Book vs Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to the FINAL Harry Potter Book vs Movie blog post! It has been quite a project writing these, but I am beyond happy with how they turned out and I hope you have enjoyed them too! I’ll talk more about the whole series at the end, but for now I think it’s best if we just get into the comparison!

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.

This final book vs movie post is likely to be a little shorter than the others since I did split Deathly Hallows in half in order to align with the films rather than the books, so there is significantly less chapters to get through, but there is still just as much to talk about since this is the ending of a 7 book series. I have so much to talk about, so let’s just get into it!

Chapter 24 – The Wandmaker

If you read the book vs movie post for Deathly Hallows Part 1 then you’ll know that there is a bit of cross over with the 2 movies in this chapter as the 1st movie includes Harry burring Dobby and him seeing that Voldemort has found the elder wand, but the rest isn’t included. Deathly Hallows part 2 starts by showing us the scene where Voldemort finds the elder wand again and then it goes into Harry wanting to talk to Griphook and Ollivander. They do this pretty well in the films, but they don’t explain Harry’s choice to speak to Griphook first.

Harry is well aware that Voldemort is about to find the elder wand at this point, but he choose to talk to Griphook about Bellatrix’s vault first, therefore allowing Voldemort to get to the elder wand. This is pretty important because it shows Harry choosing the Horcruxes over the Hallows, which is exactly what Dumbledore hoped he would do. The trio talk to Griphook about the sword and needing to get into Bellatirx’s vault, which he says he’ll think about. He also mentions that Harry is a ‘very strange’ wizard for burying Dobby and saving him from Malfoy Manor because many wizards wouldn’t consider either important enough to do what he did. They do mention this in the films, which I’m really happy about because it is pretty important as wizards treating elves, goblins and other such creatures as less is an important theme throughout the books because it costs several people their lives and essentially leads to Voldemort’s downfall by him failing to recognise other’s power simply because he thought them less that himself.

They also talk to ollivander about the Deathly Hallows and the wands the stole to see if they would work for them. The did this part okay, but they made Ollivander a lot more reluctant to share information in the films. He tries to say he doesn’t believe in the Hallows in the films, but it is the opposite in the books, which seems an odd thing to change, but it doesn’t really matter. Harry also then has the vision about Voldemort finding the elder wand, which is the end and the beginning of part 1 and 2.

Chapter 25 – Shell Cottage

Unfortunately, none of this chapter is in the films apart from the fact that Griphook agrees to help them in exchange for the sword. They are supposed to plan to double cross Griphook to keep the sword for a little longer and then give it to him after they have destroyed the horcruxes, which of course later backfires rather. Lupin also arrives and announces that Teddy (his and Tonk’s son) has been born and that Harry is godfather. Teddy is never mentioned in the films apart from the comment from Harry to Remus later about his son, but again it isn’t important to the plot, so the directors wouldn’t have deemed it important enough.

We are also meant to see Bill warning Harry about the dangers of making deals with Goblins, using the tiara that Fleur wore at the wedding as an example. The tiara was goblin made, so the goblins believe that it rightfully belongs to them once the originally buyer dies instead of it being passed through families (which is absolutely not how that is supposed to work by the way), which shows how twisted Goblins think. We don’t see any of this though as we simply skip to them leaving for Gringotts.

Chapter 26 – Gringotts

I honestly dont have anything really to say about this chapter because it was pretty much perfect. Most of the dialogue was word for word, they included pretty much everything and they didn’t change the order of anything. This chapter was just them leaving for Gringotts, breaking into Gringotts and then escaping from Gringotts on the dragon, with the Horcrux, but without the sword, which they did a damn good job of.

“Every second he breathed, the smell of the grass, the cool air on his face, was so precious: To think that people had years and years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second.”

Chapter 27 – The Final Hiding Place

Not a huge amount actually happens in this chapter, but they did get most of it right. This chapter really only consisted of them dropping off the dragon and then realising the last Horcrux is at Hogwarts as Harry sees into Voldemort’s head before disaparating to Hogsmede. The only thing they didn’t show in great detail was Voldemort’s thought process as he realises they have discovered his secret. It’s revealed that Voldemort never felt them destroying the other Horcruxes, which the film gets wrong as he does seem to know every time, at least after Gringotts anyway. We also don’t see his incredibly arrogant thought process as he tries to figure out how Dumbledore discovered his secret. He is absolutely convinced that he left no trail behind him as he believes no one ever knew he was related to the Gaunts, he put the blame on others for his earlier murders and he hid his things well. Of course this is actually a load of bollocks as he left Morfin, the house elf he blamed, Kreacher and used some pretty obvious hiding places for anyone who knew him even a little, but he never realised this. I’m not surprised they left this out because it’s pretty difficult to show someone’s thoughts and they also never bothered to show us a lot of Voldemort’s history in Half-Blood Prince, so films-watchers will only have known half the story anyway meaning there was little point in revealing this information now.

