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1----
2!! Specific Books
3[[index]]
4* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]''
5* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]''
6* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''
7* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''
8* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]''
9* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]''
10* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''
11* ''[[YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild Cursed Child]]''
12* ''YMMV/QuidditchThroughTheAges''
13* ''YMMV/FantasticBeasts''
14[[/index]]
15----
16!!The following have their own pages:
17[[index]]
18* [[AccidentalInnuendo/HarryPotter Accidental Innuendo]]
19* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/HarryPotter Alternate Character Interpretation]]
20* [[AssPull/HarryPotter Ass Pull]]
21* [[BaseBreakingCharacter/HarryPotter Base-Breaking Character]]
22* [[BrokenBase/HarryPotter Broken Base]]
23* [[Monster/HarryPotter Complete Monster]]
24* [[DracoInLeatherPants/HarryPotter Draco in Leather Pants]]
25* [[FranchiseOriginalSin/HarryPotter Franchise Original Sin]]
26* [[Memes/HarryPotter Memetic Mutation]]
27[[/index]]
28----
29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Books in General]]
32* {{Adorkable}}:
33** Harry himself a scrawny, messy haired boy, who for most of the series, [[CannotTalkToWomen cannot talk to girls]] nor get a date.
34** Ron has red hair, is awkwardly tall and oblivious to love. He fangirls over famous Quidditch players (unless they’re interested in Hermione), and is Harry's loyal companion and sidekick.
35** Hermione, a bushy-haired, [[{{Bookworm}} bookworm]].
36** Luna Lovegood. Her {{Cloudcuckoolander}} nature is a big part of it, but it was cemented by her all too brief time as a Quidditch announcer. Being played by [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41286000/jpg/_41286732_luna_evanna_big.jpg Evanna Lynch]] in the films doesn't hurt.
37** Neville. In the beginning books, He's awkward, clumsy, and can't do anything right. Then, in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', you find out [[spoiler:Neville's parents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange]] and you can't help but love the guy. Finally, for the dorks in all of us, he [[CallToAgriculture loves plants.]]
38** Colin Creevey, who is friendly, excited, and always happy to get the chance to talk to Harry.
39** Of the older generation, the most notable example would probably be Dedalus Diggle, who is a little like Colin whenever he and Harry meet.
40** Mr. Weasley, with his love of muggle artifacts (to the point where he collects them) could also count.
41** Albus Dumbledore himself, despite being the most powerful and competent wizard of the series and the BigGood, is an extremely eccentric and funny man who loves things like knitting patterns and 10-pin bowling. He's someone the dorks in all of us can still love.
42* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler:When Colin Creevey gets petrified in ''Chamber of Secrets'', and again when he's killed in the battle of Hogwarts in ''Deathly Hallows''.]]
43%% Examples of Alternative Character Interpretation belong on the appropriate page. Add them there, not here.
44* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
45** The American publisher's knowledge about this trope led to the renaming of [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone the first book]] in the US. They believed that most Americans would be unaware of the RealLife alchemical concept of the Philosopher's Stone, and thus would misinterpret and be turned off by the title.
46** Though it is assumed by many to be a fictional creation and is sold alongside other 'wizarding' candies at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Honeydukes stores, Dumbledore's favourite candy, Sherbert Lemon, is actually a common real-life candy in Britain. The first book [[CulturalTranslation culturally translated]] it into "lemon drop", which is... ''similar''.
47** Similar to the ''Literature/ManiacMagee'' example, Harry's line about buying Mars Bars is maintained in the American line. Blooper? Actually, no -- at the time the book was published, a candy bar known as [[https://lerevdr.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/us-mars-bar.jpg?w=584 Mars]] was sold in the states, and prior to the TurnOfTheMillennium, was just as common a sight in vending machines, candy stores, and convenience stores as Mars bars are everywhere ''else'' in the world.
48** Exploding Snap is ''obviously'' a wacky wizarding invention, right? Well, the "exploding" part is. [[https://www.bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/snap/ Snap]], by itself, is a real children's game in the United Kingdom (it's rarely played outside of primary schools though).
49** Many international fans who were unfamiliar with the British education system initially thought that prefects and the house system were just another part of J.K. Rowling's made-up wizarding world. They're actually a traditional feature of many real-life schools in the UK.
50** Some commentators have criticized Cho Chang's name for being an inaccurate Chinese name, or sounding too stereotypically Asian. As it turns out, "Cho Chang" ''is'' a common (or at least possible) name in Chinese-speaking regions -- it's the Wade-Giles reading of "張卓," which would be written as "Zhuo Zhang" in Pinyin, the more commonly used Chinese romanization scheme today. Wade-Giles is still in official use in Taiwan, and was still not uncommon when the books were being written.
51** One might think that a fumble-fingered executioner failing to sever a person's head completely was invented from whole cloth by JKR. As it happens, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ketch Jack Ketch]] did it twice. This was so common in the Middle Ages (usually because the Executioner had to get ''drunk'' just to deal with the stress) that UsefulNotes/HenryVIII hired a master swordsman from France to execute Anne Boleyn in a single stroke, which would have been considered merciful for the time.
52** Hornbeam is one type of wood that Mr. Ollivander uses to make wands. It sounds like a FantasticFlora, but it's a real tree closely related to the hazelnut tree.
53* AngstWhatAngst:
54** George loses one of his ears in ''Deathly Hallows'', an incurable injury of the sort that often brings a realization of the human body's vulnerability and mortality. His first reaction is to make jokes about feeling "[[{{Pun}} holy.]]" [[spoiler:However, this is ''not'' the case when his twin brother dies.]]
55** Luna Lovegood is ''all about'' this trope. She's bullied mercilessly all the time, and she had no friends until recently. Yet she still manages to [[TheStoic keep a]] [[ThePollyanna smiling face]] in spite of all this, and she keeps the negative feelings inside. She seems to be strangely aware of what about her makes people bully her in the first place, but she acts as if they don't bother her and she doesn't change herself.
56* AnticlimaxBoss: Voldemort. To be fair, the gang did mutilate his [[SoulJar Evil Artifacts Of Power]], [[spoiler:even the unintentionally created one]], causing him [[VillainousBreakdown to freak out]]. Furthermore, it is heavily implied that the greatest thing Harry feared about Voldemort was his massive knowledge about the world and its magic and how he could do anything with it; once Voldemort is shown to be [[SmugSnake a moronic killer with a pointy stick]] (and [[DirtyCoward little willpower]]), Harry overcomes his inner fears, and all that's left to do is zap the bugger. And Voldemort is [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough to try to kill Harry with the Elder Wand when Harry has just spelled out why he is its true master]].
57* {{Anvilicious}}:
58** The 'fear of death is bad' message was rather heavy-handed to some.
59** The subplot involving treatment of the house elves fits this to a tee. Mostly because of the preachiness involved, the elaborate Regulus Black subplot introduced to demonstrate it, and the general hypocrisy in that Harry accepts and pardons Kreacher's treachery of Sirius Black because of BlueAndOrangeMorality but decides that he won't respect or honour the Goblins' BlueAndOrangeMorality.
60** The depiction of politicians in this series. Most of them are general stock archetypes who are SlaveToPR and image more than action, with the only competent politician, Barty Crouch Sr., being a kind of unsympathetic KnightTemplar.
61* AwesomeEgo: Voldemort is a mass-murdering, self-absorbed psychopath, but damn is he cool!
62* BadassDecay:
63** Lord Voldemort gradually suffers from this for a portion of the fanbase. In the first two books he came across as a [[NightmareFuel genuinely scary]] NoNonsenseNemesis who attempts to kill Harry without too much fanfare. However, in the fourth book he spends way too much time gloating and taunting Harry upon being brought back to full power, [[BondVillainStupidity which ends up giving Harry the time needed for him to escape]]. He doesn't really learn from this mistake in future books either, which makes it hard for some readers to take him seriously as a villain since he is partly responsible for [[VillainBall sabotaging his own victories]].
64** The Ministry of Magic as a whole has gone through this. In the first war, they fought against Voldemort (one of the most powerful wizards in history) for over a decade. But during his absence, they become highly incompetent. [[spoiler:When he ends up coming back, they prove to be completely useless in the fight against him. If anything, he uses them to further his goals.]] The Death Eaters may have actually been trying to invoke this — after Voldemort's apparent death, those that evaded prison time often ended up in positions of power and influence, which would have let them (particularly Lucius Malfoy, who seemed to be pulling at least half of Fudge's strings at any given moment) turn the Ministry into the embarrassment that it was upon Voldemort's return.
65* CargoShip: With the general idea of wands and such, it's physically impossible for this not to exist.
66* CharacterPerceptionEvolution:
67** Severus Snape went through this twice. Initially seen as an unlikable {{Jerkass}} with an arbitrary hatred of Harry, later books revealed that he was bullied by Harry's father and fell in love with Harry's mother, which recontextualized his treatment of Harry. Together with his role as TheMole for Dumbledore, this shifted fan perception of Snape into a TragicHero and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, aided by his AdaptationalSympathy in the films. However, with the passage of time and [[ValuesDissonance changing social mores]], his SadistTeacher behavior saw renewed criticism and his treatment of Lily was increasingly seen as unhealthily obsessive in light of incel culture and its rampant misogyny becoming more prominent in the 2010s. These observations have shifted fan opinion of Snape to a DoggedNiceGuy and a StalkerWithACrush that the narrative [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic fails to make sympathetic]].
68** Prior to the fifth book, fans bought Ginny Weasley's apparent characterization as a ShrinkingViolet and generally thought of her as nothing more than Ron's baby sister. While the early books do hint that she is more assertive when not affected by her tongue-tying crush on Harry, this was not really picked up on at the time. After she TookALevelInBadass in the fifth book and especially after she was paired with Harry in the sixth book, Ginny began her current status as a BaseBreakingCharacter, with her proponents seeing her as an awesome FieryRedhead and her detractors seeing her as an aggressive bully.
69** When the fifth book first came out, there was a widespread perception that it made Harry much too angsty and annoying. In the years since then, there's been a growing feeling that his attitude in the fifth book is perfectly understandable considering what he's put through and the fact that he is, after all, a teenager. It probably didn't help that there was a three-year gap between the releases of the fourth and fifth books, meaning the fourth book's traumatic climax was not as fresh in the fans' minds as it was for Harry in-universe.
70** Lord Voldemort was initially seen as a [[KnightOfCerebus truly dark and terrifying]] BigBad with a fine EvilIsCool streak back when the series was being released, with some even seeing him as one of the best villains ever in children's literature. However, after the series concluded, many began to look back at his actions and criticize his numerous moments of BondVillainStupidity, often resulting in Harry and his friends being able to escape or defeat him, undermining his status as a [[TheDreaded dreaded]] EvilOverlord. Nowadays, Lord Voldemort is a BaseBreakingCharacter, with fans divided on whether or not his constant holding of the VillainBall makes him too ineffectual of a villain to take seriously.
71** Voldemort's {{muggle}} father, Tom Riddle Senior, was almost universally seen as a self-centered [[RichBitch privileged bastard]] who callously abandoned his pregnant wife, with his trope page on this site even claiming Voldemort's evil nature was inherited from Tom Riddle Sr. and not his wife, Merope Gaunt. Nowadays, [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale thanks to greater awareness of the harm done by female-on-male sexual predation]], people view him more sympathetically because Riddle was tricked into drinking a LovePotion and had zero interest in Merope otherwise, feeling he wasn't under any obligation to stay with Merope and her ChildByRape, especially as Tom Riddle Sr. didn't even know what magic was, which would have made his experience all the more horrifying and confusing for him. As such, Tom Riddle Sr. tends to be viewed more as a [[TheWoobie woobie]] than anything now.
72** Speaking of Merope Gaunt, she was once viewed as a pure [[TheWoobie woobie]] due to her growing up in squalor, being abused by her [[AbusiveParents father]] and [[BigBrotherBully older brother]], never going to [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] despite having magic and living in Britain, and [[DeathByChildbirth dying in childbirth]] while despairing at her husband leaving her. However, as [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale gendered double standards regarding sexual violation]] became increasingly challenged, people looked at her snagging said husband with a {{love potion}} in a far more negative light, with many pointing out that doing so would be universally condemned if the genders were reversed.
73* CommonKnowledge: The novel's perception is greatly shaped and influenced by the movies, which paradoxically mislead new readers precisely because they are highly faithful, with just enough small but crucial changes and alterations to give the wrong impression:
74** A lot of portrayals of new Hogwarts students other than Harry entering the school have the new character getting their acceptance letter on their eleventh birthday exactly, forgetting that Harry was sent hundreds before his birthday; he just wasn't able to ''read'' any of them until Hagrid gave him one after several days of the Dursleys trying to escape them. On top of that, the final application date was the 31st of July, which would seriously screw over the children who turned eleven in August. Not to mention all the kids that turned eleven in September (Hermione's case) still going to school with other Muggle kids and teachers, which would endanger the secrecy.
75** Many non-fans like to mock the apparent stupidity of Hogwarts' curriculum, since it teaches young children advanced magic without bothering to teach them English, mathematics, science, or history. Except they do teach history at Hogwarts; there's a whole "History of Magic" department devoted to teaching the kids about the history of the Wizarding World. And while they don't teach the other subjects, Hogwarts is the Wizarding equivalent of a secondary school and students aren't invited to join until they're at least ten years old, so wizards would have learned all the English and maths they need before attending; that is to say, while wizards probably don't know trigonometry, they should know basic arithmetic, which is really all one strictly needs to get by in life. Even the argument "they don't teach science" is arguable — one could say that certain classes are essentially the magical versions of Physics (Charms and Transfiguration), Chemistry (Potions), and Biology (Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures), not to mention Astronomy. One subject that's genuinely glaringly missing, however, is logic and critical thinking, which Hermione {{lampshade|d}}s in the first book.
76** Whenever a non-fan hears about Harry having romance in his life, it's assumed he'll be getting together with Hermione — because she's the only female character non-fans have actually heard of. This is compounded by the emphasis on Hermione in the movies, where Creator/EmmaWatson's performance made her a BreakoutCharacter which also excised moments in the novels where Harry was quite mean to Hermione, such as taking Ron's side in the Scabbers[=/=]Crookshanks debate in Book 3, and getting cross about her reporting the Firebolt to [=McGonagall=] as a result of which he and Ron didn't speak to her for months, while in Book 5, he would get irritated and shout at both Ron and Hermione, get irritated by her nagging at him for Occlumency lessons (which he admitted she was right about, but never really apologized to her in person), while even in Book 7, Harry thinks of her as narrow-minded for not latching on to the Deathly Hallows. Additionally, several moments where Ron stands up for Hermione in the books were left out of the movies or changed to have him side against her instead. With the elements of real rifts between Hermione and Harry removed from the movies, and her general dynamic with Ron made more antagonistic, it made the movie version of Harry and Hermione far more compatible-looking than their book counterparts.
77** It's common for many fans to claim that "[[https://www.bustle.com/p/these-harry-potter-book-titles-reimagine-hermione-as-the-main-character-its-totally-brilliant-30634 Harry would have died in Book 1 without Hermione]]" and exaggerate Hermione into a MemeticBadass based again on the movies. As such, it can be surprising to find the original Hermione to be far more vulnerable and insecure than her PopCulturalOsmosis version. She's still a woman of conviction and strong will (albeit the movies leave out her commitment to House Elf rights), but it's also true that both Harry and Ron save her as often as she saves them. In terms of the books, Hermione plays a major part in the climax of Book 3, but in Book 5, she gets knocked out by Antonin Dolohov's curse and only Harry and Neville are still standing when they duel the Death Eaters. Likewise, while Hermione was key to destroying the Horcruxes since she figured out how to do so in the first place, Harry identified, located, and traced most of the Horcruxes himself (including the one in Gringotts and the Room of Hidden Things) while Ron destroyed one, and found a way to destroy the other.
78** A lot of fans were complaining from the start about the rules of Quidditch, and how the Seeker who catches the Snitch wins the game almost automatically — making the rest of the team pretty meaningless. Rowling specifically added an extended scene in the fourth book — the Quidditch World Cup — to show a scenario in which the team whose Seeker catches the Snitch still loses the game… but that scene was cut from the films. So a lot of people who only saw the films are still complaining about catching the Snitch being an automatic win. It doesn't help that in the first film, Oliver explicitly says to Harry "You catch this, Potter, and we win." Even though it could be argued that he didn't mean it literally.
79** Everybody knows that Severus Snape [[spoiler:turns out to be GoodAllAlong at the end of the series, right? Well… sort of. He turns out to have been loyal to Dumbledore and Lily, Harry's mom, all along, and was never really on Voldemort's side — but he still does plenty of major-league douchebag things that have nothing to do with his loyalty to the Death Eaters. Among other things, he [[SadistTeacher regularly abuses his authority to make his students miserable for petty reasons]], he got one of his colleagues fired in the third book by publically outing him as a werewolf (a low-blow that also drastically reduced any chance of future employment for the colleague in question), and [[FateWorseThanDeath he tries to give Sirius Black to the Dementors to have his soul sucked out]]. Granted, he (mostly) redeems himself in the last book by doing some truly heroic things, but it's pretty clear that Rowling never intended him to be ''entirely'' sympathetic]].
80** Less dramatically, the Marauders as pranksters. This one abounds in fanon and fanfiction (sometimes to painfully annoying levels) largely due to a mistake easily made: in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', when describing the Marauders, Hagrid compared them to the Weasley twins. This is forgetting the fact that it was in response to [=McGonagall=] explicitly describing them as troublemakers, causing fans to think the Marauders were class clowns who did nothing but prank other people. In the actual books, the Marauders are less class clowns than ''jocks'', and there is exactly one mention of any of them pulling a prank, that being the homicidal one Sirius played on budding Death Eater Severus Snape.
81*** The Marauders' nicknames. Fanfiction often features them using the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs casually or affectionately. In canon, they aren't nicknames at all, but ''codenames''. They used them only when it was necessary to keep Remus' werewolfery and related exploits from being discovered.
82** It's commonly believed that Voldemort was [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove unable to understand love]] because he was [[ChildByRape conceived via love potion]]. It's been stated that this was symbolic rather than a direct magical effect of the love potion, and that Tom would've turned out differently if his mother survived to raise him.
83** The fact that Parseltongue is the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets -- which can supposedly be performed only by Salazar Slytherin's heir -- has led to a widespread belief that ''all'' Parselmouths are Slytherin's descendants (with the obvious exception of Harry, who acquired the ability accidentally from Voldemort). In fact, Slytherin was far from being the first Parselmouth in wizarding history -- ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' notes that the first Basilisk was created by an ancient Greek Parselmouth named Herpo the Foul, centuries before Slytherin's time -- so there would certainly have to be others out there who aren't related to him, though perhaps not in Britain specifically.
84%%* ContestedSequel: ''Order of the Phoenix'' and ''Half-Blood Prince'' tend to be the more divisive entries in the series.
85* CrazyIsCool:
86** Professor Trelawney smacking down a werewolf with her crystal balls.
87** Bellatrix. Her outright craziness is what makes her Badass, even though she's a shameless monster.
88** Dumbledore is an odd old wizard whose most desired gift is a pair of socks, who introduces himself in the series with the words "Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak.", yet still manages to be the only wizard to be feared by Voldemort.
89** Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, an Auror (sorta like a wizard S.W.A.T. team member) with a magic eye (hence the name) that can move independently and see through anything, even the back of Moody's own head.
90* CreepyAwesome: Voldemort and Bellatrix are two of the creepiest characters you'll ever meet in children's literature; that's part of the reason they're so awesome.
91* DeathOfTheAuthor:
92** Many fans and [[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/arts/29conn.html?_r=1 critics]] believe that [[spoiler:Dumbledore's sexuality]] is subject to this trope, since it heavily changes our understanding of the character's motivations without ever being stated in the books.
