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Harry Potter is one of the most sprawling fantasy franchises of all time, with countless characters, complex histories, and magical lore that spans back centuries in-universe. J.K. Rowling created an immersive world in Harry Potter, and with the inclusion of spin-offs like Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, it has grown even further.
Consequently, it is common for fans to have some misconceptions when it comes to the boy wizard's story. Potterheads are known to speculate and generate theories, which can sometimes become fiction that is mixed with fact. These confusions lead to the creation of false facts or just nuggets of information that fans get wrong about the series often.
10 Baby Harry And Albus Severus Were Played By The Same Actor
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There is a huge faction of fans who believe that the same baby who played Harry in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone grew up and was commissioned to perform the part of Albus Severus Potter in the last movie as well. This is simply not true, as baby Harry was one of the Saunders triplets, and Albus Severus was played by Toby Papworth.
The Harry Potter movies are known as one of the greatest book to screen adaptations, but this level of planning would be impossible for a franchise that carried on for nearly a decade. It would have been sweet if it were true.
9 Pure Bloods Are More Powerful
A bit of in-universe discrimination leaks out into the real world, with certain fans buying into the story that pure blood families and wizards are more powerful than their half-blood or muggle born counterparts. It's easy to see why people would erroneously believe this, as the pure blood characters in the series made sure to toot their own horn when they spoke of a witch or wizard's lineage.
If this were actually the case, then the smartest and most capable characters of Harry Potter would not have been wizards like Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, and ironically, Tom Riddle himself. Muggle borns are just as strong, if not stronger than wizards and witches who come from pure blood families.
8 Neville And Luna Were Endgame
Luna and Neville were one of the most popular Harry Potter ships, but many fans are under the impression that they actually got together in the Wizarding World. Even though this was hinted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, when Luna went and sat next to a sheepish looking Neville after the Battle of Hogwarts, this canonically never happened.
In reality, Neville married Hannah Abbott and came back to Hogwarts to teach Herbology, while Luna was coupled off with Rolf Scamander, who was a grandson of Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts. Neville and Luna were two oddballs who seemed like a good match, but their actual marriages made a lot more sense.
7 Snape Was Supposed To Be A Vampire
One of the weirdest Harry Potter theories that has been wrongly considered true is that J.K. Rowling intended to make Snape some kind of undead creature, like a vampire, but held back from doing it at the last minute. Fans attribute his bat-like mannerisms and pale features to this "fact" that has been rubbished by the J.K. herself.
"...Snape's not a vampire," confirmed Rowling in a tweet when she came across fans saying that this was something that she had intended to do. Snape may have been unwittingly vampire-coded, but he was never going to be one of the undead.
6 Beauxbatons and Durmstrang Are Same-Gender Schools
A Harry Potter fan wouldn't be exactly wrong if they said that Beauxbatons was a girls school, while Durmstrang was a boys school because this is what was shown in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Funnily enough, this was not the case in the books, where this hyper-genderization of both the schools did not happen.
Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were very much like Hogwarts, co-ed and relaxed, and did not have exotic themes or dances attached to them. This choice was made only in the movies, and was also heavily criticized for being irrelevant.
5 The Dursleys Were Churlish Because Harry Was A Horcrux
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Many Potterheads love to peddle this theory as a fact – the reason why Harry was mistreated by his own aunt and uncle was because he was, unbeknownst to himself, a Horcrux. Horcruxes were known to put people who were in consistent contact with them in a bad mood, but this was certainly not the reason why Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley acted the way they did.
They were, objectively, unpleasant people who thought conservatively and with little empathy. When Aunt Marge visited, she was even worse than the Durselys in her behavior. Vernon's actions and thoughts remained as churlish as ever even when he went to the office, far from Harry, which proves that this fact is actually false.
4 The Snake Harry Freed Is Nagini
Fans love to look for easter eggs wherever they can, and this rumor quickly graduated to becoming a fact in the Potter fanbase. There was a slight similarity between Nagini and the snake that Harry unintentionally set free at the zoo when he visited with the Dursleys, and many latched on to this, saying that the snake was actually Nagini and Harry had unknowingly set a Horcrux free as a child.
While the idea is spooky, the likelihood of this being true is slim to none. The snake that Harry spoke to was a boa constrictor, while Nagini's snake species has never been formally identified in the books. She was also a maledictus, so perhaps the snake she became was simply a magical, venomous one without a name. She was certainly not a boa constrictor.
3 Ravenclaw's Animal Is A Raven
It's easy to see why avid fans and even casual ones would make this mistake since the bird's name is in the house name. The house of intelligence and wisdom, Ravenclaw, has a deceptive name that does not allude to the actual bird that is on the coat of arms: an eagle.
The eagle is a perfectly great choice as a mascot as it also signifies the values of sagacity that the house stands for, just not the obvious one. Perhaps the author could have used a name that didn't refer to a different bird, but for now, this false fact can be cleared up for good.
2 James Potter Was A Seeker
Another discrepancy that occurs between the books and the movies is James Potter's accomplishments at Hogwarts, especially regarding Quidditch. Canonically, James was also on the team, but he was a Chaser: a player who dealt with the Quaffle and tried to score by passing them through hoops, while Harry was a seeker.
However, in an attempt to draw a parallel between son and father, the movies turned James' Quidditch position to seeker, so that it matched Harry's. Book readers know that James was never a seeker.
1 Harry Asked To Be In Gryffindor
This common misconception rises from the conversation that Harry had with the Sorting Hat in his first year, where fans mistakenly believe that the boy wizard requested to be sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. This is not the case.
Harry actually only said "not Slytherin" to the Sorting Hat, which means that he didn't mind being put in any of the other houses except for the green one. It was the Sorting Hat who chose to put him in Gryffindor because he saw those qualities in him. This should put to rest any doubts about Harry not being a true Gryffindor.