With a film series like Harry Potter you simply knew there would be theories abounding as the rumor mill worked 24/7 to crank out one thought after another, allowing people to make the wildest claims they could think of and let their imaginations go wandering down strange and unknown pathways. One thing you should know however is that Rowlings no doubt was amazed at the kind of buzz she’d created and likely had no idea that some people would take her writing to such a level that it became an entity all its own. The funny thing is that some of the theories are things that Rowlings likely had no intention of creating and were instituted simply because they made sense, not because she intended them to be there.
With that being said, here are some of the theories that you’ve probably seen at this point.
5. The Dursley’s were affected by Harry’s status as a horcrux.
This actually makes a lot of sense considering that the Dursely’s were simply horrible to Harry his entire life. The only thing that might be seen as a strike against it is that Lily’s sister called her a freak when they were children and was firmly set against her to begin with. That attitude towards magic however could have simply been a contributing factor that the horcrux that lived inside of Harry needed to foster the kind of feelings that the Dursley’s held for him throughout his life. Seriously, this is the kind of home you would think a child might run away from and never come back to.
4. Harry is immortal.
This is kind of debatable since the prophecy is capable of being taken either way. The most popular way is to say that neither Voldemort or Harry could survive while their nemesis was alive, meaning that one of them absolutely had to kill the other in order to survive. But others have taken it to mean that once one of them killed the other they would have forfeited their chance to die, which in Harry’s case would be horrible as he’d have to watch his friends and family grow old and pass on. For Voldemort however it would have likely been just another way to retain his power for that much longer.
3. The Defense Against the Dark Arts class was cursed.
If you really read this theory you can see just how petulant Voldemort was since as Tom Riddle he was one of the best students that Hogwarts had ever seen. But he was vain and quite conceited since when he applied for the job he was denied. As a result he cursed the class, and from that point on anyone teaching the class never lasted more than a year since something always seemed to happen to force them out. Whether it was because they were following Lord Voldemort as in book one or were just spineless cowards like the teacher in book two, there was a serious problem with the class since it couldn’t hold any one teacher for more than a year, if that long.
2. Harry was the descendant of Godric Gryffindor.
It’s been surmised that Harry is a direct descendant of Gryffindor as the Potter’s are connected to the founder of Hogwarts and thus share the same bloodline. Plus in the second movie it’s said that only a Gryffindor could have pulled the sword out of the sorting hat, which many people took to mean that anyone from House Gryffindor could have done this. But what if Rowlings meant that only one of Gryffindor’s descendants could have pulled it out? That would have meant that anyone else trying to fend off the basilisk would have been in dire straights as they tried to defend themselves with a magical hat.
1. Neville was the real Chosen One.
There were two young boys that could have been the Chosen One, but the one that Voldemort attacked was Harry Potter. However, Neville Longbottom was born around the same time as Harry Potter, so he could have just as easily been the Chosen One. This actually comes down to who was attacked and whose life got upended the worst. Neville’s parents were driven mad, which is pretty hard to dismiss, but Harry had to grow up with a family that hated him, so it would seem that he got the short end of the stick. Plus Harry was obviously the hero that people wanted, while Neville took a while to grow up and really become the awesome wizard he turned out to be.
There are a lot of theories out there concerning Harry Potter and what people really felt was expressed by the books. The funny thing is though that unless Rowlings decides to say yea or nay to any of them, they really don’t matter to anyone but those that make them up.
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