Summary
With more than 600 million copies sold worldwide,Harry Potteris the best-selling book series of all time by a pretty significant margin. The last of J.K. Rowling’s seven novels was released more than a decade and a half ago now, yet the franchise remains as popular as ever. Not only did 2023 see the release of a best-sellingHarry Pottergame, but also the announcement thata newHarry Pottertelevision series is currently in the works over at HBO.
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Looking back attheHarry Potterbooksthough, not everything about them has aged well. In some instances, it’s down to the way that the books were written, while in others, it’s strange inconsistencies that fans of the series may not have noticed when they first read Rowling’s novels all those years ago. As the books and the people reading them have gotten older, however, these troublesome details have become much more pronounced.
1Krum and Hermione’s Relationship
Hermione is just fifteen years old when she first meets Viktor Krum inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He, on the other hand, is eighteen and thus a fully-grown man according to the laws that govern the wizarding world. This makes the pair’s eventual relationship incredibly troubling, particularly when one considersKrum’s status as a famous Quidditch playerand the position of power that this places him in.
The book doesn’t really go into too much detail about how intimate the couple becomes, but it is stated that they share a kiss, which is bad enough given the three-and-a-half-year age gap. The age of consent in the UK is sixteen, so any kind of intimate relationship between the pair would be illegal in the eyes of Muggle law, yet this is never really explored in any of the books.
2The Dursleys' Treatment of Harry
The way that Harry is treated by the Dursleys throughout theHarry Potterbooks is pretty abhorrent and enough to have a serious long-term impact on any young child’s mental health. Yet, despite being fully aware of the mental and physical abuse that goes on at number 4 Privet Drive, nobody from the wizarding world seems to have had any qualms about sending Harry back to these monsters each and every summer.
Although the decision not to remove Harry from this abusive environment is somewhat explained (Harry cannot be found by Voldemort or his minions for as long as he calls number 4 Privet Drive his home), it’s difficult to believe that nobody - not even Dumbledore - was able to come up with a better solution. As such, the far more likely explanation seems to be that nobody cared enough to try.
3Hogwarts' Inability to Educate
Given thatHogwarts is a school of witchcraft and wizardry, it makes sense that the majority of classes would be geared around the practical use of magic. There are a few academic subjects, such as History of Magic class, but subjects like Maths, English, and Science are nowhere to be found on the agenda, presumably meaning that students at the school just never learn these things.
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Its limited curriculum isn’t the only thing that makes Hogwarts a poor place to study either.Hogwarts is full of dangerous creatures and artifacts, yet students are rarely punished for snooping around in places that they’re not supposed to be. In the rare instances that they are, the go-to punishment seems to be to send them out into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid: another location that’s full of danger.
4Harry’s Horcrux Finding Abilities
Dumbledore is generally considered to be one of the smartest andmost powerful wizards of all time, yet it took him around four years to find and destroy a single Horcrux. To his credit, he was also able to deduce that Harry was the seventh Horcrux and also had his suspicions about Nagini, but that still leaves four more Horcruxes that he failed to find or even identify.
FollowingDumbledore’s death, however, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are able to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes in just a matter of months. This is made all the more ridiculous by the fact that the trio are among the most wanted people in the wizarding world while all this is going on and must break into three of its most secure institutions (Gringotts, Hogwarts, and the Ministry of Magic) in order to get the job done.
5The Lack of Diversity and Representation
Despite hundreds of characters being introduced throughout the series, there are only a handful of non-white characters in theHarry Potterbooks. Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Dean Thomas, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Blaise Zabini are all described as being black or dark-skinned, while Cho Chang and the Patil twins offer a glimmer of representation for people from Asian and East Asian backgrounds. The main characters are all white though, as are all of the Hogwarts professors.
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Aside from this general lack of ethnic diversity, the naming conventions used for some of these characters are also a little troubling. This is especially true when it comes to those Asian and East Asian characters, all of whom were for some reason given alliterative names (ChoChang,PadmaPatil, andParvatiPatil). Then there’s the fact that there is only one openly gay character in the series, andDumbledore’s sexuality was only ever explored in the final bookafter this lack of representation had been publically criticized.
6Aberforth’s Goat-Charming Exploits
Shows likeThe Simpsonsused to do an excellent job ofsneaking adult-themed jokes right beneath the noses of younger viewers, as too did a lot of other family-friendly shows and movies of the era.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixattempts to do something similar with Aberforth Dumbledore, but the end result is neither appropriate nor is it particularly funny.
In the book, Dumbledore mentions that his brother was once “prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat,” which many took to be a bestiality reference. During an appearance at Carnegie Hall back in 2007, author J.K. Rowling described this as “a joke that works on a couple of levels,” but, looking back, most would probably be in agreement that it was a joke that didn’t really work at all.
7An Adherence to Stereotypes and Gender Norms
There aren’t too manyHarry Pottercharacterswho are described as having a larger build, but many of those who are tend to be dim-witted ruffians. In the Muggle world, Dudley is an entitled bully, while at Hogwarts, Malfoy’s henchmen Crabbe and Goyle are mindless thugs. Neville and Hagrid are at least nice people, but neither is shown to be particularly bright.
The books' depiction of women is better, but is certainly not without issues. Although there are plenty of strong female characters in theHarry Potterseries, most are predominantly portrayed as caregivers, be this Molly Weasley cleaning up and cooking at The Burrow while Arthur goes to work at the Ministry, orHermione taking care of Harry and Ronwhenever they get themselves into trouble.
