The Harry Potter movies truly are some of the most enduring elements of pop culture, and it's easy to see why this is the case. After all, there are very few books that have created the amazing world that J.K. Rowling managed to convey through the medium of text, and watching this world be brought to life on the big screen in nothing short of spectacular. The filmmakers did a great job of showcasing the strengths of the book (along with a few touches of their own), and the end product was a series that has stayed in the hearts of fans all over the world, even after the last movie in the Harry Potter franchise aired almost 7 years ago. The fact that J.K. Rowling's wizarding world is still a major part of our lives can be witnessed in the mere existence of the Fantastic Beasts series, a franchise that has done justice to the legacy of Harry Potter — that is, if one only considers the quality of the first movie that has been released till now.
However, even the most devout Harry Potter fans would not know about some of the biggest secrets in the film series that need to be mentioned. After all, the fact of the matter is that there are a ton of things that most fans are still in the dark about when it comes to this franchise — but not anymore. Here are 25 of the coolest facts about the Harry Potter movies that most people don't know about.
25 Dumbledore Saw A Happy Family In The Mirror Of Erised
Dumbledore might seem like a person for whom everything just fell into place from the very start, but this couldn't be further away from the truth. His father was imprisoned — and later perished — in Azkaban for retaliating against a bunch of Muggles who bothered Ariana, his daughter. His mother also met her demise as a result of an uncontrolled magical blast by Ariana, leaving the latter in the care of her two brothers.
However, this was just the beginning of Dumbledore's tragedies.
During a duel between Dumbledore, Aberforth, and Grindelwald, a wayward curse ended up striking Ariana, ending her life there and then. All these tragedies contributed to a tumultuous familial relationship, which Dumbledore tried his best to hide. Even though he told Harry that what he wished was a pair of warm socks, the truth is that he actually wanted a normal, happy family.
24 Dumbledore's Personal Life
There are many secrets about Dumbledore that most people don't know about, and this is one such revelation that absolutely needs to be talked about. While the matter of Dumbledore's preference wasn't really explored in the books or the movie, J.K. Rowling has already pulled the curtain when it comes to this underlying mystery.
Dumbledore preferred the company of men. This might explain why the headmaster never married or settled down — he was never interested in this dynamic. However, the one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that Dumbledore did have strong feelings for a certain someone, whom we're going to talk about in the next entry.
23 Dumbledore Fell In Love With Grindelwald
The next movie in the spinoff series based on Harry Potter is called Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald. It doesn't take an expert to deduce that this title will focus on the relationship dynamic between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and how their inevitable fallout led to a ton of problems in the long run.
In fact, their relationship might be deeper than you think.
After all, it has already been established beforehand that Dumbledore had feelings for Grindelwald, although they were never truly reciprocated. In fact, Dumbledore's infatuation with Grindelwald was so strong that he started sharing his hatred for Muggles as well. Thankfully, the future headmaster of Hogwarts came back to his senses and stood up for what was right.
22 The First And Last Lines Of The Movies Were Spoken By Someone Called 'Albus'
This is just a cool fact that we feel absolutely must be mentioned.
We all know just how much of an influence Dumbledore had over the events that transpired in the Harry Potter franchise. In fact, even his own demise was thought of well in advance, to make Voldemort feel like he had the higher ground. His foresight was impeccable, and inevitably contributed towards Harry's victory over Voldemort.
In fact, he — and his namesake — actually utter the first and last line in the movie series.
At the start of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Dumbledore says, "I should have known that you would be here... Professor McGonagall." And at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, Albus Severus Potter ends the movie with the word "ready," in response to his father.
Speaking of cool things about Dumbledore...
21 Dumbledore Is An Old Devon Word For 'Bumblebee'
The old English language has a bunch of words that one might've not even heard about. One word, in particular, caught the eye of a certain author, who decided to use this phrase as the name of a character who ended up becoming one of the most popular fictional characters of all time. It's obvious that the author is J.K. Rowling, and the phrase is an old Devon word called "Dumbledore."
In this ancient language, the meaning of Dumbledore was 'bumblebee.' J.K. Rowling decided to use this word since she liked the idea of Dumbledore humming to himself, just like a bee.
It's truly astounding how such a simple train of thought led to the coining of what just might be one of the most popular names of all time.
20 Pansy Parkinson Was Based On The Girls Who Gave Rowling A Hard Time At School
J.K. Rowling, just like many other writers, has taken a lot of inspiration from other sources while crafting the characters of Harry Potter. One such character is Pansy Parkinson, a bully from Slytherin who starts hanging out with Malfoy's nefarious group. Her overall demeanor towards the rest of the students in the school clearly showcased the fact that she was nothing more than a spoiled brat.
In fact, her inspiration was taken from a rather fitting source.
