Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 is the first part of a two-part film adaptation (released 2010) of the 2007 novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling, directed by David Yates. Like the other films in the series, it features Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as an All-Star Cast.

After unexpected events at the end of the previous year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are entrusted with a quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort's secret to immortality – the Horcruxes. It is supposed to be their final year at Hogwarts, but the collapse of the Ministry of Magic and Voldemort's rise to power prevents them from attending. The trio undergo an arduous journey with many obstacles in their path including Death Eaters, Snatchers, the mysterious Deathly Hallows, and Harry's connection with the Dark Lord's mind becoming ever stronger.

Tropes used in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 include:

The tropes listed below are those specific to this film or altered from those found in the original book. Please see that page for those tropes common to both versions.

Hermione: Maybe we should just stay here, Harry...grow old.

  • Adaptation Explanation Extrication:
    • A scene explaining the Taboo (Ron mentions hearing about it in the Ministry) was cut from Deathly Hallows Part 1, so it's never explained despite its effects showing up in two plot-critical moments (the book-verbatim Death Eater attack in the café, and a new change to the Lovegood house scene where Xenophilius says Voldemort's name to summon Death Eaters), making them seem like Diabolus Ex Machina rather than a jinx.
    • The reason why Harry doesn't realize Bathilda Bagshot is possessed by Nagini in the seventh film is because he is a Parselmouth - snake-talk appears to him as human speech, unlike the gibberish it is to others. In the movie, we hear him and possessed Bathilda talk in Parseltongue from an observer's viewpoint.
  • Adaptation-Induced Plothole:
    • In book six, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Magic briefly discuss a terrorist attack by Death Eaters against an unnamed bridge that kills several Muggles. This film decides to Show, Don't Tell the attack, setting it in London's famous Millennium Bridge for added drama and Monumental Damage... forgetting that the scene is supposed to take place in mid-1997, whereas construction on the real-life Millennium Bridge began in 1998 and it wasn't opened to the public until 2000.
  • Adult Fear: Induced in Deathly Hallows Part 1 - during the fight with Nagini, Harry falls through a wall and Nagini follows him; the room at the other side? A nursery... now with a giant snake in it. Eep...
  • Berserk Button: Umbridge falsely accusing an innocent witch of lying makes Harry so angry that he attacks Umbridge right then and there, in the Ministry courtroom.

You're lying, Dolores… and you mustn't tell lies!

  • Bling Bling Bang: Voldemort contemptuously snaps off the ornate silver handle of Lucius Malfoy's wand when he 'borrows' it to use against Harry Potter. Remind you of anything?
  • Breather Episode: Deathly Hallows, Part 1 notably takes a break from frantically trying to cram as much plot as it can into the movies, instead focusing on long, atmospheric shots of the characters and scenery. It really emphasizes how the Trio are now on their own.
  • Brick Joke: After Ron leaves, Hermione ties her scarf to a tree just before she and Harry disparate. They apparate back into the same location and run into a gang of Snatchers. The leader is wearing Hermione's scarf. It is also the same Snatcher who smelled her perfume while walking through the woods.
  • Broken Heel: While rushing to aid Harry in Godric's Hollow, Hermione trips over a pile of books on the floor (ironically for her).
  • Cliff Hanger: Voldemort obtaining the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave.
  • Compressed Adaptation: Can't really be helped, though: there's just too much plot to stuff into a movie, even with splitting it across two films.
  • Crapsack World: Seen when the Golden Trio are wandering through Britain, with Scenery Porn of beautiful yet cold and empty fields and highways, the scorched remains of a caravan park where the Death Eaters have struck, and their dark contrails overhead.
  • Culture Equals Costume: Kingsley Shacklebolt wears a daishiki.
  • Diegetic Switch: "O'Children" starts out playing crackling on the radio, then fades into clear background music when Harry and Hermione start dancing.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • The scene where Hermione is tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. It happens offscreen in the book, but you get to see plenty of it in the film adaptation, and it strongly resembles rape.
    • The Nazi-esque posters and pamphlets. Another Nazi-esque bit of symbolism is Bellatrix scarring Hermione's arm with "Mudblood", which is reminiscent of the serial numbers tattooed onto the forearms of interns in concentration camps.
  • Eureka Moment: Hermione gets one while she's cutting Harry's hair.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Emma Watson finally managed control over her infamous overacting eyebrows to be able to just raise one to punctuate the joke of Ron trying to win Hermione over by "voting" for her idea to see Xenophilius Lovegood.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Voldemort has shades of this early in the film, during the meeting at Malfoy Manor.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Harry thinks that there might be a Horcrux made in Godric's Hollow.
    • During the "Tale of the Three Brothers" segment the elder wand resembles Dumbledore's wand.
  • Full Name Ultimatum: "Harry Potter, you give me my wand!"
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Inverted and played straight with the discovery of Bathilda Bagshot's body. While you don't see her body, as it is being used by Nagini like a suit, the indication that Bagshot was brutally murdered is the rather large and gruesome pool of blood dripping from the ceiling of her house.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: The locket turns Ron into this by inflaming his insecurity about his relationship to Hermione, which sparks jealousy over her appearing to dote on Harry. Part of his motivation for abandoning them is seeing them coming back from the close call with the Snatchers and thinking they've been doing... something else.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: The waitress at the diner is in the kitchen with her back turned and headphones playing music on, and doesn't hear the loud and destructive wand battle between the Trio and a pair of Death Eaters.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: What ultimately drives Ron to destroy the locket is the soul fragment presenting itself as Harry and Hermione mocking him and then making out, the very thing it was driving him to think was happening earlier on.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Scabior, the head Snatcher. After he captures Hermione, calls her "My lovely" and sniffs her hair. Actor Nick Moran told Entertainment Weekly they cut out his line: "You're going to be my favorite."
  • Intro Dump: Scene Two, when Bill Weasley introduces himself, his injury from Grayback and his impending wedding, as well as Tonks and Lupin already being married. Partly justified, in the sheer number of subplots left to die in the previous movies.
  • Medium Blending: Has an animated segment for "The Tale of the Three Brothers", the legendary story of the Deathly Hallows. It's CGI that looks like [Jim Henson]] fantasy productions like The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.
  • Multi-Part Episode
  • Musical Spoiler: Whenever the Slytherin locket is influencing someone's behavior, there is a characteristic, high-pitched noise. The noise appears when Harry talks to Bathilda Bagshot in her home, hinting early that she is in fact Nagini.
  • Oblivious Janitor Cut: While the trio is attacked at the diner, the waiter/cook is in the kitchen, blithely listening to music on her headphones.
  • Oh Crap: When Umbridge realizes Runcorn is really Harry in disguise, just before he stupefies her.

