Hello Everyone!
Today we are going to be talking all about the differences between the Half-Blood Prince book and movie and i am so very excited to get started! I have always considered The Order of the Phoenix to be my favourite book out of the Harry Potter series, but I honestly think that’s changed after this re-read because I absolutely adore the Half-Blood Prince! I always fly through it and I love getting to know so much about Voldemort’s past. I still love OotP, but I think H-BP has definitely over taken it!
If you didn’t see my first book vs movie post for ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’, then I suggest you give it a read as I explain more about what this series is about there and also it would be better to read them chronologically too: https://books.samanthadrage.co.uk/2019/07/05/book-vs-movie-harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/
I am going to be talking about each section of the movie by the chapter titles in the books, so if there is a specific scene of chapter you want to here me talk about, then you can skip to that chapter title. It is also worth saying that these will of course be full of spoilers, so I can actually talk about the plot, but I think everyone has at least seen Harry Potter at this point, but I thought I’d mention it in case it wasn’t obvious.
A small disclaimer: before we get started I want to make it clear that I am in no way bashing the Harry Potter films. I adore Harry Potter and do think they did a good job with them. This is just a bit of fun and I wanted to take the opportunity to really analyse the story. I’m aware that somethings just aren’t possible to make happen on screen and some things have to be cut out to make the film a watchable length (although I’d happily watch a 10 hour long word for word adaptation, I know most people wouldn’t). I am also by no means a movie expert, this is just a bit of fun.
I expect this post will be slightly shorter than the mammoth that was the OotP BOOK VE MOVIE post, but there is still a lot to talk about because while H-BP may be my favourite book, it is absolutely not my favourite movie. These posts are always very long, so I suggest you get yourself a snack and warm beverage and settle on down…. done that? Cool, let’s get started then!
Chapter 1 – The Other Minister
The movie doesn’t start of particularly well, since ‘the other minister’ was never mentioned in the films. I understand why the scene is not hugely important because, in the grand scheme of things, who cares about the muggle prime-minister? The scene is important to an extent though because it updates us on everything that is happening and has happened where the ministry is involved outside the walls of Hogwarts, which is usually information that is somewhat limited to us as the book is told from Harry’s perspective. In the book we learn a lot about the lead up to Voldemort’s return, who the new minister for magic is and what he’s like compared to Fudge and much more, but we don’t see this in the film. They did share some of this information with us by showing us the headlines of the newspapers, which told us the essentials, but not much else. We don’t, for example, get to hear about the argument that Dumbledore and Scrimonger had.
These are all smaller details though and while I would have liked to see them, there inclusion is not essential to the story . It is just another one of those times where you get that extra bit of information if you read the books.
Chapter 2 – Spinner’s End
We do get to see this chapter in pretty good detail! We get to see Narcissa and Bellatrix going to Snape’s where he agrees to make the unbreakable vow to protect Draco. This was represented pretty well in the film and a lot of the dialogue was word for word, although Narcissa cries considerably more in the books and Snape takes the time to answer every single one of Bellatrix’s doubts about him being in league with the Voldemort, which gives us as readers a better picture of how he managed it. This isn’t super important though as we got the general gyst of how he deceived Voldemort in the previous film when he was teaching Harry Occlumency.
Chapter 3 – Will and Won’t
This chapter is also entirely not in the film, which is such a shame because Dumbledore has some great dialogue and we get to see the Dursely’s being told off by Dumbledore. The chapter starts with Harry reading some newspaper articles, which helps bring us up to speed, which is shown in the film, although not in as greater detail. Dumbledore also then arrives to pick Harry up, but before they leave they talk to the Durselys in the lounge as Dumbledore tells them what is happening. Techincally, it doesn’t matter if the Dursleys are told what is going on or not, but I’m mad that they left this scene out for 2 main reasons.
