The amount of content spanning through the seven Harry Potter books is incredibly extensive. Many fans of the books may have been dissapointed to find their favourite moments omitted from the movies. However, as with any book to movie adaptation, some stuff just had to give! It couldn’t have been easy with the Harry Potter franchise; a fact made explicitly clear by the last book being stretched into a two-part finale.
Many much-loved characters just didn’t make the cut and got left behind in the books. The omission of some actually helped mould a much better viewing experience for the audience, and built a much better story for the big screen. However, some characters that didn’t make it into the movies could have actually helped bring depth and meaning to particular events and character arcs.
10 Charlie Weasley
Of all the Weasley clan, Charlie Weasley is the only one that doesn’t make an appearance in any of the movies. He’s mentioned briefly in both The Philosopher’s Stone and The Goblet of Fire, as Ron excitedly mentions his brother’s work with dragons in Romania, but nothing more.
In the books, Charlie plays a major role in recruiting foreign wizarding folk to join the fight against Voldemort. Including this in the movies could have opened up the wizarding world on a global scale for movie watchers. However, a glimpse of this is provided when Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, foreign magical schools, attend the Tri Wizard Tournament.
Furthermore, in adding Charlie, a frivolous indulgence into the world of dragons could have been explored through his work with them in Romania. However, it would have distracted to much from the main story. The amount of screentime given to dragons in the movies balances nicely with that given to the other mythical creatures that feature throughout all eight movies.
9 The Gaunts - Marvolo, Merope, and Morfin Gaunt
In the books, mentions of the Gaunts were substantial in building the bigger picture of Voldemort’s past. It would not have distracted from the movies to show how his past moulded his future.
Voldemort’s mother, Merope, was abused by her brother Morfin, and father, Marvolo. Once her abusers were sent to Azkaban, she married Voldemort’s father, Tom Riddle. However, as she deceived Tom under the guise of a love potion, the son they bore was unable to feel love. Tom then leaves both Merope and little Voldemort, after falling out of the love spell, and Merope dies shortly after.
It’s the mixture of the circumstances of his birth, his father leaving, and mother dying, that gave Voldemort the most miserable childhood. This matched with the same hatred of muggles and belief in ‘pure blood’ as his grand-father bore, left no path for Voldemort than one of evil.
8 Winky
The absence of Winky from the Harry Potter movies was probably for the best. She was desperatley depressed at Hogwarts, after being thrown out of the Crouch household, and fell into alcohol addiction. The beloved Dobby helped her overcome this; however, it probably wouldn’t have suited the family friendly nature of the franchise.
Her role works well in the books; she inspires Hermione’s life-long determination to fight for the rights of all house-elves and helps add a bit of suspicion around the Crouch family and their ugly duckling, Barty Crouch Jr. However, including her in the movies would have added no benefit in driving the storyline forward.
Her presence in the movies would have only diverted attention from the main plot. Given the vast amount of content from the books they had to squish into just eight movies, it was a wise choice to leave her out.
7 Rodolphus Lestrange
If you’ve only ever watched the movies, you might be surprised that Bellatrix Lestrange was actually married! The equally foul individual she somehow managed to take her on was fellow death eater, Rodolphus Lestrange.
In the books, Rodolphus finds himself imprisoned with Bellatrix in the infamous Azkaban Prison. They eventually manage to escape together to re-join the death eaters and serve their dark lord once more.
However, the absence of Rodolphus actually helps build on the image portrayed of Bellatrix throughout the movies. She shows absolute devotion to the dark lord, almost losing herself in her desperate adoration of him. The fact that the movies show her as more of a standalone character with no reference to her marriage only helps add clarity to this image.
Furthermore, it also helps create a more pathetic end for the villain. She is disintegrated by Molly Weasley; a lonely old spinster, no love between her and her sister Narcissa, and Voldemort soon to be defeated.
6 Marietta Edgecombe
Remember when Cho gets the blame for ratting out Dumbledore’s army in Order of the Phoenix? Well, this isn’t how it goes down in the books. In the books, the real culprit is Cho’s friend, Marietta Edgecombe of Ravenclaw. However, Marietta is nowhere to be found when watching the movie.