Like most people, J.K. Rowling was bullied as a young girl. In order to craft the vilest female school student possible for her franchise, Rowling decided to use the characters of all these people who bothered her to form one wholly unappealing package that no one would like at all, in the form of Pansy Parkinson.
Jeez, even her name is completely unlikable.
19 Salazar Slytherin Was Named After A Divisive ...
While the inspiration mentioned above might've been enough to justify Pansy Parkinson's one-dimensional character, it's obvious that something more complex would be required to formulate the character of Salazar Slytherin, one of the pioneers of Hogwarts, and the creator of the Slytherin house, which is widely considered to be the 'evil' Slytherin household.
His namesake was Antonio De Oliveira Salazar, a 20th-century dictator and Prime Minister of Portugal.
Serving his role from 1932 to 1968, Salazar has become one of the most divisive figures in political history. While there was a stable political, financial, and social climate during his rule, it came at the cost of repression, poverty, and inequality. Truly, there was no other person who could've inspired the character of Salazar Slytherin.
18 Snape Is Based On Rowling's Chemistry Teacher
Sometimes, inspirations can come at the drop of a hat. While some — like the one discussed above — might be somewhat complex in nature and require a fair bit of research, there are other inspirations that stem from experiences you have in real life. Such was the case with Professor Snape, one of the most memorable characters in the Harry Potter universe, whose motivations — while devious at first — ended up being wholly pure.
His character was based on John Nettleship, Rowling's chemistry teacher.
When John found out that he was the inspiration behind Professor Snape, he was initially horrified. While he knew that he was strict, he didn't think of himself as a complete monster. Thankfully, after Snape's true intentions were revealed, Nettleship could rest easy with the fact that he wasn't the inspiration for a completely unpleasant character.
17 Ron Is Based On Rowling's Best Friend, And Hermione Is Basically Herself As A Kid
The trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione is truly one of the most iconic partnerships of all time. These close friends have truly gone above and beyond for each other, and it must be said that these characters have immortalized themselves in the realm of pop culture. While Harry was a character who was structured so that the reader could place themselves in his shoes, Ron and Hermione already had their personalities mapped out.
Their real-life inspirations are perhaps the most personal ones for Rowling.
While Ron is based on the best friend of this author, Hermione is actually based off of none other than Rowling herself. While it's certainly quite pretentious to become the inspiration for the smartest character in the series, it's still an interesting titbit of information that we felt needed to be shared.
16 There's a Real-Life Inspiration For Gilderoy Lockhart As Well
The character of Gilderoy Lockhart is one of the most annoying personas of all time. A person who lied, cheated, and stole his way to success, it must be said that Lockhart is truly one of the most despicable characters that Rowling's ever concocted. In fact, the worst part about all this is that this character is based on someone that Rowling actually knows in real life.
In fact, the character of Lockhart had to be toned down so it wasn't too unrealistic.
Just imagine a person who's such an oblivious blowhard that he doesn't even know that literally no one is buying into his tall tales. While staying in that bubble might seem appealing to some, it's truly horrifying for those who actively try to stray away from becoming anything like Lockhart.
15 Rowling's Struggles Led To The Creation Of Dementors
Trust us when we tell you that this is that last time we'll be talking about any form of inspirations from here on out.
Depression is truly one of the scariest things to inflict a person's psyche. Even now, there are people who denounce this illness as nothing more than a state of mind, which is completely untrue. The fact of the matter is that anyone can go through depression, and trying to get out of such a mental state can prove to be exhausting at times.
Even a person like J.K. Rowling has gone through this tumultuous phase.
Thankfully, she managed to get out of this mental state, but it still left a deep scar in her mind. In fact, the entire concept of Dementors stemmed from Rowling's battle. The design of the Dementors was taken from the nightmares Rowling used to have as a child.
14 The Twins Who Played Fred And George Are Actually Brunettes
After such a downer of a fact, we feel that it's time to lighten the mood with some interesting things that you might not know about.
The actors who played Fred and George did a bang-up job of portraying the mischevious nature of the twins on the big screen. In fact, the roles would simply have been miscast if another set of twins were assigned this role.
Which is funny, since the actors themselves aren't actual redheads.
In fact, Jaime and Oliver Phelps are natural brunettes, and had to dye their hair red to become a part of the Weasley family. Funnily enough, this knowledge doesn't take away from the fact that these twins absolutely nailed the role, and contributed to a ton of memorable moments in the series.
13 Tom Felton Had To Go Even Blonder To Play Draco
Since we're already on the subject of dying hair, it's time to talk about another instance that we feel deserves a mention. This particular entry discusses the involvement of Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, and how he had to go the extra mile to attain the evil look required to portray such a menacing character. Before we get into the meat of this entry, let us state beforehand that Tom Felton is a natural blond.
And yet, he had to dye his hair even blonder to look the part.
It sounds quite funny, and yet we must applaud the filmmakers for going the extra mile to ensure that the characters in the book were portrayed as accurately as possible in the movies.
