by them, or their technology. 

9. Did Dumbledore Hide His Homsexuality Because It Was A Stigma, Or For Other Reasons? 

In an interview after the seventh book had already been published, J.K. Rowling shocked much of the world by telling the audience that the wizard who wore high-heeled boots and flamboyant purple robes was gay. Many parents were upset because it challenged their personal views, and others were simply upset because they felt she was changing a character after the fact. Now, the truth is that Rowling always planned for him to be gay — we know now that he was in love with the dark wizard Grindelwald. 

However, you don’t need that as evidence to know this was not a retcon. All of the hints were already there long ago, and many of the more well-read fans were not at all surprised. The question many fans had was why Dumbledore seemed to keep it a secret in the books. Now, some might suggest it simply wasn’t brought up, but Dumbledore seems to take flirtatious comments from women occasionally in the books, and he tries to politely deflect without being too flirty back. This would suggest these women were not aware. Now, the question is whether wizards have an issue with homosexuality, or perhaps Dumbledore just hid it because he didn’t want anyone to ever realize his romantic connection to Grindelwald.

8. Did Professor Umbridge, Being Evil In Every Other Way, Also Torture Her Cats? 

Professor Umbridge is one of the most evil characters introduced in the stories. She starts out abusing schoolchildren and making one of them repeatedly scar his hand by writing in his own blood, and eventually graduates to a point in the series where she is in charge of an inquisition to root out people who are not pureblood wizards, and have their souls sucked out by dementors. She takes absolute joy in this job, and has a dark and vicious glee in her voice as she repeatedly mocks people and claims they “are not really wizards” and never have been, because they are not pureblood. At the end of the series, she was apparently tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity, but some people may wonder more about the fate of her cats. 

In the Harry Potter stories, we learn that Umbridge has a lot of cat pictures, and likes to display them regularly. This is a woman who likes to keep her surroundings absolutely pristine, and has a nasty personality that can be both passive aggressive — and just plain aggressive — depending on her mood and the situation. It’s hard to imagine such a woman being kind to animals, or putting up with any mess they might make. And according to secondary sources Umbridge hated the cleanup and mess. However, if she learned to hate the mess, did she at one time try to care for live cats? And what kind of horrible person would she have been to a live animal? 

7. Were The Dursleys Evil Because Of The Piece Of Voldemort Inside Harry? 

Some people have pointed out that, in the final book, Ron got upset and awful because he was wearing a horcrux, and that even Hermione and Harry got more irritable while it was on them for an extended period of time. We also know that Harry himself was a horcrux. This has brought some people to speculate that the Dursleys were so evil, and so mean, because Harry — being a horcrux — brought out the worst in them. 

To its detriment, the house was supposed to be well defended magically to protect Harry, so it is hard to imagine how much even seeping influence his presence could have over time. It also begs the question of how the horcrux didn’t turn Harry’s dorm-mates evil or nasty, over time, simply by being around him. In support, though, it is possible it just amplifies existing traits. If Harry’s roommates were normal people it would have no undue influence on them; however, Ron — in a state of heavy resentment while wearing one regularly — could not take the pressure. And the Dursleys were already said to be pretty nasty people, but it does seem plausible that Voldemort’s presence within Harry could have helped amplify their already evil traits. 

6. Should Hermione Have Really Gone With Ron, Harry, Or Someone Else Entirely? 

Not long ago, J.K. Rowling both shocked the world and made a lot of people facepalm by suggesting that Hermione should not have wound up with Ron because she would simply never be happy longterm with him, and should have gone with Harry instead. Now, Rowling is being a little silly here because, well… she already wrote it one way. And also, if Harry goes with Hermione this kind of leaves Ginny out in the cold. Even sillier, it was Rowling herself who used to adamantly be against all of the ‘shippers who kept claiming it should really be Harry and Hermione up until the end. 

