10 Best Harry Potter Plot Twists
4. Scabbers Was Peter Pettigrew And Sirius Was Innocent – The Prisoner Of Azkaban
Scabbers seemed an unlikely source for a plot twist. During the first two entries in the series, he was merely an additional quirk for Ron. In the third, however, Rowling revealed that Scabbers was in fact Peter Pettigrew.
Despite Harry having noticed the name ‘Peter Pettigrew’ on the Marauder’s Map earlier in the story, no one could have predicted that Ron’s rat was an Animagus.
In tandem with such a revelation came the knowledge that Sirius was innocent and had been wrongly imprisoned for the crimes that Peter had committed.
As well as the shock of this multifaceted twist, from Harry’s perspective, it also meant that he now had a father figure. Though Hagrid and Dumbledore had a somewhat parental relationship with our hero, Sirius felt closer to a genuine family member given that he was Harry’s godfather.
In this sense, as well as being highly unexpected, this twist had an emotional resonance with both Harry and the audience.