All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
Works with their own pages:
open/close all folders
Books:
General
- J. K. Rowling has a tendency to use Said Bookisms, some of which exhibit an unfortunate choice of substitute word:"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.
"Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn.
"Wait until we've got the prophecy!" bawled [Lucius] Malfoy.- Lucius' one is particularly funny, because a few pages later in that scene, a Death Eater is accidentally de-aged to an infant (kinda — he's more trapped in an endless time loop thanks to his head getting caught in a Time Turner).
- In-Universe, Harry thinks pretty much any time the Dursleys show emotion is Narmy, particularly Petunia and Dudley. Whenever the Dursleys show affection for each other, expect Harry to "suppress the urge to laugh".
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- The early recap to get readers up to speed on Harry's adventures makes a point to tell us that Harry has never received a birthday card in his life. Lo and behold, what shows up a few paragraphs later? The first birthday card of Harry's life. Subtlety, you are nowhere to be found.
- Sirius Black is described in a story in The Daily Prophet as carrying a gun, which is helpfully described for wizards reading it as "a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other". So wizards can have things like trains and flying cars, but despite two World Wars, one of which Britain was heavily involved in, they have never heard of guns, ever, not even the wizards who live in Muggle society. Also, personal handguns, which Sirius would presumably carry, are often L-shaped and much thicker than the long and straight wands used by wizards.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Hermione tries to convince Umbridge that Dumbledore has a secret weapon hidden in the forest. She's pretending to be crying, distraught at having to give up her trump card; Harry notices that she's covering her eyes with her hands to obscure the fact that she's not really crying. But when you realise that she does this for three pages, all dramatically pretending to cry, it becomes hilarious.
- The book is punctuated by Harry's frustration at everything around him, leading him to yell a lot. There are a couple of points where all of Harry's lines are in all caps to accentuate the point; fans call this version "Caps Lock Harry". At many other points, we see the phrase "Harry said loudly", suggesting he's lost all concept of an inside voice. It culminates in Harry's tantrum in Dumbledore's office after Sirius's death, which includes grabbing Dumbledore's belongings and throwing them against a wall — Harry's ranting goes on so long and is so immature that it becomes hilarious once the reader's shock at Sirius's death has worn off. (Dumbledore also responds with a delightfully nonchalant "I have too much stuff anyway" comment.)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Stephen Fry, in the audiobooks, gives Tonks a thick Yorkshire accent (probably drawing from her using the Oop North expression "wotcher"). He did this in the previous book, but Tonks was a bit character there. In this book, she's got a lot more dramatic scenes (which Rowling kind of threw in out of nowhere), including an Anguished Declaration of Love that's made particularly hilarious by Fry's accent. He also gives Susan Bones a lisp, which is near-identical to the mock-baby voice Bellatrix uses later in the book.
- The death of Dumbledore is meant to be serious and heartbreaking, but comes off as overdone and melodramatic. Dumbledore is already dying from a curse at the start of the year, but in the space of one night, he 1) drinks a poisonous potion, 2) gets hit by a Killing Curse, and then 3) falls off a tower. He gets killed four times over, as if to prove beyond a doubt that he's dead. His funeral is also pretty over the top as well.
- Harry's newfound attraction to Ginny is described as a "roaring animal" in his chest. Every time it's brought up, it undercuts what could have been a serious moment as he grapples with his feelings, and makes it sound as if Harry's got a chestburster.
Films:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- During Hagrid's first meeting with Harry, when he's saying "You're a wizard, and a thumpin' good one, I wager!", for some weird reason Vernon Dursley tilts his head to the side while shutting his eyes, making it look like he's taking a power nap while Hagrid is talking.
- It's not as noticeable after the first film, but Emma Watson's acting seemed to involve a lot of Punctuated! For! Emphasis!, Fascinating Eyebrow, and Accent On The Wrong Syllable:Hermione: Harry, no WAY, you heard what Madame Hooch said, besides, you don't even know how to fly! [Harry flies off on his broom] WHAT an idiot.
- The way that Harry screams when Voldemort's retreating spirit passes through his body after Quirrell has collapsed into a heap of ash.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Filch's dialogue is hamtastic, especially when combined with his exaggerated accent:"Ohh deehr, we ahh in trubbowww...!"
"You've... murdered my cat. I'll kill ya... I'll kill ya!! - Harry is sent to Dumbledore's office for the first time, and McGonagall triggers a dramatic door-opening sequence by saying the password: "Sherbet lemon!"
- Hermione helpfully explains that "Mudblood" means "dirty blood".
- The dramatic reveal has Tom Riddle literally spelling out his true identity by rearranging his name into the Significant Anagram "I am Lord Voldemort". Harry, however, ruins the moment by being a little Late to the Realization:Harry: You're the Heir of Slytherin... You're Voldemort.
- When Lucius Malfoy realises that Harry has tricked him into releasing Dobby from his service, he threatens him with his wand and clearly starts to perform Avada Kedavra. That's ridiculously Disproportionate Retribution — he's essentially trying to kill a kid in broad daylight at Hogwarts with an Unforgivable Curse. At that point in the series, the Unforgivable Curses hadn't really been codified, and actor Jason Isaacs basically admitted that he pulled a curse he read in the books without really knowing the implications of it, but still. Fans have tried to explain that Lucius was aiming for Dobby, realising that Dobby's meddling was why his plan was even discovered.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- When the Hogwarts choir performs "Something Wicked This Way Comes", the students are so serious it's hilarious.
