Harry Potter films - tropes 

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Left to right: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Neville Longbottom.

Hermione: We\'ve got to plan, we\'ve got to figure it out!

Harry: Hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose.

Starting in 2001 and finishing in 2011, each of the seven main

books was put to film. The films star Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. The entire series (which has taken a higher aggregate box-office gross than any other series in the same medium) spans eight movies; the seventh book,

, was split into two separate films in an attempt to encompass as much of the final book\'s content as possible (in contrast to the rushed scenes of the largest book,

The first two films, directed by Chris Columbus, place more emphasis on plot than characterization, with most scenes being identical to their counterparts in the books, and are generally regarded as solid but workmanlike. Columbus was succeeded by Alfonso Cuar�n, who decided to reverse this and created what is likely the most controversial movie in the series. His

wangsting with a plot incomprehensible to anyone who hasn\'t read the book (or both). Mike Newell came next, following more-or-less in Cuarón\'s footsteps, but with a larger eye for spectacle and adventure. As

was when J. K. Rowling started writing Door Stoppers, the movie version received attention mostly for how much stuff got left out. British TV director David Yates followed, helming

and all subsequent films, combining the Cuarón and Newell approaches in terms of style, while embracing the increasingly dark and grim tone of the later novels.

fandom is rather sharply divided over whether the earlier films directed by Columbus, or the character-driven films which followed, are better. It basically comes down to personal opinion, whether one prefers complete fidelity, point-for-point with the books, or a more cinematic approach that cuts and embellishes as the directors see fit. This being said, all of the films have been overall critical successes.

The first five films were made and released as the final three books were being written. The film of

was released in theaters, making it the first film where the viewers watched knowing how the story ended.

is one of the most financially successful film series of all time. The eight films have earned a combined 7.7

dollars in revenue falling just shy of a billion dollars per film. The films were a Star-Making Role for Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, and boasted an All-Star Cast and a who\'s who of the British acting scene, including: Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Michael Gambon, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson, John Cleese, Helena Bonham-Carter, Bill Nighy, Timothy Spall, Ralph Fiennes, Ciar�n Hinds, David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Julie Christie and Brendan Gleeson.

announced that they were developing a new spin-off movie series set in the

. The films are scripted by J.K Rowling and set 70 years before Harry\'s first year, revolving around the book\'s author, Newt Scamander. The first installment of this new saga of five planned films released November 17, 2016.

Abandoned Catchphrase: Harry had the habit of saying "Don\'t mention it" whenever he helped someone. It wasn\'t heard again after

, when the films took a much darker tone.

Adaptational Badass: The films are slightly more action-packed than the books, and the main characters tend to be able to hold their own against adult wizards.

In particular, Harry\'s able to hold his own during a protracted duel with Voldemort during the climax of the eighth film. He

struggle quite a lot, barely deflecting spells and instinctively firing off Priori Incantatem, and nearly got choked to death... but even

struggle would be completely beyond him in the books, where Voldemort held off multiple veteran wizards simultaneously.

Somehow, even Dumbledore gets upgraded some in the sixth film. In the book, the ring of fire he summoned was barely big enough to circle both him and Harry and had to accompany them as they moved within the tiny island. In the film, it�s a spectacular firestorm raging through the entire cave.

. In the book, after Lockhart releases the cage full of pixies, Hermione is shown recapturing two or three of them at a time by using "a clever freezing charm". In the movie, once Lockhart flees, Hermione takes out the entire classroom full of pixies with a single spell. She also seems to be able to fly a broom as well as Harry and Ron, as seen in

Ginny in the eighth film. Before Molly takes over in the book, Bellatrix is seen duelling Ginny, Luna, and Hermione at the same time. In the films, Ron and Hermione are busy with the snake and Luna is otherwise indisposed. Thus Ginny is trying to hold off Voldemort\'s second-in-command

her dad, who was in the background, was helping her (which would count as this trope as well), but George seemed to be facing away, only turning around when he hears the noise from Ginny nearly getting fried.

Non-verbal magic. In the books, this is difficult to do at all, and requires much practice and mental discipline (and wasn\'t even taught until the sixth year)... while in the films - especially the later ones - virtually everyone throws these around just as regularly as the spoken versions, if not more so.

Happens inadvertently to Narcissa Malfoy. The films keep her worrying for her son\'s life and betraying Voldemort at the end but leave out scenes showing her haughty racism and general rich bitch attitude before her Heel�Face Turn.

Although Rufus Scrimgeour was never a villain, in books six and seven he\'s treated as something of an opportunistic antagonist who really only wants to work with Harry to make himself look good. In the film series he\'s introduced briefly in the seventh movie, where he cryptically tells Harry and the gang that he doesn\'t know what they\'re up to, but that they can\'t fight Voldemort alone. And then he dies off-screen.

In the books, Severus Snape is a Jerkass, plain and simple. In the movies, he\'s still unpleasant and occasionally mean, but many of his nastier moments are toned down or removed, and he also has a few Pet the Dog moments, such as shielding Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three students he

, from werewolf Lupin, putting his own life at risk in the process.

Unlike his counterpart in the books, who was definitely under the Imperius Curse, Pius Thicknesse is implied to have joined the Death Eaters and Voldemort of his free will.