The first being that we didn’t get to see ANY of Dumbledore’s amazing sense of humour! I talked about this in the last 2 posts, but the movies really didn’t capture Dumbledore very well at all, in my opinion because he is supposed to be weird, wacky and quietly brilliant with a softly sarcastic sense of humour, but the movies gave him no sense of humour and a very harsh personality that matched his power. Dumbledore always gave me the vibe that he was one of those people that would mock you say carefully and cleverly that you wouldn’t be sure whether or not he was actually making fun of you and that is definitely not shown. The second reason I wish this scene was left in is because we get to see Dumbledore scorning the Dursleys for their mistreatment of Harry. I could go on for a long time about how Dumbledore also had a bit of hand to play in Harry’s mistreatment because, as we saw at the end of Order of the Phoenix, all it took was a light threat to get the Dursleys to treat him better. Dumbledore may not have been able to scare them into loving Harry, but he could have at least been fed, taken on trips and given a bedroom. This is another huge part of Dumbledore’s character that isn’t shown in the films and I think it’s a real shame because he is such an interesting character, whether you like him or not, and he is made to be very 2D and stereotypical in the films.
Dumbledore also explains to Harry that Sirius left everything he owned to Harry when he died, which means that Harry now owns Grimmauld Place and Kreacher. Harry gives permission for them to continue to use No.12 as headquarters and they summon Kreacher to see if he really does have to obey Harry, which he does. These 2 things are really important because Harry uses Kreacher over the next 2 books to tail Draco and to help him find a Horcrux. The house is slightly less important, but still worth mentioning none-the-less. None of this is ever mentioned though, which means there is a huge gap in the story when we get to Deathly Hallows later on.
I’ve talked about this chapter a lot, so I’ll stop now, but I really do wish they had left this scene in and not replaced it with that silly scene at the train station with Harry flirting with a random girl at the coffee shop. He was under strict instructions to stay at the Dursleys and would NEVER have been allowed to go riding around on trains like that!?!
“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.” – Albus Dumbledore
Chapter 4 – Horace Slughorn
The first half of this chapter where Harry and Dumbledore go to find Slughorn to convince him to return to Hogwarts is pretty good, apart from the fact that Slughorn was definitely more unlikable in the books. I have to say though, I realised that I share many of Slughorn’s qualities, which is not all that surprising considering I have always been and will always be, a Slytherin through and through!
They get some points for the accuracy of the beginning of the chapter, but the second half was non-existent. Dumbledore is meant to arrive with Harry at the burrow instead of just chucking him in a nearby pond. They should have had a conversation, which actually details an awful lot of important information that was never given out in the film including the fact that Harry is now meant to carry his invisibility cloak with him everywhere, Extra security measures have been added everywhere Harry is going and he is going to be having extra lessons with Dumbledore throughout the year. These 3 things are all really important to the story and they’re just never mentioned, so I don’t know how they can explain that, but it is yet another example of how things tend to jump around with no real explantion some times because of this sort of information being left out.
Chapter 5 – An Excess of Phlegm
This chapter doesn’t exist in the films at all, so I won’t spend to long here, but basically they missed out the fact that Bill and Fleur are getting married, everyone hates Fleur (which I won’t go on about too much as I could talk for years about how wrong it is of them all), Tonks is miserable as sin and they get their O.W.L results. I suppose none of this is absoutely essential, but is does get a little confusing in Deathly Hallows when Bill and Fleur are getting married with no previous explanation as to why Fleur has made a return from her appearance 3 books ago in the Tri-Wizard tournament.
Chapter 6 – Draco’s Detour
Most of this chapter is in the films, although they do leave out a few little bits, which means that not all the dots join up properly, meaning we are again left to fill in the gaps ourselves as the trio seem to come to impossible conclusions. We don’t see Draco being touchy about his left arm in the robe shop, which is one of the main things that leads Harry to believe Draco is now a death eater, but we do see Weasley’s Wizard Wheases with the darkness powder etc. We do see the trio sneaking after Malfoy into Knockturn Alley as well, but this is where it gets a little murky. They are supposed to watch Draco threaten the shop keeper with Fenrir Greyback (a known deatheater) and show him something on his arm after asking for something to be fixed. In the film we just see him enter Borgin and Burkes with a load of deatheaters with the vanishing cabinet in the room, which is a pretty big giveaway. Not to mention the fact that they supposedly watch all this from a roof opposite with no explanation as to how the actually got up there!?
