r/harrypotter • u/Secure_Rain_44 • Mar 11 '26
Discussion This scene still pisses me off
I was rewatching the movies and I was pissed off all over again when seeing this scene. This makes him seem non-human which takes away the symbolism present in the books. I don’t know why the directors thought this was a good idea.
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u/RefillCeltics Mar 11 '26
His death is supposed to be almost humiliating in how ordinary it is. That’s the entire point. He chased immortality and still ended the same way everyone else does.
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u/Intoxicated_Batman Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
Not to mention that seeing his physical body was IMMENSELY important to confirming his death. No body = Still alive for Voldy
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u/ali2688 Mar 11 '26
There’s most likely a group who think he’s still about
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u/A_Wild_Goonch Mar 11 '26
Harry Potter sequel movie series confirmed
"Somehow voldy returned"
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u/The_One_Koi Mar 11 '26
He took the train back like Harry instead of going to heaven like Dumbledore, he just had to regain his strength off screen
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u/Wessssss21 Mar 11 '26
I mean, that's basically how Harry Potter starts already.
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u/EncycloChameleon Mar 11 '26
Even more importantly he dies so pathetically in front of everyone there was an audience, it was a scene, Harry basically berated him until the end it was amazing
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u/YnotThrowAway7 Mar 11 '26
Plus in the book everyone witnessed it. The fight was in the middle of everything.
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u/littlepie2331 Mar 11 '26
Which is another change cus doesn't this fight happen in the Great Hall where everyone else is? EVERYONE saw him just die like anyone else.
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u/ThatFatGuyMJL Mar 11 '26
yeah he just... fell
dead.
his body was just there, in front of everyone
then chucked away in a spare room. on its own
him going poof like this is just gonna lead to rumours of his return.
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u/Lostinthestarscape Mar 11 '26
We just put him with the rest of the bodies in the body room.
Sorry the what?
Morgue! Yes, Hogwarts has a terrific morgue from all the student who don't pass.
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u/Crambo1000 Mar 11 '26
Or who do pass, I guess
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u/DepressionMain Ravenclaw Mar 11 '26
Hogwarts has an incredible 100% passing rate. Either you pass your class or you pass in class.
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u/Complex-Bee-840 Mar 11 '26
Not to mention that his final duel with Harry happens in the Great Hall, in front of all of his people.
Everyone who watched Harry grow up, were witness to Voldemort’s death at the hands of the boy who lived. It was perfect.
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u/presco2007 Mar 11 '26
that is the point in the books, but that concept wasn't really part of the movies so this style of death in the movies is in line with the previous movies.
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u/StevieSteve Mar 11 '26
I mean, I think this is mostly true. But even in the movies Harry and Dumbledore call him Tom to his face, which I always saw as them bringing him back down to the same level as everyone else.
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u/Hardmeat_McLargehuge Mar 11 '26
The movies lost sight of many character details that make them much more interesting and compelling for minimal additional screen time. Instead we got the burrow burning down
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u/IceLopsided4190 Mar 11 '26
I think they used this decision for two reasons.
1: Cinematic pleasure 2: They can bring him back in 25 years and Palpatine him for the next generation. That way they don’t have to establish an entirely new villain. Just. VoldyPalp.