Now, she claims she wants to change the outcome of her own story, but just like Rowling herself not being happy with the ending, perhaps the real answer here is that Hermione would not have been truly happy with either of them, or perhaps anyone in the books. Hermione likes being around people to an extent, and she likes having friends and she can talk up a storm, but overall she is a loner and a bookish type. She likes to study, learn and succeed on her own and she is incredibly invigorated by working alone. Such an introverted person, who would also run circles around most people in the room in terms of intelligence, would likely find it difficult to really get along with anyone long term as a partner. Perhaps somewhere deep down, Rowling knows this, because there are a lot of similarities between her and Hermione. 

5. Can Anything Ever Really Redeem Severus Snape For Being So Unapologetically Evil? 

Some people like to romanticize Severus Snape, partly because he was played by a man who was truly kind and charming in real life. Also, people tend to see Snape’s final memories in the story and come away with a touching picture, while many of us just see the sad, wasted life of a messed up person. The memories show Snape knew Lily from a young age, always loved her, and fought Voldemort all along (in secret) in order to keep his love of Lily alive, and even sacrificed a few times to protect Harry himself. 

However, the truth is that Snape was not just a tortured lover — who “lost” a girl he never even had — and used that love to bring him back to the “good side.” He was nasty, and Dumbledore used him to get as much good out of him as he could, but he was never a “good” man. Rowling herself has been pretty clear on this, but some people do not seem to get it. He claimed he loved Lily, but it was a selfish, evil, possessive (and extremely one-sided) love, because he did not truly care about her wishes or her memory. No one could say a mother would want her son abused in such a way, simply because his father was a different man than the man who once courted her. This doesn’t mean he was pure evil, though, and Rowling has said as much. But can any sacrifice make up for so much awful behavior? 

4. What Exactly Happens To The Soul That A Dementor Eats, And What Is Your Afterlife Fate? 

In Harry Potter, we learn in the third installment about horrible beings called dementors. They suck the happiness out of the air around them, and it slowly makes you weaker and weaker. They feed on your despair and sadness, and if they manage to get close enough to you and truly grab a hold of you with their rotting hands, they can give you something called the “dementor’s kiss” where they literally suck out your soul. Now, perhaps to not scare children, Rowling doesn’t really go into details here, so we are left to speculate. 

We know that the afterlife exists in Harry Potter — Sirius Black accidentally enters it through a one way curtain in the fifth book, but that still leaves a lot of details unclear, especially when it comes to dementors. Is the soul “killed” and sent on to the afterlife? Or is it somehow consumed and actually destroyed? Is the person in question killed, their body now just being a husk, or is there some kind of life to it now, being only an animal existence? While it is a kids’ series, and we cannot expect Rowling to address these things in too much detail, it would be interesting to know how it is all really supposed to work. 

3. Did Snape Hate Neville For Being Weak, And A Gryffindor, Or For More Insidious Reasons?

In the early Harry Potter books, we quickly notice that apart from picking on Harry for being himself, and picking on Hermione for being a know-it-all, Snape really seems to enjoy tearing Neville Longbottom into tiny little bits and dissolving him into tears on a regular basis. Now, most people always assume that this was just because Neville was clumsy and stood out as an annoying and awkward Gryffindor, and many of us went through the entire series believing this. But some have read more closely and noticed something interesting that makes Snape even more despicable as a human being. 

In the fifth book, we learn about a prophecy that caused Voldemort to think Harry would have the power to destroy him, so he attempted to murder Harry and his entire family. We also learn this prophecy could have also applied to Neville, but it ended up applying to Harry instead because Voldemort essentially chose Harry as his nemesis. Snape was always well aware of this, and it may have driven his insane hatred of Neville. If Neville’s parents had been attacked, Lily would never have been killed, and if Harry hadn’t been born, Lily wouldn’t have been killed either. According to this theory, as far as Snape was concerned, Neville and Harry were both to blame, with the bonus of Harry being half the kid he wanted to have with Lily, but looking so much like the man who got to be with her instead. What this meant to Snape, of course, was that both boys needed to be systematically punished for as long as they were in his power. 