Although there are times when the movies have screwed up as well.
12 James Potter Was A Chaser, Not A Seeker
In the very first movie, Harry is told that his father used to be a Seeker, which made it somewhat fitting that Harry himself ended up being a Seeker after displaying a natural level of proficiency on the broomstick. However, this statement is at odds with what J.K. Rowling has gone on record to state.
James was never assigned the role of capturing the Golden Snitch.
Instead, his role was that of a Chaser. While this might seem somewhat odd (especially since Rowling dropped a lot of hints in The Order Of The Phoenix that stated otherwise), one can't exactly with the person who created the source material from scratch. So, I guess we have to take Rowling for her word and discard anything that was mentioned in the first movie.
11 The 'T' in Voldemort Is Silent
Speaking of mistakes, here's a major one that absolutely needs to be addressed.
Pronunciation is an extremely hard thing to get right, and one would normally enunciate certain names according to how they were spelled out. Thankfully, with the advent of the Harry Potter movies, fans finally had auditory confirmation regarding how the names in this series were pronounced.
Unfortunately, the movies were wrong about one crucial thing.
One of the names that the movies ended up pronouncing wrongly was the name of the major antagonist of the series. Yep, that's right — we've all been saying Voldemort's name wrong this whole time. The 'T' at the end of his name is actually silent, and it's surprising how Rowling let such a major detail slip her mind.
10 The Parallel Of The Books And Movies Being Mirrors Of Each Other
Now, this might be a bit of a stretch, but it's just so cool that we absolutely have to mention it nevertheless.
J.K. Rowling is a brilliant author, there's no doubt about that. However, if what we're about to talk about was done intentionally (which we highly doubt), then she's in a whole another league altogether.
The books are basically mirrors of each other.
One needs to think about the fourth book as the center of this reflection, or the "mirror," if that label seems more fitting. Keeping this in mind, the third and fifth books focus on the Marauders and the Dementors. The second and sixth focus a lot on Voldemort's past, and the focal point of the first and seventh books are on Harry's past, when his parents met their demise at the hands of Voldemort.
9 Ginny And Harry Technically Switched Roles In The Chamber Of Secrets And The Half-Blood Prince
Since we're already on the topic of parallels, there's another such instance that we feel deserves a mention.
In The Chamber Of Secrets, Ginny becomes entranced by a book that compels her to perform despicable acts that completely doesn't suit her character. She also develops feelings for Harry, although at this point it's nothing more than a stupid crush, borne out of Harry's fame as The Boy Who Lived.
This dynamic is reversed in The Half-Blood Prince.
This time, it's Harry who unsuspectingly takes Snape's book, which includes a bunch of useful information. While some of it might be informative, other snippets of text hide dark curses and spells, which Harry wouldn't have even dreamt of using otherwise. There's also the crush he develops on Ginny, which — this time — ends up on a high note.
8 The Only Movies Where Everyone Survives Are The Chamber Of Secrets And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Let us remind you that, at the end of the day, Harry Potter is a children's book series. This means that, no matter what, the subject matter should not be overtly bleak. After all, no kid wants to feel morose after reading a light-hearted piece of fiction... right?
The number of characters who've met their demise would argue otherwise.
While it's true that a generation grew up with the series and should ideally be able to digest these tragedies without too much trouble, this still doesn't give a free pass to do whatever one wants. And yet, in the Harry Potter series, the only books and movies where everyone survives are The Chamber Of Secrets and The Prisoner Of Azkaban. In fact, in the former, there actually is a casualty in the form of the basilisk, although we're not really counting that.
7 Fenrir Greyback Never Showed His Werewolf Form
While this might be a fairly inconsequential fact, it's still a sticking point that needs to be addressed nevertheless.
The Prisoner Of Azkaban introduced us to another magical aspect of Harry Potter's universe in the form of werewolves. This was revealed when Remus Lupin transformed during a full moon, to the horror of the people who witnessed this event. After this, it was revealed that there was another werewolf known as Fenrir Greyback who'd joined the ranks of the Death Eaters.
However, this person never showed his werewolf form.
While it's understandable that a werewolf would be completely out of anyone's control, one might also rightly assume that the Death Eaters were so ruthless that they would be fine with unleashing such an unpredictable beast on their foes.
6 The Name "Philosopher's Stone" Was Changed To "Sorcerer's Stone" For Stupid Reasons
The Harry Potter books were already making a noticeable mark in Britain, and Scholastic finally felt that it was time to introduce this new world to the children of the West. However, when they received the rights to market and publish the book, there was one major sticking point about the title that the publishing house wanted to fix.
Basically, Scholastic thought that American children were stupid.
No, we're serious. Aside from this, we see no other reason as to why Scholastic would want to replace the word "philosopher" and replace it with "sorcerer." The fact that the publishing house actually thought that children would not read a book that had "philosopher" written on it is just mind-boggling.