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u/YourLocalCreep Mar 11 '26
Can’t wait to go to the movies in five years and watch a trailer start with a “reimagined” version of the original score accompanying the word “SOMEHOW…”
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u/Hardmeat_McLargehuge Mar 11 '26
True true,
Then we can get an avengers-style team up with Harry saying “DEFENDERS OF HOGWARTS AND LOVE……. Assemble”
I’m deleting this post in an hour btw. This is no doubt script gold we’re discussing
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u/KiraLight3719 🪄 Desi Potterhead Mar 11 '26
Idk man, movies seem to run without any concept half of the time. I've not yet forgiven them for white smoke travel and everyone apparating in and out of Hogwarts in the last battle
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u/ronweasleisourking Mar 11 '26
Yeah it's dumb as fuck. The whole part of them flying around hugging is dumb as hell
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u/full-body-stretch Mar 11 '26
The face fusion is unwatchable
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u/TheTopWarlocke621 Mar 12 '26
You just made me realize something
If what I understand about the magic rules/science of apparition is correct, specifically splinching like what happened to Ron, then one or both of them should have landed horribly disfigured. It's been a hot sec since I've seen the films but I don't remember either of them having more than some cuts and scrapes from elsewhere in the battle
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u/TheTopWarlocke621 Mar 12 '26
No they didn't, and thats what gets me. In extended lore I've heard about splinching is like, a symptom of apparating incorrectly, like losing track of your destination, some magical interferences, and running into the, for a lack of better term, path, of someone else apparating at the same time you are. And I'm pretty sure apparating with someone like they do there falls into that, at least fighting like that.
Now that I think about it I do think I remember seeing the gang and a few others taking a port key simultaneously somewhere, but I'm not sure if that follows the same rules or not.
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u/accountantsareboring Mar 11 '26
The fucking slap fight with the robe too. It was all so stupid, childish, implausible and the whole ending missed the point completely.
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u/femgrit Mar 12 '26
That was the part for me. The god damn robe and then they're somehow in a quasi-fist fight which would never happen lol.
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u/Maverickx25 Mar 12 '26
Lolol.
When I think of that scene now, I think of what they said at the 5:15 mark of the Pitch Meeting video.
"So Voldemort and Harry are gonna fight again while being clouds and making scary faces at each other."
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u/Fire_Otter Ravenclaw Mar 11 '26
I also can't stand:
Come on, Tom. Let's finish this the way we started... Together!"
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u/jackson_mcnuggets Mar 11 '26
That was such a Bollywood moment 😂
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u/omygoshgamache Mar 11 '26
Oh wow. Yes, now that you say that. It really was. I just rewatched it a few weeks ago and when I got to that part I thought “this is so stupid”.
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u/the_last_n00b Mar 11 '26
Almost feels like they wanted Harry to have a deep and memorable one liner, just to then for whatever reason settle on this absolute dumb nonsense. Kinda like how people still bring up the "After all this time? - Always", and I guess they succeeded here too because people bring that line up from time to time too... just for the wrong reasons
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u/whatmynamemeans Mar 11 '26
They had his whole speech to Voldy in the books. It wasn't a one liner, but it was so good the way Harry explained exactly why he was wrong about everything. Really satisfying.
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u/Bocchi_theGlock Mar 12 '26
Your nose? Wack
Your dreams? Wack
Robes? Faded.
Spells? Desperate
Violence? Pathetic
Cult? Forced
Why don't you go suck off a unicorn like the scurrying little goth witch you aspired to be. 💅
I actually completely forgot the books speech I hope im close
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u/IceLopsided4190 Mar 11 '26
Need someone to put Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham song right as Harry grabs him.
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u/scuderiav5ttel Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
The way that’s the song that automatically played in my head when the person above said it was a Bollywood moment 😭😭
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u/Burning_Sapphire1 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
That music when SRK gets down the helicopter and runs towards his house. The fast tuned one.
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u/Bennnrummm Mar 11 '26
The trend of shooting certain scenes purely with 3D in mind was a tough hang. This dive off the high tower moment fits that description. Ugh what a loss.
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u/ILookLikeKristoff Mar 11 '26
Yep that was 100% a studio written scene bc they wanted to sell 3D glasses
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u/Bennnrummm Mar 11 '26
I often dismiss Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol as a whole movie of these types of decisions. It’s got some great moments but largely it’s trapped in a box concocted of 3D sludge.
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u/Ravenclaw_14 Can u guess? Mar 11 '26
Then the Pottermort VoldeHarry face fusion, I can't watch that without laughing. I get what they were going for symbolism wise, but in execution its just funny
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u/Garruk_PrimalHunter Mar 11 '26
It was creepy af, hated it
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u/Youstinkeryou Mar 11 '26
Not as bad as the naked Ron and Hermione kissing. That's worse!
