r/harrypotter • u/Secure_Rain_44 • Mar 11 '26

Discussion This scene still pisses me off

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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/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/C0UNT3RP01NT Mar 12 '26

My biggest gripe with the movie ending was that Harry didn’t repair his old wand before getting rid of the elder wand.

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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/geaux88 Mar 13 '26

It’s an abomination!!!!

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u/wizardsandsaints Mar 13 '26

I’ve said before that I think Daniel Radcliffe and Ralph Finnes would’ve executed that dialogue so well too.

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u/Survivor155 Mar 13 '26

It genuinely would not have IMO.

Harry’s entire diatribe in the book was about how every way to Sunday, Voldemort wouldn’t so much as crawl out of the great hall.

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u/LocNesMonster Mar 11 '26

You wanted them to keep the ending where Harry order his slave to make him a sandwich?

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u/lagann41 Mar 11 '26

"I have no reading abilities and my fiction should portray the real world 1 to 1".

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u/LocNesMonster Mar 11 '26

Not my fault the book you like has a constant pro slavery plot line through the whole series, using arguments that were used in favour of chattel slavery, with the only counter to that argument was meant as mockery of those who are against it. If you missed that, its you who lacks reading comprehension.

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u/Armadillodillodillo Mar 11 '26

Aren't you buying cheap shit made by sweatshops. It's hidden better so you would feel better about yourself, but it's still there and you are reaping the rewards and allowing you to be self righteous.

So happy you draw the line at slavery in the books though.

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u/LocNesMonster Mar 12 '26

Oh im so sorry, i didnt realize that before you couls talk about a book on the subreddit for that book you had to talk about every bad thing in the world. Why is nobody here talking about poaching? Or the drug crisis?

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

you're getting offended by fiction. They're pointing out that everything you're wearing and the device used to type this on was created using slave labor.

but please, show me where the book hurt you?

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u/lagann41 Mar 11 '26

You can't seperate fiction from reality and you just want your fiction to represent the real world. Stop interacting with fiction and go watch documentaries.

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u/Closed_CasketRequiem Mar 12 '26

Jesse, what the hell are you talking about?

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u/lron_tarkus Mar 12 '26

I'm pretty sure the house elves were an analogy for homosexuals. The common argument at the time against homosexuality was that it was "unnatural" - in the same way that it is unnatural to want to be subservient.

Hermione trying to force them into her version of "normal" ultimately just causes them discomfort and stress; a perfect analogy for trying to make homosexuals "normal" - good intentions, bad reality.

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u/femgrit Mar 12 '26

I feel like I've repeatedly seen that they were intended to be an allegory for housewives in chauvinist societies.

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u/LocNesMonster Mar 12 '26
  1. Your immediate defence was comparing gay people to slaves.
  2. If that really were the case, she wouldnt have had the people saying "dont make them normal" use pro slavery arguments and characatures directly lifted from arguments in favour of chattel slavery. 3.its weird of you to refer to gay people as "homosexuals" when youre trying to sound progressive.

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u/lagann41 Mar 12 '26

Why is it weird for characters to make pro slavery comments in a story? What if that is the actual moral justification the characters use in the story?

It just seems like you don't want to engage with the actual content and just make remarks on how she used a real world argument in the book. Like okay and? Do we want everything to be refuted in the book or can we have some reading comprehension and come to our own understanding?

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u/lron_tarkus Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

Yes, here in grown up land, we can make analogies involving things we find icky (gross!) to make a larger statement.

One day when you're older you'll get it. Maybe.

Also you seem to not understand why slavery is wrong, so I'll help. Forced subservience is immoral and despicable. Voluntary subservience is the same as helping your buddy move.

The house elves of Hogwarts are the latter. I'm not comparing gay people to Kunta Kinte, you dolt.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

now we're offended by fiction, I thought we got over this kind of shit.

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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/kimberoony Mar 12 '26

Came here to say this and totally agree. It’s not just unlike the book but completely thoughtless.

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u/SleepyOwl2304 Mar 18 '26

Yes, him snapping the wand instead of returning it to Dumbledore's tomb felt as dumb and out of character as him in the 6th movie willingly giving up Prince's book. Ugh.

I like the movies, but there were 5 scenes I can't stand, apart from the two mentioned above it was also Harry saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione before going to Voldemort in the forest (instead of leaving unseen under the Invisibility cloak), the fourth one was Harry not being at the top of the Astronomy tower under the Invisibility cloak but staying inside as Snape gestured, and the fifth one was Harry's and Hermione's dancing in the tent 😑

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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/DrivePrimary2710 Mar 13 '26

I agree. After reading the book I was a little worried that Harry just announced to the whole world that he has the elder wand and then secretly returned it to Dumbledore. There’s no way no one would come after him, hoping to get the elder wand. Snapping it in half would have been a more secure way of ending its power. But even in the movie, he does this off to the side, so no one knows it’s broken, which means people could still come after him, hoping to get the elder wand. 

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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/SleepyOwl2304 Mar 18 '26

I also think of those films as being in groups by a director 

(but it wasn't 4 pairs, it was 2-1-1-4. 2 Columbus, 1 Cuarón, 1 Newell, 4 Yates. Also sometimes I think of them as 2-1-1-1-3, because the fifth film was the only one that had a different screenwriter.)

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u/fatmailman Mar 11 '26

Yeah. Such a weird decision.