He seems very tense compared to the other Death Eaters in the room, most noticeably when Nagini is slithering by his feet, but nothing is outright stated, only inferred.

In the books, Grindelwald and Dumbledore were childhood friends (and maybe lovers), and Grindelwald redeems himself by lying to Voldemort about the Elder Wand. In the movie, basically all of that subplot is cut out, and so is his lying to Voldemort.

Adaptational Wimp: The films have been accused of doing this to Ron. In the first book, Ron and Harry are trapped by a monstrous plant, and Hermione has to save them; she panics so much that she forgets about her powers, and Ron is the one to angrily remind her of what she can do. In the film Ron almost dies because

panics, and Hermione basically figures out how to save him herself, all while acting relatively calm.

The change was likely made to avoid the cliche of the only woman being the one who panics. It\'s a nice gesture, but takes away one of Ron\'s better moments.

Cho Chang was excessively jealous and clingy when dating Harry in the books, but none of this is shown in the movies.

The films made Ginny noticeably more soft-spoken, in contrast to the Fiery Redhead she was in the books.

Narcissa Malfoy has her Rich Bitch and haughty racism tendencies dropped from the films.

books, Hagrid\'s dog Fang is described as a boarhound, which is an old term for a Great Dane. In the movies, Fang is played by a Neapolitan Mastiff. Downplayed as this is a change of breed rather than species.

In the first movie the species of the snake is changed from boa constrictor to Burmese python.

Nagini\'s species isn\'t specified in the books, but we do know she\'s some kind of venomous snake. In the movies, she\'s

, where Neville and Luna sit beside each other and grin goofily.

, being completely unafraid of looking stupid, like a lot of boys his age would be.

came out, Rowling said she was surprised at a few parts of the film which unknowingly foreshadowed future books. In retrospect, one was staring us in the face -

established player numbers in Quidditch, and Harry\'s was 7. We wouldn\'t be learning about horcruxes until the book of

, and it would be another three years until we learned that Harry was the seventh horcrux. So, while it wasn\'t really an arc number in the books, it was in the films.

The Artifact: There are several instances where the dialogue is lifted straight from the books but doesn\'t match the continuity of the films. In

, Slughorn claims that he "comes by the stuffing naturally" when disguising himself as an armchair, which makes no sense because he is decidedly not the round, portly man he is in the books. In

, Mundungus Fletcher describes Umbridge as having a bow, which she frequently wears in the books, but is not once seen with one in the films, including in the picture Mundungus is talking about in the first place.

Artistic License � History: The films are established as taking place in the same era as the books (1991-1998) but the characters usually dress in 2000s era Muggle fashions in the later films. The films also show things like Oyster card readers (not introduced until 2003) and at one point Death Eaters blow up London\'s Millennium Bridge — which, as the name suggests, wasn\'t completed until 2000, and wasn\'t actually put into constant use until

onward, the character of Blaise Zabini takes over Goyle\'s role, while Goyle takes Crabbe\'s, because the actor playing Crabbe had troubles with the law.

Ginny zig-zags through this depending on what film it is. She has one scene in the first film, is a big part of the plot of the second, has two scenes in the third, gets a lot more screen-time in the fourth, is featured but has few lines and a Meaningful Background Event in the fifth, is a big part of the sixth, is Demoted to Extra again in the seventh, and then is quite important in the eighth.

In the books, Scabior is featured in only two scenes, while in the seventh film he receives significantly more screen time, appearing as early as the first Malfoy Manor scene. The film also seems to treat him as a Death Eater rather then the snatcher that he is in the book.

Ash Face: Seamus Finnigan seems to be subjected to this an awful lot. It\'s even lampshaded in the final film.

Author Appeal: Screenwriter Steve Kloves\' favorite character is Hermione. Guess which character gets a lot more feature time.

Barty Crouch Jr. Nothing says Ax-Crazy like David Tennant\'s expressiveness and psycho face.

Beam-O-War: Multiple times during the films, despite the first one being the only instance that made sense in-universe. Then again, the films never actually explain what

is, so as far as the audience is concerned it\'s basically a magical color-coded version of arm-wrestling.

In the seventh movie, Umbridge falsely accusing an innocent witch of lying makes Harry so angry that he attacks Umbridge right then and there, in the Ministry courtroom.

Harry: You\'re lying, Dolores� and you mustn\'t tell lies!

In the eighth, Harry mentions Tom Riddle\'s name to the Grey Lady and what he did with her mother\'s diadem, the up-to-then serene ghost becomes enraged:

Grey Lady: I know who he is! I know what he\'s done! He defiled it! With dark magic!!!

In the eighth movie Ron has a minor one in the Room of Requirement when Hermione is attacked:

(Crabbe and Goyle waddle down Great Hall, each carrying a huge pile of sweets)

(the scene then cuts to the Great Hall, where a pair of cupcakes start to rise and hover above the ground as Crabbe and Goyle walk closer. Crabbe notices the cupcakes, and, still holding the wad of food, takes them out of the air and hands one to Goyle. The two each take a bite, chewing for a few seconds before falling back on the floor, unconscious)

The Quidditch matches in the first two films both have these.

. Briefly, there is a shot of Harry looking through the omnioculars at Krum while Ginny and George introduce him through dialogue.