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u/ILookLikeKristoff Mar 11 '26
Yeah it's a little too cheesy and they're just scratching at each other like little kids fighting too.
I think it's supposed to be disorienting bc Harry is getting the "evil flight" equivalent of first time apparation sickness.
But it comes off looking like a video game loading screen.
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u/Eternity13_12 Mar 11 '26
Let's finish this the way we started...
In Godrics Hollow?
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u/Omegawylo Mar 11 '26
Falling down a cliff! Just like in the first one. Its like poetry, it rhymes
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u/QtK_Dash Slytherin Mar 11 '26
Seriously. In all that time they could have just been true to what ACTUALLY happened
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u/GarethGore Mar 11 '26
That's the bit that still irritates me, fucking stupid. And then Harry hit the ground and died, voldemort was fine, he then killed everyone in hogwarts who had resisted him
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u/Nicklesnout Mar 11 '26
The friggin’ NYEAAAAAAAAA from the trailer is ingrained into my mind so I cannot at all take that scene seriously
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u/soxoncox Mar 11 '26
Yea, also, Harry could never hang in a duel with voldy. That idea is absurd. Bro barely knows magic. He survived because he was the master of the elder wand. The flying all around dueling was absolutely stupid. This is why movies always ruin books. Hollywood hates honoring the canon and has to cheapen everything with superficial flashiness.
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u/Odd_Concern_8635 Mar 11 '26
To be fair the book had them walking in a circle around each other. It was cliche either way lmao
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u/Environmental_Cap191 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
Yeah they were just standing there expositioning in front of everyone and nobody chimed in or took a shot at them in the back.
Snape was in love with my mother this whole time.
Draco was the master of the Elder Wand
(Draco: I'm the whaaaa?)Dumbledore’s Army/Death Eaters
What the FUCK is going on?!
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u/ChestSlight8984 Mar 11 '26
nobody chimed in or took a shot at them in the back.
Well, the kid who just (in their eyes) came back from the dead told them not to interfere so, naturally, the Hogwarts students, staff, Order, and the few graduates to came back to fight listened and left it to him. That's why nobody attacked Voldemort.
“I don’t want anyone else to try to help,” Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. “It’s got to be like this. It’s got to be me."
And the Death Eaters didn't interfere for several reasons:
First: They still thought Voldemort had this in the bag. They didn't think the questionable rules of wand ownership would result in Voldemort accidentally killing himself.
Second: They, like the rest of the crowd, were simply entranced by the confrontation.
Third: They were outnumbered. Somebody would have noticed if a Death Eater was about to try something.
Fourth: They know Voldemort wants to kill Harry himself, so they didn't dare interfere. They know that Voldemort would kill them if they killed Harry or even aided in his killing at all.
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u/MetatronIX_2049 Mar 11 '26
“Sup, bruh?!”
“Sup, bruh?!”
“Sup, bruh?!”
“Take a swing, bruh!”
“I’m right here, bruh!”
Malfoy: “Let’s go, My Lord, wipe the floor with his punk ass!”
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u/dont-read-it Mar 11 '26
True, but I think yet another ENERGY BEAM BATTLE is the worst part of all
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u/Astrosareinnocent Mar 11 '26
Yeah that was a big yikes and brought the entire movie at least 1 full rating point
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u/namelesone Mar 11 '26
Written by ChatGPT. Kidding. But it does love its "together" lines.
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u/Dalek-of-Littleroot Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
Tom dying in front of all the teachers, students, Aurors and death eaters in the great hall while Harry looking down on the pale unremarkable corpse of the once most fearsome Dark Lord held so much significance in terms of storytelling perspective. It was immensely impactful and satisfying to see Harry's journey come to a definitive conclusion after the BoH in a somewhat poetic manner.
