4 HUGE Differences about Harry Movie Watchers Won’t Know - Harry Potter Explained

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today, we're discussing the major differences between the book and film versions of..Harry Potter! Yes, that’s right, today, I’ll be going over the biggest variations between Harry as depicted in the novels versus the movies.
Right, so, as you may have seen over the last few weeks, I’ve released a couple other videos addressing the book-to-film differences of other Harry Potter characters. Specifically, I’ve shared my thoughts on the largest discrepancies between the novel and movie depictions of both Hermione and Ron. And if you have yet to watch them, I encourage you to check them out and share your thoughts with me in the comments! You can find both of these videos right here on the Harry Potter Theory channel.
Anyway, for those of you who have already watched the last couple videos on Hermione and Ron, you may have seen in the comments that there were quite a few requests for me to evaluate the major differences between Harry, the Chosen One himself! So, without further ado, let’s dig in to it.
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[@snigdhapaikkattukavil1738]

" There's no need to call me 'sir' professor." One of the most iconic line in Harry Potter that shows his sassiness

[@hellohsaytin6813]

I think Voldemort is the most drastic difference between the books and movies. As a kid i imagined this horrific snake thing with red eyes with slits, and instead we got baldy with no nose and the bluest most human eyes possible. Not nearly as scary. And i also think that it was meant to be a representation of how un-human he had become. But keeping those extremely human eyes just kills the immersion.

[@silentprincess6478]

Also movie Voldemort just makes me laugh with his dramatics while book Voldemort gives me the chills

[@Deathbyomega]

Let’s see u write a book

[@elizabethoneill8612]

True

[@j-rey-]

Yeah, he just seemed like a handsome bald guy with no nose. He also reminded me of a flamboyant dance teacher with his robes and wand flourishes. Ralph Fiennes was too handsome to play Voldemort.

[@JoshuaWillis89]

@@j-rey- Voldemort was handsome before the transformation, so that’s not the issue

[@AustynSN]

Much like Charlie Bucket, I don't think you could ever find a kid who looks perfect for the part. It'd be illegal (and immoral) to starve a kid for several years to give him the right look to make a movie.

[@CHLOCHLOLP]

i think the most noticeable discrepancy about harrys personality in the movies/books is his thoughtful nature. hes very curious and inquisitive. hes more just adventurous and still somewhat curious in the movies, but in the books i think his adventurousness is more clearly fueled by his desire to understand the world around him, especially because you get insight as a reader into his thoughts about what he is discovering and thinking. He comes across as a much more deep and intelligent person in the books to me. I think its interesting we notice very different aspects. I can see where youre coming from though because he is definitely very blunt in the books, and can come across as rude, especially to Hermione at some points, which is the opposite of the movie, but i think that part of his character in the books makes him feel much more genuine. His character is much more reserved in the movie for sure, he is way more bold in the books. But he still comes across as a better person to me in the books because of that genuine nature, hes not holding anything back, he is unabashedly himself.

[@asa3409]

They definitely gave a lot of Ron’s lines and interactions with Harry to Hermione in the films.

[@knightoftheislandcounter3330]

Yea shes my least favorite movie character

[@JoshuaWillis89]

The eye color issue was unfortunate, but after the producers committed to blue eyes for the films, it made absolutely no sense that Lily Potter was consistently shown with green eyes. “You’ve got your mother’s eyes…” is supposed to be a critical characteristic of Harry’s and influences the plot of the last film. To clarify: I’m saying Lily should have had blue eyes in the films.

[@Daisyreneesmith]

Daniel Radcliffe tried contacts they didn't work well for him

[@JoshuaWillis89]

@@Daisyreneesmith that’s not what I’m saying. Lily should have had blue eyes in the films.

[@mrdr0161]

Even weirder when the decided to cast a girl with brown eyes to play a young lily

[@thebestofthebestmedia7545]

@@mrdr0161 Yeah, for some reason the girl who acted as young Lily in the books looks very much like how a younger Ginny would look like in the books, while in the books Lily had a more distinguishable look with dark/auburn red hair and vibrant eyes just like Harry (specifically green in the books).