Bloodless Carnage: Played straight as spells don\'t leave bulletholes, but averted for effect on two occasions:

, Voldemort walks across a floor strewn with blood and the bodies of the guards and goblins who let Harry steal his Horcrux from Gringotts.

In a departure from the books, every time a Horcrux is destroyed, Voldemort is weakened. He realizes what\'s going on after the Cup has been destroyed — and once he\'s left with only two anchors to keep him alive,

Lupin\'s werewolf transformation is quite painful to look at. It\'s pretty accurate to the real werewolf transformation in mythology. At least Rowling did her homework.

plays the exact same music that the first film ended with.

Harry\'s life with the Dursleys: when he was 1, Hagrid brought him to the Dursleys riding Sirius\' bike. When he leaves the Dursleys, it is Hagrid who takes Harry... riding Sirius\' bike. Hagrid even mentions this.

, when Harry lands after saving the Remembrall, a background student is heard saying "That was wicked, Harry!" When Harry lands Buckbeak in

, when Dobby emerges from the closet after being tossed in by Harry to hide from his Uncle Vernon, he finds a blue sock dangling from his head, which he nonchalantly tosses to the side. Near the end of the film, Harry, when returning the damaged shell of Tom Riddle\'s Diary to Lucius Malfoy, has managed to sneak one of his socks within the covers. When Lucius angrily shoves the tattered remains to Dobby, he notices the article of clothing within, which resulted in Harry, through Lucius, freeing Dobby.

When the Weasleys save Harry from the Dursleys, Harry asks why they\'re there and Ron replies "rescuing you, of course." When the Order saves Harry from the Dursleys in

Harry says "You\'re lying, Dolores... and you mustn\'t tell lies!" in

The toy knights that Harry played with in the first film are still there seven years later.

A running gag is Seamus\'s tendency to set things on fire or make

explode, such as somehow adding an ingredient to make a supposed Draught of the Living Death explode in the sixth film. In the final film, Professor McGonagall suggests enlisting him to set up explosives because of this.

In the third film, before Sirius departs on Buckbeak he rests a hand over Harry\'s heart, saying that\'s where their loved ones could always be found. In the eighth, when Harry is using the Resurrection Stone, Harry asks his lost loved ones whether they\'d be able to be seen by Voldemort — to which Sirius responds "No. We\'re

In the eighth film, when Harry is in the Room of Requirement trying to get a hold of Ravenclaw\'s Diadem, he climbs a mountain of stuff and accidentally knocks over a small cage. A second later, Cornish pixies, who were last seen in Professor Lockhart\'s classroom in movie two, are flying in every direction.

Rupert Grint had a trademark grimace he used often in the first two films. Then his acting abilities matured and we didn\'t see it. However in the scene in movie 8 when he\'s yelling at Harry and Hermione to run from the fiendfyre he\'s making that face.

where Albus Severus enters platform 9 3/4 is almost identical to the scene of Harry entering the platform in

Maybe. Rumor persists that die-hard Real Life

At least three of the four directors like these:

Chris Columbus cast his own children in various nonspeaking background roles. Most famously, his daughter Eleanor is Susan Bones, who is seen in nearly every crowd scene in the first two films. And then, of course, disappears for the rest of the series. (Amusingly, Susan is a slight Chekhov\'s Gunman character in the books and she ends up having a small role late in the series, although one minor enough that the film versions probably would have cut it anyway. Her name does appear on the list of D.A. members in the fifth movie, however. The video game version of

includes Susan, voiced by a British actress, but physically resembling an older version of the character Eleanor Columbus played.)

In the third film, there\'s a portrait of a mother and a baby next to the Fat Lady\'s portrait. That\'s Alfonso Cuarón\'s wife (at the time; they are now divorced) and their then-newborn baby.

Ian Brown, of 90s britpop band The Stone Roses fame, appears for a brief moment in

Jarvis Cocker appears as the frontman to The Weird Sisters in

The first time Harry sees Sirius, Harry thinks that his gaunt appearance makes him look like a vampire. In the film version of

, Sirius is played by Gary Oldman, who played the most famous vampire ever in

, Rufus Scrigmeour is (according to Luna, who read it in The Quibbler) is actually a vampire. In the film version of

, Scrigemeour is played by Bill Nighy, who played vampire clan leader Viktor in the

Post-werewolf attack (Book 6), Bill Weasley is said in the book to bear "a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye [Moody]." Enter Film 7, where Bill finally makes an appearance. He is played by Domnhall Gleeson, the son of Mad-Eye\'s actor Brendan Gleeson.

Camp Unsafe Isn\'t Safe Anymore: This is said of Hogwarts in three separate films, starting in

Hagrid has "I shouldn\'ta told ya that." and "I shouldn\'ta said that".

Regulus Black is mentioned casually as one of Slughorn\'s favorites in the sixth film.

Mafalda and Runcorn appear briefly in the seventh film before they are actually needed. Runcorn is seen with Umbridge and Thicknesse when the Ministry is taken over, and Mafalda is shown on a newspaper with Umbridge. Even better, Mafalda was the one who sent the letters to Harry after Dobby framed him for using magic outside of school in front of Muggles in the second movie.

Daniel Radcliffe, during the entire Felix Felicis scene, Dan proceeds to eat as much scenery as he can.

