Harry Potter Theory

5 Harry Potter Characters That Are TOTALLY Different in the Books

02.03.2024 - By Harry Potter TheoryPlay

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Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re discussing Harry Potter book characters who are NOTHING like their movie counterparts.

As a general rule, fans of book series know to watch movie adaptations of the novels they love without expecting too much—for it is extremely rare that a filmmaker's vision will match the fictitious world that a fan has created in their own mind. After all, how could you expect every single person to interpret a book the EXACT same way—from the appearance of the characters to how the world looks around them. And even if there was some sort of consensus on how a character was supposed to look, there’s also the fact that it’s incredibly unlikely for there to be an actor or actress out there who perfectly resembles that character, is the right age, has the correct dialect, AND can act. Of course, this seems even more impossible when applying the concept to an entire cast of characters—like in Harry Potter. 

And so, when the first movie adaptation of the Harry Potter series, The Philosopher’s Stone, was released in 2001, it goes without saying that fans of the books knew things wouldn’t be perfect. BUT it wasn’t unreasonable to think that the films would at least TRY to accurately reflect the people and places that fans had read on the pages of the first few books. And in many ways, it did—especially, that first film. However, as more and more movies were made, there were some pretty glaring differences between the books and the films—in particular, with some of the main characters of the series. 

And so, here are five book characters that I think are NOTHING like their movie counterparts…

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