[@joshuaroshan204]

Cool Video! This was interesting to watch

[@danteespinoza8119]

The kiss between Harry and Ginny was so much better in the book

[@nunoneves5809]

true

[@Huskytabby]

Video idea for you to do: What additional effects do spells have that are not seen in the movies? For instance, what else can the patronus charm do besides ward off dementors?

[@martyna2640]

I agree! For me he's also more likable in the movie, in the books his so dense that it's annoying. It takes him ages to figure things out and he relies heavily on the help of others. It's also mostly his actions that lead to mishaps, movies try to hide that (like in the movies it was Hedwig saving him that gave him away to the death eaters, but in reality it was him and Hedwig was a victim of his own stupidity: using the disarming spell)

[@RoaringMind]

Very nice hearing your thoughts on this. It is a topic that deserves to be explored more. It is fascinating to see the varying perspectives we all have on the same book. I see some of this differently. For example, it’s fairly evident that Harry also had a natural talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts, not only flying. He was indeed sassy (a point that is not brought up enough, in my opinion), but generally kind. And he often made an attempt to be outwardly polite. Also, movie Harry’s hair color wasn’t the same...Dan Radcliffe’s hair is brown.

[@elizabethoneill8612]

Nice

[@elizabethoneill8612]

Thank you by the way for this.😊👍👍

[@MirrorMountain]

Bro, your reading/storytelling voice is really good. Great respect. For some reason, it also makes me think of Jemaine Clements voice (which imo is a compliment). Do you have a discord?

[@DepFromDiscord]

Nice video!

[@jkrause365]

I think the personality differences as you describe them are probably the most important. The rest....well casting directors always have to make some compromises, don't they?

[@brianbrady3086]

you should do a video like this on the dursley's, slughorn, scrimagour(sp), etc.

[@elizabethoneill8612]

About time it's about Harry Potter

[@WitchbladeFiveNine]

I love watching these they always get me wondering about the Harry Potter universe

[@kellysouter4381]

They get me reaching the books down from the shelves to relive it.

[@jesspearson9280]

Great video 👍🏻 Do Neville next

[@kaiw522]

Please do Dumbledore next!!

[@kunis2299]

Hey HPT can you make a video about vampires in wizard society. Can use magic and are they locked down by wizards like werewolves are?

[@Kasha0211]

They're doing an even on the 30th of july in upstate ny. It is about 2 hours away but I think I'm going to go as long as I can get the day off!

[@lyraaalyn_]

I miss harry so much:(

[@erinclarke2606]

I would like to see you do Draco or Voldemort next. Great video as always mate.

[@killxxhollywoodxx]

Do Voldemort next! This channel is so awesome 😎

[@ginantsfan5]

Calling Book Harry sassy and a bit of a delinquent fits him perfectly as he is James's son after all!!!!!! 👦⚡🦉🌕🏰🧙‍♂️🚂📖

[@pillaygabrielle4450]

So arrogant like Snape said?

[@thebestofthebestmedia7545]

@@pillaygabrielle4450 Not exactly ARROGANT like Snape thinks, but definitely not anything like the watered-down hollywood protagonist Harry of the movies.

[@jaymckeown7601]

The eyes thing could easily have been sidestepped by casting a blue eyes actress as Lily

[@imavirgo7]

Thank you for these videos, in 2020 I started to read Harry Potter and it is my favorite book. I love the movies too and it is so nice to find out more information on Harry Potter from this channel. I also think Inkheart / Inkspell / Inkdeath are good . I'm only in chapter 16 of Inkspell.

[@ELisa-qf2mw]

Man, books Harry is such a king of sass, that I still get tiny "OMG did he really say that!" faces while reading for the humpteenth time well into my adulthood. As for his eye color, I wouldn't have given a damn about green or blue, if only they casted or at least edited young Lily right.

[@grantwileyesq.5962]

It drives me nuts! I just want the movie watchers to get the full experience & read the books so bad! The movies were ok. Some were pretty good, some pretty bad, and some were....ok. I hated how they did Ron the most. Also I can't believe how bad they botched the whole eyes thing. List goes on and on.

[@ashleyjudd9741]

Please do Snape next

[@elizabethoneill8612]

I've seen about Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Dumbledore, but this is about the person I actually Want to see.

[@kellysouter4381]

I'm waiting for Snape.