Chapter 28 – The Missing Mirror

Not all that much happens in this chapter either as it is just them turning up in Hogsmede to a loud wailing alarm and then being saved by Aberforth, who is a little bit of an arse. We do get a bit more explanation in the books about what happened about Ariana, but since she was never mentioned earlier on anyway there was little point in explaining it here in the films. Other than that Aberforth simply sends the portrait of Ariana to get Neville, who is very happy to see them.

Chapter 29 – The Lost Diadem

This chapter is significantly less accurate, which is probably because they didn’t want to create the set for Ravenclaw common room for a solid like 5 minutes of film time, but still. They all talk about needing to find something of Ravenclaw’s, which leads to the suggestion of the diadem. Luna is then supposed to take Harry to the Ravenclaw common room where they run into Alecto Carrow, who calls Voldemort. I’m sure they thought this scene was easily replaceable, but I disagree. Them going to the Ravenclaw common room and finding a death eater standing guard there on Voldemort’s orders is what makes Harry sure that the last Horcrux is definitely something of Ravenclaw’s and likely going to be the diadem. Without this scene, it appears that Harry is taking a pretty big risk on assuming that the Horcrux is the diadem just because it was the first thing someone suggested.

Chapter 30 – The Sacking of Severus Snape

This chapter really isn’t in the films at all, or at least not in the way it was told in the books. The outcome is the same as Snape disappears, Mcgonagall takes charge again and the younger students are evacuated, but it doesn’t happen anything like it does in the films. Luna is supposed to stun Alecto just before Amycus and Mcgonagall arrive and then Harry ends up using the Cruciatous curse on Amycus because he spat at Mcgonagall! Personally I think that was a little drastic, but then Mcgonagall does deserve better. Harry has to explain everything to Mcgonagall very quickly as she gets rid of Snape and rouses the students to be evacuated. The scene in the great hall has the same effect and outcome, but I personally just feel a little robbed that we didn’t get to see Harry using an unforgivable curse because someone spat at Mcgonagall.

Once that is all sorted, Harry is supposed to return to the room of requirement where he finds the rest of the Order turning up (including Percy Weasley, who is just never mentioned in the films) and Ginny is told to stay behind as she isn’t 17 yet, much to her disgust. He has also completely lost Ron and Hermione as they ran off mentioning something about a bathroom. I personally would have though Harry could have put two and two together here as they had already realised that a basalisk fang was one of the only things that could destroy a horcrux and there isn’t exactly much else interesting in the Hogwarts bathrooms, but I guess he was pretty stressed, so I’ll let him off. Ron and Hermione going down to the chamber is mentioned and shown in the films, but just not quite how it happened in the book, but I guess it was more cinematic the way they did it in the film.

Chapter 31 – The Battle of Hogwarts

They got the events right in this chapter and got the overall panicked vibe right, but they missed out some key details. The chapter starts with Harry going to talk to the Ghost of Ravenclaw tower about the diadem, which does happen in the film, but it is shown very differently. Helena Ravenclaw is very skittish in the films, which isn’t the case in the books at all. She is certainly defensive and not particularly impressed with Harry, but she doesn’t keep floating away and she certainly doesn’t answer in riddles like she does in the film. She is supposed to tell Harry how she was the one that stole her mother’s diadem and ran away with it in an attempt to gain some glory for herself. She ended up in a forest in Albania where she met her end as the Bloody Baron killed her and herself since she wouldn’t marry him. That meant the diadem was still safely in Albania until Tom Riddle came asking questions and moved it to Hogwarts. None of that is mentioned in the films apart from the fact that Voldemort definitly did find the Diadem and then Helena speaks that silly Riddle that makes Harry run of towards the Room of Requirement. I really don’t know why they changed Helena’s story so much because it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I suppose they wanted to make her seem more mysterious for cinematic purposes.