Ron, after accidentally drinking a love potion. (Notice how both scenes are "under the influence"?)

Chiaroscuro: Applied in steadily increasing amounts as the series progresses.

One really wonders how Hogwarts can let all these disappearances go unchecked with all the high-intensity security measures it has taken over the course of the series - Madam Hooch after

. This was due to his actor, Hugh Mitchell, going through an impressive growth spurt, to the point where the filmmakers didn\'t believe he could reasonably portray a character who was supposed to appear small and mousy. He is, for all intents and purposes, replaced by the character Nigel.

Narrowly averted with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout, who were brought back in the sixth and eighth films respectively after both having been absent since the second.

Where Padma Patil and Gregory Goyle appear in the final film, Parvati Patil and Vincent Crabbe (who was supposed to get Goyle\'s death scene) vanish without explanation, although the latter was due to Absentee Actor.

Percy plays a fairly important role in the first movie, only to drop out of existence thereafter. He appears occasionally in background shots, but any storyline about him is just removed entirely, to the point one might wonder why his parents never talk about that son they once had hanging around their house.

, where the crucial information he provides is instead revealed by Neville. Unlike Nick, Dobby does make a reappearance.

Classically Trained Extra: The All-Star Cast has an impressive amount of Shakespearian Actors.

Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The ties and lapels of Hogwarts uniforms are in the colours of the student\'s house. Red and gold for Gryffindor, Black and Gold for Hufflepuff, blue and silver for Ravenclaw, green and silver for Slytherin.

Composite Character: The boy identified in the later films as "Nigel" seems to be a composite of Colin and Dennis Creevey from the books; reportedly, the actor playing Colin had grown up something fierce and no longer looked boyish enough next to Daniel Radcliffe.

on cuts a significant amount of scenes, characters, and sub-plots from the books. Can\'t really be helped, though: there\'s just too much plot to stuff into a movie.

, the scene where the Room of Requirement burns (the hide-everything version where Ravenclaw\'s diadem is hidden) features sets and props from the other films, such as

Cowardly Lion: Ron\'s persona seems to cater this more so than in the books. He gets freaked out pretty often, but it\'s obvious he more than has the skill to do what needs to be done on more than one occasion.

Averted by choice. For the Mirror of Erised scene, Chris Columbus offered Rowling a cameo as Lily Potter. Jo politely refused, saying that it was best left for a real actor, and she didn\'t want people to think she had written some Self-Insert Fic. A rumour that she was the witch who, in

, approaches Harry in Knockturn Alley ("not lost, are you my dear?") was quashed by Rowling on her website

, where she confirms that she was only ever offered the part of Lily. However, it does appear that she reversed the decision come film 6, where she can be seen on the cover of the magazine Dumbledore takes from the house due to the "knitting patterns."

Alfonso Cuarón is the man seated holding two lit candles when Harry enters Madame Rosmerta\'s tavern.

, Mike Newell\'s voice is heard on the radio in the opening scene with Frank Bryce.

, Cho Chang wears a silver Cheongsam-style dress to the Yule Ball. The Patil twins wears saris. In

Darker and Edgier: The later films got increasingly darker both in terms of the subject matter and of cinematography. The first two films were full of warm golds and reds, while the later films favour cold blues, and

is almost artfully done in black and white. To further hammer this fact in, "Hedwig\'s Theme", which introduces each film, sounds slightly more eerie, shriller and more discordant in each consecutive film (the 4th movie shifted the theme to a minor key, and there it thankfully didn\'t stayed for the rest of the franchise; in

, the intro theme is drowned out halfway through by a reptilian screech). But after Voldemort was defeated in the last film, the vivid colours of the first movies

return, reflecting the Bittersweet Ending resulting from multiple character deaths.

At some points in the final three films, the action, which is easy to see when watching in a dark cinema or room, is hard to see in a bright room with sunlight shining in.

during the Gringotts break-in, but in the final film he is seen roasted by a dragon.

People were probably cheering when Fenrir and Scabior got taken out too, though.

Goyle replaces Crabbe as the one to be killed by the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement.

Word of God confirmed that Lavender Brown DID die after having her neck chomped on by a werewolf.

Amycus and Alecto Carrow, who are quite possibly killed by a Blasting Curse during McGonagall\'s duel with Snape, while in the book, they are merely trapped in a net by McGonagall and hung in the Ravenclaw common room.

Fenrir and Scabior. Neither were killed in the book.

The Death Eaters\' pointed hoods give them a strong resemblance to the Ku Klux Klan, although with the opposite colour scheme, of course.

Cormac inquires about Hermione to Ron, while brandishing his quite large Quidditch broomstick.

A bathrobe-clad Ginny points out to Harry that his shoelace is untied, and drops down to a knee, at first out of frame. To tie his shoe, of course!

Ron is wiping a lot of things off Hermione\'s lips... like toothpaste and butterbeer foam...

The scene where Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. It happens offscreen in the book, but you get to see plenty of it in the film adaptation, and it strongly resembles rape.

The Nazi-esque posters and pamphlets being printed, Bellatrix scarring Hermione\'s arm with the word "Mudblood", which is very reminiscent of the serial numbers tattooed onto the forearms of interns in concentration camps, and Albert Runcorn, the man Harry polyjuices into, wears a leather jacket and an outfit that makes him look like a Gestapo officer.