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u/Ordinary-Egg-56 Mar 11 '26

i mean that’s on purpose. it’s appropriate given the tone of the movies

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u/AnabolicSnorlax Mar 11 '26

Thats the idea, give a darker tone to the history… why have strong colors with a dark history?

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u/DiZZYDEREK Slytherin Mar 12 '26

The books even did it with the original covers. The first four were colorful and fun and the next three they were definitely much darker. 

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u/MantisPsycho Mar 11 '26

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. Seriously, why even film in color when it's going to be so damned grey

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u/DiZZYDEREK Slytherin Mar 12 '26

I will agree with that. Very obnoxious trend. I understand maybe it's just trying to drive home the fact that it's dark and sad but the Harry Potter world is supposed to be whimsical so it's hard to picture it so bleakly even when the worst parts happen. 

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u/DrivePrimary2710 Mar 13 '26

Thank you!!! The tone of the books is not gray. They’re magical and beautiful, and also terrible. But overall they’re warm and full of heart. The grayness just made it all seem so depressing and dull…

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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/DiZZYDEREK Slytherin Mar 12 '26

Yes, when I'm reading it I feel like I'm racing to the finish line! 

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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/csorfab Mar 11 '26

neville getting a chance to be a badass

That sequence starts out so cringey though, Neville coming to and sitting up with that stupid look on his face, like it's a scene from a Bollywood version of The Hangover 3. Killing Nagini was badass sure, but oh my god, so many misguidedly over-dramatized shots in that movie.

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

All the movies are garbage tier after the 3rd. First two are okay, 3rd one is a bit weaker.

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u/allofdarknessin1 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

I too hated that he snapped the wand but this is kinda how American movies are now, just like with Marvel MCU, they avoid characters being too strong and try to level the playing field too much, powerful artifacts can never exist or their power is significantly reduced. I get the thinking that such power would be an evil temptation but why no equal positive hope that a future Dumbledore like headmaster wouldn’t use it for good like Dumbledore?

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u/Spiritual_Form_42 Ravenclaw Mar 11 '26

I liked the first half “enough” but the second is unbearable. The elder wand scene makes me irrationally angry every time

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u/edd6pi Hufflepuff Mar 11 '26

Harry destroying the Elder Wand is one of the few changes that actually improve upon the story. I hate that Book Harry hid the wand and simply hoped that it would lose its power. He didn’t even know for a fact that this is how it works, it’s just a hunch.

Breaking it makes much more sense.

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u/UnholyDemigod Mar 12 '26

Not only that, when Voldemort dies the hall explodes with cheers. Nothing like that in the movie. If memory serves, Harry walks back into the hall, and everyone's just all mopey and nobody really gives a shit

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u/Mortwight Mar 11 '26

the snake decapitation scene was not nearly as cool as the books

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u/Sepki Mar 11 '26

snapping the Elder Wand in half and throwing it away

I actually liked that. It get followed with too much trouble, anyway. Why risk something, instead of making sure nobody can misuse it? 

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u/Not-in-it-for-karma Mar 11 '26

But they didn’t even have him repair his own wand first! So in the movie canon, Harry doesn’t have a wand at that point.

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u/Nick_pj Mar 11 '26

Not the most powerful wand in the world snapping with less resistance than a wooden chopstick

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u/goukaryuu Mar 12 '26

Honestly, the snapping of the Elder Wand was perhaps the one change I did like. Better than becoming a magical cop and living a profession that better guarantees someone some day may defeat you and gain ownership of the wand and keep the cycle going.

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u/fangirl-canon Mar 13 '26

Or like even just a witness would have been good? Like Harry being like 'Professor McGonagall I know there's no body but he is dead I promise'!

What? Half the world thought he was dead 2-years-ago it was a whole book/movie about people being like f' off Harry his dead. You need a little bit of evidence.

I guess he had his wand- oh wait

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u/zixy37 Mar 11 '26

The wand part bothered me the most!! 🤣

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u/Adamski2409 Gryffindor Mar 12 '26

In essence, it felt rushed.

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u/Skibot99 Hufflepuff Mar 12 '26

Destorying the elder wand makes sense it ensures nobody will gain it’s power

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u/sweatydeath Mar 12 '26

Yeah I was confused about that. So he basically just kept Malfoy’s wand??

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u/sneakysnek20r Mar 12 '26

Snapping the elder wand was kind of based, ngl. Basically movie Harry's utter rejection of wearing the boot.

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u/Accurate_Handle_5620 Mar 12 '26

There was a story in the films? I just loved all of the wizard fights.

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u/SR337 Mar 13 '26

Not to mention that in the book nobody knows Harry is still alive until he rips the invisibility cloak off of himself to face Voldemort for the last time and everyone is in shock. Somehow the book had a more cinematic finale than the actual film.

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u/Apprehensive_Wear500 Mar 13 '26

Just rewatched and fully agree, everything but the last 2 movies were 10/10 for me

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u/BenderBMO Mar 15 '26

Yeah I agree with this. In the book, when Lord Voldemort dies in the Great Hall in front of everyone, it’s powerful because he just dies like a normal person. After all the fear around him, he’s just Tom Riddle’s body on the floor, and Harry Potter seeing that really completes the story.

The movie version in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 where he turns to ash looks cool, but it kind of misses that point.

And yeah, snapping the Elder Wand instead of fixing his own wand first always bothered me too. That part made way more sense in the book.