Harry manages to run into Ron and Hermione on the way to the Room of Requirement where he has to make Ginny leave, so it can turn into the right place for him. There is also a fair bit of Romione snogging here as Ron is worried about the house elves getting hurt, which we do see in the films, but not the way they show it with the strange flodding scene in the Chamber of Secrets.  Hermione destroys the cup before they enter the Room of Requirement, which happens exactly like in the films with Goyle ‘setting the bloody place on fire’, to use the words of Ron Weasley, which destroys the Horcrux and results in them saving Malfoy. This chapter ends on a real low though as Fred is killed, which I have always thought is the saddest death. 😢😭

Chapter 32 – The Elder Wand

This chapter is just them running down to find Voldemort and try to kill the snake, but end up seeing Snape die instead (still a win in my opinion). They did this pretty well in the films with him telling Lucius to fetch Snape, Voldemort explaining to Snape that he has to die, so the Elder wand will answer him and then Snape actually dying, but not before Harry collects his memories. The only thing they change about this chapter is the location of these events as they are supposed to happen in the shrieking shack, but actually happen in the boat house. I don’t know why they changed this, but it does mean we missed out on hearing Hermione tell Ron ‘Are you a wizard or not!?’ when they are trying to get under the whomping willow, which is very reminiscent of of Ron’s line all the way back in Philosopher’s Stone when they were trying to get past the devils snare!

In case you were wondering, I am very much on team ‘I hate Snape’ and think he deserves everything he got and worse because he was nothing but a cowardly, obsessive deatheater and nothing anyone can say will change my mind!

“Seventeen, eh!” said Hagrid as he accepted a bucket-sized glass of wine from Fred.
“Six years to the day we met, Harry, d’yeh remember it?”
“Vaguely,” said Harry, grinning up at him. “Didn’t you smash down the front door, give Dudley a pig’s tail, and tell me I was a wizard?”
“I forge’ the details,” Hagrid chortled.”

Chapter 33 – The Prince’s Tale

This chapter is really just Harry watching Snape’s memories, but not before he has had a glance into the great hall where he sees Fred, Tonks and Lupin dead. 😢 We learn an awful lot from Snape’s memories and I’m not going to spend too long on them because I would be here all day ranting about the fact that he was a horrible person, but the general gyst of what Harry saw was that Snape only ever cared for the Lily in Harry (this is shown by him ripping the letter and the photo to take the part with Lily in it at the beginning of Deathly Hallows Part 1, the fact that he always thought of muggles as nothing more than annoyances and him always being a deatheater and hating muggleborns with the sole exception of Lily), he did indeed tell Voldemort the correct date, but suggested the idea of Polyjuice potion to Mundungus, he gave the sword to the trio and Harry has to die in order to defeat Voldemort.

I’m not going to talk about Snape and how messed up he was because I’ve already made it very clear that I hate him and it’s all been said before, but I will just say that I don’t understand how Harry could have watched all that and come to the conclusion that Snape was innocent…?

Chapter 34 – The Forest Again

They did this chapter pretty well in the film with Harry going to die, but they did change a few things and they don’t show the full extent of Harry’s fear. Harry feels betrayed by Dumbledore for never telling him this, but that is mostly drowned out by his fear and despair. He doesn’t run into Ron and Hermione on the way down and there is certainly no teary goodbyes as he sneaks away under the invisibility cloak. He does tell Neville to kill the snake though, so there is someone else to carry on the task in his place if something should happen to Ron and Hermione. This really isn’t shown to it’s full extent in the films, which I know would have been very difficult, but that’s why you really do have to read the books or you’ll never fully understand Harry as a character.

The rest of the chapter is pretty accurate though with him finding the resurrection stone in the snitch, talking to the Marauders and then calmly going to die.

Chapter 35 – King’s Cross

Harry spends the entirety of this chapter ‘talking’ to Dumbledore, which is shown in the films, but we aren’t given even close to the same amount of information in the films as we are in the books. In the books we are told all about Grindelwald, his hunger for power and how Dumbledore nearly followed in his footsteps. He tells Harry about his dad, his sister and how he wanted to use the resurection stone to bring his parents back, so that he wouldn’t have to care for Ariana any more and all about how Voldemort took some of Lily’s protection into him the night he used Harry’s blood to bring himself back.

We are told some things in the film, but not nearly as much as we get in the book. We are told a little about Harry being a Horcrux and a bit more about how ‘Love’ is the answer, but that’s it. We don’t get any of the gossip about Grindelwald or Ariana in the film, which is what we all wanted to really know as we could have figured out the bit about Harry by ourselves, but we all wanted to know about Dumbledore! I’m not surprised they left most of it out because they didn’t include any of Dumbledore’s story that wasn’t strictly necessary in the previous film either, but I guess you only get to know the gossip if you read the books! 🤷‍♀️

Dumbledore’s story has always fascinated me, which is why I love the Fantastic Beasts films, even though I know a lot of people don’t. I’ve always wanted to know more about Dumbledore and this one scene just doesn’t satisfy my craving.