93** Due to the large amount of timeline errors or canon ages of characters that just don't make sense, many fans have taken to ignore any numbers Rowling gives us (by her own admission, she's a major case of WritersCannotDoMath). It's not uncommon to see fans ignoring the fact that James and Lily were only 21 when they died, or the ages on the Black Family Tree she wrote in 2006 (many of the years on this tree directly contradict canon anyway).
94** With the backstories and elaboration from Pottermore, this has kicked in ''hard'' with large portions of the fanbase.
95** In 2020, Rowling's opinions on hot-button issues launched another round of this. The fandom is divided on whether one can still enjoy the series knowing Rowling's sociopolitical opinions, or if her ideas are too enmeshed in her books. Creator/DanielRadcliffe even invoked this trope in [[https://www.thetrevorproject.org/2020/06/08/daniel-radcliffe-responds-to-j-k-rowlings-tweets-on-gender-identity/ his article for The Trevor Project.]]
96* DelusionConclusion: Perhaps not so surprisingly, there are a few theorists who believe that all the magic and wonder of the series exists only in Harry's mind, and the story of the Boy-Who-Lived struggling to learn wizardry and defeat Voldemort is actually just the story of an orphan inventing an elaborate fantasy life to escape the abusive household he's been brought up in.
97* DiagnosedByTheAudience:
98** The books heavily imply that pre-Voldemort Tom Riddle was a [[TheSociopath psychopath]], but it's never directly stated what precisely is wrong with him. He sees absolutely no value in forming relationships with others unless there is some benefit in it for him, he is completely incapable of feeling love as defined in the series, he enjoys working alone and refuses to confide in anyone except Bellatrix, and he is disturbingly good at understanding how to manipulate people into doing what he wants and can kill anyone, from babies to his own remaining family, without any hint of remorse. Rowling also states his inability to understand love stems from being raised under loveless conditions, and had Merope lived to raise him, he would have turned out differently.
99** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eH7a04n-tE In this video]], a psychotherapist claims that Voldemort could be diagnosed with one or two specific disorders: Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. However, these two originate from a childhood-specific disorder named Reactive Attachment Disorder, which is the inability of a child to form bonds or attachments towards adults or caregivers, leading them to grow into people who distrust others, and it can even start from the womb. This might play a part in Voldemort's perceived need for power and control over others, as well as his attachment to objects (the toys he stole from other children in the orphanage, and later his Horcruxes) as opposed to people.
100* DieForOurShip:
101** Ron. [[FateWorseThanDeath And that's if he's lucky.]]
102** Ginny also receives a lot of this from anyone that ships Harry with someone else (be it female or [[HoYay male]]).
103** And then there's the treatment James Potter has received at the hands of Snape/Lily fans who falsely accuse him of being a rapist, a wife-beater, and a {{Jerkass}} who "stole" Lily from Snape. That, when they don't bash ''Lily'' for daring to cut off a very toxic friendship ''that was harming her'' — after all, ''Snape called her slurs when she tried to help him''.
104** Snape also gets this a lot from James/Lily shippers — whether it's justified or not depends on who you talk to. Obviously, his Jerkassness is entirely canon, but some people would have you believe that he never cared for Lily at all other than wanting to bang her — which doesn't make much sense considering how much he risked for her after her death.
105* DontShootTheMessage: Since around the late 2010s or so, the series has gotten quite a bit of criticism for the ways in which its anti-racist messages (and general egalitarian sentiment) are often badly undermined by its story and world-building--with most of those criticisms coming from fans who agree with the messages, and genuinely wish that they were implemented more effectively. Some of the most common points of criticism include the S.P.E.W. subplot in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth book]] (which was ostensibly intended to teach a lesson about well-meaning but misinformed political activism, but came across more like a defense of ''slavery'' to many readers), and the characters' unquestioning support for keeping the Wizarding World separate from the Muggle world at all costs (which reads to many fans like a sympathetic depiction of racial segregation). To say nothing of the classist implications of setting the entire series in an invitation-only private boarding school, which largely go unexamined.
106* DracoInLeatherPants:
107** [[TropeNamer Draco, famous namesake to the trope, of course]], and all the bad guys except Fenrir Greyback and Dolores Umbridge.
108** Even Voldemort isn't immune. To be fair, he ''was'' handsome [[IWasQuiteALooker before]] he underwent his dangerous physical transformations.
109** Blaise Zabini. Part of the problem here was that, when he was just a name and didn't yet have a personality, Blaise was a popular candidate for the "token good-guy Slytherin" in fanfics. Then, [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince book six]] comes along and he's elevated to part of Draco's friend group, and is just as much of a bigoted jerk as anyone else in it. Some fans still didn't want to abandon their {{Fanon}} interpretations of his personality and those who combine his canon and fanon aspects often think that while he ''is'' bigoted, he's also far more sophisticated and rational than Malfoy. It probably helps that film actor Louis Cordice is also considered pretty attractive amongst fans.
110** While Snape isn't evil, he's still [[JerkAss not a nice guy]]. [[HeroicSelfDeprecation He knows it.]] InUniverse, he's described as greasy-haired, with a hooked nose, crooked and yellowed teeth, and a little too skinny to be healthy. And yet, the fans love him. Enough also to bash Lily Evans for not siding with him or choosing him [[spoiler:even after he called her a mudblood]] — something [[TheAtoner Snape]] ''himself'' came to regret.
111** Some people give Bellatrix this treatment — it takes on one of several forms. The fact that she's considered cool and sexy (oh look, Helena Bonham Carter) definitely doesn't hurt.
112** Scabior, due to the [[{{Ephebophile}} ephebophilic]] role that he played in the films.
113** Certain Death Eaters. You'll hardly ever see this with Fenrir Greyback, but Bellatrix and Lucius are among the most common recipients of this trope.
114** The Marauders. Many people rationalize their bullying of Snape by mentioning that he later became a Death Eater as if it excuses their actions, although Snape was hardly an innocent victim.
115* DryDockedShip:
116** Even before [[spoiler:Sirius died]], most Remus/Sirius shipping was set back when the Marauders were still at Hogwarts.
117** Dorcas Meadowes and Marlene [=McKinnon=] are both only mentioned once in passing to say that they were murdered. However, due to this vagueness, it is quite popular in the fandom to head canon that they dated at Hogwarts before breaking up sometime afterwards.
118** {{Fanon}} often makes Charlie and Tonks AmicableExes, apparently for [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight no other reason than]] the fact that, if you do the math, they were apparently in the same Hogwarts year.
119** A popular fanon is the idea that Severus Snape and Narcissa Malfoy dated at some point before Narcissa married Lucius. It's partly due to how intimate they seem when she visits him at Spinner's End.
120* EnsembleDarkHorse:
121** The Marauders in general (although Sirius and Lupin get this a lot), to the point where there's an entire sub-genre of fanfiction focused on their exploits.
122** Peter Mullen's portrayal of Yaxley as a classy gangster helped make him one.
123** The near-universal fandom hatred for Umbridge resulted in much greater love for her good counterpart Professor [=McGonagall=] after Book 5.
124** Umbridge herself is very popular in the fandom in a LoveToHate way. Many consider her a more menacing villain than Voldemort himself.
125** The Death Eaters in general get this. It's pretty easy to find fanart of almost every Death Eater mentioned, even ones that have nothing about their appearance described.
126*** Narcissa Malfoy is one of the most popular of them all due to having MamaBear moments that make her one of the least evil and simultaneously bravest members.
127** Dumbledore's cynical brother Aberforth and ReasonableAuthorityFigure Kingsley Shacklebolt don't get many scenes but are easily among the most popular Order of the Phoenix members.
128** Half-goblin badass Flitwick and NotSoPhonyPsychic Trelawney tend to be favorites among the secondary Hogwarts professors.
129** Hufflepuff and Slytherin surprisingly have the most vocal fans among the four Hogwarts houses — even though most of the villains are Slytherins, and Hufflepuff has such a mediocre reputation that it's the TropeNamer for [[HufflepuffHouse a trope about insignificant characters]]. Many fans seem to feel responsible for reversing both Houses' in-universe {{Flanderization}}; if you meet any self-identified Hufflepuff or Slytherin fans, you can look forward to some long, detailed lectures about how there's more to both Houses than most people think. (The short version is: [[BewareTheNiceOnes Hufflepuff is underestimated]], and [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood Slytherin is just misunderstood]].) Susan Bones of Hufflepuff (a NiceGirl who lost family in the First Wizarding War) and Slytherin CoolOldGuy Horace Slughorn tend to be the most frequently beloved members of each house despite only having a few speaking scenes and taking until Book 6 to debut, respectively.
130* EpilepticTrees: Lots of them, especially while the series was still ongoing. This was greatly helped along by Rowling's love of {{Red Herring}}s and [[ChekhovsArmoury Chekhov's Armouries]], which encouraged many fans to consider seemingly established facts as misleading while considering seemingly unimportant details as important. [[https://time.com/3997347/jk-rowling-harry-potter-theories/ This]] ''[[Magazine/TimeMagazine Time]]'' article lists a few that popped up over the years.
131* EsotericHappyEnding: One of the major reasons the epilogue is so divisive is because of this trope, [[spoiler:as it ends up being almost tooth-rottenly cheerful despite the many issues from the book that remain apparently intact. [[StatusQuoIsGod That nothing seems to have substantially changed in the Magical Society]] from what is shown hasn't helped, either. The House system at Hogwarts, which has been demonstrated many times in the very last book to be [[AbsurdlyDividedSchool needlessly divisive and breeding a toxic environment of tribalism]], hasn't changed one iota, TheMasquerade remains firmly in place, and slavery of the House-Elves is still so accepted that Harry has one. This means that the systems that allowed Voldemort to rise to power and cause such devastating damage to the Wizarding society both times are still in place. Add in [[InferredHolocaust the likely massive death toll]] from the events of the last book and the established low numbers of wizards in general, and it could be likely that British wizards are heading towards extinction]].
132* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as there's a lot of alchemical symbolism in the series, including characters' names.
133* EvilIsCool:
134** Bellatrix Lestrange may be an insane, sadistic monster who hates Muggle-Born Magicians, but she is an undeniably competent fighter with a fearsome personality, and a stage presence rivalling that of Voldemort himself.
135** Even more so for [[BigBad Voldemort himself]] — he's [[CreepyAwesome cool in a creepy and deranged kind of way]], but is also an insanely powerful warlock (at least when he's not a disembodied spirit/parasite) with an [[CryForTheDevil interesting backstory]]. There's a ''reason'' why [[SpeakOfTheDevil characters were hesitant to say his name]] in the early books.
136* FanDislikedExplanation:
137** The reveal via WordOfGod that Dumbledore is gay was not taken kindly by some fans and critics, who felt that it either went against their mental view of him, or they just thought it was bad representation. The reveal that [[spoiler:Dumbledore was once in love with Gellert Grindelwald, a dark wizard that can be considered Voldemort's precursor]] likely didn't make things any better.
138** Likewise, the reveal in the fifth book that while Lily's HeroicSacrifice to protect baby Harry from Voldemort and his followers used ThePowerOfLove, the charm required Harry to be sent to live with [[AbusiveParents the Dursleys]] because he needed to live with a blood relative of Lily's in order for the protections to actually work. The Dursleys do ''not'' love Harry in the slightest, and at best they just simply begrudged his existence, yet they're allowed to count under a spell forged by love solely because Petunia is the only person alive that shares DNA with both Lily and Harry. Meanwhile, living with a genuinely loving family like the Weasleys, his equally loving godfather Sirius, a Muggle family Harry wasn't biologically related to, or even being raised in the foster system would not protect Harry simply because none of those potential guardians are blood relatives. This struck many fans as a [[AssPull poorly-written plot convenience]] to justify Harry being forced to live with his horrible relatives for as long as possible. Moreover, [[BrokenAesop it broke one of the story's most prevalent lessons]] about [[FamilyOfChoice how you choose your own family]] — except apparently in this one instance of this one spell.
139* FandomEnragingMisconception: Electronic Technology is not permissible in any dose at Hogwarts, nor does it work at Hogwarts, period. Claim otherwise on a forum, and you'll come face to face with this trope. Typically this comes up in regards to the fact that cell phones would have solved a lot of problems faced by the protagonists, ''if'' the majority of the series wasn't set in TheNineties, and ''if'' wizards weren't {{Walking Techbane}}s like they are in canon.
140* FandomRivalry:
141** With ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga''. It's been known to get… heated. Especially since Creator/RobertPattinson played parts in both franchises' film adaptations (Cedric Diggory in ''Goblet of Fire'' and Edward Cullen respectively). This has died down somewhat in recent years, though, as the HypeBacklash to ''Twilight'' has abated.
142** A few fans of more "mature" fantasy (''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', ''Literature/AWizardOfEarthsea'', to name a few) like to pick on ''Harry Potter'', especially the adult fans.
143** There's one with ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries''. Fans of ''Harry Potter'' accuse it of [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks ripping the series off]] and criticize it for being too lighthearted. Fans of ''Camp Half-Blood'' defend that the series stopped being "[[RecycledInSpace Harry Potter with Greek Mythology]]" after the first book and [[GrowingTheBeard came into its own as it progressed]], that it kept a consistent tone while the ''HP'' series started [[DarkerAndEdgier taking itself too seriously]] after ''Goblet of Fire'', and the ''Camp Half-Blood'' books do a much better job with racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ representation than ''Harry Potter'' does. The rivalry only intensified in late 2019 when J.K. Rowling got hit with accusations of transphobia after defending Maya Forstater, and in June 2020 when J.K. Rowling wrote and published a controversial essay about her opinions on hot-button issues.
144** Fans of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' do not get along with ''HP'' fans, especially due to the way the latter work has largely become associated with bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community due to JK Rowling's strident anti-transgender views (in contrast to ''Owl House'', which is associated with acceptance of the community, being created by a bisexual woman). Many consider ''TOH'' to be the SpiritualAntithesis of ''HP'', a work that addresses and refutes many of the writing problems with ''Harry Potter'' overall (representation of minorities, the way the mentor characters are handled, etc.). ''Harry Potter'' fans don't take kindly to this, deriding ''Owl House'' as a [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks ripoff series]] produced by a [[Creator/{{Disney}} corrupt corporation]] in contrast to ''Harry Potter'', which solely originated from Rowling. Of course, Creator/WarnerBros also has a well known rivalry (both corporate and fandom based) with Creator/{{Disney}} and they created the film series, making this an extension of a much larger rivalry.
145** There's also a rivalry with ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', which intensified over time due to a resurgence in attention for the latter series and fans praising ''Animorphs'' for, in their eyes, handling similar themes better than ''HP'' did (especially on deconstructing the KidHero concept by showing how traumatizing such adventures would realistically be on young minds and being much more thorough on the WarIsHell aspects). It gained even more steam when ''Animorphs'' author Creator/KAApplegate vocally supported transgender rights in contrast to Rowling's stance. On the other hand, many adult critics and some parents criticised Animorphs when it first cameout for its ArcFatigue, use of ghostwriters and falling under the paperback pulp format of near monthly books at the time (whereas HP came out on yearly basis at most). Most literary scholars presumably crediting Rowling--alongside contemporaries such as Creator/LemonySnicket--with having broken YA literature out of an extended AudienceAlienatingEra which saw children's books as having become (perceived as) little to no better then their TV counterparts (at least in the perspective of PublicMediumIgnorance), and ushering in a new era of quality storytelling which future series such as ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'', and ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' [[SpiritualSuccessor would arguably continue]].
146* {{Fanon}}:
147** Fans like to portray Theodore Nott as a NobleDemon among the Slytherin, due to WordOfGod saying that he sees no reason to hang with Draco and his gang, and therefore might not share the same prejudiced views as his fellow Slytherin.
148** There are two versions of Student [=McGonagall=]: Hermione-ish, uptight bookworm or Quidditch-playing prankster. It's also fairly popular to have her as an Auror who fought in the final battle with Grindelwald before she became a teacher.
149** Fans of J.K. Rowling's other literary works, ''Literature/TheCasualVacancy'' and the ''[[Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels Cormoran Strike Trilogy]]'', like to assume that they [[SharedUniverse take place in the same universe]], just exclusively on the Muggle side. Mostly because they expand the world and there are no internal contradictions.
150* FanonDiscontinuity: In light of many, many questionable directions in plot, {{retcon}}s and {{Continuity Snarl}}s in the ExpandedUniverse and many infamous WordOfGod statements, most fans ignore anything else after the original set of books and movies, treating ''Deathly Hallows'' as the true ending of the franchise.
151* FanPreferredCouple:
152** Draco/Harry fanworks completely outnumber all other pairings on Archive of Our Own. As of November 2022, Draco/Harry fanfiction has nearly 58,000 stories, compared to the next popular pairing on the same site (Sirius/Remus), which comes in at about 34,000. Canon pairings Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny place fifth and sixth, at around 18,000 and 15,000, respectively.
153** Draco/Hermione is the most popular pairing involving Hermione within the fandom and the second most popular involving Draco (after him with Harry). Despite the canon Hermione/Ron still being very popular in the fandom as well and Draco/Hermione being controversial within the fandom, Draco/Hermione outranks Hermione/Ron on almost every site. This is often attributed to Hermione's actress in the films, Creator/EmmaWatson, admitting several times that she had a crush on Draco's actor, Creator/TomFelton, and fangirls wanting to live through Hermione being with the TropeNamer for DracoInLeatherPants.
154** Neville/Luna is very popular, in large part due to PairTheSpares. Neville and Luna don't have any canon pairings listed in the main story, Neville's partner listed in interviews has almost no interaction with him, and Luna's partner is only revealed in interviews with the author as Rolf Scamander, meaning that pretty much any pairing for them is a FanPreferredCouple by default, and it has the benefit of leaving all the main students wrapped up. This has led to the fandom term "Rolfing", a derisory phrase applied to pairings that only occured through WordOfGod stating a canon character got together with a character that never appeared in the text proper. It does ''not'' help that in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the movies]], they actually ''do'' have romantic feelings for each other (although according to WordOfGod, their relationship would only have been a "summer fling" or something along those lines before they [[BetterAsFriends go back to being friends]]). Ginny/Luna outclasses it in some circles, but hasn't quite caught on in the broader fandom.
155** Lupin/Sirius vastly overshadows the canon Lupin/Tonks pairing. It is so popular, that many fans actually thought the two characters were canonically together, including the two actors. Back when the series was still running, even sites like Sugarquill that only accepted "canon pairings" (meaning either very heavily hinted-at ones or ones that were canonically together) would often allow Lupin/Sirius, as they were so certain it was a thing. Even when it was rendered impossible, the [[StrangledByTheRedString utter lack of romantic development between Lupin and Tonks]] certainly didn't win a lot of followers.
156** At the height of the fandom's ship wars during [[https://fanlore.org/wiki/Three-Year_Summer the three-year summer]] and for some time after, this title would go to Harry/Hermione, which rapidly ascended into legend for being perhaps the largest and most aggressive faction in ShipToShipCombat history. This mostly owed to their status as the male and female lead, their [[MoeCouplet generally more amiable interactions]] as opposed to Ron/Hermione's BelligerentSexualTension, and the film adaptations [[ShipTease teasing it]] (especially since their actors did have a sweet chemistry going on). To this day, any page on this very site describing shipping or fanfic-related phenomena or reactions (ShipMates, DieForOurShip, PlatonicWritingRomanticReading) will prominently mention it, and it (along with the considerably less supported Draco/Hermione) was a major factor in RonTheDeathEater being named. Even mainstream publications were known to remark on it. That said, after it canonically didn't happen, it tumbled quite a bit in the rankings, currently placing tenth on [=AO3=] and being a very common target of mockery due to its aggressive following and rather "vanilla" setup, but nevertheless retains a dedicated fanbase who still widely prefer it over the canon pairings. Suffice it to say, the fans felt pretty vindicated by the 2014 ''Wonderland'' magazine [[https://www.hypable.com/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-interview/ interview]] between Creator/EmmaWatson and Creator/JKRowling where Rowling admitted that there was an element of WishFulfilment behind her pairing Hermione and Ron together and that Harry and Hermione were (in her own words) "in some ways, a better fit."