In the books, Marietta rats out on Dumbledore’s army to the despicable Dolores Umbridge in fear of the possible repercussions to her parents working at the ministry.
This is however the only impactful thing Marietta does in the books, so her absence is not missed in the movie. The movie actually flows better by instead making Cho the snitch. It provides a clean cut in both her relationship with Harry, and her appearances in the movies moving forward.
5 Peeves
In the books, Hogwarts is shown to be sprawling with ghosts. However, in the movies only a handful are shown, and Peeves is not among them.
In the books, Peeves is an absolute menace and cause all kinds of havoc and mischief. He plays a number of pranks on several different characters and spreads rumours about Harry being in Slytherin. The removal of Peeves from the movies helps strengthen the view of Fred and George being the loveable troublemakers of the movies.
He also spreads rumours about Harry, and causes him grief in doing so. Removing Peeves helps build on the characters of both Snape and Filch. Snape and Filch are shown as the most alert characters to Harry’s exploits throughout the movies, ready to catch him out if he’s not careful.
Having Peeves in the movies would have diluted the aforementioned character’s impact in the movies.
4 Professor Binns
Another ghostly character from the books absent from the movies is Professor Binns. His character in the books is described as so boring and lost in his work as a History of Magic professor, that he didn’t even realise when he died. He simply ‘woke up’ from a nap in his chair and went to teach his lesson in his newly adopted paranormal form.
Even though he provided short snippets of humorous reading in the books, Professor Binns didn’t have any major impact that would have been missed in the movies.
Most notably, he was the one in the books to tell the students of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets in the movie of the same name. This responsibility was given to Professor McGonagall in the movies. Given her larger role, it was much easier to input this vital information into the movie more seamlessly. She needed no introduction and could get straight to the point.
3 The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In the books, Half-Blood Prince begins with the Minister of Magic paying the UK Prime Minister a visit. Voldemort’s significance in the rise of muggle deaths is explained to the Prime Minister, and the wizarding world revealed to him.
If they had stayed true to the opening scene from the book, the movie would have started off too slowly. In addition to this, there would have been no link to the devastating events of the previous movie that led to the world finally believing in Voldemort’s return.
The opening scene in the movie however is far more appealing to a visual audience. The cackles of Bellatrix in the background as a reminder of the shocking murder of Sirius at the end of the previous movie. Harry standing dumbfounded, still in shock and being hounded by the paparazzi. Dumbledore’s protective nature of Harry highlighted with his shielding Harry from the cameras. The approach taken in the movie sets the opening scene so much better for the screen.
2 The Longbottoms – Frank, Alice and Agusta
Neville’s parents, Frank and Alice, and his grandmother, Agusta, all make appearances in the books, but not so much in the movies.
Frank and Alice don’t appear in the movies, but their son’s love for them is clear. There’s a touching moment in Order of the Phoenix when Neville speaks of his parents and their part in the Order, vowing to make them proud. This moment tugs on the heart strings no less because of their lack of presence in the movies.
Agusta is however, most notably referenced when Neville comes across the Boggart in Prisoner of Azkaban. Neville’s fear of both Snape and his grandmother morphs the Boggart into a rather humorous fusion of the two. This moment provides one of the more comedic moments in all eight movies.
1 Andromeda and Ted Tonks
Nymphadora Tonks’s parents get no mention in any of the movies.
In the books, Harry and Hagrid take refuge at the Tonks household after the death eaters attack, on their way to the Weasleys. However, in the movie they take no such rest-bite. This omission however helps keep the tempo in the fast paced and immensely tense scene.
Ted Tonks makes a very brief appearance in the books when he is captured and killed by a group of snatchers. Andromeda is noted to take in young Teddy, after her daughter and Lupin are killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Involving Ted Tonks would have had no benefit, however the emphasis of newly orphaned Teddy going to his grand-mother could have highlighted the sacrifice both Nymphadora and Lupin made to defeat Voldemort. However, this would have ruined the flow of the end of the final movie and the snapshot of the two lying dead holding hands was enough to evoke emotion.