[@elizabethoneill8612]

👍

[@matthewmastrobuono582]

I think it comes down to time. The movies could only show the most important scenes. As the books got increasingly longer, the movies showed less and less of the work Harry had to put into say his magical work. Each book should have been 2 movies long to get all the details. Harry was definitely more serious in the movies but I think it’s the important scenes that were chosen as most impactful as a story. Harry’s green eyes stood out to me. But I guess the cgi didn’t look natural enough enough either. Otherwise I think Daniel looked as much like Harry as I thought. Not a perfect match but when I look at the drawing on my original copy from the 90s of the sorcerers stone and see dans portrayal, it’s pretty darn close.

[@user-mv9tt4st9k]

"You have your mother's eyes" was so annoying. The eye color had me wondering "Eye shape?"

[@HufflepuffBaseball42313]

Not sure why they couldn’t have found an actress for Lily with blue eyes

[@vianjelos]

Or have her wear contacts or color correct in post...since her on screen time was very short it would have been much. Harry is understandable that would cost too much to change his eye color in editing but they could have done it for lilly.

[@artimex723]

Me and a friend of mine were listening to the audiobook version of the saga for the last few months and have just finished about a week ago. I haven't yet watched the films and am now 19 yo, so my perception of Harry's character was definitely much different compared to many other peoples'. As a "somewhat mature" person, I found Harry to be one of the most annoying protagonist I have ever seen in a book. His main characteristic was being extremely egoistic. Like honestly, for the most part he only seemed to care about himslef, regularly getting into arguments with other people. I don't think there was a single moment in the whole saga, in which he expressed support for his friends. Examples - every time Ron had a mental breakdown (so pretty often) Harry just didn't care and was often even feeling "insulted" because of this; the only times he actually showed any care for somebody else (like Ginny in Chamber of Secrets or Luna in Deathly Hallows) were when that person was dying or already dead. I mean, in Deathly Hallows he literally threw Ron out of his team after an argument, knowing that Ron was under the Horcrux's infouence and that there is a high chance he wouldn't be able to survive on his own. Like that guy literally risked his best friend's life, because he felt "insulted". For real, even Draco Malfoy cared for his friends more than him. One thing is certain, if I lived in the universe JK Rowling created, me and Harry Potter wouldn't make good friends.

[@22cents60]

Agreed. I'm rereading HP book series and now on the third book and I just can't get around the fact that Harry has never bought gifts for his friends' birthday for the straight three years of his friendship with Hermione and Ron. The books give us information only about Hermione and Ron sending gifts and greeting cards to Harry for HIS birthday. And for Christmas, too. Like, what's your problem, Harry? Got too much bad influence from the Dursleys? (Sorry for bad English, not a native speaker 😅)

[@alanrogers7090]

I've said it before and I'll repeat it now. For a series of films that involve so much CGI, why couldn't Harry's eyes be the correct shade of green? If, Daniel couldn't wear contacts, for example, simply use CGI to change them later. It's almost as if everyone involved forgot that Harry was supposed to have "his mother's eyes", even though it's mentioned multiple times per movie. That's one of my pet peeves with the films. The other is the dumbing down of Ron's character to the point of buffoonery. Oh well, it's too late to complain now. We'll always have the books, after all.

[@JoshuaWillis89]

Would have looked fake and distracting. The solution was to just give Lily blue eyes in the films.

[@Witchyrose2349]

Don't cry. It's just a movie.

[@matthewmastrobuono582]

They tried cgi. It didn’t look right. I’d imagine as time went on the technology got better they could have added it but the decision was already made not to use cgi for the eyes.

[@madmudd96]

Okay I guess I’m more okay with Dan actually being ALLERGIC to the colored contacts! I had heard that they were just annoying to him and I was like CMON 🙄

[@hellohsaytin6813]

There are hypo-allergenic contacts. He was a kid and he just didnt like em. And at the time it wudda been too expensive to just cgi it, so they figured it wasnt that big of a deal. But no, there is no evidence that he actually had an allergic reaction to them.

[@pillaygabrielle4450]

Dan Radcliffe was a nepotism kid. He was cast because his family was close to the director. He didn't have to stand in line to audition like the other kids. So him not wanting contacts just they irritated him holds merit

[@Witchyrose2349]

Do you even know how horrible contacts are in your eyes?? I do and I don't blame him.