2. Does The Ministry Know, Or Care, How Ridiculous Their Underage Magic System Is?

In the second Harry Potter installment, we find Harry dealing with a visit from some people Uncle Vernon is trying to get a big drill contract with, and Harry himself being hustled out of sight. A house elf who wants him to stay away from Hogwarts gets him into big trouble with both his aunt and uncle, and the Ministry of Magic as well, by making it look like he used magic in the house. The Ministry warns him that if he uses underage magic again without permission, they will boot him from school. This makes things even worse for him, as he then gets punished severely with his aunt and uncle knowing he cannot retaliate against them with magic. 

Now, Harry is aggrieved because he did not actually use magic, and wonders if the system is not actually very well designed. He later finds out that he is entirely correct. It turns out that the Ministry’s system cannot actually tell who used the magic, just that it was used in the household. That means — presumably — if it was a wizarding household, you could get away with underage magic all the time and no one would ever know. The only people who would get caught are orphans, and they are the ones most likely to panic and use magic because they are vulnerable and have no one to protect them. Instead of sending a Ministry representative to ask why an underage child in a non-wizarding household was using magic, they just send a letter and threaten expulsion after just one little levitation charm. 

1. Is There Any Way To Force Someone To Make An Unbreakable Vow?

In the Harry Potter novels, we learn early on about something called the unbreakable vow. Two people clasp hands while holding their wands and go through an oath about their actions. The vow is literally unbreakable, in that if you cannot find a way out of the wording and you break the oath, you simply die. Ron mentions once that when he was a little kid, his older brother Fred almost got him to do one, and then his mom noticed and came and gave his older brother a spanking he would never forget. We are never told what he wanted him to agree to in this oath. Snape also takes an oath in book six, agreeing to kill Dumbledore if needed instead of Draco — something Snape had already agreed to with Dumbledore in the first place. 

However, apart from these instances, we don’t really know much else about it. It seems unlikely that using the imperius curse would work to force someone into an unbreakable vow, but other methods seem plausible. A big question would be how much the vow “understands” intent, as it talks about Ron being almost tricked into it as a very young child. Also, we don’t know how smart magic is, and whether the spell would recognize conditions of duress or not. Obviously the imperius curse would not work or a dark wizard would have tried that one, but what about simply waving a gun in someone’s face, or threatening their family? Would the unbreakable vow allow such threats to work, and give you life and death control over another human being?

Is there another magician of such renown that he has entire television shows devoted to him near 90 years after his death? Born in Hungary as Eric Weisz in 1874 (his famous stage name was a slight tweaking of the name Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, possibly the most famous magician of the 19th century and the person who codified the familiar stage magician costume still used today), by 1899 Houdini had emigrated to the United States of America and began the career that would make him the most famous stunt magician in the world. For various reasons, though, Houdini himself did not consider that enough. By 1918, he announced he would be abandoning the stage work that had served him so well for decades and start devoting himself to becoming a star of the silver screen.

Technically Houdini’s film debut had been in 1901 when he performed a series of escape tricks for Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini Paris, but 1918 was the year of his first film where he attempted to pretend he was someone other than himself. Starting at the top, he was paid $1,500 a week by Rolfe Photoplays, which at the time was roughly $23,000. Today that might not sound so high for a world famous film star, but since movies were still in their infancy at the time it was effectively unprecedented. To more effectively play to Houdini’s reputation, the heroes he played would invariably end up in some sort of extreme restraints, like a locked case or chains. Functionally it was a gender-inverted version of the silent film trope of the damsel in distress being tied to railroad tracks.  

His first acting job was playing Quentin Locke in the serial The Master Mystery, a rather loopy story about an agent for the Justice Department who takes down a criminal cartel that has in their arsenal both gas weapons and a robot. It did not take long for it to become clear just how unqualified Houdini was for his new career.