“We did it, we bashed them wee Potter’s the one, and Voldy’s gone moldy, so now let’s have fun!”

Chapter 36 – The Flaw in the Plan

There is actually an awful lot that happens in this 1 chapter and actually a lot of it isn’t in the films! I don’t think I’ve ever said that about one of the final chapters in this entire book vs movie series because the directors had a real habit of spending about 2/3’s of each film on the last 6-ish chapters and skimming over the rest, but that wasn’t the case with this film. The movie starts of well with Narcissa lying about Harry being dead in exchange for him telling her that Draco is alive, so it’s a good job they saved him.

This is where is gets a bit strange because Voldemort does indeed make Hagrid carry Harry back and boasts about how he killed him, but then Neville actually low key attacks Voldemort (obviously to no avail), which results in him being body bound as Voldemort tries to kill him with the sorting hat. Of course this doesn’t really work because Neville breaks free from the body bind curse and kills Nagini with the sword, which yet again, fell out of the hat. We do see Neville do this in the films, but not until after Harry revealed himself and he did it to protect Ron and Hermione, which just doesn’t happen.

The films also differs from the book in how Harry reveals himself because he actually pulls the cloak over himself during the commotion and disappears, instead of rolling out of Hagrid’s arms very much alive. The film then makes the next scene very cinematic as they have Harry and Voldemort battling around the castle, which never happens. I could understand them adding this bit in for dramatic effect if they left the rest of it the same, but they didn’t, which I think is really stupid because the movie ending doesn’t have even close to the satisfying ending we get in the books.

We are supposed to see Harry follow Voldemort and everyone else into the great hall as Molly kills Bellatrix and then have Harry reveal himself from under the cloak. Harry and Voldemort then spend a good 5 minutes circling each other why Harry explains exactly why the wand won’t ever work for him and how he’s been a real arrogant prick to think no-one would ever defeat him before Harry swiftly kills him as Voldemort’s curse backfires yet again! We all know that the movie added that stupid flaky death for Voldemort and how everyone hates it because his body was supposed to hit the floor in order to show that, despite everything he’d done, Voldemort was still very much mortal, but they changed it and we all agree that it’s ridiculous, so i won’t spend any longer on it.

This really is one long-ass chapter because there is still more to talk about: Harry, Ron and Hermione slip away while everyone is celebrating, so that Harry can explain everything from Snape’s memories on wards, which we do kind of see in the films, but they went in completely the wrong direction as they were supposed to go to Dumbledore’s office – which I suppose is actually just ‘the headmaster’s’ office, but it will always be Dumbledore’s office in my mind. Once in Dumbledore’s office, Harry is supposed to talk to Dumbledore’s portrait to tell him about how he dropped the resurrection stone somewhere in the forest and how he is going to put the wand back in Dumbledore’s grave and hope that he dies a natural death, so that the Elder wand’s line will end with him, much to Ron’s dismay. Harry also mends his own wand with the Elder wand, but he certainly doesn’t snap it and throw it off the bridge. 😑 They messed up a fair bit in this chapter, which is a shame really because they were doing so well right up until then, but I guess movies have to screw up in one way or another don’t they?

The End

And that’s it! There is of course, the ’19 years later’ part, but we all know what happens in that and they did that well in the films, so I decided not to take up anymore of your time ranting about Harry’s choice of names! That is the end of Deathly Hallows, Harry’s story and these Book vs Movie blog posts though!

It’s taken me so long to plan and write these posts, but every minute has been worth it because, not only did I get to re-visit one of my favourite worlds, I also go to talk about it and really dive deep into the world and analyse it, which was so much fun! I know this post will be long, so I’m not going to rant on too much more, but before I go I wanted to say thank you for reading these Book vs Movie posts because I know they are soooooooo freaking long and are quite a time commitment! If you liked these posts, then you can subscribe to my blog via email (look to the right side bar), so you don’t miss out on any future bookish and Harry Potter content and follow me on Instagram too: @theoriginalbookdragon

Feel free to talk to me about everything Harry Potter below because I’d love to chat, but otherwise, I’ll see you next time!

Goodbye for now!

Over and Out