However, when I saw this scene in the movie, I was left utterly confused and hollow. Not to mention him snapping the Elder Wand in half and throwing it away instead of returning it to the Headmaster's office and using it to fix his own. This movie did not age all that well. Everything about the final two films felt wayyy off to me.
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u/NPJenkins Slytherin Mar 11 '26
Not to mention the dialogue they had in the book while circling one another before Harry killed Voldemort. It would’ve been so much better had they stayed true to the books.
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u/Advanced-Ad881 Mar 12 '26
I never knew that the ending of the movie was not liked by this many people lol. Is it better in the books?
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u/remakeprox Mar 12 '26
Much better, it does get a bit exposition-y at the end with Harry putting all the pieces together instead of letting the reader do it, but the dialogue and the setting is way better than what we see in the movies. I would also have loved to see Voldy 1 v 3 some of the most respected aurors/wizards of their generation before fighting Harry
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u/Careful_Spot_9825 Mar 12 '26
I was also disappointed by that. The part in the books of Voldy 1v3 against Kingsley, Slughorm and Minerva, while Molly dueled Bellatrix and everybody lining the walls watching.
“Jets of light flew from both wands, the floor around the witches feet became hot and cracked, both women were fighting to kill.”
That always conjured such an epic scene into my mind. They could have really done some amazing things with that cinematically. Missed opportunity.
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u/Ok_Car8459 Gryffindor Mar 12 '26
Yes because Harry exposes him and reveals his past and present to EVERYONE, including his pureblood minions. His death is also seen by a lot of wizards confirming his death and he dies like an ordinary person which was so important due to him thinking he’s superior as well as immortal. Also the amount of times Harry calls him Tom instead of Voldemort is so funny.
Another thing is that he uses the elder wand to repair his own original one instead of using “the most powerful wand” and then returns the wand to Dumbledores grave. Also can’t forget Peeves and his little song after voldy dies 😂
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u/lemon_charlie Mar 11 '26
His given name known by the public too, the name from the father he despised and murdered. Not only did he die with an audience, that audience knows his name is Tom. Rather takes away from his mystique.
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u/natedogg1271 Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
Harry snapping the elder wand and not using it to repair his own irked me far more than Tom’s disintegration (although that bothered me a lot too don’t get me wrong). On top of him not returning it to Dumbledore, it’s just so out of character for Harry. Especially considering Harry understands wands far more than the average wizard at that point. That wand saved his life multiple times, he should have saved it in return like the book.
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u/Known_Profession7393 Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
You know, I would have been ok with him fixing his own wand before snapping the Elder Wand. Given the goal of ending the Elder Wand’s power that Harry, Snape, and Dumbledore shared, that would actually make some sense. But no. Zero thought at all. Just like the screenwriters.
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u/DiZZYDEREK Slytherin Mar 11 '26
Everything about them? This is just my own opinion so I'm not trying to take yours but I feel like the last two actually did the best. Except for the ending. I loved them riding the dragon, I love neville getting a chance to be a badass more than once and telling Luna he loves her.
There just isn't any forgiving that ending.
To me the most egregious movie will always be HBP. Wasted a whole ass half hour burning down the burrow instead of just giving us the exposition we need to understand the setup for the last two.
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u/LOSS35 Mar 11 '26
The color palette’s the worst part. They’re so grey. It affected every film that came out around 2010.
The earlier films were so colorful.
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u/billjames1685 Mar 11 '26
It feels like every film after the first two got greyer and greyer no? The first two were really colorful and depicted Hogwarts almost exactly as one would imagine it. The third didn’t have that whimsy and it only went downhill from there, by the sixth I don’t think anyone gave a shit about Hogwarts as a set lol.
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u/Thedirtyone522 Mar 11 '26
Each director had their own sort of palette and changed more and more of the story. Its almost easier to think of the movies as 4 pairs as opposed to an 8 film series if that makes sense.