I’m not really sure why they would change this because it’s not like changing it gave us any more information that they missed out elsewhere; it just left us with even less information, which means that the next scene on the train when Harry is trying to convince Ron and Hermione that Draco is a deatheater makes even less sense. Hermione just says ‘I don’t know what I saw’ even though we didn’t see her see anything?
Chapter 7 – The Slug Club
This scene is relitively accurate in the films because we do see Harry getting annoyed with the other 2, who don’t believe him when he says Malfoy is a deatheater and we see him listening to Malfoy and then getting caught. The bits that are shown are done really well, but we don’t get to see Harry telling Mr Weasley about his suspicions or The Slug Club, which takes place on the train for the first time. The absence of these 2 things isn’t overly important though since Mr Weasley never finds anything from his searches and The Slug Club is mentioned and shown plenty of other times throughout the films, so overall, they did this chapter pretty well.
Chapter 8 – Snape Victorious
This chapter is also fairly accurate, although they do leave out a few details. The first thing that is wrong is that Luna finds him in the film instead of Tonks, but since they didn’t include the whole Tonks, Lupin drama I guess that doesn’t matter since the patronus she casts is the only important thing there, so it makes sense why they chose to swap her for Luna. The only other exciting thing that happens in this chapter really is Dumbledore’s speech where he tells them Slughorn is teaching potions and Snape is getting the DADA job, which is included in the film. They don’t include the fact that Hagrid thinks the trio are still going to be taking Care of Magical Creature even though they’re not, which is very sad, but also not at all important to the main story line, so I’m not surprised they left it out or that angry since I’m not sure I could have handled seeing Hagrid so sad on screen 😭
Chapter 9 – The Half-Blood Prince
Most of this chapter is in the film even if it is slightly altered for cinematic purposes like the scene in the corridor. They have some free periods now they’re sixth years and Harry and Ron realise they can take potions now Snape isn’t teaching it, so they go. Harry of course, then finds the Half-Blood Prince’s book and manages to win himself the Felix Felicis. This is all shown pretty accurately, including Hermione’s annoyance at the book and Harry being better than her, but despite that I cannot forgive them for not including the ICONIC line “No need to call me Sir Professor”! Also that line is said during a class about non-verbal spells, which is another bit of advanced magic (like disapparating) that they just sort of start using in the films without any explanation as to how they can do that.
“The thing about growing up with Fred and George,” said Ginny thoughtfully, “is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – Ginny Weasley
Chapter 10 – The House of Gaunt
This chapter is supposed to be Harry’s first lesson with Dumbledore, but it isn’t included in the films, which I think is a real shame because it is SO interesting learning about Voldemort and his past, but we don’t get to see most of it in the films at all. It also sucks that they left it out because it is pretty important. A lot of the memories Dumbledore shows Harry tell him what all but one of the horcruxes are, which helps him find them in Deathly Hallows; however, because they don’t show any of this, they suddenly just start looking for something of Hufflepuff’s and Ravenclaws, there is no explanation of the ring and the deathly hallows simply on it, which means it seems that the trio just jump to these wild and random conclusions with no evidence. 😑😒
Chapter 11 – Hermione’s Helping Hand
The start of this chapter is in the films with Ron and Ginny trying out for the Quidditch team where Hermione confuds Mcclaggen (and serves him right!). Then they skip forward a bit and don’t include them going to see Hagrid, who is incredibly upset that they didn’t take Care of Magical Creatures. He also mentions that Arragog is ill, which none of them are particularly sad about, but it would have made a bit more sense when they are told that he is dead later on if they included the fact that he had been ill for a while.
Harry and Hermione are also invited to Slugorns party at this point in the books, but in the films this doesn’t take place until a good bit later when they are in Hogsmede. This change isn’t the end of the world, but it does mean we miss out on the mention of all the parties Harry does his best to avoid before the one he actually goes to 😂
Chapter 12 – Silver and Opals
The majority of this chapter was in the films, but they left out a few pretty important details. They do go to Hogsmede and end up in the 3 broomsticks, although they don’t run into Slughorn there in the books like they do in the films.