157* FashionVictimVillain: Scabior.
158* FoeYayShipping: Given the vast quantity of character shippings across the deepest bowels of the internet, every heroic character has likely been paired with every villainous character. The most popular ones are:
159** Dumbledore and Grindelwald who actually were a couple per WordOfGay.
160** Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, and even Voldemort (a.k.a. Tom Riddle) are frequently shipped with Harry and/or Hermione.
161** Hermione is shipped with her Slytherin rival and resident mean girl Pansy Parkinson (who J. K. Rowling has described as the Anti-Hermione), and the much older AxCrazy villain Bellatrix Lestrange. A canonical scene where Bellatrix tortures a captive Hermione has been given erotic twists in fan fiction and fan art.
162** A few fans ship Ginny Weasley and mean girl Pansy Parkinson. Probably because of a book scene where Pansy rather enthusiastically describes Ginny as unquestioningly "good looking" to her fellow Slytherins. As of September 2017, Archive of Our Own (a fanfic archive) lists 210 fanfics shipping Ginny and Pansy.
163* FriendlyFandoms: With ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}.'' Although the two franchises don't actually have much in common, there's a lot of overlap in their demographic, given that they both debuted in the late 90s, experienced a great deal of popularity in the early 2000s, and still remain popular with people of all ages. Crossover fanart and fanfiction of both fandoms is pretty widespread, as well. Both ended up as targets of MoralGuardians as well, due to a case of EveryoneIsSatanInHell.
164* GeniusBonus:
165** Most of the spells come from Latin (or French, sometimes English).
166** The names of the Blacks: Sirius (the Dog Star), Bellatrix (The Amazon star), Andromeda (the Chained Lady), Regulus ([[spoiler:The Lion Star]]).
167** Petunia Dursley's name is apt, as readers versed in floriography would know. Petunias represent anger and resentment.
168** The surname Dursley itself for anyone who knows the actual town (it's in [[UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry Gloucestershire]] for the curious, and not far away from where J.K. Rowling was born). Looks respectable enough on the outside, but not quite so upright once you scratch the surface - a bit like the family.
169** According to catholicism, Saint Hedwig of Silesia is the saint patroness of orphans.[[note]]There's another saint Hedwig which attributes seem relevant to the ''Harry Potter'' universe, but the similarity with the books is coincidental (Hedwig of Poland, saint patroness of students, was canonized in 1997, the year ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was published)[[/note]]
170** Many other character names as well.
171** "Diagon Alley" (Diagonally) and "Knockturn Alley" (Nocturnally).
172* GenreTurningPoint: While [[OlderThanTheyThink not the first books of its kind]], ''Harry Potter'' was a pretty big influencer of young adult literature when it was first published:
173** The books received critical and commercial acclaim, in a time in which Young Adult books (at least, what we would call Young Adult books today) were kept on a single shelf in the back of the bookstores — [[SciFiGhetto behind the science fiction and fantasy books]]. While it is far from the only Young Adult book to [[OutOfTheGhetto escape the ghetto]], it was among the first. These days, many Young Adult works are made into popular films and often find their ways onto best sellers.
174** They were considered to be [[DoorStopper quite large]] by the standards of the time. A lot of publishers didn't think [[ViewersAreMorons kids in particular would have the attention span to read something above 300 pages]], whereas adults would find the [[AudienceAlienatingPremise premise]] to be too juvenile, and would be [[RatedMForMoney ashamed to read a children's book]]. When TheNewTens began, books became much ''much'' thicker, since Harry Potter was one of the first books to teach publishers that kids ''did'' in fact have the attention span for these.
175** Its setting was an UrbanFantasy — a rarity in a time in which most childrens' books were on the more scentific (but [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture not too far forward]]) side of SpeculativeFiction, historical period pieces, the present day, or a StandardFantasySetting. In the days of [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]], [[FollowTheLeader copiers]], and more, it seems to be rather stale — but young adult books just ''did not'' have things like this before.
176** It combined [[GrowingUpSucks issues teenagers experienced]] alongside more fantastical elements. Characters would angst over the school's BigGame or teenage school drama, then angst over an exam over magic theory and brew potions. Most books that talked about real-life issues back then would often focus ''solely'' on them and set it in the present day.
177** ''Harry Potter'' also had a MythArc — while far from the first book series to do this, most childrens book series beforehand were [[RandomEventsPlot episodic in nature]] with the occasional passage of time (but [[NotAllowedToGrowUp not too much]]), with a ''few'' having a well defined MythArc. After books like this series, ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', and ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' all having a well-defined MythArc, it's hard to believe just how much this meant for storytelling back in the day.
178* GottaShipEmAll: Most of the central characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Neville, Luna, etc.) are shipped with ''a lot'' of other characters, including [[FoeYayShipping all of their mortal enemies]], [[TeacherStudentRomance their teachers]], parents of their classmates, [[IncestYayShipping their siblings]], and characters who are only mentioned by name a couple of times within the series. For instance, Hermione is sometimes shipped with Theodore Nott, whose name is mentioned less than twelve times throughout all seven books and Blaise Zabini, who was a minor enough character in the first five books that many readers mistook him for a girl. Additionally, a lot of minor characters, such as Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, are also shipped together.
179* GrowingTheBeard: ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' is usually agreed to be the book where the series begins to take its final shape and where Creator/JKRowling really shows her true colours as a genius. Many fans and critics think it's the best of the seven. Ironically, it's also the only one of the seven that [[spoiler:Voldemort has no part in[[note]]he technically doesn't show up in ''Chamber'' or ''Half-Blood Prince'' either, but his horcrux-created copy does in ''Chamber'', and while the real, modern-day character is totally absent in ''Prince'', we see his past self a lot, and see the effects of his present-day orders and efforts to take power from hiding[[/note]]. The reader is led to ''think'' he does, but Sirius isn't on his side, he's there to catch Peter Pettigrew, who was just trying to hide, and he just leaves after being found out.]]
180* HarsherInHindsight:
181** After Ron gets splinched horribly, all of those descriptions that make it sound like a vaguely humorous annoyance earlier in the story aren't so funny anymore. This was lampshaded in the seventh book.
182** It's all too easy to laugh at Neville's constant blunders, not to mention the fact that he lives with a near-tyrannical grandmother. But in the fourth and fifth books, it's revealed what happened to his parents Alice and Frank, and how it affected him. Then it's hard not to feel guilty for having laughed.
183** Hagrid's teary good-bye to Norbert, complete with packing a teddy bear so the dragon doesn't get lonely. Sure, it's funny in the first book, but two books later we learn that was one of the ''worst'' days of Hagrid's entire life.
184** A major theme of the seventh book is dealing with learning that someone you've admired and looked up to since childhood (in this case, Dumbledore) has a darker side. Years later, many fans in RealLife experienced something similar with the revelation of J.K. Rowling's views on trans people.
185** According to Rowling, Hermione's behavior in the SPEW subplot was meant to be a satire of misguided activism, as she tries to force her views on others regardless of any objection, assumes she's in the right because of how educated she is about house-elves, and doesn't try to empathize with them or understand what they actually want. This hasn't aged well as Rowling herself was later accused of similar behavior with regard to her views on trans people, which she defended by claiming to be an authority on the topic from having read several books about it. It also doesn't help that Rowling based Hermione's character on what she was like at her age.
186* HesJustHiding:
187%% ** Dumbledore.
188** Even Harry thought Sirius Black was hiding behind the veil all the time. The film makes his fate less ambiguous when [[spoiler:Bellatrix hits him with Avada Kedavra. In the book, Bellatrix whacks him with an unnamed spell, and he supposedly dies when he falls through the veil]].
189** Parodied in the last book, when Ron tries to think of ways in which [[spoiler:Mad-Eye could have survived the battle with Voldemort. Harry and Hermione shoot his theories down. Ron replies sulkily, "Well, if you want him to be dead", to which Hermione gets very affronted and cries that they're just trying to be realistic]].
190* HilariousInHindsight:
191** The allegations of Satanism were made funny by ''Fanfic/MyImmortal''.
192** In the first book, Fred and George bewitch snowballs to bounce off the back of Quirrell's turban. Later, we find out that [[spoiler:they're actually pegging Voldemort in the face with snowballs]]. An already funny scene becomes freaking '''hilarious'''.
193** A minor Death Eater is named Corban Yaxley, both surnames of British political figures; given that Rowling has criticized both of them publically, she's probably pretty glad of this.
194* HollywoodPudgy:
195** Dudley is not very fat at all in the movies. However, he's not really treated as fat in the films, so it's kind of a non-issue. Although, in their defence, it would have been terribly difficult to find an actor "roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale" as described in Book Four.
196** The inverse happens in Book Five as well. Dudley is described as being just as vast as he ever was, except now, it's ''muscle'', as he has found a love of boxing during his dieting. He isn't bulked out or treated as such in the films, either.
197* HypeBacklash: The series has one due to the ubiquity of references to it in contemporary culture, especially in politics. That's why the "read another book" meme exists.
198* IdiosyncraticShipNaming: Remus/Sirius is called Wolfstar as a play on Remus, the wolf, and "Sirius," the dog star. There is also Harry/Ron/Hermione called The Golden Trio.
199** SCUSA at one point had such names for every ship imaginable.
200* InformedWrongness:
201** Hermione and her whole [[FunWithAcronyms SPEW]] campaign starting in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' is meant to come off as an annoying {{White Mans Burden}}-esque movement led by a SoapboxSadie because she's applying her understanding of the muggle world to a magical issue she doesn't understand, as while some House Elves do want to be free and paid, most think this is ridiculous, and virtually all of them (even the ones who want freedom and payment) find the idea [[BlueAndOrangeMorality of not serving wizards abhorrent]].[[note]]For example, Dobby is the most outspoken of the Elves in favor of freedom, but all he actually does with his freedom is choose where he works and get modestly paid for his labour.[[/note]] The Hogwarts House Elves are also offended when Hermione leaves hidden hats and socks around the Gryffindor common room as a means of tricking them into freedom because it doesn't give them a choice on whether or not they actually want to stop working at Hogwarts. However, Hermione does make some very good points during her campaign; for example, she comes up with the possibility that House Elves are mentally conditioned to like being enslaved, [[TruthInTelevision something that has happened to many real-life slaves]]. For this idea to have basis in fact, consider how House Elves seem to be psychologically (or even magically) conditioned to [[SelfHarm physically punish themselves severely]] if they fail a task or disobey their masters. Hermione also believes that even if the majority of the House Elves [[HappinessInSlavery do like the status quo]], there should be laws that protect them from being mistreated and abused by the people they serve, and the House Elves who ''do'' want freedom and payment, such as Dobby, should have the right to pursue it. It's very likely the reader will mostly agree with Hermione, especially because no other character in the books has any good arguments against her points.[[note]]Especially since an allegorical criticism of WhiteMansBurden attitudes [[CluelessAesop doesn't translate when you use a fictional race]] that's okay with being used as [[SlaveRace slave labor]] to try to get your point across.[[/note]]
202** At the end of the fifth book, Dumbledore states that Harry was justified being upset with him and the other adults as Harry wouldn't have made the rash action that resulted in [[spoiler:Sirius getting killed]] if they hadn't kept secrets from him. But Harry is [[HotBlooded highly hot-tempered]], doesn't show any control over his emotions, repeatedly ignores warnings from people he respects (such as [=McGonagall=] who politely tries to warn him about Umbridge), has a huge {{martyr|WithoutACause}} complex that repeatedly causes him to unnecessarily endanger himself, then openly gets goaded in front of all of Hogwarts to punch an opponent on the Quidditch pitch. Dumbledore is running a secret resistance group against an enemy with greater numbers and resources while also keeping it on the down-low from the corrupt government. In this kind of situation, keeping people on a need-to-know basis is standard operation procedure, ''especially'' when the series takes place in a world where {{telepathy}}, MindControl spells, and [[TruthSerum truth potions]] exist. Aside from the acknowledged risk of Voldemort's [[PsychicLink mental link to him]], Harry's temperament was such that they'd be justified not trusting him with vital info and he likely would have made rash actions regardless.
203** In the fifth book, Harry ends up snapping at Ron and Hermione for constantly bickering. This is supposed to be seen as being snippy and mean towards his best friends, but he brings up a very valid point: they are always [[BelligerentSexualTension arguing with each other]], and have been for the past four years since becoming friends. No matter how good a friend one is to the other Harry has every right to get sick and tired of them fighting, especially since ''he'' often bears the consequence of being stuck in the middle of it.
204* IronWoobie:
205** [[TheHero Harry]] gets beaten, captured, and/or tortured [[OnceAnEpisode in every single book]]. And this is nothing to the ten years of nonstop neglect and dislike the Dursleys gave him prior to him discovering that he's a wizard.
206** Neville. While Harry's parents are dead, Neville's [[spoiler:have been driven completely insane by the Death Eaters to the point that they can't function mentally and don't even recognize their son]], which is, in a way, worse.
207** And while Neville has always had the support of friends to keep him going, Luna only ever had the company of her father after her mother died. She's bullied as bad as Neville is due to her strange personality, and she didn't have friends until she met Ginny and later Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. And yet, [[StepfordSmiler she always manages to be cheerful and enthusiastic in the face of this misery, even though it bothers her more than she lets on.]] ''[[StepfordSmiler Much]]'' [[StepfordSmiler more]].
208* ItWasHisSled: In book 6, Snape killing Dumbledore. Certainly not helped by various {{Troll}}s going out of their way to spoil this to everyone upon it first being discovered. People who didn't have the book yet, trying to keep their minds off of it by playing ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', had to deal with people spamming this information in the capital city trade channels.
209* JerkassWoobie: If you had a quarter for every time a character who [[DracoInLeatherPants initially appeared to be just a straight-up asshole actually was a good person deep down]], or how often a [[TheWoobie woobie]] [[RonTheDeathEater turned venomous]], you could conceivably rival Rowling's fortune.
210** By [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth book]], [[TheHero Harry]] has plenty of legitimate reasons to be upset. However, he takes it out on others more than is really good for him. (Although it might be [[RonTheDeathEater controversial]] to label him and Ron as such, not to mention that he and Ron also lacks a mean side necessary to be a JerkassWoobie.)
211** Draco Malfoy in books 6 and 7 is a pretty solid exploration of a young man who gets pulled into a far-right terrorist group and, unlike his true-believer father, didn't fully understand what he was in for. He's still a {{jerkass}} but he gradually comes to {{Heel Realization}}s as book 6 goes on, [[spoiler:and is indicated in the epilogue to have [[HeelFaceTurn mellowed out as an adult]], to the point where Harry isn't opposed to the possibility of Draco's child befriending his own]].
212** Snape. He was abused by his parents and bullied by his peers, but ''lots'' of his suffering is due to his own actions. And this doesn't even touch on [[spoiler:the fact that he lost the girl who he loved and had to cope with her dying... because he was stupid and cruel to call her "mudblood" to her face when she was trying to help him, thus he lost Lily's respect forever ''because of his own crap''. ''And he clearly knows it'']].
213** Barty Crouch Sr., mostly in the films.
214** Argus Filch, being a Squib is just not very easy for him, especially given he works in a castle where children are taught spells that he will never be able to do. It doesn't help that, in the second book, the faculty's response to [[RightHandCat Ms. Norris']] petrification is to tell him to [[NoSympathy suck it up and deal with it]].
215** Marietta Edgecomb. Though [[spoiler:telling on the DA to Umbridge]] was a dick move, many readers felt compassion when she [[spoiler:got permanant pimples on her faces which remind everyone of her betrayal]].
216** Kreacher is a racist and treacherous house-elf, but he does all he does because he needs someone to treat him lovingly. The only people who treated him properly were racists and Dark Wizards, including [[spoiler:Regulus Black, who managed to do a HeelFaceTurn, but died before he could deprogram him]]. Kreacher had to watch the man die in the cave because this wizard valued his life more than that of a lowly house-elf. You can't help but [[WhatTheHellHero grill Sirius for his poor treatment of the elf]], though that's compounded with this being TheGreatestStoryNeverTold. A real SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} is when he is presented the fake locket, and he becomes much happier and more polite afterwards.
217** The exact same thing could be said for "P-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrel.", [[spoiler:then Pottermore reveals that he was bullied heavily when he was a student]].
218** Petunia Dursley mistreats Harry as his guardian for nearly the first eleven years of his life. Then we find out that her sister Lily (Harry's mother) attended Hogwarts as a Muggle-born and Petunia became TheUnfavourite in TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry. She even ''sent a letter to Hogwarts begging to be accepted''. That said, it doesn't justify her crappy treatment of her nephew.
219** Tom Riddle, Senior, the biological father of Voldemort, is depicted as a snobby classist jerk... who was magically raped and forced into marriage by Merope Gaunt. Then Voldemort murdered him and his entire family out of revenge for leaving his rapist after the spell wore off, later adding insult to injury by [[spoiler:desecrating his grave for raw materials for his resurrection]].
220* JerksAreWorseThanVillains:
221** Lord Voldemort is a genocidal maniac who's basically [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Wizard Hitler]]. Does this result in him receiving the most ire from fans? Nope! That "honour" goes to [[SadistTeacher Dolores]] [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge]]. While not directly affiliated with Voldemort, she ''did'' try to suppress any efforts of resistance against his regime, ran her class like a malevolent dictator, and was even [[FantasticRacism racist against "half-breeds"]]. The hatred of her character is understandable, however, as Umbridge is more like a real person than Voldy, so readers can project their hatred of those real people onto Umbridge. Meanwhile, Voldemort is very much a [[EvilSorcerer fantastical character]], so people don't project real-life grievances onto him in the same way.
222** The Dursleys are more hated than Voldemort, due to their neglect and abuse of Harry, and abusive families are rather common in real life and easier to hate. Vernon in particular falls here, since he lacks the sympathetic traits that Petunia has and doesn't improve as a person like Dudley does in the later books. He's just a jerk who thinks witches and wizards are freaks.
223* KarmicOverkill:
224** It's heavily implied in latter books that Dolores Umbridge, the sadistic, smug teacher that some considered to be [[JerksAreWorseThanVillains worse in some ways than Voldemort]], was dragged into the woods and gang-raped by a group of centaurs. While the implication is subtle enough to fly over the heads of some readers, the ones who catch it often feel that it was ''too cruel'' a fate for Umbridge.
225** Marietta Edgecombe is often viewed more sympathetically than it was probably intended. She betrays Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge and gets SNEAK written on her face in boils ''forever'', thanks to Hermione's spell that she put on all the Army's members beforehand. However, first, Marietta never wanted to join it in the first place and was pressured to do so by her friend Cho. Second, her mother works at the Ministry of Magic, so Marietta was quite possibly afraid her participation in LaResistance would also bring harm to her mother. Third, Marietta was never warned about the consequences of her betrayal: if she had known she'd be revealed at once and scarred permanently, she could have balked. Fourth, she is seventeen at most, and the series has shown that people who were bastards or outright villains at that age can get redeemed later. The readers tend to feel that Marietta didn't quite deserve her punishment.
226* LauncherOfAThousandShips: It would probably be easier to name the characters Harry isn't shipped with.
227** Harry was at one point shipped with the unnamed girl who sold the Dursleys ice cream in ''Philosopher's Stone''.
228* LGBTFanbase: Formerly. [=Pre-2020=], ''Harry Potter'' was a massive hit among queer people, due to its emphasis on love being "the most powerful force", Harry [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything being forced to grow up in a literal closet by his abusive relatives]] and eventually [[FamilyOfChoice finding a loving adoptive family that cares for him]] and the overall fight for equality and fairness. Due to JK Rowling's increasingly outspoken hostility towards the transgender community, however, the LGBT Fanbase for ''Harry Potter'' has been rapidly declining, and most queer people nowadays discourage people from engaging with the series in any way (including ways that are non-monetary), as they feel its continued influence as a franchise grants more power for Rowling to cause harm.