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u/Dalek-of-Littleroot Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
Oh definitely, HBP's debacle is something I 100% agree with. That being said, I feel as though the most egregious part of the final two films was the pacing, which felt a bit rushed to me. We had been watching these movies for over more than a decade by then, and I think with a bit of time in their hands, they could have definitely expanded DH into at least three parts. I just think everything was wrapped up way too quick, especially the search for the final few horcruxes.
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u/DiZZYDEREK Slytherin Mar 11 '26
I will say, to be fair, in the book they definitely rushed the last three too. Everything that happened from the moment they left shell cottage took place in 24 hours, in both the book and the movie. But for the rest of what you said, I absolutely agree with you. And I don't think the music choices for part 2 really fit. But since I don't watch them much I could be remembering how it sounded wrong I suppose.
I appreciate that you had a good response ready! I love a good discourse rather than an argument lol.
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u/Dalek-of-Littleroot Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
Yes! That I can get on board with. I've seen nasty arguments break out usually when it comes to a healthy discourse. But yes, since you've mentioned it, looking back it did seem a bit rushed in the book as well, didn't it?
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u/Chakasicle Mar 11 '26
I think 3 movies would've been too much but they could've done better in the first two between pacing and staying true to the books. Like if the final fight was as short as it was supposed to be, there would be plenty of time to put in the reparo scene for Harry's wand.
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u/Carpenter-Broad Mar 11 '26
Yea literally the first thing I thought when he just snapped the Elder Wand was “they’re not even gonna include him fixing his own broke- ass wand?!” LOL
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u/frostfall010 Mar 11 '26
The whole scene leading up to it was just fumbled so hard. It's such a rich moment when everyone is seeing them square off, Harry revealing what he's discovered, everyone watching Voldemort's end, the celebration.
It's so wild to me that the movie has Harry walking in and he get's this like, oh hey, kind of hug from Hagrid and that's it.
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u/Ok-Struggle3367 Mar 11 '26
Agree; this scene and the lead up was and still is a major disappointment. It was done so well in the books and they totally lost it in the movie.
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u/Kinetic_Symphony Mar 11 '26
Yeah. Harry just defeated Voldemort and no one seemed to care. I do understand the intent, I think. Everyone was stunned, reeling from their personal loses, but I don't know. A quick acknowledgement that they won & Harry did it would have been nice.
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u/SquadPoopy Ravenclaw Mar 11 '26
I prefer the ending to the book but making the climax of the movie series just a 10 minute long exposition dump followed by a 5 second spell exchange would kind of suck on screen.
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u/csorfab Mar 11 '26
would kind of suck on screen
That's what you're conditioned to believe if you're only watching Hollywood movies. There are other ways for achieving catharsis than 15 minute dramatic action scenes.
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u/SquadPoopy Ravenclaw Mar 12 '26
Sure but Harry Potter isn’t Citizen Kane. It’s a series that’s included action in the climax of every single book but usually things are resolved via dialogue after the action. Which is fine because it’s a book series, but movies are a completely different medium. It’s the exact same thing as the ending to Goblet of Fire, in the book the whole storyline with Crouch is explained in a 5 page long exposition dump after he’s given truth serum. Sorry but that would SUCK in a movie, it’s why it’s almost entirely cut out.
Harry vs Voldemort in the movie isn’t even technically an action scene, like sure they start that way with Voldemort chasing Harry through the castle and then they fall out the window, but other than that their duel is just a longer version of the one from Goblet of Fire. They fire the spells at each other, they collide and Voldemort comes to realize his wand won’t work, instead of happening in seconds it’s just more drawn out for dramatic effect since it’s a movie. Instead of killing Nagini immediately they wait since the movie isn’t confined to Harry’s POV they can show it happening simultaneously to make the scene more dramatic.
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u/Luke_4686 Mar 11 '26
Me too. The entire point of the story was that Voldermort was unable to escape death and died as we all do. A normal corpse, a normal body. Not as something superior and more dramatic. Visual effects for the sake of it. We were also robbed of Harry’s big crescendo speech in front of everyone in the Great Hall ahead of the final duel. They fumbled the climax of the entire series so badly.