Anyone who has seen silent films, particularly movies from before Charlie Chaplin made the transition from shorts to making feature films, knows that screen acting was almost always completely unnaturalistic. Even by the forgiving standards of the age, Houdini was a notably bad actor. He would vacillate between extreme stiffness and overwrought gestures in a manner that drew unintentional laughter. Perhaps with experience he could have eventually learned the technique properly, but of course Harry Houdini was far too famous to be wasted in anything less than a starring role. It certainly didn’t help that Houdini had a somewhat hard default facial expression that would often give him a sinister quality on movie posters. None of this kept his films from being popular with children, but their charms were lost on adults.  

He also had a curious quirk. Although he would always be cast as the lead with a love interest, he could not embrace the actress playing her without becoming ruinously self-conscious. This was because Houdini had insisted, despite the suggestions of numerous members of the crew, that his wife be present during those scenes. Who would have thought that Houdini and Kirk Cameron would have such similar issues?

Even Houdini’s starmaking skills at illusion didn’t avail him very much on the silver screen. We might be used to stories of how early film audiences supposedly thought a train approaching a camera in a film might hit them, or fainting in horror at the sight of the Phantom of the Opera, but audiences were already somewhat savvy to film production tricks by this time. So when Houdini performed his escapes from ropes or straightjackets in movies, audiences knew that an actor could achieve what played the same through props or editing.

Even his much more death-defying stunts were obviously not being performed live for the audience, so they didn’t  have the same thrill because there was no risk of Houdini actually dying – especially not for the stunts that were obviously shot on sets. So even when Houdini did truly dangerous tricks, such as his escape at Niagara Falls, it simply didn’t land as intended. The need to shoehorn in such scenes could also make the movies a touch sillier than intended. For example, in The Master Mystery, Houdini’s undercover agent character finds himself in a straightjacket with absolutely no justification within the story, as if such an occurrence were merely a natural part of the process of investigation. Under the circumstances, it was not to surprising that The Master Mystery was not a hit by the end of its 20 episode run.

Yet as far as his public image would be concerned, The Master Mystery was a smashing success compared to his 1919 foray The Grim Game. The story of the film was that Harvey Hanford went after the gangsters who framed him for murder and kidnapped his fiance. It began an amusing little trademark for characters played by Harry Houdini: All of the subsequent ones would have HH initials. This was decades before that would become a common practice in comic books. But what attracted the most attention regarding Houdini’s second film had nothing to the story or characters.

By far the most notable event of the film’s production and release was when a plane stunt ended in a very real, unplanned collision of two stunt planes. Never one to waste a publicity opportunity, Houdini went to the press with how he’d survived the plane crash in good health and even released posters about the news story. The promotional campaign backfired about as much as it could. Word got out that not only had it been a stunt person who’d suffered a broken arm from the crash instead of Houdini himself, it further came out that Houdini hadn’t even been on set at the time. In the midst of the subsequent uproar and box office failure, the studio could hardly be blamed for canceling Houdini’s expensive contract after his third feature, the misleadingly-titled treasure-hunting adventure Terror Island, also sank at the box office without a bubble.  

Still, Houdini had long been skeptical that his career as a magician would bring him a lasting legacy, and even before his misguided film career this belief had led him to some curious life choices. For example he’d previously said that he believed his pioneering 1910 flight across Australia would be what immortalized him, even though it turned out that someone else had already pulled that off in 1909. So the world’s most accomplished magician was hardly going to let short-sighted film studios decide whether or not he got to be an immortalized film star! It also helped that while audience attendance might have been high, just knowing that Houdini was a movie star at all was making him so in-demand that he could get as much as $3,000 a week for live performances.

