The original Harry Potter movies made one clear Hogwarts mistake, but the upcoming HBO reboot of the franchise can avoid repeating the same. Since the movies almost consistently did an incredible job of capturing the lore from the original Harry Potter books, they deserve credit for preserving much of J.K. Rowling’s magical world.
At the same time, though, one cannot deny that the movies, too, had their own share of flaws and issues that future adaptations can now fix. No book adaptation is perfect. However, owing to their limited runtime, the Harry Potter movies either had to retcon several original story beats or delete them altogether.
Since capturing the words from a fantasy novel in the live-action storytelling medium can always be challenging, HBO’s take on the iconic books will likely not be free from storytelling problems. However, it can still learn a lot from everything that went wrong with the movies to deliver a refreshing and more faithful interpretation of Hogwarts.
The Sorting Hat Was an Integral Part of Hogwarts
Without It, The School Would Not Have One Defining Tradition
Original belonging to Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, the sorting is an essential item in Hogwarts’ traditions and history. Legends surrounding the hat reveal that it was enchanted by the combined intelligence of all four founders, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Gordic Gryffindor, and Helga Hufflepuff.
They created the hat to ensure that students at the school were sorted into four houses based on the specific traits the founders wanted to see in them. The hat also takes immense pride in almost always placing students in the house that best matches their personalities and potential. In the movies, however, the full scope of the hat’s purpose and intelligence remains slightly unexplored.
The Harry Potter Movies Never Depicted the Sorting Hat Well Enough
There Is More To The Sorting Process Than Meets The Eye
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone seems to oversimplify the sorting ceremony by showing how Harry convinces the hat to place him in Gryffindor even though the hat inclines more towards putting him in Slytherin. This seems to sell the idea that the hat uses some form of Legilimency to read a student’s thoughts and weigh them against its own judgment before announcing their house.
While this is partially true, the books often hint that the hat’s decision-making process is far less one-dimensional and also slightly flawed. In the books, several story beats highlight how the hat determines where a student belongs based on personality traits, values, and ambitions. However, if a student, like Harry, shows enough conviction, the hat changes its mind.
Dumbledore also seems to realize that characters, like Snape, were locked into houses based on early impressions and peer influence, which sealed their fates and led them down an alternate path.
There is a sequence in the novels where Dumbledore questions whether they sort the children too young because he seemingly realizes that 11-year-olds are a little too immature to realize their moral inclinations and ambitions. He realizes that even though many students convince the hat to place them in their desired houses by showing enough conviction, these desires stem from limited self-awareness.
In the books, Dumbledore also seems to realize that characters, like Snape, were locked into houses based on early impressions and peer influence, which sealed their fates and led them down an alternate path. These contradictions rarely emerge in the movies, but the show can finally address them.
HBO’s Harry Potter Show Can Finally Fix the Sorting Hat Problems
The Show Has Enough Time To Highlight The Complexities Of The Sorting Process
Unlike the movies, the show must highlight what Dumbledore thinks about the sorting process and all the issues it comes with. Similar to the original novels, HBO’s take on Harry Potter should also reveal that Harry was not the only character who convinced the hat to place him in his desired house.
Even Hermione, as she reveals in Order of the Phoenix, could have ended up in Ravenclaw if she had not shown enough commitment to be placed in Gryffindor. If the Harry Potter show gets this right, it will end up adding more emotional depth to Harry’s final interaction with his son, where he assures him that it does not which house he is sorted into, as long as his heart is in the right place.
Harry Potter
- Showrunner
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Francisca Gardiner
- Directors
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Mark Mylod