They managed to do the scene with Katie Bell being cursed really well and they had Harry accusing Malfoy, but they important detail they left out was that Malfoy was actually in detention with Mcgonagall that day, which is one of the huge reasons why Ron and Hermione won’t listen when Harry starts talking about Malfoy. They also didn’t include much about Ron and Hermione liking each other as was in the book.
“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.” – Harry Potter
Chapter 13 – The Secret Riddle
This chapter is just Dumbledore’s lesson again where he shows Harry his memory of Tom Riddle in the orphanage. They got the memory right, but they didn’t include as much of the discussion afterwards, which is essential to Harry’s hunt for the horcruxes. It is all well and good showing us the memory, but they didn’t include Dumbledore’s explanation of it, which is even more important! Dumbledore explains what he has taken away from the memory which is that a) Voldemort liked to take trophies b) he has never had something even close to a friend, which is important when Dumbledore is trying to explain to Harry that ‘Love’ is his greatest weapon c) he already had unusual control over his powers at such a young age and had a lot of malicious intent, both of which only grow with time and finally that he HATED being like anyone or anything else. He was obsessed with being ‘special’, ‘different’ and all around just better than everyone else. All of these points are essential to Harry and us as readers understanding Voldemort as a character and therefore how to defeat him.
Chapter 14 – Felix Felicis
Some of this chapter was in the films and they did include several of the important parts, but they moved them to different scenes. The chapter starts out in Herbology where they are talking about Dumbledore’s lesson and the Slug Club, which Ron is pretty pissed about because he is jealous yet again. I understand why Ron gets jealous because he is the youngest son and has so much to live up to, but you’d think he would have gotten over it a little after 6 years of going on adventures with Harry freaking Potter!? It annoys be, but I do understand why he is like that. Either way it becomes very apparent here that Ron and Hermione like each other, which Harry is concerned about because he doesn’t want it to tear their friendship apart. This is kind of in the films, but we don’t get to see the full extent of it because we aren’t in Harry’s head.
They also run into Ginny and Dean kissing after Herbology, which Ron is furious about, although Ginny immediately puts him in his place, which is perhaps my favourite moment in the whole book! Everyone knows that Movie!Ginny has less personality than a piece of paper, but you really do miss out on so many golden moments if you don’t read the books. It is also from this point onwards that Harry realises he likes Ginny, which leads to a whole load of crap later on. You also miss out on just how much chemistry Harry and Ginny have if you don’t read the books because they really do get on like a house on fire, but none of that is shown in the films!
Most of that does happen in the films, but just not in Herbology specifically and they run into Ginny and Dean earlier on in Hogsmede instead. The rest of the chapter is in the film and they actually did it really well! Harry, of course, pretend to spike Ron’s drink with Felix Felicis, which means they win the Quidditch match and then Ron and Lavender are making out rather aggressively, which leads to him being pelted with Hermione’s birds, which I personally think he kind of deserves.
Chapter 15 – The Unbreakable Vow
Most of this chapter is also in the films, but what they don’t include is just how cruel Ron is being to Hermione. He makes fun of her in class and makes her cry a lot, which is just downright awful of him really and I think it was completely uncalled for. Hermione gets her own back though as girls always do, which Ron learns the hard way that girls will stoop incredibly low for revenge!
The rest of the chapter is just Slughorn’s Christmas party with Hermione and Mcclaggen, Malfoy ‘gate-crashing’ and Harry overhears Malfoy and Snape talking about the Unbreakable Vow.
Chapter 16 – A Very Frosty Christmas
This chapter doesn’t happen in the films, but there isn’t a huge amount that we miss. Most of it is just Christmas at the Weasleys, which we do see briefly with lupin and Mr Weasley disregarding Harry’s concerns about Malfoy and Snape. What we don’t get to see though is Percy and Scrimonger coming to the burrow, so that Scrimonger can try and convince Harry to be a ‘Ministry Mascot’, which Harry promptly tells him to ‘f-off’ essentially.