"You're lying, Dolores... you mustn't tell lies!"

  • Perma-Stubble:
    • Harry develops some while wandering around, away from civilization, for weeks at a time. At one point, we see Hermione cutting his hair (manually, with a pair of scissors), so he may also have shaving equipment that, because of his circumstances, he can't use daily. Or maybe Daniel Radcliffe didn't want to grow his facial hair out further, but the director wanted another visual indicator of Harry's "on the run" status.
    • Lucius Malfoy. His dishevelment symbolizes how far he's fallen from Voldemort's graces.
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Harry gets an absolutely glorious one just before knocking Umbridge cold and stealing the locket horcrux back.

Harry: You're lying, Dolores. And one mustn't tell lies.

  • Putting on the Reich:
    • This film features a private police force stationed in the Ministry of Magic after Voldemort takes over. They all wear red armbands. Subtle. Not to mention all of those anti-Muggleborn propaganda pamphlets.
    • Albert Runcorn's leather trench coat, when combined with his duties and demeanour, give him the appearance of a Gestapo operative.
    • Also from this film, Bellatrix carves "mudblood" into Hermione's arm, much like how the Nazis tattooed numbers onto the skin of Jews during the Holocaust. You know, just in case the allegory was still too subtle at that point.
  • Reset Button: The Burrow was completely destroyed by Death Eaters in the last film. It's completely restored in this one.
  • Scare Chord: The post-Bathilda Nagini coming from downstairs after being 'killed'.
  • Schrödinger's Cast: Peter Pettigrew's death is omitted from this film. He doesn't return in Part 2, and it's never mentioned if he dies. Also a case of Karma Houdini.
  • Shirtless Scene: Harry (several times over) during the clothes-changing in the "everyone Polyjuices into Harry" scene, and when he strips down to jump into the pond to get the sword. Ron also has one right after the trio escapes from the Ministry, but it flies straight into Fan Disservice when we see that his shoulder's laid open to the bone.
  • Shoo the Dog: At the start of the film, before the crew are about to fly off, Harry lets Hedwig go. She comes back and attacks one of the Death Eaters chasing Harry during the Battle For Little Whinging, and ends up taking a Killing Curse.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Ron takes a small but noticeable level between Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows - Part 1, possibly in response to some fans criticising how he was made into a bit too much of a comic relief in the previous six movies. In Hallows he becomes a more mature and reliable sidekick, and some of his greatest moments in the last two movies even have him acting more confident and determined than in the books. After destroying the locket in the book, Ron is understandably upset and is comforted by Harry, while in the film he's rather upbeat about it, and casually quips that there are now "only three to go!"
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Wormtail's death is cut from this film, but Wormtail doesn't appear at all in Part 2. Timothy Spall was originally intended to reprise the role in Part 2, suggesting that he was intended to be killed off anyway, but his part ended up being cut.
    • Some believe Dobby's attack killed him, or that he is among those killed by Voldemort at the beginning of Part 2 after the Gringotts scene.
  • Zip Me Up: Ginny to Harry.



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