So it was that in 1922 he began the Houdini Picture Corporation and a film printing lab. At his own expense, he produced and released The Man from Beyond, which also saw Houdini attempting some screenwriting as well. It is probably the best remembered of his films today if only for its bizarre storytelling choices. That is, bizarre even by the standards of films that were primarily designed as vehicles for excuses for the hero to get locked in a box or bound in dangerous situations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYnbe_2IZ8Q

In it, Houdini plays a man who, in 1820, gets frozen in an arctic expedition and then thawed out as a result of an expedition a century later, and performs a series of rescues and escapes because one of the two explorers that thawed him out ends up framing him for murder. As film critic Scott Ashlin pointed out, the fact that protagonist Howard Hillary is a man a century out of his time mostly plays no part in Houdini’s version of Encino Man. There’s no culture shock, and no relevant information that he knew in the 19th century that comes into play in his 20th century exploits. Nothing as satisfying as that. The only role it plays is that Howard Hillary convinces his love interest Felice Norcross that she is his lost love, Felice Strange, reincarnated. Houdini was surely aware how that might not play very well with God-fearing audiences, for within the movie itself Howard Hillary’s dogma about reincarnation gets him committed to an asylum.

In an ending that would certainly never fly today, even in our more spiritually permissive age, the audience is meant to be happy that she is fully possessed by the spirit of Howard Hillary’s lost love. Admittedly, there was a spiritualist fad in the wake of World War I, what with all the people who’d lost loved ones wanting some form of solace, but Houdini’s ending clearly went much too far even for most in that crowd.

The Man from Beyond flopped in the same way Houdini’s major studio work had, but it certainly acquired one prominent fan: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Houdini and Doyle famously had a falling out over whether or not Houdini’s stage powers were authentic magic, but in this particular case, Houdini was so desperate to get Doyle’s approval that he included a close up on the cover of Doyle’s spiritualist pamphlet The New Revelation while Howard Hillary is showing it to Felice in an effort to convince her of his reincarnation theory. It worked like a charm, and Doyle wrote a rapturous blurb, but audiences still didn’t fall for it. Imagine if Chris Angel or David Copperfield had included a shot of Stephen King’s The Stand in their nationally released vanity film to get a positive tweet from the target of their pandering.

Still exhibiting the sort of hardheaded determination that so often makes people who achieve greatness in one profession look like fools in others, in 1923 Houdini financed yet another film project, this time also taking over as director. This one was Haldane of the Secret Service, a story about the son of a detective hunting down the criminals that murdered his father. Along the way he learns that the leader of his gang of adversaries is the father of his love interest, which at least shows a level of story ambition completely lacking in his previous films. As far direction is concerned, all that need be said was that Houdini didn’t even intend to direct the film, he simply needed to fill in for Burton King.

Critics, beginning to see Houdini less as an entertainer than as an egregious egotist who refused to see the writing on the wall, became more and more savage towards his films as his career went on. Variety said of newly emergent Houdini fatigue, “Perhaps the renowned Houdini is fading,” before complaining that his final movie only featured one escape scene and that for the rest of the film the audience had to content themselves with the sight of the magician as he would “waltz around in a tuxedo and dress suit.” This did not seem to escape Houdini’s attention, for when he wrote messages to his friends telling them of new productions or upcoming premieres, he began putting in self-deprecating asides about his ego.

Still, it’s unclear whether or not Houdini would have taken the hint after the failure of Haldane of the Secret Service, although by that point he had spent so much money trying to keep his film career going that he was indebted to his friends and business partners. By 1926, Houdini passed away from abdominal problems, which legend says was the result of a playful punch to the stomach. If he had stuck to his movie-making guns in the next year or so, he might have been able to try his hand at failing as an actor in a sound film in the wake of the success of The Jazz Singer. In terms of posterity, it’s definitely for the best that he allowed his film work to be completely overshadowed by his world class tricks.

Dustin & Adam Koski are also the authors of the urban occult horror novel Not Meant to Know.