229* LoveToHate:
230** Dolores Umbridge takes this trope by ''storm''. Although she's not affiliated with Lord Voldemort or the Death Eaters, fans near-universally consider her the most hateable character in the entire series (which is saying something). Creator/StephenKing even called Umbridge the best villain since [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]].
231** Voldemort is one of the [[KnightOfCerebus most evil and dark villains]] ever seen in children's literature, yet it's for this reason that he's so extremely popular.
232** Bellatrix Lestrange, who rivals Voldemort himself in sheer wickedness. [[spoiler: [[HeroKiller Killing Sirius Black]] certainly furthered it.]]
233** The Malfoys, more specifically Draco and Lucius, for being such [[SmugSnake smarmy]], [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]], entitled assholes that it's extremely satisfying whenever they get any form of comeuppance, [[spoiler: at least until their HeelFaceTurn.]]
234** Many viewed Snape as this before [[spoiler: book 7 revealed he was actually GoodAllAlong. However, some still view him as such after due to how much he puts the "jerk" into JerkWithAHeartOfGold]].
235* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/HarryPotterAlbusDumbledore Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore]] is the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and a cunning schemer. Setting up the fall of his wizard-supremacist ex-lover [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem during the First Wizarding War]] even while a Blood Pact prevented him from acting directly, Dumbledore went on to take his current position at Hogwarts. When his former student becomes the evil wizard [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]], Dumbledore founds the [[Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers Order of the Phoenix]] to combat him and his [[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters Death Eaters]], rescuing [[Characters/HarryPotterHarryJamesPotter Harry Potter]] after the Dark Lord fails to kill the infant. Planting [[Characters/HarryPotterSeverusSnape Severus Snape]] within the Death Eaters' ranks while keeping Harry safe from harm with extended family, Dumbledore begins grooming Harry into a hero during his time at Hogwarts: ensuring he receives the PhilosophersStone to undermine Voldemort's plans; and later having him free the wrongfully-accused Sirius Black from prison. Even orchestrating his own death at Snape's hand when cursed with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Dumbledore ensures Harry is left with all the knowledge to topple their foe. Having known Harry himself was a Horcrux, Dumbledore is revealed to have manipulated Harry's whole life to ensure he will be killed by Voldemort to break the Dark Lord's footing on immortality. When Harry manages to ultimately survive Voldemort's fatal attack, he returns to kill their enemy, ultimately accomplishing all Dumbledore had set out to do even from beyond the grave. Having fought for the greater good for his entire life, Dumbledore's legacy not only includes the defeat of Voldemort and Grindelwald, but the creation of the wizarding world's greatest heroes and a new era of peace.
236* MemeticBadass:
237** Neville would have done it in four books. Five, max.
238*** His patronus is Creator/ChuckNorris.
239*** Voldemort knew how screwed he’d be if he chose Neville for the prophecy.
240** Hermione, both in and out of universe.
241** In meta, Dumbledore is responsible for the lines "[[Fanfic/MyImmortal WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS]]!" and "[[Fanfic/ThirtyHs Harry, you must rock the fuck out]]."
242* MemeticLoser:
243** The entire HufflepuffHouse has a reputation of being the "loser" house due to their overall lack of relevancy to the plot, especially in the films. Most of the major characters are in Gryffindor or Slytherin with a few Ravenclaws here and there. The most prominent Hufflepuff character is Cedric Diggory and he's [[spoiler:killed off by Voldemort]]. Dialogue from the books seem to indicate that they are memetic losers in-universe as well.
244** Lord Voldemort became this after the story has concluded, as people began to realize just how ineffectual of a villain he really was. There are mountains of memes mocking Voldemort's BondVillainStupidity, pointing out obvious ways for him to have won, and generally ridiculing him for getting repeatedly foiled by a bunch of children and teens. People have had a lot of fun with the fact that unlike fellow famous Dark Lords like [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine/Darth Vader]], who conquered and ruled a whole galaxy for 30 years, and [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]], who almost conquered Middle-Earth twice, Voldemort couldn't even take over a high school, though this meme is ignoring the fact that by this point Voldemort had for all intents and purposes conquered Wizarding Britain [[RuleOfFunny for laughs]].
245* MemeticMolester:
246** Moaning Myrtle, who peeks in on people bathing and using the bathroom, [[StalkerWithACrush particularly Harry]], who is just a teenager. This is taken up to eleven in the movies.
247** Fenrir Greyback. If the fact that he [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything prefers to go after children]] isn't bad enough, his ''very'' creepy remark about Hermione solidifies it.
248** Scabior, who takes up Fenrir's sexual overtones in TheFilmOfTheBook. He's ''much'' more popular with the fangirls, mainly because he isn't an unsanitary licentious wildman like Greyback.
249* MisaimedFandom: Boy howdy...
250** Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter has noted that many fans are revolted by Bellatrix, yet partially want to be her.
251** Lucius Malfoy has many fans, including his own actor.
252** InUniverse, a lot of [[SmallNameBigEgo snooty]], stereotypical Slytherins are incredibly proud that Merlin, one of the greatest wizards of all time, was a member of their house, ignoring the fact that he believed that muggles and wizards should live in harmony and didn't care about blood purity.
253* {{Moe}}:
254** Gabrielle Delacour.
255** Luna, due to being ThePollyanna and the CloudCuckooLander.
256** Neville, due to being TheWoobie.
257** Even Tonks' CuteClumsyGirl attributes can be considered {{Moe}} attributes.
258* MoralEventHorizon: [[MoralEventHorizon/HarryPotter See this page for examples.]]
259* NeverLiveItDown: The whole "Ginny is a slut" meme, despite her having only dated three men in her entire life. Each relationship lasting more or less a year. Made worse by how it also involves DieForOurShip. As well as a good deal of hypocrisy, considering that Hermione also had more than one beau aside of Ginny's brother Ron, [[DoubleStandard but she's not shamed for it]].
260** A couple of points of contention for Ginny among her detractors were mocking Ron for his lack of experience with girls and snapping at Hermione "stop pretending you understand Quidditch, you'll only embarass yourself" in ''Half Blood Prince''. These criticisms often ignore that in the former, she was fighting back against Ron SlutShaming her for kissing her boyfriend, ''after'' also having to put up with it from her other brothers after Ron told them about her dating Dean. And in the latter, Ginny is trying to comfort Harry after he nearly accidentally killed someone and Hermione is more concerned with [[SkewedPriorities her usual "I told you so" lecture]]; Ginny also pointing out that Harry was defending himself from an Unforgivable Curse."
261* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The games based on the second, third, and fourth movies had good reviews. However, the first had a mixed response, and the ones from the fifth onward [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames were not well received]].
262* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In real life, ''Harry Potter'' got publicity just for being banned in some places for promoting witchcraft.
263* NotBadassEnoughForFans:
264** Many people bash Molly for being a HouseWife, and [[spoiler:killing Bellatrix "Feminist Role Model" Lestrange (though there are those who think Neville should have had the honour)]].
265** And there's the slutshaming and bitchiness that the fangirls apply to Ginny for "not being enough of a role model" and "stealing Harry from the 'more deserving and stronger' Hermione".
266** Ron Weasley gets this, thanks mainly to the movies. He's often called "the useless one" of the trio since he's more or less Harry without the wealth and PlotArmour, and Hermione without the smarts. The fact that Ron took a figurative bullet in Book 1 by winning the greatest chess game that Hogwarts had seen for many years (as per Dumbledore), and that he managed to scrape by despite having a second-hand wand for his first year, a broken one in the second year, and won two Quidditch Cups (Harry only has one) despite having a cheap broom and little moral support, somehow isn't badass for fans. Leaving aside the fact, that Harry loves Ron precisely because of ThePowerOfFriendship and that he himself doesn't judge people on how useful or useless they are.
267* OlderThanTheyThink: The success of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' led some publishing houses to issue re-prints of already existing books about kids with magical powers. Many people thought that these books were riding on the coattails of and/or "ripping off" ''Harry Potter'', when rather these books were years (or decades) older than the first ''Harry Potter'' book. Some people who had never read a fantasy novel before ''Harry Potter'' think that the series is actually the TropeMaker for many of the tropes contained in the books. Though, the series ''was'' the TropeCodifier of many of the already-made tropes, so people can hardly be blamed for not being as well-read in obscure works as Rowling was.
268** Some particular examples include ''Literature/WizardsHall'' and ''Literature/TheLegendOfRahAndTheMuggles'', two books published before Rowling's time; ''Literature/WizardsHall''[='s=] writer has heavily implied (though never outright stated) in interviews that she thinks Rowling plagiarized her, while ''Literature/TheLegendOfRahAndTheMuggles''[='=]s writer outright claims plagiarism and tried to sue Rowling.
269*** Although, in the later's case, while the book was published before ''Harry Potter'', the title [[SarcasmMode just happened]] to add "and the Muggles," which made the author's [[SarcasmMode rock solid case]] get laughed out of court.
270** The beginning of the series and many characters bear a resemblance to ''Literature/TheWorstWitch''. Just look at [[http://reocities.com/area51/cavern/4988/hpvsww.html this]] fanpage from 2003.
271** The cast of Literature/{{Discworld}} includes Ponder Stibbons, a dark-haired, bespectacled young wizard who studies at a magical university. Deluged by questions from fans as to whether Ponder was a parody of Potter, Creator/TerryPratchett finally admitted that, yes, [[SarcasmMode he used a time machine to get the idea of Unseen University from Hogwarts]] so he could publish it first. He's still not sure what his illustrator did to copy Harry's look a year before the first HP book was published, though "Obviously he must have used ''some''thing."
272** Notably, this extends to comic books as well. ''ComicBook/{{The Books Of Magic}}'' is a series about a young boy named Timothy Hunter who has the potential to be the greatest wizard ever, for good or bad. He also has round glasses, short dark hair, a pet owl, and happens to be English. The first miniseries was published in ''1990,'' but that hasn't stopped Potter fans from claiming it's a ripoff.
273** OlderThanTelevision: ''Kaytek the Wizard'' by Polish author Janusz Korczak was first translated into English in 2012, while Pottermania was still at its peak, but it was a minor hit in children's literature in Poland in ''1933''.
274* OneTrueThreesome: [[FreudianTrio Harry, Ron, and Hermione]], of course.
275%% Overshadowed By Controversy example was cut per cleanup thread. The Harry Potter franchise is likely far too big and successful for any controversy to truly overshadow it. If you wish to discuss the controversies surrounding author J. K. Rowling, please take it to her entry in OvershadowedByControversy/RealLife.
276%% Link: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15417159170A60176600&page=56
277* PortmanteauCoupleName: There are a lot.
278** Harry and Hermione = Harmony or Harmione
279** Ron and Hermione = Romione
280** Harry and Ginny = Hinny
281** James I and Lily = Jilly
282** Snape and Lily = Snilly
283** Scorpius and Rose = Scorose
284** Draco and Harry = Drarry
285** Draco and Hermione = Dramione
286** Pansy and Hermione = Pansmione
287** Luna and Ginny = Linny
288** James and Regulus = Jegulus
289** Dorcas and Marlene = Dorlene
290* RainbowLens: Remus Lupin is specifically coded as a gay man with AIDS. Because of his lycanthropy, he was almost unable to attend school as a child and cannot find a job. When he is exposed as a werewolf at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', he has to leave the school because parents won't want him teaching their children. Additionally, he acquired lycanthropy after being preyed on as a child by a revenge-seeking adult male werewolf who habitually targeted children in order to pass the condition to them, which, while not accurate to gay men with AIDS, was a common stereotype in the 1990s when the book was written. (Though it's noted most werewolves try to avoid passing their condition on and the one who attacked Lupin was the exception, not the rule.)
291* RecurringFanonCharacter:
292** It's very common in {{Flash Forward Fic}}s to have a minor character [[DeadGuyJunior named after Colin Creevey]], with the implicit understanding that his father is Colin's brother, Dennis.
293** Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, the protagonist of the infamous SoBadItsGood fanfic ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'' appears in many fan works that parody the original fic. Her popularity has transcended fanfiction, as she has appeared in fan art, comics, web videos, and many other works. She is one of the most well-known fanfiction characters in existence.
294** It's very common in {{Flash Forward Fic}}s to have a minor character [[DeadGuyJunior named after Colin Creevey]], with the implicit understanding that his father is Colin's brother, Dennis.
295** ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'': Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way appears in many fanworks that parody the original fic. Her popularity has transcended fanfiction, as she has appeared in fan art, comics, web videos, and many other works.
296** The so-called Wrong Boy-Who-Lived AlternateUniverse has spawned a whole genre of fics in which someone else is mistaken as the Boy-Who-Lived. This someone else is, more often than not, an OriginalCharacter who is Harry's twin to boot and functions as his {{foil}}. Said twin embodies all the most negative Gryffindor flaws--conceited, arrogant, attention-seeking, Slytherin-prejudiced, non-studious, reckless, and a bully. In other words, a young James Potter without any of the redeeming qualities or the CharacterDevelopment. The go-to names for this character are John Potter and James Junior Potter.
297* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
298** Fleur Delacour becomes much more sympathetic after Harry [[spoiler:rescues her little sister Gabrielle in the Tri-Wizard tournament]]. And especially in ''Half Blood Prince'', when it's revealed that she's not as shallow as she seems and fully intends to marry Bill despite his disfigurement (it's even this in-universe for her future mother-in-law).
299** [[SpoiledBrat Dudley]] [[TheBully wasn't]] [[JerkAss very]] [[FatBastard likable.]] However, many fans felt that he redeemed himself as a character in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows The Deathly Hallows]]'' when [[spoiler:he revealed that he was grateful that Harry saved him from the Dementors]]. WordOfGod even states that [[spoiler:he and Harry still keep in touch]].
300** Dobby started ''Chamber of Secrets'' as a gratingly overemotional obstacle for Harry returning to Hogwarts. Then he's given a sympathetic backstory in the middle of the book and saves Harry from Lucius Malfoy at the end. His more upbeat attitude and moments of helpfulness in the later books cemented him as a [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favourite]][[spoiler:, making his HeroicSacrifice in the final book all the more heartbreaking]].
301* RonTheDeathEater:
302** [[TropeNamer Ron]] and the rest of the Weasleys are afflicted with this, with the exceptions of Bill, Fred, and George. Yes, Ron can be a bit of a jealous jerk at times, but is that any reason to turn him into a BigBadWannabe?
303** Cho Chang suffers from this a lot within the fandom, turning a very troubled young girl into a crazy, jealous bitch.
304** While Snape's far from flawless, there are those who will completely overlook his desire to protect people and his loyalty to Dumbledore. There are also those who will say that ''preemptive karma'' justifies James and Sirius bullying him at school. The fandom also tends to paint him as a DoggedNiceGuy StalkerWithACrush with an EntitledToHaveYou attitude towards Lily, when in canon he never pursued her nor showed any bitterness over her marrying someone else, and left her alone after she ended their friendship.
305** On the flipside, Snape's more zealous fans insist that James and Sirius are monsters and that James bullied/raped/forced Lily into marrying him. It doesn't help that James ''does'' try to blackmail Lily into going out with him, and that after ''Deathly Hallows'' established that the Werewolf Prank took place before "Snape's Worst Memory", his HeelFaceTurn became an InformedAttribute relying on the testimony of his best friends.
306*** Not to mention there's how they demonize Lily for not taking Snape's own bullcrap, openly saying she was a bad friend and a total whore for cutting her friendship with him ''when she had every reason in the world to do so''.
307** Dumbledore is often portrayed as a sort of DiabolicalMastermind close to Voldemort's level. Granted, Dumbledore ''is'' a little manipulative in his role as TheChessmaster, but he genuinely cares for his students, and is very much a BigGood.
308** Hermione can often be depicted as self-righteous and abusive towards Ron. Not helping matters was Hermione's borderline sociopathic Judge, Jury, and Executioner mentality in ''Order of the Phoenix'' (particularly, disfiguring Marietta and the implication that she [[spoiler:knowingly allowed Umbridge to get raped by the Centaurs]]).
309** Ginny gets a lot of this, especially where DieForOurShip is concerned, being demonized into a hostile AlphaBitch who doses Harry with love potions. Her petty treatment of Fleur also often gets {{Flanderized}} into being a xenophobic FemaleMisogynist towards her.
310* RootingForTheEmpire:
311** A lot of fans bash the main characters, and Gryffindor House in general, because of the author's prejudice against [[AmbitionIsEvil Slytherin House]], who they view as [[WickedCultured cultured and urbane]][[note]]though only Draco shows this quality; every other Slytherin is more or less a snide idiot, thug, henchman, and lackey[[/note]] in comparison to the [[JerkJock crude, bullying Gryffindor jocks]][[note]]among Harry's generation, only Fred, George and Cormac [=McLaggen=] would remotely qualify for that[[/note]]. In a slightly different perspective, they recognize that most of Slytherin is evil, but criticize the author for making them so, especially considering their defining trait is "[[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]]", which any normal eleven-year-old would have oodles of ("I wanna be a ninja/astronaut/actor/doctor/lawyer!") and the fact that most Slytherins in the book don't really display ambition, being rich kids who are content to live off and lord over their traditions to those they see as "beneath them" rather than really innovate or make something of their lives. NotHelpingYourCase is that in an interview on Mugglenet, Rowling defended Slytherin and said "they are literally not all bad [people]". The problem is that it's not until the sixth book that ''one'' Slytherin (Professor Slughorn) is shown to be anything other than a {{Jerkass}} and Voldemort supporter, which can come off as too little too late since it's the penultimate book in the series. It has been suggested in some quarters that even Slughorn, the most decent Slytherin in the series, is portrayed as a bit of a coward, yet Slughorn distinguished himself at the battle of Hogwarts, fetching reinforcements and even duelled Voldemort at the end. The worst that can really be said of Slughorn is his penchant for cosying up to people whose friendship may benefit him in some way.
312** Individually, fans started to dislike Harry's [[{{Wangst}} irritable nature]] more and more after ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]''. This contributed to increased favouritism of Draco, which JK Rowling admitted to disliking; she was a bit disturbed that some people didn't like the hero and preferred Draco. She even admitted to punishing/exaggerating Draco and the Slytherins where she could to counteract it (which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero naturally just increased the resentment that led some readers to prefer the villains in the first place]]).
313** Some people just genuinely wanted the Death Eaters to win the war. Perhaps because they deemed the dark characters to be more interesting, or because they might believe the whole series had an annoyingly BlackAndWhiteMorality and was a tad too {{Anvilicious}}. Or simply because EvilIsCool.
314** Dumbledore starts out as Harry's kind, grandfatherly, somewhat [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} kooky]] mentor, but in the later books, more things about his past and his agenda regarding Harry and the war are revealed, which leaves him more in the ManipulativeBastard category. This has left a lot of fans in the somewhat awkward position of liking ''Harry'' just fine and rooting for him, while simultaneously greatly preferring Voldemort over Dumbledore.
315* SacredCow: Due to it single-handedly [[GenreTurningPoint managing to change peoples' perception]] of YoungAdultLiterature and turning a whole generation of kids on to reading thanks to its complex setting, well-written plot, and enjoyable characters, the series is utterly ''beloved'' worldwide among all ages, up to the point where it's one of [[CashCowFranchise the most popular franchises out there]] to this day. As a result, badmouthing the series or outright calling it bad ''will'' result in fans trying to curse you. It should be noted however that this only applies to the books, as the films, while they also have very dedicated fans, are more subject to scrutiny [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks due to the amount of changes made]] from the books.
316** However, come the late 2010s and the early 2020s, it seems that the books' status as this is being questioned. Due to changing societal and social norms, the ''very'' polarizing reception of the canon play ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'', and [[OvershadowedByControversy controversies surrounding the author]] JK Rowling, more and more fans nowadays are starting to become open to criticism of the series and will admit that some parts of it [[ValuesDissonance haven't particularly aged well]]. Although it should be noted that the series still remains very well-liked, just not as much as it once was.
317* ShipMates:
318** Some ships go quite well with each other. There are the canonical shipmates Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione, also known as [[FanNickname One Big Happy Weasley Family]], or OBHWF. Similarly, Harry/Hermione shippers, [[RonTheDeathEater when they don't slander Ron]], tend to ship him with Luna.