In another Nazi-esque reference, Both Bellatrix and Lucius have Azkaban numbers tattooed on their necks.

Ron opens the door to the Chamber of Secrets with some Parseltongue.

Ron: I learnt that from Harry — he talks in his sleep, did you know that?

"Oh my God, I think Snape\'s dead." "No no no, he\'s just between syllables in the word "equally"." "Ahh."

Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape and young Tom Riddle.

. So big, they needed an entire extra movie for the last ten chapters. The two halves feel very different;

The trend started with the first movie, which had an $125 million budget (unprecedented for a children\'s film), wall-to-wall A-list actors, and a 2.5 hour running time.

Those twin girls from the sixth movie were meant to set up one in which Harry realizes the Vanishing Cabinet has a twin. The scene got cut, but it\'s included in the deleted scenes on the DVD. Thus, the twins\' appearances throughout the finished film might count as The Artifact.

House Slytherin (pronounced "Slither in") is an invocation of the trope, since, while it is considered the house of ambitious wizards, it also has the unfortunate reputation of being the house to produce evil wizards.

Professor Snape, the better to Red Herring with, slinks more than the Big Bad does.

Fantastic Racism: Voldemort and his Death Eaters to all Muggle-Borns. The Malfoys employ this egregiously to anyone Muggle-born, who associate with Muggles, the entire Weasley family, and, judging from the reaction Lucius gave when entering Hagrid\'s hut in

, anyone who was not rich. A sort of unifying brand of racism goes through the Death Eaters, the Malfoys, and Dolores Umbridge in regards to members of other magical species as well.

Geographic Flexibility: Present in the books, but less noticeably. The books give it a Hand Wave which is alluded to with the shifting staircases.

(her head bobs down nearly to the bottom of the frame)

Mrs. Weasley yelling at Fred and George for scaring her by Apparating in

Mrs. Weasley: Just because you can use magic now does not mean you have to whip your wands out for everything!

, which are modeled after the Marauder\'s Map, judging by the movements and shoe positions, there\'s a pair of students who are fairly obviously doing the nasty in a corner.

Good Colors, Evil Colors: When Voldemort comes back in

, he\'s a nice, sickly green. Notice when Harry fights him in the morning sun in the final movie, he\'s pretty near a normal skin tone — probably because he\'s now missing several evil Horcruxes.

Severus Snape\'s death. Even then it\'s a Nothing Is Scarier moment as we see only a view through a dirty window, but can hear clearly the sound of the snake striking him again and again.

Inverted and played straight with the discovery of Bathilda Bagshot\'s body in

. While you don\'t see her body, as it is being used by Nagini like a suit, the indication that Bagshot was brutally murdered is the rather large and gruesome pool of blood dripping from the ceiling of her house.

Draco certainly cops this attitude through films 2-5.

Irish Explosives Expert: A Running Gag throughout the movies is Seamus Finnegan\'s projects exploding.

In both the book and movie versions, Harry is continuously forced by Umbridge to write "I must not tell lies" in his own blood. In the movie version, after leading Umbridge on a wild goose chase into the woods, she\'s captured by the centaurs, and begs Harry to tell them she means no harm, at which point Harry replies, "I\'m sorry, Professor. I must not tell lies." This occurred in the book, but those lines between Harry and Umbridge were left out. In the film version of

, Harry once again uses the "must not tell lies" line on Umbridge while in the Ministry.

, when Griphook asked Harry where he got the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry said "It\'s complicated." Griphook gave the same answer when Harry asked him why Bellatrix thought the sword would be inside the Lestrange vault.

Done very subtly within the first ten minutes of

: As the thousands upon thousands of letters begin to shoot down the Dursley\'s chimney, the camera begins to shake rather wildly to indicate that the house is being bombarded by scores of Hogwarts admittance letters.

David Yates is a fan of Jitter Cam, apparently, as it\'s used in

when Harry is pursuing Bellatrix in the field outside of the Burrow, and in in

, particularly in the scene where Ron fights with Harry in the tent and leaves.

Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Lockhart, Voldemort... Of course, Lockhart was a Large Ham even on the page.

A rumour exists that when Kenneth Branagh was selected to play Lockhart, he, Alan Rickman (Snape) and Jason Isaacs (Malfoy) competed to see who could deliver the most porktacular performance that would make it into the final cut of the film.

Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown hams it up, especially in the scene in the hospital wing.

Bellatrix Lestrange. Helena Bonham-Carter completely does justice to her name in her portrayal of Bellatrix.

McGonagall: Why is it that whenever something happens, it\'s

Ron: I\'ve been asking myself that same question for the past six years.

Dumbledore: You\'re probably wondering why I brought you here this evening.

Harry: Actually, sir, after all these years, I tend to just go along with it.

There is a build-up between Hermione and Ron in the books, but the movies downplay the Slap-Slap-Kiss and build them up as a couple earlier, averting the trope. It also manages to avert it for Harry and Ginny in the film version of

by giving Ginny more screen time and giving them more scenes together and not having them break up at the end as they do in the book, making their being Happily Married in the epilogue a bit more believable.

