Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternative Character Interpretation: See here.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: The fact that the movies would be split thusly; Part 1: The Great Horcrux Search and Part 2: The Battle of Hogwarts. Considering all the amazing moments that happen during the Battle, it was only natural.
    • Averted in that they missed alot of truly memorable scenes, or moved them off-screen. Note Fred's death, Kreacher arriving with the house elves, cutting Grawp and only giving Teddy Lupin a very minor handwave that he had even been born and not mentioning Harry being the godfather, even though it's a rite of passage scene and greatly defined how Harry had grown into a man. They had more than enough time to add in any of these scenes, and instead gave us the shortest Harry Potter film as the finale.
  • Ass Pull: The revelation that the reason Harry's Invisibility Cloak never tears or falls into disarray is because it is one of the eponymous Deathly Hallows is a clever inversion of this, much like the rest of Chekhov's Armory in the books. Harry takes the power of his Cloak for granted, simply assuming that all Invisibility Cloaks are just that awesome, but attentive readers will notice Mad Eye Moody talking about having to borrow a fellow Order member's Invisibility Cloak because his was starting to wear off. The average reader would wave it off as a continuity error, but it it becomes an important plot device in the final book.
    • On the other hand, Dumbledore's claim that the Cloak's true magic is that it can hide multiple people is a more traditional Ass Pull. So if anyone ever manufactures an oversize Invisibility Cloak, does it automatically get promoted to Hallowdom?)
      • Not its true magic, but its true worth as a Hallow. The Wand and the Stone were for more selfish uses in comparison.
    • The Deluminator felt like this, since its one previous mention way back in PS gave no indication that it could work the way it did.
    • Ron's imitation Parseltongue working on the Chamber of Secrets.
    • The resolution of the mastery of the Elder Wand
  • Award Snub: At the 2011 Kids Choice Awards, Part 1 was nominated for Favorite Movie, and Emma Watson for Favorite Movie Actress. Same with Part 2 at 2012's, except add Daniel Radcliffe as a nominee for Favorite Movie Actor. Guess how many they won.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Some will certainly view the dance between Harry and Hermione after Ron's departure in the first film as such.
    • Although it serves to illustrate what is never explicitly stated in the film: that Harry and Hermione are like siblings and will never be a romantic couple.
      • Trying to show that with a scene that many (even non shippers) saw as very romantic, was probably not the best way.
      • Given that few siblings actually dance together like that, yeah. It came off as a way to try and keep the ship in the harbor as long as they could.
    • Voldemort. Hugs. Draco.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Too many to list, almost all from the final battle.
    • Probably the greatest of all of them being when Neville, the series' perpetual Butt Monkey pulls Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and slices off Nagini's head. Even more awesome because this is what makes Harry's final victory over Voldemort possible, by eliminating the last Horcrux and making him mortal again. What makes it even more awesome is that he is ON FIRE while doing it, having been set on fire for refusing to kneel before Voldemort.
    • Snape is now the headmaster and announces that Harry's been sighted on campus, but instructs a clearly relieved crowd of students to report any information they have to him or be punished. Oh guess what!? HARRY'S RIGHT THERE HIDING IN THE CROWD, AND IMMEDIATELY CALLS SNAPE OUT, says he is insulting the man who used to stand there, and calls his back-up cavalry to aide him! Everyone is overjoyed.
  • Complete Monster: If there was any doubt that Dolores Umbridge did not fit this trope to a T and that she was Just Following Orders, her actions in this book completely destroy that argument. She's more than happy to stay on in the Ministry after Voldemort takes over and cheerfully presides over the show trials of Muggle-borns. Not to mention the fact that she wears the Slytherin locket without tainting any sense of her cheerily sadistic attitude and keeps Moody's eye on her door like a trophy.
    • Ditto for Greyback, who is hinted to want to rape Hermione, and even kills Lavender and starts eating her corpse in the movie.
    • Bellatrix is probably at her nastiest here, what with her gruesome torture of Hermione, killing off beloved characters like Dobby and her own niece Tonks, letting Mrs. Weasley know that she was perfectly fine with murdering her daughter... thankfully, she gets hers.
    • And of course, Lord Voldemort himself commits a large amount of atrocities: taking over the Ministry of Magic and having muggle-born witches and wizards hunted down and tossed in Azkaban, murders an obscenely large amount of people (Including an innocent muggle family he didn't even NEED to kill), and is proven more than ever to be a horrendously Bad Boss.
