10 Harry Potter Fan Theories Confirmed By JK Rowling

Harry Potter's Wizarding World is deeper than we really thought.

Aunt Petunia Harry Potter
Warner Bros.

Theorizing about our favourite movies and books is half of what we all do on the internet these days. So with 8 of the former and 7 of the latter to its name, imagine how much fun has been had over the years with the Harry Potter series. With concepts and notions stretching back to their initial publishing in 1997, it's absolutely zero surprise that J.K. Rowling herself has been forced to comment on them from time to time.

What is surprising though, is which of them she's actually confirmed.

While some are definitely retcons, and we'll talk about that here, there are others that were always there for us to find if only we looked hard enough. Why are the Dementors staying in the one place? In a thousand years, nobody noticed there was a massive chamber under the castle? Why are people so horrible to werewolves?

The truth is that a well-structured series will have hundred of offshoots and plot points that don't always make it into the main text. For a host of reasons, it is left to later interviews or Twitter posts to clear some of these up - even if that means disappointing some fans along the way. There may be facts about the stories that aren't the nicest (we could have done without knowing what happened to Wizard poo before plumbing, thanks) but this list here collects some of the best.

10. Voldemort Created More Horcruxes Than We Realized

Aunt Petunia Harry Potter
Warner Bros.

Tom Riddle spent his entire life trying to cheat death, an obsession that cost hundreds of people their lives. A savage thirst for murder was well suited to the search for immortality, as the creation of Horcruxes sounded like a standard Tuesday lunchtime for Lord Voldemort.

One of Riddle's strongest beliefs was in the power of magic, and so he settled on a seven-piece soul, with seven being the most magical number of them all. Readers and moviegoers know that Voldy done messed up - he accidentally split his soul once more, implanting the eighth piece into Harry while casually killing Lily Potter. There is a fan theory that says that this piece of the soul was not the last one that needed to be discovered, and this was confirmed by Rowling on Pottermore.

What this means is that, due to Riddle's soul already being so damaged that it could splinter so easily, Voldemort could still come back. It might seem like he's dead, but if a Horcrux existed that he never knew about, then how many pieces of him are out there, struggling to survive?

Contributor
Contributor

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick