‘After all these years? Always.’ Well, I guess it is apt to use the dialogue here as the Potterheads have been here even a decade after the release of the last Harry Potter movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.’ Whether you have grown up with the movies or have later got addicted to it, if you are a super-fan, you must have come across the minutest of plotholes that have been existing in the series despite it being one of the most iconic movie series of all time. However, some of these plotholes actually have explanations— either given away by J.K Rowling herself or dug out by the fans as possible theories.
We aren’t going to cite each and every error that we came across in the movies; rather, we are going to look for explanations to major plotholes that have been bugging the fans for years. Although some of them are pure loose-ends from the writer or the filmmakers’ side, most of the following have convincing reasons.
The Destruction of Millennium Bridge
In the sixth Harry Potter movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ we have witnessed the Death Eaters causing chaos all over the country, frightening the public away while destroying important landmarks, one of which was London’s Millennium Bridge that was shown being destroyed in the opening scene. But how can a building be destroyed when it wasn’t even constructed at that time? Since the movies follow the same timelines as the HP books, the year at that time must have been 1996, but the Millennium Bridge had finished construction only in 1998 and had opened in the year 2000.
Harry Destroying Tom Riddle’s Diary
The fact that the venom of basilisk is capable of destroying the Horcruxes created by Voldemort was stated quite later in the Harry Potter series. However, at the end of the second movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,’ Harry was seen stabbing Tom Riddle’s Diary with the basilisk fang, which destroyed the second Horcrux. The question is, why did he think of doing this, as it is pretty much clear that he had no idea about the Horcrux or the power of the venom. The only argument for the same can be that Harry was just lucky enough to use the closest sharp object to harm the diary in that moment of frenzy.
Wait there; we have another plot hole in the same context. Harry was himself stabbed by the basilisk fang before he got to destroy the diary. Didn’t that mean the Horcrux inside Harry should have been destroyed in the second movie itself rather than the last one, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II’? It seems like J.K. Rowling just used a convenient plot device of having basilisk venom as a ‘tool’ to kill Horcruxes when needed. Or, maybe the Horcrux got saved because of Fawkes’ tears, which are capable of healing almost everything.
Peter Pettigrew Should have been Caught by Fred and George on the Marauder’s Map in ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’
Those who have watched the movies or read the books must have been knowing that Fred and George Weasley did hand over a magical map known as the Marauder’s Map to Harry, which is capable of showing the location of everyone at Hogwarts along with their real names, in whichever form they are— disguised or hidden. At the time of handing it over, they tell Harry that they have thoroughly studied the map, and much of their mischievous plans have succeeded owing to that map. However, does that really make sense that every night another name, Peter Pettigrew, who has been under disguise for 12 years as a pet rat to the Weasleys, sleeps in Ron and Harry’s dormitory without even them realising it?
Well, the preferable argument for this can be— that Fred and George did not use the map before Ron joined them at Hogwarts. However, since Scabbers was Percy’s old pet which Ron inherited, he must have had Scabbers for at least the first few years there. So does that mean Fred and George did not ever check on Percy all this time while looking over their magical map? Who knows!
Lavender Brown’s Character was not Played by the Same Actor Throughout the Series.
If you have watched the movies carefully, you must have noticed this well-known movie loose-end that the character of Lavender Brown has not been played by the same actress throughout the series. In fact, not two but three actresses had to play the role, and only one of them was white. In ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ the character was portrayed by Jessie Cave, the one whom we all know as Lavender Brown, while in the previous movies, two black actresses, Jennifer Smith, and Kathleen Cauley, had portrayed the character. The moviemakers might have thought that since her character did not bear a lot of importance, no one would notice if the actor got changed. This even led to a lot of controversies arising among the fans.
Read: Top Ten Most Shocking And Saddest Deaths Of The Harry Potter Series
The Portkey to the Graveyard at the end of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’
The logic behind the functioning of portkeys seems to be very ambiguous. Portkeys were introduced at the beginning of the fourth movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ when they were going to the World Quidditch Match, where it was said that they are ought to be on the hill at a particular time for catching the portkey. Now, at the end of the same movie, it was shown that Harry and Cedric grabbed the goblet, which carried them to the graveyard during the Triwizard Tournament. It was a plan of Voldemort all along, and just as the Dark Lord was about to kill Harry, he somehow managed to use the portkey again to come back to Hogwarts.
However, later in the fifth book, it was revealed that the object earlier made as a portkey loses its magical power once it has been used— something that goes against the second use of the goblet as portkey in the graveyard. Moreover, instead of dropping him back between the maze where he and Cedric had first touched the goblet, the portkey brings Harry before the crowd watching the tournament. Although this has never been addressed by Rowling, we can only assume that Voldemort might have wanted a shortcut to get inside Hogwarts after regaining his powers and thus had hoped the portkey to help him.