    • An honorable mention would be Amycus and Alecto, the Carrow Siblings. Given that they forced students to use the Unforgivable Curses and other forms of dark magic against each other and allowed disobedient students to be tortured with the Cruciatus Curse, it's saying a lot that Neville considers them worse than Umbridge.
  • Die for Our Ship: After announcing that Harry and Hermione would not become a couple, JK Rowling was actually getting threats of boycotts (as well as death threats) from rabid Harry/Hermione shippers. She apparently brushed them off with this book as a big Take That.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Well, it had to happen eventually. After the defeat of Voldemort, Draco reforms and, in the epilogue, ends up being just another parent sending his wizard offspring to Hogwarts who seems to at least respect Harry.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Some Harry/Hermione shippers think that JKR wrote the "nineteen years later" epilogue primarily or solely to spite them by making "Harry and Hermione get together after Hogwarts" stories uncanonical. A number of fans reject the canonicity of the epilogue to get around this, leading to the phrase "Epilogue? What Epilogue?". It doesn't apply only to shippers. Quite a few people disliked the Epilogue for its reputation of "Tastes Like Diabetes."
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: During the wedding, Fred comments that when he gets married, everything will be mellow and he'll put Molly in a Body-Bind Curse until it's all over. While this sort of speech is typical of Fred and George, it becomes quite tragic after you've finished the book.
  • Genius Bonus: Hermione was named after the character from Shakespeare's The Winters Tale, which begins with a man who believes that his wife (named Hermione) is cheating on him with his best friend. There's also the fact that Hermione is the female form of Hermes, being the god of cunning in many Hellenistic cults.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Remember Molly's boggart from Order of the Phoenix? It comes true with Fred's death at the end of the book.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Harry says, "You shouldn't have done that." as a Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner to Amycus Carrow.
    • The "NYEAH!!" scream of Voldemort that become famous thanks to the Part II trailer was actually heard once in Part 1, right after Harry's wand overpowers him in the aerial battle.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Aunt Petunia. Yes, there's no excuse for the way she treated Harry, but in the book we see that her "you're a freak" attitude grew out of insane jealousy. Imagine being a little kid, seeing all the goings-on at Platform 9-3/4, and knowing you'll never, ever get to be part of that world.
  • Memetic Badass: Neville Longbottom will reject your bribes and kill your pet. Neville Longbottom uses Basilisk venom as soy sauce. Neville Longbottom would have done it in four books. Neville... you get the idea.
  • Memetic Mutation: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!!", which made Molly Weasley ascend to Badass status.
    • On a scale of one to Lord Voldemort, how awkward are your hugs?
    • Voldemort's scream from the trailers: NYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!!!
  • Magnificent Bastard: Once you've come this far in the series, it's settled. This title doesn't belong to Voldemort, it goes to none other than Albus Dumbledore himself. Directly and indirectly, intentionally and otherwise, this one man, has been responsible for everything, everything, that has driven the history of the Potterverse from his time and even beyond, fitting every characteristic trope almost all the time.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Throughout the books, Malfoy's sidekicks Goyle and Crabbe were mostly ineffectual rivals to our trio, but towards the end, Crabbe (Or Goyle, depending on the form of media) actually tries to flat-out murder the trio by burning them alive., even when Draco is dead set against it.
  • Narm: After he (seemingly) kills Harry during the climax of the second film, Voldemort approaches the school's defenders and offers them the chance to join the ranks of the Death Eaters. Draco, after hesitating, steps forward to join his parents, and is hugged by Voldemort on the way. Needless to say several theater houses were in stitches during that bit. This was probably intentional, considering Draco reacts like he's being hugged by, well, Voldemort (and is only doing it so he can leave with his parents) and Voldemort is pointing the Elder Wand at the other students the entire time
    • After being attacked by Voldemort, Neville wakes up and sees the sword with the derpiest possible expression.
    • Voldefetus!
    • Voldemort's weirdly child-like "EH HEH HEH!" cackle.
    • In the same scene, Voldy exclaims HARRY POTTER IS DEAD! and uses the Death Eaters as a laugh track. Also, any time Voldy uses AVADA KEDAVRA!
  • Nightmare Fuel: Snape's death. Nagini coming out of Bathilda Bagshot's neck. Harry even decided to spare Hermione the details of Nagini's arrival.
    • The guardian spell of the Slytherin locket.
    • What Ron sees when he destroys the locket. Made even worse when you realize that the locket was probably telling him those exact same things, over and over, in the time before he ran away.