[@matthewmastrobuono582]

We’re there hypo-allergenic contacts in the 90s?

[@jdeljones]

Couldn't you also say the book Harry is a bit vainer than he's depicted on-screen? I guess that's kind of hard to convey in a movie especially when the evidence for that lies in him dating Cho & then Ginny who are both very popular girls in their years. And the movie didn't portray either of those characters very accurately.

[@armaanuppal8283]

Why did harry dream more at Hogwarts and Dursley‘s house?

[@derekowen7658]

These are differences, but I wouldn’t say that they are HUGE

[@ybmagpye]

And all of the above is why the HP world needs to be treated to what Percy Jackson fans are getting - a TV series. A TV series allows more content and development from a book series to be portrayed to the delight of the series fans. I sincerely wish the BBC could get hold of the HP series for such development. HP fans deserve as much. That way we'll have snarky Harry, Intelligent, resourceful Ron and plain jane & freakn' brilliant Hermione.

[@Bryan198026]

And keep Steve Kloves away from it.

[@Bryan198026]

Then of course you don't see much of Harry's temper in the films, and yet there are times in the books when he's so volcanically furious that Ron, Hermione and just about everyone else is afraid of him.

[@cousinlsytherin]

They could have digital changed eyes color yeah probably cost lot more make the movies.

[@johnwilliams8818]

I think most contacts are made with hypoallergenic materials... So sounds like Daniel might have fibbed a bit (or his parents did) 🤣

[@matthewmastrobuono582]

I know a lot or people who can’t wear contacts. The lenses won’t go in their eyes. It happens. Also I think it was specifically the colored contacts. Which obviously were the ones in question here. Might be the clear prescription ones that are hypoallergenic

[@johnwilliams8818]

Perhaps. I know from experfience the tinted lenses are also hypoallergenic as I had an entire rainbow of my own and they all were. Some were prescription and others not (I would wear my glasses). Nowadays you can get pretty much any type of lens you want, animal eyes, alien eyes, you can even get oversized ones to cover the entire face(the whites, for like solid black, or reverse pupils, etc) its fun sometimes. I know... Probably more information than you signed up for 🤣

[@KugelBlitz0]

07:45 The beta lanky book harry vs the chad robust Daniel Radcliffe

[@toeyatinaing8927]

Woo, , now we know the different facts, do you know about all the things of about Harry Potter is always new and amazing for Potter head❤️❤️ Anyway , It is good💪, and I wish I want new Harry Potter movies and books 🤗🤗👓👦👼 I miss Harry and all the things of Harry Potter. They make me crazzzzy👓👓

[@kellysouter4381]

I always wanted to follow his career.

[@dr.dana.fraser.photography]

What would it have meant for the story if Hermione was with Krum instead of Ron? I think she’d be better off with Krum ;)

[@Shan_Dalamani]

There's a fanfic for that. Hermione does an apprentice healer's program over the summer between 3rd and 4th year, in Bulgaria. She meets Krum and the Bulgarian Quidditch team, who like her because she isn't a star-struck fan.

[@rosylogan2320]

Number 3 is why people ship Harry and Hermione together.

[@jadrianverkouteren3799]

Likely because (unlike in the books) the actors playing Harry and Hermione had better screen chemistry than Emma and Rupert did.

[@hunterkiller1440]

Heh. Movie Harry is a Gary Stu. If he had a harem of Ginnies, he'd be an anime protagonist.

[@emmitstewart1921]

In America, the difference between Harry's appearance in the books and in the movies is even more pronounce since the American version of the novels had cartoon like illustrations at the head of every chapter based on the description in the books. In them, harry is extremely thin and has a crazy shock of hair like someone in an anime'. An interesting show for you would be to describe the difference between the original British publisher's versions of the novels and the American publisher's version. While the words of both may have been the same, other features of the books seem to be quite different. Since I've never seen a copy of any of the books in the British edition, it would be interesting to learn what differences there were in addition to the different dust jackets.

[@sugandhakohli]

Movie Harry's Best Friend = Hermione Book Harry's Best Friend = Ron

[@amanda.s9948]

In the book, Ron is the strongest character, the films ruined that character completely.

[@Witchyrose2349]

Well blue looks better on him anyway. So it doesn't bother me at all. Otherwise it looks very unrealistic (seeing the sketch).