Using Veritaserum to Question Sirius
In ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ Veritaserum was used to extract the truth out from Barty Crouch, who was disguised as Mad-Eye Moody using the polyjuice potion throughout the movie. However, one of the biggest questions is, why wasn’t the portion used to question Sirius Black years ago when he was accused of killing Peter Pettigrew and a crowd of muggles, along with betraying his friend James? Moreover, the potion could have been very effective in providing justice to everyone who is wronged had it been used as a lie director. However, it is not as simple as we think it is.
The reason is quite simple— because Veritaserum is not infallible. Some of the powerful wizards can protect themselves against the use of it, which will mislead the ministry. Barty Crouch Jr. could not do anything to prevent it from affecting him because he was attacked before he was given the potion and was feeling very groggy at that time. If he was given the time, he could have faked innocence or employ some other measures to protect himself. Moreover, Sirius wasn’t given a proper trial as almost everyone witnessed the incident, and having a trial would have been a waste of time for the ministry.
Colin Creevey Clicking Pictures in The Chamber Of Secrets
In the second Harry Potter movie, the little boy Colin Creevey was seen snapping life at Hogwarts with the help of his muggle camera. However, in the fifth movie, it was Hermione revealed that no Muggle technology could work at Hogwarts. So did the moviemakers make another mistake? Well, not this time, at least. The camera used by Colin was most likely to be a mechanical one and not a digital one since he attended Hogwarts in the early 90s. Moreover, it was also mentioned to have a film that needed to be coated in a particular potion to capture moving images.
Just as Harry used to wear a wristwatch, which worked completely fine until he took it near to the lake in ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ some other adapted muggle technology seems to work at Hogwarts as well, like the cars and the radios. It seems like Hermione was referring to complex electronic gadgets like TV, computers, and digital cameras.
Harry Should have been Expelled in the Third Movie Itself.
It wasn’t new on Harry’s part to cast spells (minor or major) outside Hogwarts even though it was forbidden to do so for an underage wizard or witch. However, Harry used a Lumos Maxima charm at the beginning of ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ while studying magic under covers in his bedroom. Well, it is something to exist in the movies only since Harry did not use any spell at that point. Later, he even blew up his aunt in anger, who was criticizing his parents unnecessarily and left home with his belongings. After a few scenes, he again uses the Lumos charm to see in the dark, thus using it three times in a row outside the school. However, even after this, he wasn’t expelled or given any sort of punishment. So, why this special treatment?
To begin with, the ministry cannot punish a child for such trivial matters as using a harmless spell or for inflating his aunt. In addition to it, the ministry was already occupied during that time as one of the most dangerous prisoners (apparently), Sirius Black, had escaped from Azkaban, who was thought of going in search of Harry to kill him. Therefore might have kept their calm so as to protect Harry and not anger him more.
Polyjuice Potion does not Seem to be Very Consistent.
The Polyjuice potion was first introduced to us in the second Harry Potter movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets,’ when Ron and Harry used it to transform themselves into Goyle and Crabbe, respectively (Hermione couldn’t because she had had the potion with a cat’s hair in it rather than a human hair). In that very scene, it was showcased that even though their outward appearance changed totally after drinking the potion, their original voice remains intact, concluding that the Polyjuice potion is unable to affect people’s voices.
Later, in ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ it was showcased that Barty Crouch Jr. has been under the disguise of Mad-Eye Moody using Polyjuice potion with exactly the same voice of the latter. So was he really that good at impersonating someone else’s voice for almost a year? It seems like a pure plothole since, according to the books, everything, including the voice, changes as soon as one consumes the Polyjuice potion.
Using Hermione’s Time-Turner to Save Lily and James Potter
When we first watched the third movie, probably all of us had this instinct to go and instruct Harry to use Time-Turner for saving his dead parents. The way Hermione and Harry went three hours back in time and saved the lives of Buckbeak and Sirius Black was exceptionally mind-wrecking, and it instantly forced us to consider it as a way to prevent a lot of things, the most important of which was to save the lives of Lily and James Potter. However, technically it is next to impossible since both of them had died a long time ago, and it was probably not possible for the time turner to take them that far without any horrible consequence.
Moreover, trying to stop the death of the Potters would mean that Voldemort never got destroyed since there would have been no rebounding spell— basically, the present would have been changed entirely. In addition to that, Harry and Hermione could save Buckwheat and Sirius Black since it was an ontological paradox. Everything had already happened, including the safety of Buckwheat. They were just performing the actions for the things that were actually supposed to happen.
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