319** In fics set during the Marauders Era, it is quite common to see Remus/Sirius fics also feature James/Lily and Marlene/Dorcas as {{Beta Couple}}s. Another popular alternative is keeping Marlene/Dorcas but having James and Lily paired with Regulus Black and Mary Macdonald instead.
320** Fics that ship Hermione/Draco often ship Harry/Pansy.
321* TheShipsMotor:
322** The Head Boy and Head Girl [[{{lemon}} share quarters]]. Which seems particularly odd since [[FridgeLogic the Founders use magic to keep boys from even]] ''[[FridgeLogic visiting]]'' [[FridgeLogic the girls' dormitories]], but presumably the reasoning is that anyone who earns that title probably has enough sense to avoid unfortunate mishaps. Some of the saner examples downplay the trope a bit and give them separate sleeping quarters but a shared study/living room.
323** There's a million of these, really. There are also "Marriage Law fics," where the Ministry passes a law forcing purebloods and Muggle-borns to marry against their will (usually for the sake of [[TeacherStudentRomance Snape×Hermione]] or [[DracoInLeatherPants Draco]]×[[FoeYayShipping Hermione]]). This... worked better before the last couple of books came out (not that was particularly plausible then). Another plethora of stories has Hermione wind up really being a Pureblood so that she more easily hook up with [[DracoInLeatherPants Malfoy]] or [[EnsembleDarkhorse Zabini]]. Changing a character's heritage to pair her with an unrepentant PoliticallyIncorrectVillain?
324* ShipToShipCombat: Aside from the epic Harry/Ginny vs. Harry/Hermione vs. Ron/Hermione wars? Many Remus/Sirius fans have Nymphadora Tonks as someone who caused JK Rowling to ruin a perfectly good gay character.
325* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Dudley Dursley/Cho Chang pairing has small but dedicated followers despite the two never met each other in canon. The fans started pairing them after Dudley experienced the HeelRealization and TookALevelInKindness. Also, [[WordOfGod Rowling said that Cho would marry a Muggle man in the epilogue time]]. Even after Rowling made another WordOfGod statement about Dudley marrying a Muggle woman and not a witch, the ship did not truly sink. The fanfictions involving Dudley/Cho usually involve Cho saving Dudley, they started interacting and eventually dating, with Dudley being insecure of his past as a school bully and undeserving of Cho's kindness, while Cho is afraid that Dudley will dump her after knowing her secret as a witch. Some fanfictions even portrays Harry as [[ShipperOnDeck being supportive of their relationship]].
326* SpiritualSequel: To ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', which seems to be the Medieval past of this universe.
327* SpoiledByTheFormat:
328** Averted by the writer in that Rowling actually did a pretty good job of making sure that big events happened on the beginning of the next turned page, rather than on the right side where you could notice it as you read down the left. [[spoiler:The revelation that it wasn't Voldemort at the end of the tests, but Quirrell in the first book]] was right after a page turn, as was Snape being the one to murder Dumbledore — when you turned the page, the tension was still going on.
329** Played straight for Savvy American readers who did their best to ignore Mary Granpre's illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, as sometimes it wasn't hard to figure out plot points from them.
330** Also played straight in ''Deathly Hallows''; [[spoiler:when Harry dies there's still a good 40 pages of book ahead, so you could be sure Harry may find a way out of this particular tangle]].
331** Also played straight in ''Half Blood Prince'' if 1) on the night of the book's release, one happened to glance at the Table of Contents because one was curious as to how long the book was going to be, since Rowling had said it wasn't going to be as long as ''Order of the Phoenix'', 2) one then saw before they could look away that the final chapter was called, "The White Tomb", and 3) one had read enough books about ''Harry Potter'' and its sources and inspirations to know that "Albus" is Latin for "White". Why the combination of all 3 could cause a fan to curse aloud in frustration, since before reading a single word of the story, they now already knew who was going to die in Book 6 (even if they didn't know who [[ItWasHisSled kills]] [[MemeticMutation him]]).
332* {{Squick}}: Several scenes imply Umbridge has a crush on Fudge, though it's likely she'd show similar signs of affection for any reigning minister.
333* StrangledByTheRedString:
334** Whether or not the books did this with the Harry/Ginny pairing is a [[BrokenBase major point of debate]] for fans of the series. Ginny starts off as a ShrinkingViolet fangirl but evolves into a hotheaded ActionGirl while OutOfFocus, with a lot of CharacterShilling done to make her look better. Harry becomes closer to and gains a romantic interest in her over the course of two summers which are never properly fleshed out so the development can look rather forced or random to readers.
335** Lupin and Tonks. In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', Harry sees Tonks upset several times and thinks it's [[spoiler:over Sirius dying]], and that maybe she was even [[KissingCousins in love with him]]. Then the climax reveals that Tonks is deeply in love with and wants to marry Lupin. They proceed to do so despite having no interaction on camera before this. As the books are primarily written from Harry's perspective, it's somewhat understandable that plenty of major events can happen off-camera simply because Harry can't be present for every single storyline. At the same time, the readers can still feel left out as the key parts of the RomanceArc never actually happen in front of ''them'' either, especially since other things, like the death of Frank Bryce, did.
336** Also happens InUniverse in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' when Ron consumes a love potion from Romilda Vane, who he has never met, that was intended for Harry.
337* StrawmanHasAPoint: Several strawmen in the books end up making pretty good points.
338** [[FantasticRacism Anti-werewolf prejudice]] is treated as cruel, misguided, and irrational: the creation of werewolf watchlists, the poverty that most werewolves live in due to nobody being willing to hire them (legitimate businesses who are willing to hire them have to keep their status as a closely-guarded secret), and school curriculum treats them as dark creatures to learn how to battle. However, [[TokenHeroicOrc the only remotely sympathetic werewolf in the series who's ever even mentioned is Remus Lupin]]. Meanwhile, [[PsychoForHire Fenrir Greyback]], the most famous and influential member of the werewolf community, is a psychotic cannibal who deliberately targets children to forcibly turn them into werewolves, [[DarkAndTroubledPast which is how Lupin became one in the first place]]. It's noted that most of the werewolves sided with Voldemort--ironically, this means the same people who so disliked werewolf discrimination were probably killing them in battle or sending them to prison by the hundreds at the end of the series. While a lot of the issues werewolves face originate from the aforementioned prejudice, no one ever actually suggests a reasonable way of dealing with the core problem of being around werewolves: even a kind and gentle werewolf is extremely dangerous when transformed, likely to kill or turn anyone they come across until they return to their human form again. The only existing way a werewolf can retain their human mind during transformation is a potion that must be taken regularly, is both expensive and time consuming to produce, said to taste very nasty, and requires a very skilled potion maker to create (and any mistake will instead render the potion poisonous). Treating them as second class citizens may be unfair, but without a better solution it does make sense for people to avoid werewolves and want to learn how to defend themselves from a fully-transformed werewolf in case they find themselves in that situation.
339** [[CrustyCaretaker Argus Filch]]'s complaints about students making his job harder are treated as an extension of his surly, bitter personality. But his stance isn't quite as unreasonable as the narrative makes it seem: while his ideas on how to deal with messy students would be textbook DisproportionateRetribution, it's not hard to see where he's coming from. Having to clean up after an entire boarding school's worth of students essentially by oneself is a tall order, especially for a [[MuggleBornOfMages squib]] at [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] who only got the job because he was a pity hire, so it's fairly easy to sympathize with him not wanting extra work that could be avoided if the students were a bit more careful.
340** Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, claims in the fifth book that the Ministry needs to interfere with Hogwarts in order to fix various problems with the way the school is run. While his [[TyrantTakesTheHelm methods]] and [[ImproperlyParanoid motivations]] mostly make things much worse, the good characters always treat ''any'' interference in the way Hogwarts is run as something inherently problematic. This is despite the fact that the school in question has suffered several attacks and disasters that have targeted and harmed its students since Harry enrolled, plus the numerous day to day problems like the [[NoOSHACompliance alarming lack of safety standards]] throughout the school which alone should have it shut down, plus the numerous blatantly unqualified and/or problematic teachers on staff (e.g. Binns, Trelawney, and Snape). Not to mention that the incident that started the Ministry interference was [[spoiler: ''a student being murdered apparently on school grounds, during a school-sponsored event''. In RealLife, we would absolutely expect increased government or law enforcement involvement in said school in response to an incident like this]]. It's pretty hard to argue that the autonomy and total lack of external oversight at Hogwarts previously was actually a good thing, as any reasonable government would have stepped in long ago.
341** Zacharias Smith is skeptical about Harry's version of events after ''Goblet of Fire'' and is portrayed as a {{jerkass}} for not immediately believing Harry. But Zacharias points out that all everyone know was what they had been told by Dumbledore, who had gotten the information from Harry, thus nobody was given actual proof that [[spoiler: [[BigBad Voldemort]] was back and active]]. The Ministry of Magic was also running a very effective disinformation campaign burying proof of [[spoiler: Voldemort's return]] and discredit Harry's word due to his [[ShellShockedVeteran compromised mental state]], which was compounded by his ([[TraumaButton understandable]]) reluctance to give his side [[note]]In fact, when Harry does share his side of the story through the Quibbler, many more people begin to believe him[[/note]] Later books show that he does tend to be a snobbish asshole, such as providing a more biased commentary for a Quidditch match than even Lee Jordan and being the first to [[DirtyCoward bail before the Battle of Hogwarts begins]], but that doesn't change that without the privileged viewpoint of the readership Zacharias has fair reason to doubt Harry based on word alone.
342** [[spoiler: When giving his NewEraSpeech when he thinks he's won in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', [[BigBad Voldemort]] sets fire to the Sorting Hat and announces that from then on all Hogwarts students will be in Slytherin. The idea that he's picturing is unquestionably horrifying, but he does, however inadvertently, point out a genuine problem--that the house system is [[AbsurdlyDividedSchool divisive and tribalistic]], serves no point except to perpetuate the founders' disagreement over who should be accepted into Hogwarts, and even the Sorting Hat, who exists solely to assign new students to the houses, thinks the current system does a lot more harm than good and there needs to be greater unity. Just a few chapters prior, we learned about how House divisions resulted in Snape and Lily being broken up and the former falling in with a hate group, and Dumbledore mused that "I sometimes think we Sort too soon", indicating that he believes the House system caused much of the problems that had existed in the series. Putting everyone in one house could hardly make things worse, and in fact, it could actually ''improve'' school unity because there's not something trivial dividing the student body. And yet in the epilogue and ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'', we learn that the House system and all of the tribalistic divisions that it brings forth continues, [[StatusQuoIsGod with no apparent changes whatsoever.]]]]
343* ThemePairing:
344** If a PeggySue plot of some sort it's involved and they travel back to the Marauders Era, expect Lily Evans and Hermione Granger to be drawn to each other like moths to the light. Highly esteemed muggle-born witches with plenty of [[BookSmart smarts, talent, love for books]], and stubbornness, as well as their strong sense of justice.
345** Voldemort, Orochimaru (from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''), and Medusa (from ''Manga/SoulEater'') are a OneTrueThreesome that share the ReptilesAreAbhorrent theme and are creepy {{Big Bad}}s.
346* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
347** Despite being the main rival towards the core trio, Draco Malfoy becomes really OutOfFocus during the middle of the series. So much so in the 4th and 5th books that it's easy to forget what he actually did here.
348** There was very little to Cho Chang's character aside from her [[spoiler:grief over Cedric]] and her relationship with Harry. After Harry broke up with her, she was DemotedToExtra.
349** Charlie Weasley was the least developed of the Weasleys, it's a shame we didn't learn more about him.
350** Dean Thomas and Theodore Nott were both supposed to be much more important characters. Dean sadly spent much of the books in the background, and Theodore was only mentioned a total of four times with no character traits revealed.
351*** With the multiple mentions of Nott in the fifth book, many thought that he would come to prominence in the final two books. He began hanging around Draco more, was the only one other than Harry and Neville who could see the Thestrals, and his father was arrested at the end, putting him on the same ground as Draco. Many fans believed that he would either become a good Slytherin or a serious threat in the next book; however, both he and his father only received only a few passing mentions.
352** Similar to Theodore Nott is Susan Bones, who was revealed to have had a few family members who were killed by Death Eaters, including her uncle Edgar, who was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix. This makes her a Hufflepuff who has some relevance to the plot; however she makes little to no appearances after ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. She even gets her name mentioned in the Sorting ceremony in the first movie, implying she might be important, but most certainly isn't.
353** Worse still is Susan's aunt Amelia Bones. When we meet her, we see that she is very tough, but equally fair, and doesn't attempt to stack the trial against Harry like the other members of the court. She also has connections to the Order of the Phoenix due to being the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and thus the boss of many members, as well as the sister of past member Edgar Bones. Many fans thought she was going to be important in the following novels — maybe even a possible Minister of Magic, but this did not come to pass [[spoiler: and she ends up getting unceremoniously killed off in between books.]]
354** Many characters who were cut from the series would've been interesting such as Pyrites, a Death Eater who was to have accompanied Voldemort and Wormtail to the Potters' house the night they were murdered. The Weasley cousin Mafalda would've also been interesting. Apparently, she was to have been a Slytherin who acted as TheMole and would've had some sort of rivalry with Hermione. A possible good Slytherin?
355** Rodolphus Lestrange was introduced as Bellatrix's husband who was imprisoned along with her for torturing the Longbottoms. Although Bellatrix becomes a fairly major character, Rodolphus merely plays the role of a generic Death Eater. What's worse is that not once does Bellatrix mention him even when talking about the Death Eaters who got arrested at the Ministry.
356** Tonks was introduced in the fifth book, but aside from her being a Metamorphmagus and Sirius' cousin, we really don't learn much about her in three whole books.
357*** Her parents, who were both mentioned in the fifth book, did not appear until the last. Though Ted gets a few lines and a small role where he is on the run and [[spoiler:is eventually killed]], Andromeda doesn't get so much as two lines and doesn't even participate in the final battle.
358** With all the friends of James we met at Hogwarts, it would've been nice to have met some of Lily's friends. Sure we do do find out that she was friends with [[spoiler:Snape]], but surely she must've had other friends too.
359*** Similarly, we hear a few mentions of Snape being a part of a gang of Slytherins at Hogwarts; however, we never see them in any of the flashback scenes. Among them are an Avery and Mulciber who we never even see Snape interacting with in the present.
360** Ludo Bagman. After having a decent role in the fourth book where he was shown acting suspicious and was revealed to have connections with the Death Eaters, many suspected that he would play a role in Voldemort's return. Perhaps he would've turned out to be a Death Eater all along? Perhaps he could've been one of the few friendly faces in the Ministry?
361** Kingsley Shacklebolt, who is a rarity among the faces of the Ministry as he is not screwed up like the rest of them, [[spoiler:and he becomes the Minister of Magic after Voldemort is finally dead for good and spearheads the post-war Ministry reform]]. But we never get anything else revealed about him or his past.
362** WideEyedIdealist MageBornOfMuggles Harry Potter fanboy Colin Creevey could have been a pretty good character of he's gotten a little more development. Instead, he stays mostly OutOfFocus and dies offscreen in the last book, about two years after his last onscreen appearance.
363** Some of the other order members, like Hestia, Dedalus, Eliphias, and Sturgis had a lot of potential, but were largely kept OutOfFocus, not even appearing for the final battle.
364** Crabbe and Goyle spend the first six books being [[LivingProp Living Props]] flanking Draco and laughing at his jokes. Despite appearing in every book, they only get dialogue in the last book. They could’ve been given more fleshed out personalities or dialogue (when Draco actually talks to his friends, he’s talking to Pansy and Blaise) rather then keep them as one-dimensional cronies.
365* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
366** Fans expected that Harry would eventually learn more magic and become more competent and take on Voldemort in a duel similar or close to the one between Voldemort and Dumbledore at the end of ''Order of the Phoenix''; [[spoiler:fans weren't too pleased by the way Voldemort gets killed via HeroicSacrifice, GambitPileup, ThePowerOfLove, and confusion over whom the Elder Wand obeys]].
367** Fans expected a meaningful confrontation between Snape and Harry after ''Half-Blood Prince''; [[spoiler:instead, Snape gets killed by Voldemort, and they barely exchange words before Snape [[ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin completes Dumbledore's final errand]]]].
368** In books four and five, we hear that Voldemort also has an army of dark creatures at his disposal. It's a shame that we don't even see this army until the battle of Hogwarts and even then we only know of giants, werewolves, dementors, and inferi. Many fans would've liked to have seen Voldemort recruiting vampires, hags, trolls, and others to his side.
369** Many were disappointed when the Dumbledore's Army meetings didn't continue in ''Half-Blood Prince''. Though Harry handwaves this by saying the purpose of the meetings was due to Umbridge's poor teaching methods, the meetings were also meant to make sure the students were better prepared to fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters who were certainly still at large.
370** On a broader scale, fans felt that the WorldBuilding of the final book, with the treatment of Werewolves, Giants, Centaurs, House-Elves, and Goblins, which had been a theme from Books 4-6, gets shelved aside by the [[spoiler:epilogue that concerns the trio and their children. Fans would have liked to have known how the world changed after Voldemort's defeat]].
371** ''The Half-Blood Prince'' gives us some pretty tantalizing looks at the kinds of advanced magical feats that truly experienced Wizards in the ''Harry Potter'' universe can pull off. There's the revelation that some Wizards (like [[spoiler:Severus Snape]]) can invent ''new'' spells that can be learned and duplicated by anyone, that some (like Voldemort) can manipulate and fracture the human soul, and that some curses are powerful enough to cause multiple seemingly random events to befall multiple unrelated people over a period of ''decades''. It would have been pretty cool if Harry and co. had actually learned that kind of high-level magic themselves while preparing to face Voldemort. If nothing else, it would have been a lot more interesting than seeing Voldemort defeated by [[spoiler:using a faulty wand that doesn't really obey his commands]].
372** By the last book of the saga, [[spoiler:the Death Eaters become a legitimate nation-wide threat and take over the Wizarding Government, unleashing a campaign of terror against Muggle-born and Muggles. This would be perfect territory for any TheUnmasquedWorld scenarios, especially because the Death Eaters ''want'' Muggles to live in terror, so they probably wouldn't be using the enchantments designed to preserve TheMasquerade anyway. Muggle Society could have also helped the good wizards by providing resources. However, the Death Eaters' coup is ''still'' not treated as good enough of a reason for the Order of the Phoenix, the Golden Trio, or any of the other wizards to at least warn the non-wizarding population about the danger to let them know what's going on and give them a chance to protect themselves. We're also never given any indication of what Muggle Society went through during Voldemort's year-long control of the Ministry]].
373** Many fans feel that having a Slytherin or two join Dumbledore's Army (even if only during book 7) would have been good world building and a heartwarming affirmation of house unity, but there is never the slightest indication that this happens.
374** Ron's mastery of chess introduced in the first book had many fans thinking he would eventually grow to be the trio's strategist, who despite not being as talented as Harry or Hermione, would be highly valuable when devising any plans/schemes to defeat the bad guys and save the day. Sadly his potential as a strategic genius never comes into play.
375* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:Fred, Cedric, Remus Lupin, Tonks, Sirius Black, Mad-Eye, and Dumbledore; most of the Order in general.]]
376* ToughActToFollow: Whatever becomes of J.K. Rowling's literary career in the future, she is most likely always going to be looked at as the author of ''Harry Potter''. She was apparently aware of that fact: she wrote her Literature/{{Cormoran Strike novels}} under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith" so that they wouldn't be compared to the ''Harry Potter'' series.