[@dongaming968]

Harry Pottah

[@kellysouter4381]

@@ravenregards Draco Malfoy.

[@ravenregards]

@@kellysouter4381 I was thinking in The Chamber of Secrets when Hedwig is noisy and Vernon yells and says "Pottah!"

[@skb4055]

I was always disappointed in the movies because they totally miss the mark in showing how much Harry learned. He was sent to a school ffs.

[@bossychick1234567890]

He's Loki an asshole a little bit in the books, but in the movies hes not like that. I think they're both amazing though!

[@verylostdoommarauder]

Here's a fun fact: Rowling apparently has a boat and it was going up the Hudson River recently. Too bad I didn't have a boat, full Teppic cosplay, a sword, and a grappling hook otherwise we would have been living in a better timeline.

[@ElephantyG]

Hello

[@LVMarty]

Even though there was nothing to be done about it since D.R. is allergic to colored contacts, the frequent references to the eye resemblance between mother and son in the movies was not very effective. The uniquely bright green eye color from the books was so obviously absent in the films. I always wondered if people who did not read the books but watched the films were confused about characters mentioning recognizing Harry by his eyes. Curious.

[@Witchyrose2349]

Nahh. Eyes can look the same without having the same colour. So no, I was not really bothered by it.

[@NV..V]

Luckily these wonderful film adaptations came out when they did, otherwise current Hollywood naming / casting conventions would have replaced every instance of "Harry Potter" with "Hermione Granger" in the movie titles. Additional changes would be thus: Harry - an pansexual Goth - would simp for Aunt Petunia and have an angry, unrequited crush on Dudley. Ron - obesely overweight - would have a pronounced stutter, an 18-inch blue mohawk, be confined to a wheelchair and come from a large blended pureblood family. His parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Weasley own a combination BnB / Health food shoppe in Diagon Alley and for 50 galleons a week, they let Xenophilius Lovegood secretly sell Wizard-Hemp from a small back room. Hagrid is openly transitioning to Olympe Maxime. All of the House Elves are actually Squibs who identify as Furries. The basic premise: On Wednesday, 31 October 1981, after breaking into Lilly's home, Voldemort easily killed Lilly's Baby-Daddy, who had been cowering in the corner all day crying because Lilly had scolded him about not properly drying and storing her new spalted-Hornbeam Charcuterie Board. Lilly -- who had been showering - immediately leapt from the bathroom having only time to clad herself in a Quilted Flannel Invisibility Jacket and an old comfy pair of her late birth person's Doc Martens. Her wand was still absentmindedly stirring several ounces of pumpkin spice into a pitcher of iced-Vodka on the bathroom sink. The duo met at the threshold of Baby Harry’s nursery door. Her eyes locked with those of the Dark Lord and she saw that he was suddenly AFRAID. A grueling 45-minute combination wand-dual / epic martial arts battle ensued and using trickery, copious amounts of mansplaining and the occasional successful Levicorpus spell, Lord Voldemort managed to achieve a series of lucky shots with an enchanted SPAS-12 loaded with special 00 Dragon Heartstrings shells. He murdered Lilly Evans that night. He preceded through the nursery doorway and just as he reared up to his full height of 4-foot 8 and unleashed the killing curse upon baby Harry, two-year old Hermione Granger leapt in between them and using her binkie and two-newly formed buck teeth as pseudo-fulcrums, snapped-kicked the curse back into Lord Voldemort’s face, destroying his physical body immediately. Her secret shame was that she arrived too late to save Harry's strong, independent mother.

[@rinzler8272]

I hate wokness too but God damn😂

[@sergeyoneill1344]

Harry is rarely self-reflective, narcissistic, inconsiderate, head-strong and idiotic

[@serenacatlover9854]

Hi

[@Kitsunemel]

You completely skipped over the most important visible aspect of Harry’s appearance aside from his eye color. Harry, in the books grows to be taller than most of his classmates by the end of the series. Daniel’s 5’5” or so makes his height the biggest obvious disparity.

[@Chinesepraticeclub]

Banana

[@nunoneves5809]

Book Harry is my favorite

[@sakuleinonen7966]

First

[@WCLCooke]

It's probably good that he's not that skinny. Because that is not very healthy for a child.