In the final movie Neville declares that he\'s crazy about Luna, which is contrary to what J.K. had happening to the two characters. That said, both Neville and Luna\'s actors stated they imagined Neville and Luna would only dated for a short time before realizing they were better as friends.

Barty Crouch Jr. definitely seems to idolise Voldemort a bit too much. It\'s taken to the extreme

, when Barty actually wipes blood off Harry\'s arm, saying that his blood now runs within the Dark Lord, before appearing to lick it off his finger.

In the fifth film, Bellatrix licks her Dark Mark when she gets busted out of Azkaban.

, the DA does this for Harry and Cho at their last meeting before Christmas.

, Dumbledore does this for Ron and Hermione while Ron is in the infirmary.

when Cho asks Harry to stay behind in the room of requirement, you can see Ginny stop disapprovingly in the background before continuing out the door.

just before McGonagall animates the stone knights to defend Hogwarts you can see behind her Professor Slughorn drinking something. He\'s the potions master, it was undoubtedly something helpful like Felix Felicitis.

Daniel Radcliffe had a few shirtless scenes scattered here and there.

Even though he didn\'t show an ounce of skin, Jason Isaacs in a blonde wig seemed to be more than enough for many people.

going to the D.A.\'s Christmas lesson, with Harry and Cho\'s kiss, to the group practicing Patronus Charms and being raided by Umbridge\'s Inquisitorial squad, to her and the Ministry confronting Dumbledore and his departure is enough Mood Whiplash to give any

, the scene goes from funny with Ron being under the influence of the love potion to him convulsing and frothing at the mouth after drinking a poisonous tonic.

, the Felix sequence is quickly sidelined by the sad story of Francis the fish.

(throwing Harry into a tiny broom closet)

Harry: Um, Miss Skeeter, it\'s a broom closet.

Rita: Well, then, you should feel right at home.

The last line could both be a reference to the fact that Harry used to sleep in a small cupboard under the stairs, or to the fact that he is a skilled broomstick rider. Double points bonus.

In the fifth film, when they find the Room of Requirement, Ron queries whether it would appear as a bathroom if you really needed it. In the books, the first mention of the Room was when it appeared to Professor Dumbledore as a room full of chamberpots in

(which didn\'t make it into the film version).

A Nazi by Any Other Name: The "Death Eaters = Nazis" allegory is made quite clear in the books, but emphasized with the posters and pamphlets printed for the anti-Muggle, anti-Muggleborn campaigns; low-grade miserable looking workers in gray striped robes in the Ministry; and the Ministry\'s elite guard wearing blue Nazi-styled uniforms (arm-scarf included!) in

\'s trailer shows Harry spitting out his water upon seeing girls from Beauxbatons when it\'s really Cho he\'s looking at!

A good majority of the ads for the sixth movie consisted of wacky modern dance music in the background while trying to imply that it will be nothing but a wacky magical teen romantic comedy movie, which is

, but that still doesn\'t excuse there being about... one commercial made that made any mention of, you know... Voldemort. Justified in that Voldemort is an outside presence in the film, just like the source material.

A small and rather cruel one for the seventh film. There was a shot of Harry setting Hedwig free, implying that she wouldn\'t die like she did in the book. However, she ends up reappearing during the chase scene and tries to save Harry\'s life, but is hit with a killing curse. However, test screening viewers warned fans about this ahead of time.

This was done rather sneakily with a few lines in trailers for the seventh and eighth film: most noticeably with some of Voldemort\'s lines:

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine", which in both the book and film is Voldemort\'s locket Horcrux speaking to Ron, is used out of context to make it seem like Voldemort is talking to Harry.

The frequently used sound byte "Bring him to me!" is always used with a shot of Harry, while in

proper, it\'s Voldemort ordering Lucius to give him Snape.

There\'s NYEEEEAAAAH! which was used only once by Voldemort in

(after the Seven Potters chase), but shows up very frequently in the trailers for

The trailers for Part 2 were partial to using Voldemort\'s line "Only

can live forever." during shots of the final showdown with Harry. It\'s actually what Voldemort says right before cutting Snape\'s throat and ordering Nagini to attack.

Obviously Evil: Absolutely no-one who is with the Death Eaters seems like they would fit in anywhere else. You have the guy with a snake face, the grovelling servant, the Ax-Crazy witch, the sneering rich blonde, and the guy who likes screaming and flailing his tongue around.

Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Adaptation Distillation led to quite a few.

, though you have to wonder just how boring they were if Harry\'s round helped him Win Back the Crowd.

, when Umbridge realizes Runcorn is really Harry in disguise, just before he stupefies her.

, Neville has a an Oh Crap look on his face when the barrier around Hogwarts fades, and hundreds of Voldemort\'s mooks come rushing towards the bridge he\'s guarding.

during the second Triwizard Tournament challenge, after Harry fails to surface for air after taking the Gillyweed for a certain period of time, believing that he killed Harry.

Yet Neville turned this around at the final battle during

, on Voldemort nonetheless, when he slew Nagini with Gryffindor\'s sword. The deadlock between Harry and Voldemort ceased momentarily, and Voldemort, his face saying it all, realized that he doesn\'t have any Horcruxes left to rely on.

, when he realizes that he is in the direct path of Dobby\'s cursed Bludger can only be described as this.