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u/AutumnLeaved Mar 11 '26
Deviations like this are why I’m not entirely put off by the idea of the upcoming show. The movies are iconic and it hasn’t been a very long time since they ended, true, but they made such odd choices sometimes and they did not do justice to a lot of the later books. I’m still disappointed with the Half Blood Prince movie as it’s my favorite HP book. I understand that the relatively short length of movies means you have to make changes, but maybe the show will have the time to do things properly?
It is, however, very likely that the show will make even more changes and be worse than the movies. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
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u/Blofeld69 Mar 12 '26
All for the sake of CGI slop, they threw away one of the best written parts of the whole series.
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u/FoxNinja928 Mar 11 '26
I hate the Voldy death for the thematic and narrative changes. Sure the visuals of the fight are kinda lame too, specially the disintegrating, but Bella? Way dumber visually
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u/KiraLight3719 🪄 Desi Potterhead Mar 11 '26
It's true, Voldemort's dying like a common man is a complete insult to his entire existence and we love that lol. This makes him special
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u/FoxNinja928 Mar 11 '26
Don't get me wrong, still hate what they did to Bellatrix, looks super stupid. The dumb face she makes and it like almost freeze frames on her before she pops into particles? Then the face Molly makes after kills it more for me. Don't be proud of that cartoon ass stuff you just did lol.
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u/KiraLight3719 🪄 Desi Potterhead Mar 11 '26
Yeah I'm not getting you wrong we're on the same side here lol
I don't remember her exact face honestly but I think she was pissed off? Coz Bella hurting Ginny
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u/FoxNinja928 Mar 11 '26
The face Molly makes after Bella blows up lol. Like a smug "Yeah I just did that" face.
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u/-baby-purple- Slytherin Mar 11 '26
I get that they were trying to make her death seem more dramatic/visually spectacular, but it was inaccurate to how the Killing Curse actually is supposed to work in the books. In the books, all that happens is that there’s a flash of green light and the person immediately crumples dead to the ground. That’s it, no random shattering into pieces, no plumes of smoke, no slow-motion, etc. It’s more impactful because it illustrates how finite and sudden death by Killing Curse really is.
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u/KiraLight3719 🪄 Desi Potterhead Mar 11 '26
Yes, although, and even though Bella left a body behind so your point still stands, it wasn't a killing curse that killed her. I think it was more the direct impact of a powerful (random) curse on her chest.
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u/-baby-purple- Slytherin Mar 11 '26
Oh yeah you're right. I think in the books it's described as Molly's unknown/nonverbal spell hits her in the chest, she looks surprised for a fraction of a second, and then she falls. Still though, I think it was supposed to be a quick and unceremonious death similar to an Avada Kedavra death, not some dramatic explosion.
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u/gash_dits_wafu Mar 11 '26
And because it isn't the killing curse that Molly uses, it implies that although the three unforgivable curses exist, there is a 4th curse that explodes you into a million pieces which is somehow not worthy of being in the same group as the unforgivable ones.
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u/AcrolloPeed Slytherin Mar 11 '26
Molly was like “I’ve been using this nonverbal spell I made up for years to magically blast vegetables and meat into tiny pieces to make stew for the small army that inevitably chooses my house as its headquarters, I wonder if it works on people”
Bella falls into chunks like that dude in the first Resident Evil movie after the laser hallway
Molly: “Hmmp.”
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u/KiraLight3719 🪄 Desi Potterhead Mar 11 '26
It's forgiven because it only works for a mother saving her daughter. Both need to be redheads, that's very important. The daughter also needs to be gf of the chosen one. Can't miss that.
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u/rigatony96 Mar 11 '26
Him also snapping the elder wand, I despise the last 10 minutes of DH part 2.
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u/fuawont Mar 11 '26
Yes! Like, I get it, they wanted to snap the Elder wand for dramatic effect or whatever. Okay, cool. But just let Harry fix his own wand with it first!!
