Sirius Black, the tragedy, am I right? Who of us doesn’t love the movie that introduced us to him? But our “fan eye”(if I could say that), has spotted plot holes! Let’s dig deeper!
So, when it comes to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, fans take sides! It’s the first movie where things start to get dark and serious afar from the book series. If it would come to me, I’d say that they did some things better, but it has cost them a lot. See? I’m a split of a fan myself!
Books or movies? The answer to that is a bit complicated. Maybe I’d provide it after we check the plot holes found in the movie!
So, as we were speaking, deviating from the books has cost the movie industry a lot. It created black holes (or what we can call plot holes), that sucked the movie into mystery and void. Many things didn’t make sense when they were translated to the movie, that you won’t understand unless you have read the books.
Don’t worry or fret! I’m here to explain and translate them into words after all these years. I mean, always… right? But before let’s check out some of the plot holes that just sat on our nerves!
Turning Back In Time!
Okay so walk with me on this, why would Harry and Hermoine not use the time turner to not save Lily Potter or James Potter? Because there were wizarding limitations and rules, right? But then in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, everything was thrown out of the window! So what’s true? What I think is that J.K. didn’t really put that much into thinking about quantum mechanics and paradoxes, but who cares? At least we still got time travel in the series!
Sirius remains a criminal
So I know that the words of students may be unbelievable, but how about the words of two Hogwarts teachers? They have vouched for his innocence and yet he wasn’t cleared at the end of the movie! Additionally, the ministry could literally test his memories through something called Pensieve. I mean, didn’t everyone realize Wormatale’s betrayal? Surely they should have left Sirius alone!
Percy and Ron slept with a Fellow Called Peter Pettigrew beside them!
How on earth didn’t the Weasley twins notice Peter Pettigrew’s name on the map? Did they not care but about managing their mischief?
How did Sirius pay for the Firebolt?
That just doesn’t make sense at all. He’s a convicted criminal. It’s sweet of him to remember Harry and buy him a 13th birthday gift, but how was he able to access his bank account? I mean the security surely is secure, right?
Why didn’t Remus question Sirius’s guilt?
Why would Remus just assume that Sirius would suddenly betray his best friends for Voldemort after everything they had? Isn’t that a bit strange and weird? Friendship is trust! (I have an explanation for that but I want to rant) Why would he just leave his best friend alone in Azkaban? The worst of prisons? Somethings in the movie just doesn’t make sense right?
The big one – why didn’t Voldemort get a time turner?
Voldemort could have done so much with a time-turner! He could have ensured that Harry Potter was never born and carried on with revenge, but it was weirdly forgotten until the cursed child came along. I think that the cursed child is just separate from the series, it doesn’t follow any rules or anything. I know that time travel is weird and it has many rules that no one can defy, and I know that there are many details that stand between reality and what I suggested. (Like how Voldemort lost his mortal body and how someone needs to have seen the death of the Potters to save them) But if it happened in the cursed child, why didn’t it happen before?
Okay, But let me explain. I don’t want to ruin it without moulding it after! As I said at the beginning of the article, many details of the book were not correctly translated into the movie. I’ll narrate it now for you to better understand the movie if you hadn’t read the books.
The point of the Firebolt
Harry received the Firebolt, but what’s the point of it? We only see a freeze-frame of his face as he flies away. The thing is, in the book, Harry did receive the broomstick but it was much earlier in the season, without knowing it’s from Sirius, adding to the mystery. What I loved much in the book is how Hermione thought that Serius was trying to hex Harry with the broom.
MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, AND PRONGS
If you never read the books, you’d never know that it was them who made the map! Want to know another plot hole? They were the Marauders! And the story about Marauders turning into Animagi and getting into the Shrieking Shack was all left out! Let me tell you. When Remus transformed into a werewolf, James, Sirius, and Peter would try and protect him from himself. That’s why they created the Marauders map, so they could wander around, never getting in trouble.
The history of the Shrieking Shack
Here’s a little surprise, the Shrieking Shack was actually never haunted. In the movies, they thought that it was a haunted house. However, the voices that were coming from it were actually from Lupin as he turned into a werewolf. Without these details, you just took a leap of faith, right?
Who is Crookshanks?
In the movie, he’s a pet, but in the books, he’s essential. It’s him who helps Sirius break into Hogwarts! That actually explains a plot hole in the movie, when we see Sirius on the campus without knowing how. Crookshanks also protects Sirius from Harry in the Shrieking Shack at the beginning. Such an important role, faded away in the movies!
Trelawney’s prophecy
In the book, there’s an emphasis on her prophecy, and how important it is. However, in the movies, the timeline doesn’t serve it well. Trelawney says the prophecy to Harry on a random day, making the fans feel disconnected from it.
Why did Sirius want to kill Harry?
On many occasions, Sirius seemed like he wanted to kill Harry both in the film and the book. That was explained in the book, for example, he was trying to protect Harry from Wormtale once. But, in the movie, they don’t take much time to explain it and show that Sirius is innocent.
What I actually wanted to explain- why everyone thought that Sirius killed the Potters
In the book, it’s explained that the Potters were protected by a Fidelius Charm and that Sirius was their Secret Keeper. That’s why everyone thought he killed them. Does that answer the plot hole above?
The Movie Culture Synopsis
I may not have solved all of the riddles, but I must have shown you the importance of the books. To answer the question of “books or movies?”, it’s definitely books! You could understand the Whole Harry Potter universe, without having to guess or anything. Hey, you could even have secrets that the movie fans don’t know about!
Nevertheless, I’ll always be a die-hard fan of both series, and I’d gush over every single detail of them. Everything is simply brilliant, and everyone did awesome work even with the presence of Black / Plot Holes.