377* UnintentionallySympathetic:
378** The Slytherins in general can be considered this, especially to the fans who identify themselves as one (or who are Sorted that way on Pottermore). The whole house tends to be demonized just for guilt by association, though absolutely none of them face any real persecution or stigma from other students. Unless you count Snape being bullied regularly by four Gryffindors who never faced any sort of consequences, even when one of their "pranks" nearly cost Snape his life. Or Dumbledore announcing Slytherin as the winner of the House Cup at the end of the first book — only to immediately retract that by giving Gryffindor some last-minute House points. Or the school taking Pansy's words about giving Harry up to Voldemort as an excuse to send ''all'' the Slytherins to the dungeons without asking if any of the others wanted to fight against Voldemort. Or that other time when Quirrell announced there was a troll in the dungeons and Dumbledore told all students to return to their dorms — which, for Slytherins, so happened to be in the dungeons...
379** Marietta Edgecombe. While [[spoiler:attempting to rat out the DA]] wasn't a good move, she did it out of fear for her mother losing her job. It doesn't help that her actions could have been avoided if Hermione [[spoiler:[[IdiotBall told the members of the DA that the sign-up sheet was jinxed]]]]. Despite that, we're supposed to see her as the bad guy, as Rowling pointed out.
380** Sirius's treatment of Kreacher is cruel and [[spoiler:the main reason he ends up dead]], but does Sirius have a lot of reasons to be nice to him? Keep in mind that Kreacher treats him like dirt, has always been loyal only to the rest of Sirius's family (who also treated him like dirt and as an outcast), calls Hermione (who actually does try to be nice to him) racial slurs, and generally does his best to be as horrible to him and his friends as he can be. It's not hard to see why Sirius isn't exactly showering him with affection.
381* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
382** Most wizards, even nice ones, regard muggles as intrinsically inferior. This ranges from outright racism and violence on the Death Eaters' end, to a sort of paternalistic condescension on Arthur Weasley's end. And it is disturbing how willing wizards are to use [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Memory Charms]] on Muggles to uphold TheMasquerade after the reader sees what a really strong one does to Lockhart. This is all before a war broke out (for a second time) in which Muggles were ''targets'' and even the prime minister was kept almost entirely in the dark. Even worse possibly is the case for squibs (witches and wizards giving birth to a muggle). While muggle-born wizards and witches may face occasional prejudice in wizard society, pretty much the best a squib can hope for is pity rather than outright disdain, and it is considered a source of shame if there is a squib in a magical family.
383** One of the reasons ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' is so [[ContestedSequel polarizing]] was Harry's characterization. We're supposed to feel sorry for Harry because he witnessed [[spoiler:Cedric's death]] and nobody believed him about neither Voldemort nor the Dementor incident, but he comes off as incredibly wangsty when he complains about it, especially since [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets this was the]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire third time]] Harry was accused of something, but he handled the first two with better maturity. Then there's his [[spoiler:breakup with Cho]]. Harry of all people should have known that she was [[spoiler:still grieving for Cedric]], but still decided to date her anyway. Then there's Harry [[spoiler:dumping her because she called out Hermione for disfiguring her friend]], and she had every right to. Thus, [[spoiler:Marietta]] fans felt vindicated when Hermione [[spoiler:received scars of her own from Bellatrix Lestrange in ''Deathly Hallows'']].
384** Snape, depending on whom you ask. His backstory is undeniably tragic, but whether that and his true motivations make up for his SadistTeacher tendencies [[https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2015/04/03/dorkly-comic-snapes-tragic-backstory varies from person to person]].
385** BaseBreakingCharacter example: certain members of the Weasley family can come off as this for the fans that feel they're major {{Creators Pet}}s.
386*** Fred and George fall into this category for some, who find their NaughtyIsGood mentality and propensity for playing often destructive pranks as more indicative of amoral bullies than carefree pranksters. This reached a crux in, yet again, ''Order of the Phoenix'', where a prank they play on one of [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Professor Umbridge's]] minions nearly — albeit accidentally — ''kills'' the unfortunate schmuck in question. There's also the fact that after leaving school, the joke shop they open explicitly makes most of its money from {{love potion}}s, which are presented in the narrative as being like magical DateRape drugs (a comparison that Dumbledore makes explicitly).
387*** Ron comes off as this for the fans that find his flaws annoying rather than sympathetic or likable. His [[MoralMyopia self-righteous attitude]], tendency to get [[GreenEyedMonster easily jealous]] (to the point that he [[WithFriendsLikeThese turned his back on Harry]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletofFire in the fourth book]] and only had a JerkassRealization and returned to Harry after he almost got eaten by a dragon, and then abandoned Harry and Hermione in the middle of the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows seventh book]] over the locket), and his lazy attitude towards working in general (while bemoaning his status as the CantCatchUp ButtMonkey) have only added on to this. The films just exacerbate this, since nearly all of his heroic moments from the books were either removed or given to Hermione instead, turning him into TheLoad and leaving viewers questioning just what his good qualities were supposed to be in the first place.
388*** Molly can be this for the fans that find her [[MyBelovedSmother shrill, demanding, and annoying]]. The implication that she wanted a daughter so badly that she kept popping out kids until she got one (leaving Ron feeling like TheUnfavourite as a result) also hasn't helped her case. Then there's her [[SlutShaming treatment of Hermione]] in the fourth book when she buys into the lies Rita Skeeter is publishing about her, yet [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritically berated Amos Diggory for believing her lies]].
389*** Ginny also comes off this way due to her personality completely changing from the second book to the sixth and Harry's extremely sudden, poorly-written feelings (having a "chest monster") for her. In the fifth book, Harry is worried because he can see what Voldemort is doing and lashes out at his friends. Ginny basically tells him to shut up because ''she'' was possessed by Tom Riddle in the second book and isn't complaining about it, but Ginny herself admits that she doesn't remember what she was doing during those periods. Combined with her bossy, aggressive nature and the fact she's never shown to be in the wrong, this leads her to coming off as insufferable and bratty.
390** Wizarding society as a whole falls into this quite a fair bit. It amounts to a self-imposed case of TheMasquerade whose only stated reason for being is a HandWave about [[ReedRichardsIsUseless not wanting to help the Muggles solve their problems]]. They treat things like {{Love Potion}}s (which even the author herself likened to DateRape drugs) or vicious pranks as something on par with a kick-me sign, and consider wiping memories of innocent people en masse to be similarly harmless. The government is hopelessly corrupt and ill-functioning, and the school isn't that much better with all the bullying issues, the blatant unprofessionalism from some staff members that the headmaster does nothing about, a house system that encourages cliques and divisions among the student body, and the constant yearly danger the students find themselves in. While some of these issues, such as anti-Muggleborn or anti-werewolf prejudice, are depicted as legitimate problems in their society, others are casually said and done by heroic characters and meant to come across as quirky or silly rather than wrong. For example, [[InformedWrongness Hermione is treated as both annoying and ridiculous]] for being horrified by the fact that the Wizarding World runs on ''slave labour'' from the House Elves. And then in ''Deathly Hallows'' [[spoiler:none of the wizards bother to break TheMasquerade when Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic to help give the Muggles a fighting chance, making it like wizards value their secrecy and isolationism over the fate of the world ''even when a world-ending threat will destroy both societies'']]. One of the most commonly stated criticisms of the epilogue is that despite the cheerful tone and the claim that "all was well", [[StatusQuoIsGod nothing substantial really appears to have changed]] and the whole thing comes off like an EsotericHappyEnding.
391* UnpopularPopularCharacter:
392** Luna Lovegood is a quiet, unpopular, bullied weird girl, and even the few who like her seem to find her more than a bit strange. Among the fandom, she's probably the only character just about everyone likes. Of course, she becomes quite popular in-story during [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Book 7]], where she ends up one of the BigDamnHeroes alongside the likes of Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley.
393** Severus Snape is really unpopular in the books among his peers and students, but he's easily one of the most popular characters in the fandom. So popular, in fact, that in a poll that ran after the seventh book came out he was voted the best character in the entire ''series''. Even some non-fans and flat-out haters have admitted to at least finding Snape an intriguing character.
394** Neville is initially a ButtMonkey who gets picked on, but he's loved by fans, especially for his development where he TookALevelInBadass and showing the Gryffindor bravery that was always hinted to be there in later books.
395** Ron, Hermione and Malfoy are all {{Base Breaking Character}}s, but each has a large and vocal fanbase. In-story, most students think of Hermione as a bossy and uptight know-it-all. Ron is almost always overshadowed by his more successful brothers and Draco is hated by everyone outside of Slytherin, with even his small circle of ‘friends’ barely tolerating him and ditching him as soon as he loses his social status and wealth.
396* VanillaProtagonist: Many readers tend to find Harry far less interesting than his supporting cast. Initially, Harry was a NaiveNewcomer and HeartwarmingOrphan, who lacked a distinct personality unlike Hermione or Ron. When Harry finally developed traits of a put-upon MessianicArchetype frustrated about how little control he has over his life, it struck most people as {{Wangst}}. This is one reason why fans latched on to the EnsembleDarkhorse like Neville Longbottom, since he had a more active arc of CharacterDevelopment and convincingly TookALevelInBadass.
397* ValuesDissonance: Some parts of the books strike readers of this, especially in TheNewTens:
398** The entire WorldBuilding about House-Elves having HappinessInSlavery and Hermione's attempts to help them being well-meaning but a little ignorant strikes many new readers as a GoldenMeanFallacy at best, or a CluelessAesop at worst (i.e. advocating that it's wrong to outright oppose and abolish slavery but one must reform and treat them better, which needless to say flies in the face of history). The novels outwardly present SlaveLiberation as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality bizarre and alien]] to House-Elves and something which Hermione has to impose by her outside ideology (i.e. S.P.E.W.) and her CharacterDevelopment is gradually becoming more reformist and accepting that House-Elves value better treatment more than actual freedom. There's also the fact that [[spoiler:Harry at the end of the books, by inheriting Kreacher from Sirius, ends up becoming a slaveowner himself, and the final lines of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' before the epilogue, about Harry musing asking Kreacher to bring him a sandwich, suggests that he kept Kreacher in servitude even ''after'' Voldemort's downfall]]. [[WordOfGod According to Rowling]], the S.P.E.W. subplot was meant to be a satire of "WhiteMansBurden" activism where people from a more privileged group attempt to "assist" those from a less privileged group to make themselves feel better without regard for what the latter group actually needs or wants (see the infamous "Kony 2012" campaign for a well-known real world example), but many readers interpreted it as a mockery of genuine activism. This also [[HarsherInHindsight looks worse in retrospect]] given Rowling's recent political controversies, among which, she has been accused of [[{{Hypocrite}} similar misguided activism]].
399** Likewise, within the books, the House-Elves are framed as a WoobieSpecies on the whole but generally their pathos has an element of BlackComedy about it (like Dobby beating his head and muttering "bad Dobby" and Winky's alcoholism in ''Goblet of Fire'' which is treated as an aside to the comedy of Hermione's SoapboxSadie phase and the real tragedy of the Crouch family). Dobby, the one rebellious House-Elf, i.e. the one who rejects his master and risks his life and limb to follow his choices (as per the aesop of the series) is usually shown as UnwantedAssistance, ineffectual, and comic until Book 7, [[spoiler:where he ends up dying for the sake of the human heroes, rather than aid his own kind, while Kreacher, an unrepentant collaborator, ends up becoming a hero entirely by MoralLuck, and his idea of a reward is to remain enslaved to the House of Black, which Harry now owns, and is implied to maintain and uphold rather than seek to tear down the legacy of pureblood supremacy entirely]].
400** When Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban prison in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', the Ministry of Magic alerts the Muggle community by telling them he's a dangerous criminal who's carrying a gun. People in countries that has loose gun control laws like the USA would be concerned, but not that surprised by a criminal carrying a firearm. However, in the UK, firearms are heavily restricted, having been so since [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_Act_1968 at least the 1960's]], and privately owning one (legally or not) is usually frowned upon. It is illegal for civilians to own a handgun for instance, and even police officers need to have special permits to carry them. So to them, a criminal carrying a gun is extremely alarming.
401*** This is shown in the first book. When Uncle Vernon is revealed to have somehow obtained a rifle to protect his family from the mysterious "stalker" (actually Hagrid) who he believes is targeting them, Petunia, Dudley, and Harry all react to this with extreme shock.
402** Likewise, many note that while the series criticizes the wizarding community for being hypocritical and unfairly treating the other magical species (e.g. the humans and beasts classification), with the exception of House Elves, none of the other beings are treated fairly in the stories. The grudges of the centaurs and the goblins are shown to be self-inflicted BlueAndOrangeMorality rather than of real political and social stigma, and the goblins ([[http://prospect.org/article/harry-potters-shylocky-goblins who more than a few noted]] appeared to be a [[SpaceJews a fantasy take on anti-Semitic stereotypes]]) are generally shown to be two-faced, backstabbing and without honour.
403** Some of the portrayal of Hogwarts and academic life, and Dumbledore's run as headmaster, has received much criticism as the years have gone on, with many seeing Dumbledore's status as "Hogwarts' best Headmaster" as an InformedAttribute. More specifically, Snape's abusive behaviour as a professor and wildly unprofessional attitude to his peers (like Remus Lupin) and students (e.g. ''extremely'' blatant favouritism towards his own house rather than being generally fair as his peers and colleagues are shown to be) are more or less brushed off each time it's brought up by students like Harry, Ron, and Hermione to their seniors, like Dumbledore and others. Within the books, it's presented as a case of that there's more to Snape than meets the eye (which turns out to be true), but to modern readers it looks suspiciously like victims of abuse by a man in power have their complaints brushed away or dismissed by their seniors under NotNowKiddo, which is compounded by the fact [[spoiler:that Snape himself, near the end, when he is becoming heroic doesn't admit that he was wrong, or feels regret about how badly he treated his students or is given an in-page LampshadeHanging and as per WordOfGod, goes to his grave hating Harry]].
404*** Snape himself is revealed to have been on the other end of this, as none of the teachers stepped in to stop James and Sirius from bullying him during their years at Hogwarts, even after one particularly egregious prank Sirius pulled nearly got Snape killed. There's a reason [[DracoInLeatherPants some readers consider him sympathetic]] in spite of everything.
405** Harry's childhood with [[AbusiveParents the Dursleys]] being played up in an almost [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood over-the-top fashion]] and Dumbledore's decision to leave Harry with them, even after the reveal of the protection magic Lily placed on Harry that only works with her blood relatives so he can be protected from the Death Eaters, had never sat right with fans. Moreover, with the increased awareness of the detrimental long-term consequences child abuse has, and teachers now being trained to spot warning signs of abuse and be proactive when investigating it, many fans, old and new alike, have raised their eyebrows at the stunning lack of notice/action from both schools to help improve Harry's home life (both the muggle Primary School and at Hogwarts). Even after many of Harry's allies have learned about the full extent, they don't do much to stop it, which wouldn't really fly with many people today. It has also left many fans wondering how the heck Harry is still relatively well-adjusted, with multitudes of {{Deconstruction Fic}}s being written on the subject.
406** The rather casual use of love potions and the Weasley twins making most of their money off selling them strikes some as tone deaf. Initially, it's introduced casually as a side-gag, playing it for "girls will be girls", with even Hermione, a moral authority in the series, mentioned to have stared at it and giggling at its effect. The problem is that the same books give it a CerebusRetcon with Dumbledore straight-up acknowledging that Voldemort was conceived as a result of his mother forcing this on his father in an act of rape, while another LovePotion intended for Harry was drunk by Ron instead driving him to a violent rage in an addled drugged state.
407** The mainstream media provided by the ''Daily Prophet'' being fake news and Wizarding ''Pravda,'' while the ''real'' news is found in a ConspiracyTheorist rag like the ''Quibbler,'' feels very awkward in TheNewTens, with websites like Info Wars and Breitbart trading in conspiracy theories, and decrying any mainstream media source, especially those that oppose their philosophy, as fake news.[[note]]''The Quibbler'' in universe is meant to be mostly nonsense and only occasionally publishes legitimate stuff that helps Harry because it's not being controlled by the Ministry.[[/note]]
408** Rita Skeeter, a predatory ImmoralJournalist, is described as mannish with garish feminine attire, almost like readers are meant to see her as a man in bad drag. Coupled with her use of [[spoiler:Animagus]] disguise to spy on people (most notably, Hermione) in vulnerable moments, she invokes transphobic ideas of trans women actually being evil men invading women's spaces to harm them, ideas which Rowling would explicitly tout many years later.
409* ValuesResonance:
410** If you take the Dementors as an allegory for depression — JK Rowling was heavily inspired by her own bouts with it in creating them — then their portrayal is all the more resonant as Mental Health Awareness has increased in TheNewTens. Harry being affected by them is not shown as a weakness and the people who think it is are shown to be in the wrong. Harry seeks help for how to handle the dementors from Lupin, who gives him private lessons on how to fight them off, which are analogous to seeking out therapy lessons to deal with depression. Harry continues to be affected by them when they return, but thanks to the private lessons, he manages to fight them off each time.
411** Harry's greatest strength in the series is his ability to love. His friendship with Ron is portrayed as a deep loving one, without playing any HoYay for comedy or [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "no homo" moments]]. The series also has other male friendships that are shown to be strong and loving — like the Marauders. With toxic masculinity becoming a hot discussion point, the fact that Harry's manliness is never mocked or undermined by his ability to love is all the more resonant.
412* ViewerPronunciationConfusion:
413** Some fans who haven't read up to "Goblet of Fire", which tells you how to pronounce it, think Hermione Granger's first name is pronounced "Hermy-own", "Hermy-owny" or even "Hermy-one". It's "her-my-o-nee".
414** Diagon Alley is supposed to be pronounced "die-AG-un", but some people pronounce it as "DIE-a-gon".
415** Fans (most of them young readers) started saying Voldemort's name as "Vol-de-''mort''" right off the bat, even though J.K. Rowling intended for it to be pronounced (and pronounced it herself, in interviews) "Vol-de-''mor''" like the French word for death. By the time the movies were made, it was too late and everyone was saying "Vol-de-''mort.''"
416%% * {{Wangst}}: Harry's behaviour in the later books is considered this by some. Of course, he's a teenager. [[AngstDissonance With many, many horrible problems on his hands.]]
417* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids:
418** The ''Harry Potter'' example is so prevalent that some editions of the books have plain covers in [[RealIsBrown dingy earth-tones]] (as opposed to the colourful fantasy illustrations that the "main" editions have) so that adult readers don't have to feel so embarrassed when they read it on the train. Considering most children's books are written by adults, you think adults wouldn't feel they needed to justify reading a children's book in the first place... After all, if the author isn't embarrassed at having written it, why should an adult feel embarrassed at reading it?
419** One of the best example of this {{trope}} is the ''Deathly Hallows'' [[Film/HarryPotter film]], which has a scene that caused major uproar (among MoralGuardians and parts of the fandom): [[spoiler:Naked Harry and Hermione making out — a vision which Ron sees as the locket shows his worst nightmares]]. Another is Bellatrix writing on Hermione's arm with a knife. Sure, we all know that Cruciatus is worse, but it is perceived as unreal. When Umbridge forced Harry to carve words into the back of his hand, it was also done with a magic medium, and therefore less visceral.
420** Harry also grows into the world of moral ambiguity increasingly as the books progress and he ages, until a large part of the seventh reads more as a {{Deconstruction}} of the KidHero trope and associated character tropes than a straight fantasy climax. Especially the Dumbledore material.
421** The very nature of the one book = one school year ratio forces this. Even if there were no magical elements at all, 18-year-old graduating high school seniors face very different issues than 11-year-old sixth graders.
422** She's also had to point out to those that say the first book was much lighter than the others that it does open with a double homicide and the attempted murder of a defenceless infant.
423* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids:
424** JK Rowling has stated multiple times that she wrote the books for an adolescent audience, and the books were intended to "grow" with the original fanbase, so the last four or five aren't very appropriate for under-12s, and by the time the 7th novel rolls around, the series is arguably skirting the lines of adult fantasy. The series also, despite many people's protestations to the contrary, hasn't been marketed to children very extensively. Outside of a few book editions that have been repackaged for a younger audience (see the recent and fairly prolific Jonny Duddle covers,) most of the book, merchandise, and film marketing for the series has targeted a teen or adult audience, not an audience of children. This is evidenced by the fact that the ratings of the Harry Potter [[TheFilmOfTheBook movies]] change to PG-13/12 after the second film. Hell, three of the films (Goblet of Fire, Deathly Hallows Part 1, and Deathly Hallows Part 2) had to be edited from an R/15 rating, and Deathly Hallows Part 1 was initially released with a 15 in ancillary markets.