    • In the movie, during Harry's tussle with Voldemort on the Hogwarts towers. The movie has Harry ride along with Voldermort as he tries to kill him around and through the building! And at one moment, the camera zooms in to show that the two characters' faces have merged! -shudder-
  • Ruined FOREVER: Harry got together with Ginny instead of Hermione? Instead of Luna? Instead of Draco? Instead of me? Ruined FOREVER!
  • Ship Sinking: J. K. Rowling chose to sink the Harry/Hermione ship thrice, the third time of which was in this book. First, in an interview about the possible pairing, Rowling said she didn't think they were suited for each other. Secondly in Half-Blood Prince, and then the internet exploded, with Harry/Hermione shippers sending out death threats, burning books, and swearing to abandon the series if she didn't change it. To drive the nail in the coffin, this book has Harry giving the "Like Brother and Sister" speech to Ron and Hermione, right after a scene in which Harry/Hermione appears as an evil illusion made by the locket-Horcrux that seems vaguely perverse and is intended entirely to enrage Ron into attacking Harry by using frequent Harmonian arguments, at that.
    • She also said Neville/Luna wasn't canon. On the other hand, the movie has Neville tell Harry he has to tell Luna how he feels. And There Was Much Rejoicing for the Neville/Luna shippers.
      • Which was sunk again by Matthew Lewis (who plays Neville in the films), when he said the Neville/Luna relationship was ultimately only a "summer fling", and that they did eventually move on to their respective canon pairings.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: Or rather Ship To Ship Last Stands, as this book effectively crushed the hopes of numerous shippers, but especially Harry/Hermione shippers. However, true to the nature of shipping, many prefer their ship than what was written in the books. And why should they stop liking it?
  • Spoil At Your Own Risk
  • Squick : In the film, while immensely satisfying to see at the same time, the Voldy-flakes produced as Voldemort disintegrates. In 3D.
    • "Nagini...dinner." Becomes Fridge Horror when you think about the digestive consequences, which may have been going through Draco's mind based on his expression.
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: The epilogue to some. All it was missing was "And Harry lived Happily Ever After." Of course, others will probably feel satisfied with it after all the death in this book.
  • Tear Jerker: In the film, we see Hermione Obliviating her parents' memories of her, preceded by Hermione's wavering "Coming, Mum" as she steels herself to do it.
    • The Snape Pensive Sequence. Seeing Snape wail while cradling Lily's body will rip those tears right out of our eyes, mark this troper's words.
      • Not to mention baby Harry crying behind them.
    • Snape casting his Patronus. It’s clear the doe represents Lily, showing how much he loves her.
    • Basically the entire movie.
    • Lupin and Tonks reaching for each other's hands. This is the last time that we see them alive, and they never touch hands, which is made even more heartbreaking by the fact that when we see their bodies, Tonks' arm is still reaching out, but their hands still aren't touching.
    • The use of Leaving Hogwarts in the epilogue.
  • Trapped by Mountain Lions: The main storyline falls victim to this, which is the only point of view given after the first chapter. Obviously, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hunting down the Horcruxes is a big deal, but with its difficult pacing and long stretches of Dumbledore back story only tangentially necessary to the plot, it sort of falls short compared to Voldemort having taken over the Ministry of Magic and Neville running La Résistance inside the school, which the Golden Trio (and thus the readers) only hear about secondhand.
  • What an Idiot!: Yes, to safeguard the Horcrux, let's wear it at all times. It's not like we had proof that said Horcruxes can posses or damage the bearer or had a handy bag to put it in. And the feelings of paranoia and anger, plus the deterioration of friendship... totally normal. In the book, the trio knew that the Horcrux affected them but still carried it everywhere. It's a bit stupid, especially when Hermione has a wonderful moleskin poach that can keep many things inside and shrinks down when needed to prevent it from being stolen...
    • Bags get dropped, especially when running for your life. Only way to be sure you don't drop the really really important thing that everybody's fate hinges upon? Put it around your neck. Unlike the One Ring, this pendant isn't inclined to make escape attempts.
  • The Woobie: Snape, particularly as a kid and teenager where he keeps messing things up with Lily despite how hard he tries. However, certainly being unable to protect the woman you love and then protecting her child who was sired by and looks exactly like the man you hate has got to be the rawer end of the deal.
    • Pius Thicknesse is one of the biggest woobies of the series. His life's goal was to be Minister of Magic—but he took it for granted that he would be himself if/when he made it. Not to mention the sheer evil he was made to participate in.
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