Snape, when he realizes that Voldemort believes that Snape is the true master of the Elder Wand and thus Voldemort must kill him to gain the wand\'s allegiance. It ends badly for him.

O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the eighth film, when gentle Cloudcuckoolander Luna Lovegood yells "Harry Potter! You listen to me right now!", you know she really means it.

The seventh film gives Harry an absolutely glorious one just before knocking Umbridge cold and stealing the locket horcrux back.

Harry: You\'re lying, Dolores. And one mustn\'t tell lies.

The eighth film has Molly\'s famous line before she kills Bellatrix, who was attacking Ginny:

Pretty Boy: Lucius and Draco Malfoy, Tom Riddle.

Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: About half of Snape\'s lines feature him emphasizing every word.

features a private police force stationed in the Ministry of Magic after Voldemort takes over. They all wear red armbands. Subtle. Not to mention all of those anti-Muggleborn propaganda pamphlets.

Albert Runcorn\'s leather trench coat, when combined with his duties and demeanour, give him the appearance of a Gestapo operative.

From the seventh film, Bellatrix carves "mudblood" into Hermione\'s arm, much like how the Nazis tattooed numbers onto the skin of Jews during the Holocaust. You know, just in case the allegory was still too subtle at that point.

The way the students at Hogwarts are marching at the beginning of the eighth movie evokes this. The

Real Is Brown: After Chris Columbus stopped directing, the films all took a noticeably bleaker color palette. Especially once David Yates took over in

(and stayed on as director for the remaining three films), all the movies seem to have been shot with a greyish-brown lens over the camera, symbolising the characters\' loss of innocence and feelings of pain and loss.

, when Snape appears in the Astronomy Tower and tells Harry to be quiet.

One must imagine this is why the "The Tale of the Three Brothers" was animated/CGI.

Seamus Finnigan making everything explode (including his cauldron and a

, where he mentions he doesn\'t do it on purpose, it just happens a fair bit, and in

, when McGonagall tells Neville to rig the wooden bridge to blow, and she suggests he enlist the help of Seamus and his talent for pyrotechnics.

Filch prematurely firing off the cannon before/during each round of the Triwizard Tournament in

, accompanied by watching the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix fight to the bitter end.

films posses a set of scales with what appears to be a wand as the beam.

. You can be forgiven for throwing your drink in the air when the inferi show up!

. The post-Bathilda Nagini coming from downstairs after being "killed".

Lupin has two long, thin scars across his face.

, Bill Weasley\'s facial scars from Greyback\'s attack.

, especially the outdoor scenes and the shots of the spiral staircase. (Maybe not so much scenery porn per se as cinematography porn — but as that isn\'t yet a recognized trope, this trope comes closest.)

while Harry, Hermione, and Ron are on the run. The movie really loves long shots of the trio\'s campgrounds.

The route of the Hogwarts Express is the West Highland Railway from Craigendoran via Fort William to Mallaig, Scotland, considered one of the most beautiful railway journeys in the world (and you can even ride behind a steam locomotive in the summer), with the Glenfinnan Viaduct

, with the camera panning up from the students\' point-of-view on the lake, and again at the end of

when the camera zooms out from the Great Hall.

In the first movie, Quirrell collapses to dust, leaving his clothes to fall empty to the floor.

In the third film, Pettigrew leaves behind his clothes after turning into a rat. Which is weird, seeing how Animagi always have clothes on when they turn human and McGonagall\'s cat form is noted to have markings around its eyes which resemble her glasses. In the book, this occurs at a different point, also with Pettigrew. After he framed Sirius for his death and turned into a rat, it\'s mentioned he left behind a pile of clothes and one finger. So... was he naked in the Shrieking Shack? Maybe they just conjure clothes when they turn human since they are wizards, after all.

Ginny pops up only here and there for a few movies, leading to her being introduced as a young woman to be a bit of a shock.

, when Harry uses the bath to figure out the secret of the egg.

films feature several over their course:

: Harry (several times over) during the clothes-changing in the "everyone Polyjuices into Harry" scene, and when he strips down to jump into the pond to get the sword. Ron also has one right after the trio escapes from the Ministry, but it flies straight into Fan Disservice when we see that his shoulder\'s laid open to the bone.

: Harry and Ron changing into dry shirts after the trio emerges from the lake.

During the reading of dead wizards and witches over the radio in

, there is a dead witch named "Ebony Raven".

The scene in the prelude of the Battle of Hogwarts with McGonagall enchanting the castle\'s "statues" and armory is reminiscent of the climax of

One of the posters has Harry and Voldemort\'s heads staring at each other with a wand between them, à la the

The song "Double Trouble" in the third film uses lines chanted by the three witches in Act IV, Scene 1 of

A meta-example from the same movie: Gary Oldman and Timothy Spall had both previously played the character of Rosencrantz.

Ron and Lavender in the sixth film after Gryffindor wins the Quidditch cup.

Averted from the books with Harry and Ginny. They still kiss, but under different circumstances.

Ron and Hermione finally snog after destroying the cup Horcrux. After being drenched by a tsunami.

adds an Innocent Innuendo to a snowy, wintry scene between Ron and Hermione.

One of the few times we see a picture of James and Lily Potter, they\'re dancing in the snow.