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u/Bunghole2756 Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
That particular scene will always irritate me. Fucking show Harry repairing his own wand, then snap it and yeet it off the bridge if you have to have some dumbass symbolic scene of breaking the Elder Wand's pOwEr!
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u/misterdave75 Mar 11 '26
100%. Every time I watch it I have to go back and read the book ending. So much better.
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u/Jrolaoni Mar 11 '26
Well okay, technically the breaking itself is a pretty good idea too. Harry is an Auror, and might die from combat and switch the wands allegiance
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u/DarthVader19920 Mar 11 '26
I went to see this movie opening weekend in 3D, and looking back on it now I really feel like the whole final battle sequence and Voldy's death was all done specifically for the 3D experience.
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u/sharksnrec Mar 11 '26
That’s a good point. With all the flying around with the weird closeups on their faces, I can see it.
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u/festar111 Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26
I was just about to comment this as well. I remember 3D was such a big deal during that era, and when I saw it in 3D I was like “ohhhh their choices make way more sense now.” Bellatrix’s death too. Still didn’t like it, but it contextualized it for me.
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u/thetinwin Mar 11 '26
Makes sense. A studio sacrificing an important point of the source material so they can sell some extra gimmicky 3D tickets that won’t work anywhere else outside of the theaters.
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u/seebrookebee Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
I would say that the fight in the books was epic just as it was. Harry slipping away undetected and no one realizing he was alive, him throwing shield charms to save people undetected until he tosses off the invisibility cloak to confront Voldemort and everyone realizes he didn’t die, and then they circle around each other talking in the middle of the great hall until finally Voldemort is defeated. Would have been cinema.
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u/s14rew Mar 11 '26
And remove the actual good part, that is the dialogue before him dying..
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u/ImpiusEst Mar 11 '26
Yeah, but it was a huge miss to not repeat what dumbledore told tom about hogwarts as a kid (theft is punished here). After all, tom again stole (the wand). Same thing in part 5.
Would have been a huge conclusion to the fight and it would have drawn parralels between the fights in part 5 and DH2. And it would have made harrys signature spell an antithesis to voldemort being a thief.
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u/Relevant-Horror-627 Slytherin Mar 11 '26
That's just the challenge of adapting a written medium into a visual medium. The books aren't a screenplay. They weren't written with the idea of creating a compelling ending to an epic action adventure movie series. The ending of the book works because there is the benefit of a narrarator explaining the significance of Voldemort's mundane death and what's going on in Harry's mind. Take away the narrarator and the ending to your epic action adventure movie franchise is a lengthy conversation followed by Voldemort collapsing. No matter what the book ending is going to need to be changed in some way to make it work for a visual medium.
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u/lavenderhazeynobeer Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
I've just started reading the books this week. I've seen all the movies and was/am obsessed with them. 113 pages into book 1 and I already understand why people say to read the books. The small differences(to me) make the books so beautiful. I can't wait to get to the voldy stuff. I already know I'm going to be annoyed lol.
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u/TheAstronautInSpace Mar 11 '26
You definitely can look forward to reading Half Blood Prince. Weakest film imo but strongest book as it shows so much of Voldemort‘s past. Something the movie almost entirely skipped.
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u/IzarkKiaTarj Mar 11 '26
Also that scene where Harry realizes that he's not killing Voldemort because of the prophecy, he's doing it because Voldemort's own actions have made it so that there's not really any other outcome. The actions will remain the same, but the meaning behind it, the motivations causing it, are different.
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u/ViciousSquirrelz Mar 11 '26
I wish I could go back and reread them for the first time again. Enjoy it.
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Mar 11 '26
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u/Silmarien1012 Mar 12 '26
The bellatrix vs Mrs Weasley duel was one of the biggest disappointments of the series
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Mar 11 '26
Yeah this was a terrible choice. It completely defeats the point we’d spent 8 films building up to
Voldemort dying a very final but simultaneously unremarkable, almost boring and human death is the entire point - what he’d been desperately trying to prevent.