425** The seventh movie has some nudity and rather scary nightmare-inducing scenes, like Bellatrix torturing Hermione. It has a PG-13 rating.
426** The first novel in particular is very innocent and child-friendly in its presentation of the Wizarding World. Most people tend to overlook that Harry is in mortal peril on numerous occasions throughout the tale and there are active attempts on his life, and even begins with the brutal murder of Harry's parents by Voldemort. This is popularly read as a bedtime story. Rowling herself liked to point out to people who complained that later books became too dark that book one had ''a man with a face on the back of his head''.
427* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical:
428** Many people are convinced that Voldemort represents UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. Creator/AlfonsoCuaron (director of the film version of ''Prisoner of Azkaban'') said that he envisioned Big Daddy V as a combination of Bush and Saddam Hussein. Rowling said he's the worst traits of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and UsefulNotes/JosefStalin combined.
429** The Death Eaters were an update of ThoseWackyNazis. Of course, in the fourth movie, they look like gothic KKK ripoffs. The ministry police officers in the 7th movie actually ''look'' like Nazi officers, what with the uniforms, hats, and armbands.
430** Fudge is UsefulNotes/NevilleChamberlain; Dumbledore is UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill. The Malfoys and the Blacks are representative of British Nazi sympathizers like the Mosleys and the Mitfords[[note]]Jessica Mitford, who rebelled against her family, a la Sirius Black, is a hero of Rowling's[[/note]].
431** Some say Umbridge and/or Bellatrix remind them of Sarah Palin. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, since the books were written before Sarah Palin rose to prominence.
432** Aunt Marge and Umbridge could be seen as inspired by Margaret Thatcher, whom Rowling had a hatred for.
433** Grindelwald gets a lot of Hitler comparisons — wizard supremacy, powerful in the early 1940s, German... and defeated in 1945 by a British to boot. WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic indeed. This one is more than just fan speculation — Rowling has strongly hinted in interviews that Grindelwald [[{{Ghostapo}} was involved]] with the Nazis (specifically, she said that the fact that he was brought down in 1945 was "not a coincidence").
434** This article [[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/opinion/harry-potter-market-wiz.html by a French economist]] notes that the underlying theme of ''Harry Potter'' is [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies neoliberalism]] which creates a climate of competition and whose vocational, pragmatic, and careerist ethos is reflected in the fact that Hogwarts and the Wizarding World paint everything in terms of competition (Quidditch, House Cup, the battle of good and evil), Hogwarts curriculum has no equivalent of the arts, humanities, and the social sciences (History of Magic is deprecated as a subject by the narrative and the students, Muggle Studies is ADegreeInUseless), the Ministry of Magic is openly caricatured, and most of the narrative concerns independent heroes who routinely violate laws and rules, which we sympathize with and condone because we are invited to identify with the anti-bureaucratic and anti-regulatory theme of the books.
435* TheWoobie:
436** Draco Malfoy when he becomes a JerkassWoobie in Books 6-7, especially considering that when he's under the most pressure in Book Six, he cries on ''[[spoiler:Myrtle's]]'' shoulder.
437** Luna. Even the emotionally-inept Harry is described as feeling a combination of embarrassment and pity at her good nature and cheer in the face of having no friends and being relentlessly teased.
438** Merope Gaunt. Harry, when he first sees her, describes her as looking utterly defeated, and considering what we know of her life, it's an apt description.
439** Neville can't catch a break. Rowling has it out for him — not only because of what happened to [[spoiler:his parents]], but the fact that in class, all magical backlashes direct back to him.
440** Dobby. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home."
441** Cho Chang. Several fanfic writers feel no sympathy for her, but it's hard not to feel sorry for her about her [[ThereAreNoTherapists emotional stress]] after ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''. And even aside from that, the fact that she's continously dumped on by fans and even the writing of the books (especially when it's [[CharacterShilling in favour of Ginny]]) earns her some sympathy points.
442** Ron is picked on by his big brothers, grows up in poverty, gets taunted mercilessly by the local bullies, [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter constantly overshadowed by both his best friends]], endures being a more or less constant ButtMonkey... and that's a very brief summary of what he goes through.
443** Sirius Black. He spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, burdened by guilt over being an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom and then after spending two years in hiding, evading detection and ministry scrutiny, he gets condescended by the Order as a "flight-risk" and faces constant criticism over petty things, and then [[spoiler:he dies by a complex series of PoorCommunicationKills that could have been avoided had Dumbledore and the Order listened to him and told Harry about the "prophecy"]].
444** Remus Lupin, bitten by a werewolf when he was a child, somehow managing to find friends who accepted him for who he was and made his life happy only to see them die by cold betrayal. Lupin then spent his life in poverty until he got a job that he was good at and which made him popular only to lose it by being outed by Snape. Just when Remus [[spoiler:manages to get married and has a child on his way, he gets killed]].
445** Hagrid never saw his mother, he lost his dad at a young age, he was framed for something he didn't do and then he had to watch all his fellow students grow up over the years and become wizards while he tended to the grounds. It's easy to see why such an outwardly tough character is sentimental on the inside.
446** The dragon in Gringotts. It spent all its life without fresh air or humane treatment, forced to guard bank vaults. On top of it all, the goblins taught it to associate the sound of clanking metal with intense pain. Specifically, ''being stabbed with red-hot swords''. A miniature SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} is when it takes off into the horizon, able to start a new, proper life. It was the right thing for Hermione to be sentimental about the poor creature. The film illustrated this wonderfully by having the dragon pause to breathe in the blissful fresh air before taking off.
447** Harry Potter's parents were murdered when he was just a baby and he was sent to live with an abusive aunt. The guy that did it managed to come BackFromTheDead and decided to make Harry his own personal whipping boy, resulting in ever more attempts on Harry's life, while at school one of his teachers absolutely hates his guts for reasons that he has nothing to do with. And that's just the tip of the ice-berg.
448** Hermione — to compensate for being a muggle-born, she goes overboard in her first year of Hogwarts and is an [[InsufferableGenius insufferable know-it-all]] and doesn't have ''any'' friends until she, Ron, and Harry defeat the troll together. She gets called [[FantasticRacism "Mudblood"]] by Malfoy and other Slytherins and Snape unfairly bullies her even when she's by far one of the brightest students in her year and actually has the right answer. Harry and Ron briefly refuse to speak to her in "The Prisoner of Azkaban" for turning in a suspicious Firebolt to [=McGonagall=] that she suspected was sent by someone to hurt Harry (it ''was'' sent by Sirius, but at the time nobody knew he was a good guy) and because Crookshanks was thought to have eaten Scabbers. In "Goblet of Fire," she's sent nasty hate-mail thanks to Rita Skeeter's articles and gets caught in the middle of Harry and Ron's fight. She's then tortured by Bellatrix in "The Deathly Hallows" and forced to make her parents forget they ever had a daughter for their own protection.
449%%** Ginny Weasley in Chamber Of Secrets.
450* WoobieSpecies: House-elves are a slave race who have been conditioned to not want to be free. Even the suggestion of being free is offensive to them and they regard free elves like Dobby with, at best, disdain.
451* WriterInducedFanon: Dumbledore being gay is this. It's vaguely hinted in the final books but never directly spelled out until Rowling announced it herself.
452[[/folder]]
453
454[[folder:Films]]
455* {{Adorkable}}: Harry at eleven years old in the first film, with his small stature, glasses, baggy clothes and requisite British accent.
456* AudienceColouringAdaptation: Public perception of the series is often more tied to the films than to the books themselves:
457** This is even true within the fandom, to an extent -- at least part of the RonTheDeathEater trope is often chalked up to Ron being an AdaptationalWimp in the films. This has even led to one instance of it happening within the books themselves; Harry alludes to the time in ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' where Hermione punched Draco Malfoy in a later book. But that was an invention of the film -- Hermione only slapped Malfoy in the book.[[note]]The original script called for Hermione to slap Draco as she does in the book. During rehearsal, Emma Watson actually slapped Tom Felton with full force. She later said she had no idea why she did it, and felt horrible about it afterwards. She decided to punch him instead in the final version, as a punch is easier to fake than a slap.[[/note]]
458** One of the most noticeable examples are Hogwarts' uniforms. Their iconic school uniforms are actually not in the books. Students wear robes at Hogwarts and only robes. For fashion appearances and convenience, the film changed the uniform so that students only wear their robes on special occasions.
459** There's a misconception that Durmstrang is an all boys school and Beauxbatons an all girls one because they are in the movies. Both are co-ed in the books.
460** The books never state what color Neville's hair is, but in the movies, he's a brunet. WordOfGod says he's actually supposed to be blond, but you'd he hard-pressed to find a single piece of fanart that reflects this.
461* AwardSnub: The series didn't win a single UsefulNotes/AcademyAward during its 10 years, even with critical reception for ''Deathly Hallows Part 2'' on par with Oscar juggernaut ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing''.[[note]]''[=DHP2=]'' scored an unanimously-positive 100% from 63 "Top Critics" reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8.4; ''ROTK'' received 94% positive marks from 53 Top Critics with an average score of 8.5[[/note]] It's only in 2017 when ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, making it the first Harry Potter film to win an Academy Award.
462* BestKnownForTheFanservice: The frequently asked topic of conversation in most press interviews for ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows, Part 1]]'' was the filming of the Horcrux visions of topless Harry and Hermione kissing.
463* BetterOnDVD:
464** While the movies don't make complete sense on their own, they make better sense when viewed in a marathon (esp. with the deleted scenes), especially since the instalments are released one or two years apart, which adds up quite quickly. It's a bit much to expect someone who didn't rewatch the series on DVD to remember Gryffindor's sword after eight years.
465** The network television version of the series also re-inserts deleted scenes into all the films, making them extended cuts. What makes these televised versions distinct is that it's the only way to watch the series in this manner; only the first two films have seen an official home-release extended version, on the Blu-Ray boxset.
466* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
467** In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', there's-
468*** The talking ShrunkenHead on the Knight Bus.
469*** The choir singing the witches poem from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''.
470*** Once in Gryffindor's Boy's Room in the middle of the night, Ron bolts up, shaking and whimpering something incoherently.
471--->'''Ron:''' (whimpering) Spiders... want me to tap-dance... I don't want to tap-dance!\
472'''Harry:''' (forcing back a laugh) You tell those spiders, Ron.\
473'''Ron:''' (spaced) Yeah... (collapses immediately on the bed)
474*** The bird that flies into the Whomping Willow.
475** In ''Goblet of Fire'', the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang introduce themselves with dance (the latter one using UsefulNotes/{{capoeira}} of all things). It's even worse in the deleted scene, where the Hogwarts students responded by ''singing'' their school song. [[LampshadeHanging The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students look]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments reasonably uncomfortable.]]
476** In ''Half Blood Prince'', the Death Eaters destroying the Burrow. The kids just go back to school, and the Burrow is completely fine in the next movie. Weirder still, the Burrow isn't destroyed in the book at all.
477** Giant spiders suddenly attacking in the final battle of the final film. This was in the book, and it made only slightly more sense there.
478* CantUnHearIt:
479** Hagrid was written for Creator/RobbieColtrane's voice. Millions have tried, and failed to get ''"Yer a wizard, Harry"'' out of their heads.
480** Creator/MaggieSmith as [=McGonagall=], another choice Rowling personally selected. Also notable because the books didn't really indicate she was an older lady until after the films started.
481** Creator/AlanRickman's performance as Snape was so memorable even Rowling couldn't unhear it eventually, despite him [[AbilityOverAppearance being decades older]] than what she had intended.
482** Creator/EvannaLynch as Luna Lovegood. Same as Snape, Rowling admitted to hearing her voice for Luna while writing her remaining parts in the books after she debuted in the films. Also notable because she wasn't written to be Irish (Stephen Fry even uses an English accent for her on the audio-books), but after Evanna was cast, the fans have accepted her as canonically Irish.
483* CompleteMonster: This duo of [[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters Death Eaters]] responsible for [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]]'s return are equally guilty of many atrocities:
484** [[DirtyCoward Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew]] is [[AdaptationalJerkass one of the most despicable characters]] in the series despite being the lowest-ranking member of Voldemort's inner circle. Once a slimy agent of the [[Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers Order of the Phoenix]] with a vehement belief in [[IFightForTheStrongestSide being on the winning team]], Wormtail defected to the Death Eaters by revealing the location of the Potters--James having been one of his best friends since Hogwarts--to his new master, resulting in the death of Harry's parents. After the end of the First Wizarding War, Wormtail escapes retribution by [[FrameUp framing his other friend]], Sirius Black, for his own betrayal and the massacre of thirteen people, leaving him to rot in Azkaban for twelve years. Returning and conspiring to resurrect the dark lord, Wormtail coldly murders Cedric Diggory before performing a ritual to restore Voldemort's power, effectively starting the Second Wizarding War just so he could hide behind his back again.
485** ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The Goblet of Fire]]'': [[PsychoSupporter Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Jr.]], lacking any of his [[AdaptationalVillainy novel counterpart's pathos or sympathy]], is a [[AxCrazy twitching madman]] who participated in the nightmarish torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom to [[DrivenToMadness drive them incurably insane]]. Escaping Azkaban and tending to Voldemort, Crouch [[{{Patricide}} murders his own father]] and sets up the revival of Voldemort upon the world so that the Dark Lord may enact his purges and tyrannical rule.
486* ContinuityLockout: Because of time constraints, much of the backstory gets cut, leaving many viewers who haven't read the books scratching their heads: each individual movie is more or less comprehensible by itself, but when put into a movie continuity, certain things don't make sense.
487** In the third film, the simple fact that Sirius is innocent and was framed by Pettigrew is explained in the most confusing manner possible. This sentence probably just explained it more clearly than any line in the entire movie.
488** They also cut out Dumbledore's argument with Cornelius Fudge in the fourth film, which greatly foreshadowed the events of ''The Order of the Phoenix''.
489** ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' never explains who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are. Then, Harry calls Pettigrew "Wormtail" in the ''Goblet of Fire'' movie without explanation, and Sirius is called "Padfoot" in ''[=OotP=]''.
490** Neither an explanation for how Lupin instantly recognizes the Marauder's Map for what it is nor for how Sirius knows that "The Map never lies" is given as well.
491** In ''Goblet of Fire'', the corpse of Barty Crouch Sr. is removed from the woods… only for him and his death to never be mentioned again. (Not even when the assassin reveals himself.)
492** [[spoiler:Barty Jr.]]'s back story is changed from "believed to be dead" to "still imprisoned in Azkaban". This may be very confusing for moviegoers, who are now expected to believe he could have escaped with nobody noticing while the plot of the previous film revolved around another escape that was discovered instantly.
493** The plot and tension of ''Order of the Phoenix'' hinge on the fact that the only person who will admit to Voldemort's return is Harry Potter, Dumbledore, and their supporters. The problem is that if you saw ''Goblet of Fire'', you know that isn't true. Because the Ministry of Magic ''clearly'' has someone in custody who could tell them (or they could magic it out of his head): [[spoiler:Barty Crouch Jr]], who is last seen alive and being taken into custody at the end of the film. Of course, the book of ''Goblet of Fire'' had him [[FateWorseThanDeath kinda-killed off]]. This is not done in the film, and thus you need to read the books in order for the continuity of the films to make sense.
494** Percy is given only a cameo with no explanation as to why he's on the Ministry's side, nor why he's [[spoiler:suddenly fighting Death Eaters beside his family in ''Deathly Hallows Part 2'']].
495** The entire point of Snape's flashback during Occlumency, which was [[spoiler:Lily — specifically his calling her mudblood (that was the entire point of it being Snape's Worst Memory, him ostracizing her)]] was not in the final cut. It was the massive turning point for his character. They were apparently forced to cut it out due to ExecutiveMeddling, but the problem remains the same.
496** Because the potion book subplot of ''Half-Blood Prince'' was so shortened, TheReveal that [[spoiler:Snape is the Half-Blood Prince]] makes very little sense. It's clear that this is why the book let Harry be so good at Potions, but even that is minor.
497** It also left out what may be the ''single most important'' minor detail in the story. Specifically, [[spoiler:the old tiara]] Harry puts on the stone bust of an ugly wizard in the room of requirement. This turns out to be [[spoiler:the Diadem of Ravenclaw, and Voldemort's next-to-last proper Horcrux]]. In ''Deathly Hallows, Part 2'', the writers [[HandWave handwaved]] it by [[spoiler:having Harry "hear" the Horcruxes talk in Parselmouth]].
498** The movie also fails to point out that [[spoiler:the Diadem of Ravenclaw is a Horcrux in the first place]] since it left out the bits where Harry and Dumbledore [[spoiler:make a list of possible Horcruxes and glean the clues from Voldemort's past, which enable them to predict his actions.]]
499** This trope is actually ''{{inverted}}'' between ''Half-Blood Prince'' and ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'' — a BigLippedAlligatorMoment halfway through ''Half-Blood Prince'' that wasn't in the book involves the bad guys burning The Burrow (the Weasleys' house) to the ground. With no explanation at all, it reappears without a scratch in ''Deathly Hallows''.
500** ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'' doesn't spend any time bringing people up to speed on who the characters are or what they're doing. Movie critics have not let this pass without comment.
501** It also relies heavily on a shard of [[spoiler:the magical two-way mirror]] that Sirius gave Harry in ''[=OotP=]'' as a visual and plot device — despite the fact that it did not appear in the ''[=OotP=]'' movie. Turns out in ''Part 2'' that [[spoiler:Mundungus stole it from Grimmauld Place]]. But we don't know how it ended up broken, or in Harry's hands. It seems highly probable that this was in the ''original'' cut of Order of the Phoenix, but thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, it was cut for the theatrical version.
502** In ''The Deathly Hallows'', both the first movie and the book show the trio being found by Death Eaters almost instantly after their first escape, and build up the mystery for why it happened, considering they teleported to a random place. The book later explains that [[spoiler:the name "Voldemort" has been made taboo, which means every time someone utters it, the Death Eaters instantly know where they are and all protective spells around them are broken]], but the movie never explains this, even when it actually goes the extra step of [[spoiler:showing Xenophilius using the name to summon the Death Eaters to his house]], which the book doesn't show him doing. The movies even make a point of showing Harry [[spoiler:say "You know who" instead of "Voldemort"]], which he has never done and offer no explanation as to why.
503* CriticalDissonance: Up until the final movie, ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' was the most critically acclaimed movie in the series. And even including the last one, critics generally agree that it was with the third film that the series [[GrowingTheBeard Grew The Beard.]] It was also the most streamlined of the movies, cutting out the majority of the subplots, so it's also the most divisive movie with the fandom.
504* DesignatedMonkey: Ron becomes one of these in the movies. He does play ButtMonkey sometimes in the books, but it gets turned up in the movies where he's [[AdaptationalWimp more pathetic]] and [[AdaptationalComicRelief the butt of most jokes]]. Since Harry is the HeroProtagonist and Hermione is CreatorsFavourite to screenwriter Creator/SteveKloves, that leaves Ron getting the short end of the stick. Many fans have theorized that Kloves [[CreatorsPest didn't care for Ron]] and changed his character just to make Hermione look cooler.
505* DracoInLeatherPants: Barty Crouch, Jr. Thanks for that, Creator/DavidTennant.
506* EnsembleDarkhorse:
507** Quite a few characters not given much attention in the books suddenly became more popular once there was an actor playing them. One example? Yaxley, who in the books was just a named Death Eater. In ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'', he acts more like a well-dressed British gangster. It helps that he's played by the badass [[Literature/{{Trainspotting}} Peter]] [[Film/ChildrenOfMen Mullan]]. Also, his walking instead of running after the fleeing Trio in the Ministry made him a lot scarier!
