![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-118868857.jpg\")
\n\t\tHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out 15 years ago\u2026 feeling old yet? (Picture: Dipasupil\/FilmMagic)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out 15 years ago\u2026 feeling old yet? (Picture: Dipasupil\/FilmMagic)<\/p>\n
Harry Potter<\/a> was your childhood. <\/p>\n Even now, 15 years after the series ended, J.K. Rowling\u2019s<\/a> wizarding universe still feels like home. <\/p>\n But behind the veil of nostalgia there are some elements that simply don\u2019t add up \u2014 and with each rewatch, I seem to notice another.<\/p>\n 1. Houses are an awful institution<\/p>\n Students are grouped with others who demonstrate similar personality traits. What a terrible arrangement. <\/p>\n Everyone knows the saying: opposites attract. Too many proud or impulsive heads can be sickening to coexist with.\u00a0<\/p>\n Identity is formed during adolescence. You\u2019re meant to have your opinions challenged when you encounter people different from yourself. Houses limit self-growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t It also just creates violent rivalries. Slytherin in the series is effectively a training ground for future Death Eaters, Gryffindor for heroes.<\/p>\n 2. Speaking of, Dumbledore isn\u2019t a hero<\/p>\n Dumbledore may act in the interest of the greater good, but Harry is given little to no agency about whether or not he wants to die for the greater good.<\/p>\n Dumbledore grooms Harry as a pig for slaughter without Harry\u2019s consent. A bit cruel, no?<\/p>\n 3. Voldemort picked the worst Horcruxes<\/p>\n For someone whose obsession with eternal life drives them to commit familicide, Voldemort sure picked the worst Horcruxes ever.<\/p>\n I understand the narcissism that drove him to choose significant objects. But given that he cared so much about immortality, you would think that this would outweigh any kind of vanity he felt.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Next time, a grain of sand might be a better choice than your snake.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sure, it might be needed for plot purposes, but Rowling could have just built in some clever clue that the protagonists discover with some resistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. Avada Kedavra makes the series worse<\/p>\n A killing spell makes sense. I just think it wastes some of the potential for more enticing wizarding duels.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of being able to easily one-shot other wizards, wizards would have to resort to wearing their opponents down through multiple \u2018Stupefies\u2019 or \u2018Expelliarmuses\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just try to imagine a new and revamped version of Harry\u2019s final duel with Voldemort. Instead of winning purely on technicality, we\u2019d get to see multiple scintillating exchanges of spells.\u00a0<\/p>\n Similarly, just think of the opportunity cost. If Snape can invent \u2018Sectumsempra\u2019 out of his own accord, I\u2019m sure Voldemort would have spent his time inventing hundreds of novel and devastating spells in the absence of \u2018Avada Kedavra\u2019.<\/p>\n 5. Dragons were underused<\/p>\n There are so many features in the Harry Potter series where it just seems like J.K. Rowling<\/a> was trying to make the world as fantasy as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dragons serve three purposes. Wands, the Triwizard Tournament, and protecting the Gringotts Bank.<\/p>\n \t\t Surely there are more creative uses for massive, flying, flame-breathing creatures? I would have loved to see Dragons in the Wizarding War, but as it is, they seemingly exist for the sake of existing.<\/p>\n 6. What on earth was J.K. Rowling thinking when building her fringe characters?<\/p>\n You literally couldn\u2019t write this. The one Chinese character is called Cho Chang. The one significant black character has the surname Shacklebolt. An Irish character? Rowling\u2019s got the perfect name: Seamus Finnigan.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s especially ironic, given the amount of effort Rowling has poured into the series\u2019 fantastical elements. Could perhaps some of that effort have been spared in making the names of her characters less tone-deaf?<\/p>\n The Gringotts Goblins are another example of this lazy reliance on stereotypes. They echo so many antisemitic<\/a> tropes: their noses are hooked, beards are pointed, and\u2026 you guessed it, they operate the Central Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Even though it\u2019s been 15 years, each time I watch the Potter films I get something different \u2014 new realisations, takeaways and theories. <\/p>\n Like the Room of Requirement, the magic of the films is that they keep on giving<\/a>, and the buzz around them hasn\u2019t stopped \u2014 for better or for worse.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Final](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-75578795.jpg\")
\n\t\tHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out as a book in 2007 (Picture: Michael Nagle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-106903033.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe nostalgia is real (Picture: Jim Spellman\/WireImage)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-118702355.jpg\")
\n\t\tAvada Kedavra made the films somewhat boring (Picture: WireImage)<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-118437185.jpg\")
\n\t\tMore dragons would have upped the antics (Picture: Mike Marsland\/WireImage)<\/p>\n
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