Chapter 17 – A Sluggish Memory
The very end of this chapter with Harry and Dumbledore watching and talking about Slughorn’s tampered memory is in the films and they did that pretty well, but they miss out some details prior to that such as Hermione coming round to the idea that Malfoy is a deatheater and the apparation notices. The apparation lessons are a really essential part of the book since they use it a lot in Deathly Hallows, but there is absolutely no explanation in the films as to how or when they learned to apparate because they just start doing it.
They also don’t include the first memory that Dumbledore shows Harry in this lesson, which is the one where Voldemort goes to visit Morfin (who we don’t know exists in the films because we weren’t shown the very first memory either), who he the frames for the murder of his father and grandfather, which he does. He also steals the ring, which is incredibly important as that later becomes and horcrux, but we just have to accept that it is a horcrux in the films without explanation. It also shows us just how evil Volemort was even then since he was only 15/16 at the time and he had already murdered 3 people without a second thought.
Chapter 18 – Birthday Surprises
The only part of this chapter that is in the films is Ron accidentally eating the love potion chocolates, which result in him being poisoned. This probably was the most important thing that happened in this chapter, so at least they did include this, but they missed out a few other things like Hermione being incredibly salty that Harry got away with just handing Slughorn a beazor in the potions and the apparation lessons.
We’ve already talked about the apparation lessons, but what I wish they would have included more of was Hermione really hating the Half-Blood Prince’s book. She hates it because she thinks he’s cheating, which he isn’t really because he’s just following different instructions, but she really hates it because it makes him better than her, which she just can’t seem to handle the idea of. I love Hermione, but she is definitely flawed, which the film just doesn’t capture because they present her as some sort of perfect goddess with all of Ron’s good qualities!
“It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.” – Harry Potter
Chapter 19 – Elf Tails
None of this chapter is in the films, which I think is an incredible shame because it is truly hilarious! First of all both Lavender and Mcclaggen are driving Harry up the wall because Ron’s in hospital. Lavender wants to talk about Ron and Mcclaggen will be taking Ron’s place on the quidditch team until he’s better, which means he is constantly trying to give Harry advice, which of course leads to some very funny moments later on, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Before the quidditch, Harry catches Malfoy sneaking off with 2 girls, which we later learn are Crabbe and Goyle using polyjuice potion, which is hilarious in itself! Malfoy really has them wrapped around his little finger! 😂 After that though comes the quidditch, which is the real golden moment of this chapter where Mcclaggen is so busy trying to tell everyone else on the team how to do play their own position that they loose something like 300 to 20, which is abysmal. Also Luna is commentating, which is GOLDEN! All this leads to Mcclaggen accidently knocking Harry out. Harry later summons Kreacher to him to tail Malfoy for him, but Dobby also comes along because he is desperate to help Harry as always!
As I said though, none of this is in the film, which is a really shame because so much of it is so funny and I just love Dobby!
Chapter 20 – Lord Voldemort’s Request
The only part of this chapter that is in the film at all is that Ron and Lavender don’t work out, but after that they rest of it doesn’t exist. Harry is supposed to have another meeting with Dumbledore, which leads to him being incredibly ashamed of himself because he hasn’t really tried to get the memory from Slughorn. This moment is so sad because it is an excellent example of how quickly Harry has had to grow up because he needs to focus on defeating Voldemort while his classmates worry about dating and quidditch.
Dumbledore also shows him 2 other memories, which are non-existent in the films, but equally as important of the others. The first shows how Voldemort came across Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup as he murders their owner and frames her house-elf. The second shows him a little later on it life going back to Hogwarts as Dumbledore has just been appointed headmaster to request the Defence Against the Dark Arts job again. Dumbledore, obviously, doesn’t give it to him, which means that the DADA job has been cursed every since and it leads Dumbledore to believe that Voldemort was still looking for something else to make into a horcrux, which they agreed was likely to be something of Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor’s.
I talked about this earlier, but them not showing these memories means that you are very much left in the dark as to how the trio figure out pretty much anything in Deathly Hallows because we aren’t shown 90% of the evidence in Half-Blood Prince.