508** Also Oliver Wood from the earlier movies thanks to Sean Biggerstaff's awesome portrayal as him. Many fans were sad when his character was cut from the third and fourth movies, although he ended up reappearing in the final film. He appears particularly popular with [[EstrogenBrigade the ladies]].
509** The [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/f/f5/Leaky.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20110513163607 wizard in the Leakey Cauldron]] in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. He was a minor background character who was casually stirring his drink with wandless magic, while reading Stephen Hawking's ''A Brief History of Time''. Except he was being played by '''[[Music/TheStoneRoses Ian Brown]]''', of all people! A meme has been going around for some time now saying "we've been following the wrong wizard."
510* FairForItsDay: Upon its release, ''Chamber of Secrets'' was almost universally praised as an EvenBetterSequel for its darker tone, improved effects, and better performances by the child actors compared to the first film. As the later films got even darker and improved on the other aspects, people began to see ''Chamber of Secrets'' as more tame and repetitive of the first.
511* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The series is highly popular in Japan, to the point that both ''Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Chamber of Secrets'' are among the top 10 highest-grossing films in the country. Its popularity also shows with the ''Harry Potter'' area at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Japan]], which often gets so crowded that guests will need to pick up return time tickets in order to even be able to enter it. On average weekends, the ''[[Ride/HarryPotterAndTheForbiddenJourney Forbidden Journey]]'' ride quite commonly receives '''''200+ minute''''' wait times, far more than what its counterparts in Florida and Hollywood receive.
512* GrowingTheBeard:
513** Definitely debatable, but ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' and ''Goblet of Fire'' were the best reviewed movies in the series, so this applies for critics. It was with ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' that the series became a more PragmaticAdaptation.
514** ''Deathly Hallows Part 2'' appears to be the most universally-approved adaptation - critics loved it, and the fanbase is largely positive towards the overall product (though not without the occasional quibble). Given that ''Part 1'''s reception was a little more lukewarm and rather more divided, this is especially impressive.
515* HarsherInHindsight:
516** A more long-term one: all of Neville Longbottom's ButtMonkey moments become this as his childhood traumas are eventually revealed. In particular, ''Goblet of Fire'', fainting during Mad-Eye Moody's Crucio demonstration, when the Pensieve scene later reveals that ''that was what happened to his parents''.
517** Near the end of the ''Return to Hogwarts'' special, released in 2022, Creator/RobbieColtrane (Hagrid) comments on how the franchise's enduring popularity and longevity means children could likely be watching the films in 50 years' time, then adds "I'll not be here, sadly... but Hagrid will. ''Yes.''" Coltrane would pass away later that same year.
518* HilariousInHindsight:
519** Cedric Diggory makes his entrance [[Film/{{Twilight}} jumping out of a tree]]. Maybe he was [[WebVideo/PotterPuppetPals both]][[http://www.robertisbothered.com/ ered]].
520** Furthermore, Harry's incredibly handsome fangirl magnet of a rival is played by Edward Cullen's actor! There is something very funny about the fact that Harry, in the book, muses that Cedric's good looks made him a much more suitable champion/fangirl magnet, and Daniel Radcliff says the same thing about the actor in real life when asked which of the two would make a better IRL teenage heartthrob.
521** After Bill gets mauled by Greyback, the narration states that he "now bore a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody. Moody is played by Brendan Gleeson. Bill is played by his son Domhnall.
522** One reason to never take [[spoiler: Cedric's death]] seriously ever again: ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical''. Seriously, try watching it without thinking "YOU'RE SUCH A SPARE!!!". At the same time, Voldemort's resurrection will never be scary again because of that damn musical. '''"TO DANCE AGAAAAAAAAIIIINNN!!!!!!'''
523** Snape's line when he starts the first Potions class in ''Philosopher's Stone'' "There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class." became this when it was revealed that wizards ''need'' to wave their wands over the potions and, in at least some cases, say an incantation in order for it to work. Otherwise, it's a useless pot of foul-smelling water.
524** After ''[[Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild The Cursed Child]]'' was released, it's impossible to take the [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Trolley_witch Trolley Witch]] seriously knowing that she's thrown exploding pumpkin pastries at students, done... ''[[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow something]]'' with the chocolate frogs, and [[spoiler: forcing students to remain on the train by turning her hands into spikes]]. Just TRY and watch any of her scenes [[https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-08/1/16/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane02/sub-buzz-3007-1470083330-1.jpg without cracking up]].
525** While designing the troll in ''The Sorcerer's Stone'', they didn't want to make it too cartoony or too scary. Yet, a scary troll would fit right in with the [[SequelEscalation darker sequels]].
526** Aunt Petunia, Harry’s magic-hating aunt, is played by Fiona Shaw, who later went on to play Marnie Stonebrook, the main antagonist of Season 4 of [[Series/TrueBlood True Blood]]... who’s a witch.
527** Creator/DavidThewlis went on to [[UsefulNotes/WarcraftActors provide the voice]] of Lord Darius Crowley - ''another'' werewolf - in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.
528** ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' features Cedric Diggory as the hero's handler, Gilderoy Lokchart as an even viler villain, and a more educated Fleur Delacour as a scientist serving an exposition role.
529* HoYay:
530** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', the book, Malfoy intentionally stays far away from Harry at Malfoy Manor and doesn't look at him directly because he's afraid of what will happen if he identifies him. In the movie, he comes very close, kneels down to Harry's level, and stares deep into his eyes for a long moment...
531** Inverted in the movie of ''Deathly Hallows,'' which actually downplays a (possibly one-sided) gay relationship present in the book between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.
532%%
533%% As far as movies go, Sirius and Lupin are invoked as HomoeroticSubtext on the main page.
534%%
535* InformedFlaw: Screenwriter Steve Kloves stated that one of the things that made Hermione Granger his favourite character was how socially inept she is/was, how she didn't seem to understand the effect she had on people despite her remarkable intelligence. However, this social ineptitude never really comes up in any of the films, where she appears to have no real trouble socializing with others, beyond having some trouble making friends in first year.
536* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/HarryPotterSeverusSnape Severus Snape]]'s film incarnation emphasizes his charm and downplays his petty vitriol and cruelty. Once the abused son of Tobias Snape, Severus entered Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he became a brilliant student and the self-styled "Half-Blood Prince". After joining [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]] as a [[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters Death Eater]], Snape turned to Dumbledore's side at great personal risk when his beloved Lily Potter was threatened. After Voldemort's return, Snape continues to serve as Hogwarts' Potion teacher before rejoining Voldemort as a DoubleAgent. Assisting in the fall of the Dark Lord, Snape even kills Dumbledore at the latter's insist to spare Draco Malfoy's life and soul, ingratiating himself further to the Death Eaters while using his new position as Hogwarts Headmaster to protect the students while hindering Voldemort's side where he can. Even at point of death, Snape uses his final moments to gift [[Characters/HarryPotterHarryJamesPotter Harry Potter]] his memories to help him and is memorialized later as the namesake for Harry's son Albus Severus Potter, described as the bravest man Harry ever knew.
537* {{Moe}}: Gabrielle Delacour is tiny and cute and French. Luna Lovegood (Creator/EvannaLynch) is so cute, and so much TheWoobie, that you just want to give her a hug and some soup and tell her it will all be better tomorrow.
538* MoralEventHorizon: In ''Chamber of Secrets'', Lucius was clearly about to cast Avada Kedavra on Harry, as opposed to the book version where his spell is ambiguous. He's about to kill a 12-year old, right outside Dumbledore's office, [[DisproportionateRetribution over a house elf!]]. This is really Jason Isaac's fault - [[RealLifeWritesThePlot he was told to just use "a spell", and the first thing that came to mind was the words of the Killing Curse]]. He later admitted that he hadn't realised ''which'' spell he'd been wording until after filming was completed.
539* NeverLiveItDown:
540** Steve Kloves saying Hermione was his favourite character prompted the fans to blame him every time Hermione was given a line another character said (never mind that other characters get other people's lines as well).
541** Also because of Hermione being his favourite character (which is what got him the job) Kloves tends to get a lot of blame from fans who dislike the films' version of Ron Weasley, or the alleged {{Flanderization}} effect it had on his characterization in the last three books, whether because they were shippers who felt that weakening Ron's characterization hurt the intended romantic subplot or because they simply didn't like seeing him depicted as little more than a stereotypical dumb, bumbling, cowardly sidekick devoid of any nuance. And while Kloves probably deserves some of the blame there were no less than four directors (across eight films), producers and J.K. Rowling herself who gave him and his scripts their seal of approval and who probably did more than their share of adding to this arguably less noble characterization of Ron.
542* PeripheryDemographic: [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]] and the actress who portrays her, Creator/EmmaWatson, are really popular among male fans.
543* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Many reviewers and fans feel that Dobby's appearance in ''Deathly Hallows, Part 1'' significantly improves his character.
544* RetroactiveRecognition:
545** Creator/RobertPattinson as Cedric Diggory.
546** Creator/DavidTennant who plays Barty Crouch Jr. is known for his most famous role, the Tenth Doctor, from ''Series/DoctorWho''.
547** Anyone who watches ''Series/GameOfThrones'' would recognize Natalia Tena (Tonks' actress) as Osha the wilding.
548** Alfred Enoch, who played Harry's Gryffindor classmate Dean Thomas, is now law student Wes Gibbons in ''Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder''.
549** Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley, was probably the one child actor who ''didn't'' get a major push from the series (not starring in a major production for nearly seven years afterwards), but by the end of TheNewTens and beyond that, was arguably better known for arthouse fare like the Creator/CoenBrothers-directed ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs'' and ''Film/TheTragedyOfMacbeth''[[note]]the latter film being a solo effort by Joel Coen[[/note]], or the critically acclaimed miniseries ''Series/TheQueensGambit'', than his ''Harry Potter'' role.
550** Viewers of ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' would realized that Adrian Rawlins, who played Chief Engineer [[DirtyCoward Nikolai Fomin]], is the actor of Harry's dad, James.
551* RonTheDeathEater: Gryffindor House, despite being the house that prizes bravery, chivalry, and determination, gets written off by many fans (read: Slytherin fans) as being the house of DumbMuscle and {{Jerk Jock}}s, despite this being unsupported by the text, and the house ''actually'' being the home of thinkers willing to challenge established dogma, the just-minded, freedom fighters, and generally pleasant people. Yes, there are shades of grey, but let's be honest, any house looks good next to the one that seems to spit out terrorists, criminals, and corrupt politicians with astonishing consistency. That doesn't stop the MisaimedFandom from projecting a cliched and inaccurate high school, "jocks versus nerds" conflict over the divide between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
552* ShipTease: The end of the last movie shows a single, silent scene where Luna joins Neville resting in the Great Hall after the last battle. This scene doesn't have much purpose other than to be a Ship Tease. This could also be an example of PairTheSpares.
553* SmurfetteBreakout: Out of the three leading actors, Emma Watson has had the more notable career post-''Potter''. Watson was the lead in ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'', one of the highest-grossing films of all time (unadjusted, only the final ''Potter'' film made more in that series) and was one of the titular leads (second-billed) in Greta Gerwig's ''Film/LittleWomen2019'', which was a box office success and nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture. Radcliffe and Grint, in the meantime, have mainly worked in independent film, theater, and American television.
554* SpecialEffectFailure:
555** The "19 years later" epilogue in ''Deathly Hallows, Part 2'' appears to attempt to make the actors (who are as much in their early-to-mid 20's) look like they're in their late thirties solely by putting them in big coats. Their makeup effects just make them look like they stayed up late last night. It's hilariously awkward.
556** The first film is somewhat infamous for its obvious ChromaKey composites and quickly dated CGI. Creator/ChrisColumbus has spoken about this in interviews and indicated that he made a deliberate effort to do better on the second film. His mistake on the first movie was shooting all the effects scenes towards the end of the shooting schedule, giving the effects people only a few months to complete their work. On the second movie, Columbus shot the effects scenes at the beginning of the shooting schedule, giving them a whole year instead.
557*** Because of strict labour laws limiting hours for child actors, Columbus prefers to shoot scenes with kid and adult actors with individual cameras on each main actor, only sharing the same frame when absolutely necessary, in order to give himself great flexibility in shooting[[note]]for instance, filming with the children before the adults are on call, or shooting with the adults after the kids are released for the day, and having them read lines with stand-ins or nothing at all[[/note]], and stitching it together in post. As with his previous films like the ''Film/HomeAlone'' series and ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'', it's seamless most of the way, but one scene falls hard into this trope, when the children go to Hagrid's to ask where he got Norbert's egg. The children are shot off-location with a poorly-projected green-screen image of Hogwarts behind them, and with an unconvincing Hagrid stand-in from behind; meanwhile, Robbie Coltrane is clearly on set and talking to himself, and the constantly shifting visual fidelity between both sides of the conversation is quite jarring to say the least.
558** Lily and James' gravestone in Godrics Hollow finally confirms that the films are following the same timeline as the books (in spite of the whole Millenium Bridge incident). Then in Snape's flashback scenes the make-up artists/visual effects team apparantly decided not to help out 64-year-old Alan Rickman in his portrayal of a 21-year-old man. The same goes for Lily and James' actors looking in their forties in the same scenes.
559* StrangledByTheRedString:
560** The films, mainly due to being {{Compressed Adaptation}}s, definitely lean towards the asphyxiatory side of things in regards to Harry and Ginny. The two barely interact, sharing the screen for about seven minutes combined in the last ''three movies''. In the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth book]], Ginny [[ShrinkingViolet being able to speak to Harry]] was a big deal; in the fifth movie, Creator/BonnieWright barely has any lines. Whenever they are on screen together, they barely talk, instead just sharing a kiss and an awkward look before Harry rushes off to do something and Ginny sits down to be irrelevant to the plot. Of course even before the film adaptations came, there were complaints that the subplot regarding Harry and Ginny relied too much on telling and not enough on actually showing.
561** It was also noted that Ron got a significantly decreased role from ''Order of the Phoenix'' all the way to ''Deathly Hallows'', while most of Harry and Hermione's scenes were kept in and they frequently acted like an old married couple rather than the more surrogate-sibling relationship they had in the book. Admittedly the Ron-Hermione and Harry-Ginny pairings, which made more sense in the books, felt rather forced in the movies, more like it was just trying to stay faithful enough to its source material. Either if it was by accident or by design, it seemed like the movies' creative team was secretly sailing the Harry/Hermione ship.
562* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The first part of "Hedwig's Theme" sounds very close to "Greensleeves".
563* TaintedByThePreview: On August 14, 2008, Warner Bros. announced to push ''Half-Blood Prince'''s intended November 21, 2008 release date to July 15, 2009 due to [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes the Writers' Guild of America strike of 2007-2008]], despite releasing a teaser trailer for the film a month earlier. This caused so many angry outbursts from hundreds of Harry Potter fans, who called for boycotts of the studio and their products, and sent numbers of nasty hate-mail to the studio. After that, Warner Bros. responded to these outraged fans by sending an apology letter, which promptly ended with "We love the fans". The fans thought the letter was [[StealthInsult an insult]] and continued boycotting.
564* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: A minor one that caused a metric ton of backlash was Hermione's dress for the Yule Ball. Blue in the book, pink in the film. Cue dozens of protests about it, including the film's Website/IMDb page in an edit war over wearing pink counting as a PlotHole.
565* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
566** Many fans feel this way about Ron in the later films. He receives less focus, and many of his best moments from the books are either removed or given to Harry and Hermione.
567** Tonks gets barely any screentime in the last four movies. Her relationship with Lupin is so poorly developed to the point that their son is never mentioned until the encounter Harry has with [[spoiler: the spirit of Lupin before he goes to Voldemort to die]], the audience never learns she's a metamorphmagus, and it just feels like the writers and directors had no idea what to do with her character.
568** Dobby is confined to two films -- ''Chamber of Secrets'' and ''Deathly Hallows Part 1'' -- wheras, in the books, he became a fairly major character starting in Goblet of Fire. His major contributions to the plot in books ''Goblet of Fire'' and ''Order of the Phoenix'' have Neville take on his role instead. This probably has something to do with the SPEW subplot being AdaptedOut.
569** Other than Cedric Diggory having a major role in ''Goblet of Fire'', the lack of a memorable [[RecurringCharacter recurring student]] from the Hufflepuff House sticks out like a sore thumb. In the books, Ernie Macmillan is easily the most noteworthy as he appears throughout the series, and is even on good terms with the core trio, which he could have filled a side-role like Ravenclaw's Luna Lovegood as the Hufflepuff friend of the gang. Instead, Ernie just gets a DeletedScene in ''Chamber of Secrets''.
570** Percy Weasley is harshly DemotedToExtra after the first two films. He gets a major sub-plot in the later books where he has to choose between his family and working for the Ministry of Magic, yet absolutely none of it is touched upon.
571* VindicatedByHistory: The films were originally contentious for their moments of unfaithfulness to the books, but as time went on and readers found the books more flawed, some gravitated towards the films for lacking or downplaying their more problematic elements, enjoying them as {{Pragmatic Adaptation}}s with an AllStarCast. This became more pronounced when ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' and the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' trilogy, adaptations J.K Rowling had more direct involvement with, proved much more divisive.
572* TheWoobie: The list of Woobies in the movies pretty much correspond to the one in the [[Woobie/HarryPotter book version]]. However, Professor Trelawney gets Woobie status in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' in the scene where she's fired by Dolores Umbridge and forced to leave Hogwarts with her bags in front of the whole school. Emma Thompson's heartbreaking performance makes it an absolute TearJerker in the movie.
573[[/folder]]
574
575[[folder:Video Games]]
576* GameBreaker: In ''Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Chamber of Secrets'' on the Game Boy Color, using Mucus Ad Nauseum (poison damage every turn, and repeated casts stack) and Locomotor Wibbly (''PS'' only, permanent paralysis)/Petrificus Totalus (''[=CoS=]'' only, temporary paralysis) guarantees easy boss fights. Especially in ''Philosopher's Stone'', as even ''Voldemort'' is not immune to this tactic!
577* ItsShortSoItSucks: Harry Potter Kinect adapts all 8 movies into one minigame collection utilizing the Xbox 360 Kinect. The problem is the movies are breezed through faster than you can even watch any of the movies. The game clocks in at 2 hours or less. Most glaringly, certain iconic setpieces are skipped over entirely (I.E. The Ford Anglia, The Hungarian Horntail chase, The Malfoy Manor incident etc...).
578* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some fans disregard the post ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' games for losing their own identity and staying true to the films point for point over the books.
579* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Whenever you collect a wizard card.
580* {{Narm}}: In the GBC version of ''Sorcerer's Stone'' and ''Chamber of Secrets'' (as well as the GBA ''Prisoner of Azkaban''), enemies aren't actually "killed" so much as they turn around and retreat. This leads to some absolute hilarities when powerful enemies like a freaking mountain troll [[spoiler:or a ''Voldemort-possessed Quirrell'']] turn around and run, making a squeaking noise. One of the stranger cases is Aragog's ''pincers'' in the GBC ''Chamber Of Secrets'' game! The rest of Aragog is still there, but his pincers run from battle without him!
581* ParanoiaFuel: Prefects whenever you're roaming around during nighttime or within any restricted areas, ''especially'' on the console versions. [[JumpScare That music whenever you're spotted in]] ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'' [[JumpScare doesn't makes things any better.]]
582* SacredCow: The first three games on both PC. All of them easily show their age and [[ItsShortSoItSucks can be beaten in a few hours]], but they're remembered very fondly by fans for their rich and exploration-friendly environments. ''[[EvenBetterSequel Chamber of Secrets]]'' is especially beloved for expanding the exploration elements of ''Philosopher's Stone'' and turning Hogwarts into a large open world with secrets hiding at every corner. Both also have memorable [=OSTs=] composed by Jeremy Soule. The 6th generation console versions also qualify for much of the same reasons, in addition to them having fun [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]-style gameplay.
583[[/folder]]

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