20 Biggest Things The Harry Potter Movies Left Out

10. The Godric's Hollow Graffiti

Harry Potter Howler
Warner Bros.

In The Book

When Harry and Hermione go back to Godric's Hollow chasing the the Sword Of Gryffindor, they visit Harry's childhood home and see the ruins where his parents died. It's naturally sombre, but they come across a sign near the ruins of the Potters’ home to commemorate what occurred there, with magical graffiti on it with supportive messages for Harry like "if you read this Harry, we're all behind you."

In The Film

We do get to see the exploded ruin of the house, but the messages aren't there at all, instead Harry and Hermione visit the graveyard before they're discovered by a Nagini in Bagshot's clothing and they go into her house.

Was It A Positive Cut?

The film feels a lot more like the fight belongs only to Harry, Hermione and Ron, other than a few flash point hints (and when they eventually return to Hogwarts), and the removal of the messages very much stripped more of the idea of the war affecting everyone away. In a way those messages are also an act of defiance against an oppressive regime, which is an important thing.

Also, those supportive messages then seguing into the horrifying Bathilda the snake moment would have made the latter even more scary.

In this post: 
Harry Potter
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

WhatCulture's former COO, veteran writer and editor.