Chapter 21 – The Unknowable Room
Yet again, this chapter was non-existent in the films. It is meant to start with yet another attempt to get the memory out of Slughorn, and Harry pouring over his potions book, which Hermione still greatly disapproves of and which greatly annoys me. The spell Sectumsempra is mentioned in the film, but that’s about it and it is mentioned much earlier.
Kreacher and Dobby then report back to Harry about Malfoy, which reveals that he is going to the Room of Requirement and Crabbe and Goyle are using Polyjuice Potion. Ron and Hermione then head off for their extra apparation lessons since they will be 17 in time to take the test and Harry heads to the Room of Requirement to try and catch Malfoy, which fails completely. None of this is absolutely essential information except maybe the apparation text, but I think it should have at least been mentioned even if it wasn’t shown and Dobby and Kreacher definitely should have been shown.
“Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.”
Chapter 22 – After the Burial
I’ve already mentioned that they didn’t include the apparition lessons, so they weren’t about to include the tests either, but Hermione (of course) passed, but Ron didn’t and Harry was too young. The rest of this chapter was included in the film though and they actually did a really good job. This is the part where Harry uses some of his Felix Felicis to get the memory from Slughorn, which takes them both down to Hagrid’s hut for Arragog’s funeral. They did a lot of the dialogue in this scene word for word and it was just generally really well done.
Chapter 23 – Horcruxes
This chapter starts with Harry racing up to Dumbledore immediately and them watching the memory together, which does happen in the films, but they did not show Harry running through the corridors of Hogwarts wildly at stupid o’clock at night, which it’s really just rude that we were deprived of that! All we really glean from this in the films is that Dumbledore does in fact believe that Voldemort succeeded in making a significant number of Horcruxes, but we get a lot more detail in the books. Since we have extablised that Voldemort is fond of the number 7 we could assume that he succeeded, which leaves us with the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the snake and something of Gryffindors or Ravenclaws. That is a pretty clear list of items and we know all but one in the books, which realistically isn’t going to be that hard to find seeing as important objects to such notable people tend to be recorded and shouted about a lot. We aren’t given any such details in the films, which again leads to everyone seemingly jumpy to random and unreasonable conclusions.
Dumbledore also spends a good few pages explain more about why Harry is ‘the chosen one’, which we get a little of in the films, but not as much, although that is to be expected to some degree when looking at movie adaptations. Apart from the complete lack of known horcruxes, they did a pretty good job here.
Chapter 24 – Sectumsempra
This chapter does indeed start with Harry, rather stupidly, using Sectumsempera on Malfoy, which Snape fixes pretty quickly and this is shown in the films pretty well. What they don’t include though is the fact that Harry isn’t able to play in the final Quidditch match due to his detentions with Snape, but they win anyway, which ends in Ginny and Harry doing a decent bit of snogging. The do include a Harry and Ginny kiss, but they do it in that silly scene where Harry and Ginny are hiding the book in the Room of Requirement. I’m not a fan of this scene because Ginny is an incredibly bold character, although we’ve already discussed the fact that she certainly isn’t shown that way in the films, and also it is Harry that is supposed to kiss her not the other way around.
Chapter 25 – The Seer Overheard
The only part of this chapter that is shown in the film is the fact that Dumbledore wishes Harry to come with him to get the next Horcrux, but there is actually a hell of a lot of other important information in this chapter that is simply never mentioned. The first thing is that Harry and Ginny are officially dating, which is never mentioned in the films, but the more important thing is that he runs into Trelawny on the way to Dumbledore’s office. She tells him she was just thrown unceremoniously out of the Room of Requirement, which is what tips Harry off to the fact that Malofy has achieved whatever he was working on. Trelawny also then lets slip that Snape was eavesdropping on her interview with Dumbledore, which Harry knows is when Dumbledore heard the prophecy. Snape was still with Voldemort at that time, which means that is was Snape that essentially sold his parents to Voldemort. This is, as you can imagine it would be, the final nail in the coffin for Harry who now has pretty much no chance of ever trusting Snape.