- When Malfoy and gang run into Ron and Hermione in Hogsmeade, Malfoy reacts to a casual putdown from Hermione with a stupidly over-the-top "How dare you talk to me!" Tom Felton's delivery makes that line.
- That one kid who only has two lines, but delivers each of them as dramatically as possible.
- Harry discovers that Sirius Black, the crazy escaped convict, betrayed his parents and is now coming to kill him. It could have been a powerful scene, as Harry promises to kill Sirius for his betrayal. But Daniel Radcliffe's over-the-top angry face and hilarious inflection, which sounds like he's spitting out the words between breaths, makes it look like he's about to have a Potty Emergency. And then he shouts, "He was their friend!" — with the expression pictured above that heavily resembles Peter's infamous scream from Spider-Man 2 (which, funnily enough, came out just under a month after this film).
- Harry finds out about Sirius by overhearing a conversation about him at the pub in Hogsmeade. In the book, it's a fairly long conversation (and he doesn't get caught because of his Invisibility Cloak). In the movie, though, they had to compress it, leaving Harry without all that much information, and the conversation is triggered by a loud, abrupt, and oddly-accented aside by Madame Rosmerta — here played by Julie Christie, who never even gets a closeup so we know it's her.
- The Shrieking Shack drama likewise has to be compressed. Revelations that were spread across three chapters in the book unfold in about four minutes in the movie. It's so fast, it feels like a Soap Opera.
- When Hermione threatens Malfoy for speaking ill of Hagrid, in the book, she's so angry she can barely get the words out ("Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul— you evil—"). For the movie, the writers inexplicably exchanged the line to the tamer and stupider "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!" The awful acting from Emma Watson and Tom Felton just make the scene more ridiculous.
- Sirius Black is played by Gary Oldman, who's... well, Gary Oldman. The lines where he yells are just hilarious.Sirius: I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!
Sirius: [as Lupin transforms into a werewolf] YOU KNOW THE MAN YOU TRULY ARE, REMUS! THIS HEART IS WHERE YOU TRULY LIVE! HERE! [pounds on his chest] THIS FLESH IS ONLY FLESH! - Draco gets swiped by Buckbeak and tries to pretend his injuries are more serious than they are. Fair enough — he's not doing it convincingly. But his line, "Your bloody bird has killed me!" is just hard to take seriously.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- The scene where Harry has a hallucination of Voldemort at the train station. It's meant to be ominous, but the fact that Voldemort is wearing a suit has caused fans to liken it to a Perfume Commercial. Tell yourself that this music
doesn't match the scene. It also doesn't help he doesn't do anything to menace Harry, he just... stands there and moves his head around and nothing else before Harry wakes up does not help at all. - The bit when Harry gets a peek into Snape's mind. It's supposed to be a profound, tense moment where our hero gets some insight into his great nemesis's past. But when you see a brief shot of young Snape sitting in what can only be described as an Emo corner, it's hard to take seriously.
- The freeze frames◊ of Voldemort when he tries to possess Harry are hilarious.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Hermione sobbing and crying over Ron going out with Lavender just feels incredibly Wangsty and childish. She was been attacked by a Mountain Troll in her first year, got petrified in her second year, nearly got attacked by Lupin in the third, saw Sirius die in the fifth, but this is what gets her to break down in tears?
- Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix) jumps into this territory with righteous aplomb... at the most random times. Most notably in the scene when Draco is unable to kill Dumbledore and she is egging him on. Switching randomly between shouting and whispering, randomly jerking her head, makes for a pretty narmy scene.
- Shouty Harry shows up once again:Harry: Snape! He trusted you!
The Cursed Child:
The Cursed Child
- Voldemort Day. You just can't take it seriously, no matter what.
- The rumor that Scorpius is actually Voldemort's son, thanks to time travel. Sure, it'd be hard for a kid to grow up with that hanging over his head, but would anyone past the age of eight really take it seriously? It's later revealed to be a Red Herring, but it doesn't change the fact that many witches and wizards actually believed such a ridiculous rumor.
- The Augurey's backstory. It turns on the notion that Voldemort and Bellatrix... played parcheesi one day, which seems a tad out of character for Voldemort.
- The Augurey's name. According to the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book, an augurey is a boring grey bird that was once believed to foretell death with its cry but actually just predicts rain. Hardly the most intimidating alias for the daughter of Voldemort.
- While the actors make much of the dialogue sound good, seeing it on the page makes it look rather silly and forced.
- The descriptions of sets and characters' emotions in the script book are overflowing with Purple Prose that feels exactly like someone struggling to copy Rowling's writing style and failing miserably.
- The abrupt amount of Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? in the second-to-last scene as Albus and Scorpius discuss all the girls they think are hot. Many fans find it comes off as the writers panicking when they realized how much Ho Yay they'd created between these two and thinking they needed to kill any textual support for it right at the end.
Video games:
Video Games
- In the GBC adaptation of The Chamber of Secrets, the boss fight against Aragog only has his mouth as a sprite, while his body is part of the background. Since the standard enemy defeat animation has them run away, this means that when you defeat Aragog, his mouth runs away, leaving the rest of his body behind.