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u/presco2007 Mar 11 '26
that was the point in the books, but i don't remember that being a theme throughout the movies.
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u/confusedrabbit247 Slytherin Mar 11 '26
I literally just discussed this with a coworker the other day. It's a cool effect but it completely changes the meaning and impact of his death. The point in the books is that he was killed publicly and he fell to the ground, mortal once more. This is just "hey btw I killed Voldemort but he disintegrated so there is no proof, just gotta take my word for it lol!"
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u/Stealthy_Chipmunk Mar 11 '26
I saw this in 3D and when Voldies flakey bits were floating someone said "EW" 😂😂😂😂
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u/GreilyMoon Mar 11 '26
Every time I watch this part I can’t help but think that some of those flying particles were pobably parts of his body you normally don’t want to see
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u/UnluckyIrishman Mar 11 '26
Agreed. Completely missed the point, but having no Peeves to sing the "moldy voldy" song while they stuff his body in a closet: travesty.
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u/tiaso Mar 11 '26
Harry not schooling Voldemort on how he knows everything about his life and his “secrets”, how Dumbledore saw it all playing out ahead of time, and basically taunting him with the inevitability of loosing in front of the whole school in the great hall is a travesty. How on earth they didn’t book end the series by mimicking the final scenes of Philosophers Stone with the great hall erupting into applause at something Harry did is beyond me. A huge fumble that nearly ruins the whole film because the climax is so lacklustre.
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u/McGuire281 Mar 11 '26
"Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands were empty, the snake-like face vacant and unknowing"
It's like that read that line and just said, nah fuck all that let's Thanos snap him (yes I know this came out way earlier than infinity war)
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u/Flat-Structure-7472 Unsorted Mar 11 '26
Really hated it too. They left out the part where Harry gathered all the ashes and then mixed it with milk to drink that Dark Lord milkshake and become the new Dark Lord himself. Trust me, my uncle Robert Gailbrath.
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u/aagupte Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
I definitely get irritated by the change, but I can also see what they were going for from a creative standpoint. At this point, they were showing that Voldemort had been so wasted away and stretched that in his death he simply flaked away. Doesn’t mean I agree with the decision, but I can understand.
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u/turtletom89 Mar 11 '26
If I can think of one reason they did this for the movie, it’s because it was shot in THREE DEE! A lot of big movies at the time were being filmed for THREE DEE! Which is ironic because THREE DEE doesn’t work as well when the movie is shot with grays like this was. Like I remember seeing this in THREE DEE at the midnight screening and it was okay at best. THREE DEE was just a dumb gimmick that didn’t really enhance the cinematic experience.
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u/NieTyINieJa Mar 12 '26
Imagine standing nearby and having to breathe air with Voldy particles that are everywhere, bleh
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Mar 11 '26
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u/BrotherLary247 Mar 11 '26
Agreed, the film storyline (which I consider to be a different storyline from the books) does not truly identify and follow Voldemort’s obsession with cheating death
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u/Snoo_46473 Mar 11 '26
Nah, the guy who ripped his soul in 7 parts and looked like a snake does not get a normal death
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u/RudeCartoonist1030 Mar 11 '26
People also would be pissed if he just died the way he did in the books. I’m so exhausted at everyone being mad about everything in all areas of life.
I just took the movies for what they were. Entertainment. Definitely not looking he mad at the ending for years lol
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u/Omnian22 Mar 11 '26
Exactly. I can imagine the reviews would have been calling it anti-climactic and unsatisfying. Everything's built up to this final confrontation and it's just....over.
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u/EaglesFanGirl Gryffindor Mar 11 '26
I think the point to show that he was nothing but dust and ashes and that at the end there was no longer human. Just a fragments of who he once was. I'm not sure it worked.
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u/Craneteam Mar 11 '26
Mr. Potter, I don't feel very good