What I think is particularly interesting is the part when Harry tells Dumbledore what he has just found out, which makes him go incredibly pale and it quiet for a while. This to me, obviously states that that was a piece of information Dumbledore never wanted Harry to have and has made a chink in his carefully made plans that we learn all about by the end of Deathly Hallows. You can interpret this how you like and while I’m aware that Dumbledore did a lot of what he did to save the wizarding world even if it coursed Harry pain, I personally think the truth would have been just as effective than his carefully laid plans and would have caused a lot less mistrust between people and also possibly spared a few people their lives…. What do you think of Dumbledore?
The chapter doesn’t end there though because Harry then has to return to the common room to get his cloak, where he also gives Hermione, Ron and Ginny the Marauders Map and the remainder of the Felix Felicis to share between them in order to keep an eye on Snape and Malfoy. This becomes important in a few chapters later, although I can understand that they are quite small details that the film was likely to skate over, so I can forgive them for that.
Harry and Dumbledore then walk their way to Hogsmede and disapparate from there; not from Hogwarts, like they do in the films because, as Hermione states MANY times, you cannot apparate in or out of Hogwarts, even if you’re Dumbledore.
Chapter 26 – The Cave
This chapter is literally just them going to the cave and retrieving the locket, which they do pretty much perfectly in the films, although there isn’t any commentary from Dumbledore about why Voldemort made the decisions he did, but that is another expected casualty of movie adaptations.
Chapter 27 – The Lighting-Struck Tower
This chapter is also done pretty well in the films, although they leave out the fact that Harry and Dumbledore actually re-appear in Hogsmede and take Rosmerta’s brooms back to the castle where the dark mark is already hanging. They changed the order slightly in the films, but that isn’t a huge thing, so I don’t mind too much. From there on it is just the whole Malfoy won’t kill Dumbledore and Snape does in the end, although Harry isn’t immobilised in the films, which he is supposed to be.
We also don’t see Dumbledore’s incredible sense of humour and his liking of manners, which he sticks with right up until the end because the film just didn’t capture that part of him, which is a monumental shame, but we’ve already talked about that.
“Dumbledore’s man through and through, aren’t you Potter?”
“Yeah I am,” said Harry. “Glad we straightened that out.”– Scrimonger and Harry Potter
Chapter 28 – Flight of the Prince
This chapter is also just the death eaters doing a runner and Harry chasing after them. They also set Hagrid’s cabin on fire, which I forgot that they actually did in the books because it is the sort of thing I would expect a film adaptation to add in for a more dramatic and cinematic effect, but no, they really did set his house on fire! It is also revealed that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince, which is probably the less of the dramatic reveals at the end of the chapter as Harry also figures out that the locket is a fake. This is all shown in the film, although they made is significantly more cinematic, but I suppose that’s what you’d expect.
Chapter 29 – The Phoenix Lament
Done of the next 2 chapters are in the film at all, but this chapter was mainly a lot of talk and filling in some of the finer details, which I kind of always expected them to leave out. They’re looking after everyone that got wounded, no-one quite believes that Dumbledore’s dead and Snape betrayed them and, of course, literally everyone is blaming themselves, but mostly it is just talk about what they are going to do now. While it is annoying that the films miss out quite a lot, it’s understandable that fill in fluff scenes like this aren’t essential to a movie version.
Chapter 30 – The White Tomb
This chapter is just Dumbledore’s funeral, which I suppose isn’t essential to the actual plot since nothing really happens here to movie the story forward, but it is sort of the beginning of the end for Harry and it is another look inside of wizarding culture. We see centaurs, merfolk, ministry people (including Umbridge! 🤬), randomers and old collegues alike attend his funeral. Harry also breaks up with Ginny in this scene, which was well-intended, but didn’t exactly work out, but this naturally wasn’t included in the film as the never even bothered to mention they were dating in the first place.
The only part of this chapter that was included was Ron and Hermione confirming that they are going to be coming with him, despite his protests and excuses.
“Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe.”
And that’s it! Once again, congratulations if you made it this far because I know how long these posts are, but I think they’re well worth it. 😁 Since this post is already very long, I’m just going to leave it here. Tell me all about your thoughts on Half-Blood Prince in the comments below or you can come and chat to me on my Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/theoriginalbookdragon
Goodbye for now!
Over and Out
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