, Hedwig looks like she\'d be about to get this, when Harry lets her fly away, where in the books, she got hit by a stray curse while in her cage. Subverted when she flies back and takes a blow for him. However, test screening viewers told fans what would happen, so it wasn\'t unexpected when it did.

Vincent Crabbe, whose actor wasn\'t available for the movie, so Goyle was the one to die by Fiendfyre.

Voldemort does not kill Grindelwald, who tells him where the Elder Wand is unlike in the book.

seems to spare Barty Crouch Jr., as we do not see what happens to him after the interrogation scene and he is never seen again. In the book he is given the Dementor\'s Kiss.

When Apparating, Death Eaters are dark smoke and Order members are streaks of white light. Don\'t ask why (as the more standard one from the books also appears), but it looks cool. Also falls under Color-Coded Characters.

The (Slytherin to a man) villains tend to use a lot of green Avada Kedavra spells, while the (almost entirely Gryffindor) heroes stick to red Expelliarmus and Stupefy spells.

Harry\'s scar is somewhat used as this, as in each film, the pain it inflicts indicates that Voldemort is particularly angry/happy.

In the eighth movie, Harry seems to use this to recognize horcruxes. This plugs the Plot Hole caused by cutting out the dialogue where Dumbledore theorized what they might be.

, which not only deflects bombardment for a while, but actually

to ward off mass quantities of Dementors, also has this visual effect.

Harry\'s memories in the fifth film are footage from earlier scenes in that same film and from the previous four installments.

-style into the Mirror of Erised scene from the first movie. And in a nice moment between Harry and Sirius, to which he says, "I may vomit."

In the eighth movie, scenes from the other seven are used for Horcrux flashbacks and Snape\'s Pensieve memories.

Sword Cane: A variation. Lucius Malfoy has his wand concealed in his pimp cane. See Throw It In! on the Trivia subpage.

Teleport Spam: Apparition is given a more offensively oriented smoke-like form that plays a major role in the climaxes of the David Yates films.

Terrible Trio: Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle (based off the books). Although in the final film, Crabbe is replaced by Zabini.

Timeshifted Actor: Baby Harry in the first and last movies; the various actors to play Tom Riddle (with 16-year-old Voldemort played by two different actors); the young Marauders, Snape, Lily, and Petunia.

Tiny Schoolboy: Harry ends up the shortest in his trio of friends because Daniel Radcliffe grew to be 5\'5".

trailer spoils just about every major plot point, excluding Horcruxes and Dumbledore\'s death.

movies starts with the part where Harry is by himself confronting Voldemort and his followers in the Forbidden Forest and Voldemort using the "Killing Curse" on him!

shows Ron crying over his brother Fred\'s dead body while Harry\'s V.O. says "I never wanted any of you to die for me."

Another trailer shows Harry in the Forbidden Forest talking to his mother, father, Sirius, and Lupin, who are all supposed to be dead, but now brought back to life by the Resurrection Stone!

The fourth showed that Harry\'s name comes out of the goblet.

For the third, the trailer with Harry shouting "expecto patronum" very loudly likely makes obvious what is going to happen for those far enough into the movie to have already heard Harry\'s quieter "expecto patronum" shouts.

Urban Fantasy: It\'s easy to forget, but these movies takes place in 1990s Britain and feature a magical community interacting with muggles to at least some degree.

Toyed with near the end of the fifth movie when Voldemort "coaches" Harry on how to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix.

Used near the end of the first when Voldemort tries to turn Harry in an attempt to get the Sorcerer\'s/Philosopher\'s stone.

"CinemaSins Narrator: Voldemort offers an Empire, but Harry strikes back."

World of Ham: Just about damn near EVERY adult actor.

, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, and Kenneth Branagh were apparently embroiled in a contest to see who could "out-ham" the others the most.

Jason Isaacs recalls sitting next to Branagh in their makeup chairs one day and he asked Isaacs how he was doing. Isaacs confessed his acting may have been "too big." Branagh replied "Look up at my heels."

It\'s pretty damn clear with every line she speaks in

that Helena Bonham-Carter is now the undisputed ruler of Ham World! Except for the sequence where she pretends to be Hermione\'s poor impression of Bellatrix, where she does a good job of being Emma Watson pretending to be someone else, who is pretending to be someone else.

, David Tennant holds his own ground as incredibly hammy as a fellow psychopath. Especially his facial expressions.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Helen McCrory joked that all of the adult actors hammed it up as revenge for having their subplots cut.

Lockhart is not heard from again after accidentally casting the memory charm on himself in

. In a later novel, Harry and co bump into Lockhart when they visit Arthur Weasley at St Mungo\'s, where he spends his days signing autographs, though he doesn\'t remember why.

. Timothy Spall was originally intended to reprise the role in

, suggesting that he was intended to be killed off anyway, but his part ended up being cut. Some believe Dobby\'s attack killed him, or that he is among those killed by Voldemort at the beginning of Part 2 after the Gringotts scene.

Crabbe fits this trope when he doesn\'t appear in

(where Goyle does), although there was a reason the filmmakers cut him out (his actor Jamie Waylett was arrested for possession of drugs). Still, it wouldn\'t have been too hard to at least give mention to him in the Room of Requirement scene.

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