Arthur Weasley, patriarch of the Weasley clan. Is he a loving husband and father whose Muggle-studying hobby is just an out-of-control quirk? Or is he a selfish man, clinging to a job that doesn't pay enough for him to provide adequately for his large family, just for the sake of greater license to indulge his fascination with Muggle culture? Goblet of Fire adds to the confusion when it's revealed that the hobby is specifically why his bosses refuse to promote him. It's also why Percy Weasley becomes the Token Evil Teammate and abandons his family between Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows.
The attacks on Colin Creevy, Justin Finch Fletchley and Penelope Clearwater. Could Riddle have specifically intended to target a Muggle-born from each Hogwarts house? Hermione is the odd one out here, but perhaps only Penelope was the intended victim, as it was during a Quidditch game and she only went to the library when she had a last minute "Eureka!" Moment (so Riddle would not have been expecting her). What's more, Colin and Penelope were students that Ginny knew personally; she sat beside Colin in class, and knew that Penelope was Percy's girlfriend, so were they targeted for this reason too? If that's the case, was Justin targeted because everyone knew of his run-in with Harry at the duelling club?
Moaning Myrtle being the girl who died the last time the Chamber was opened. She claims to only remember a set of eyes before she dropped dead and was on her way to the afterlife before her spite pulled her back. Did she really only get that much or did she know all along who the culprit was, and merely kept quiet for decades out of pettiness? Was she questioned by authorities, or did the Ministry simply never bother asking a victim of an unsolved case that was haunting the very bathroom she was killed in? In the fourth book, Myrtle mentions that she spent years haunting the girl who bullied her until she was forced to stay at Hogwarts, so she may not have even been around to question until the case was closed.
What was Ginny's real motive for stealing the diary back from Harry's dormitory? Riddle claims that she was worried that he might repeat her secrets to Harry, but should we really take his word for that? Some have argued that she was actually trying to save Harry from getting possessed as she had been, a selfless motive that Riddle would have naturally discounted given his inability to comprehend love. Others have suggested that Ginny's relationship with the diary was akin to addiction, and that once she knew where it had ended up, she couldn't resist taking it back to get herself another fix. In any case, Riddle makes it clear that he considered it an unwelcome development when Ginny took back the diary, indicating that it must have been something that she did of her own volition.
Applicability: Word of God is that Tom Riddle's diary was heavily inspired by the idea that a person could be communicating with someone anonymous whom they trust with personal information that's later used against them.
Perphaps the most infamous example of the whole series. The book tries to build up what exactly the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is but given Slytherin is constantly represented with snakes, Salazar Slytherin is established as fluent in parseltongue, the book has a subplot where Harry hears a voice no one else hears before another attack happens in the same book he's established to be fluent in parseltongue as well, is hardly a surprise when is revealed that the monster is a basilisk A.K.A a giant snake.
Crosses the Line Twice: Peeves accusing Harry of killing students? Not funny. In song? Hilarious. Especially when he adds a dance routine.
Fanon: After being introduced to the Committee on Experimental Charms, which actually predates the Ministry of Magic itself, it is a common belief that there is a Level 0 for any government agency that does not fit into one of the ten departments, with them being given an Unplottable building in the above ground Muggle world, with some pros and cons for this designation. One pro would be that these agencies would be given more freedom and autonomy from the Minister of Magic than other agencies, while a con would that the same Minister for Magic can withhold any extra funding for any reason, with one frequent target being the Department of Magical Education due to the Ministry of Magic, or rather the Minister(s), not directly controlling Hogwarts and is also the reason why it doesn’t have its own floor.
According to Wikipedia, several Christians — those who don't think that these books teach Satanism — compare the climax to John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, a pinnacle of Christian literature.
In his relationship with Ginny, it's easy to see Tom Riddle as a kind of metaphorical Internet predator. J. K. Rowling herself acknowledged in an interview on the DVD of the movie that the diary is really a lot like an Internet chat room, but said she hadn't been in one at the time she wrote it so it's just a coincidence. Rowling has also said her inspiration was the fact that she found diaries to be really scary, as a person's deepest darkest secrets are hidden in them. In particular, she based it off a phase her sister went through at about Ginny’s age where her diary consumed her life. So rather than the focus of the danger being on talking to strangers, it's more on playing with something you don't understand.
The story behind Hagrid's expulsion from Hogwarts has become even more disturbing now that it's been revealed that something very similar happened to Newt Scamander. Even if one were to accept that no one believed in the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, how could you expect anyone who didn't know the real story to feel sympathy for Hagrid after the second monster attack in living memory — and this time it was actually deadly?
Although Gilderoy Lockhart's memory being wiped is sort of Played for Laughs, it becomes horrifying when we see him again in book 5 in the Spell Damage Ward at St. Mungo's. Also interesting, considering that the memory charms that Gilderoy Lockhart put on the people who actually did the deeds he claims he did are decidedly not played for laughs.
There's a comedy sequence of the Weasleys constantly being held up on the way to King's Cross. One of the delays is Ginny stopping the car to get her diary. Had they not gone back for it, the whole thing wouldn't have happened.
It may still have occurred, the events instead being delayed.
Ron jokes that maybe Tom Riddle got an award for killing Moaning Myrtle. It turns out he sort of did; Tom killed Myrtle for the bad luck of crying in the bathroom where the Chamber of Secrets was held and being Muggleborn. Myrtle's death led to Tom framing Hagrid to keep the school from being closed indefinitely, leading to that award.
Harry asks for Dobby not to save his life again after helping to free the house elf. It's partly Played for Laughs at the time since Dobby has been The Millstone and trying to get Harry expelled to "save" him. Dobby will later die saving Harry's life for real in Deathly Hallows, and Harry is heartbroken while holding the elf at the time.
Dobby alluding to how much house elves suffered during and before the reign of Voldemort receives chilling elaboration with Kreacher's story about his encounter with Voldemort in the seventh book, and how the House of Black has the stuffed heads of servants that Sirius's evil ancestors killed for being too old to carry tea trays.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: All of Harry and Ginny's interactions, when you know they end up together in the end. It's hard not to smile when rereading the scenes where Ginny blushes over him, Harry saves her, or they stick up for each other. These two have no idea what's in store. Indeed, The Cursed Child reveals that the reason Ginny is so cheerful in the epilogue, is because Harry is the one who kept inviting her to play games and cheer her up.
Dobby mentions that he will serve his family (the Malfoys) until he dies. His last act? Helping Harry escape Malfoy Manor, condemning the Malfoys to Voldemort's wrath.
Remember when Harry was less than fond of the Skele-Gro? Turns out his ancestor, Linfred of Stinchcombe, invented the stuff ages ago.
Snape looks "as if Christmas had been cancelled" when he finds out that Harry and Ron won't be expelled for flying the Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. He would later be portrayed by Alan Rickman in the films, who himself called off Christmas as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. And given that JK Rowling later touted him as perfect casting, it's not unreasonable to think she may have had this in mind.
The Reveal that Lockhart's "memoirs" are full of bullshit. Within ten years of the release of the book, similar reveals occurred regarding two memoirs (A Million Little Pieces by James Frey and Love and Consequences by Margaret Seltzer) that Crackedhas summarized as "lame-ass white kid wants to be a stone-cold criminal." In fact, Margaret Seltzer claimed to have used Lockhart's method of taking other people's life stories and passing them off as her own.
In the same vein to French audience, there's the 2020 reveals that French writer and expert Stéphane Bourgoin was actually a fraud and a pathological liar, and that his books were results of plagiarism and/or giving himself credit for deeds performed by other people. What really makes him a French Muggle Lockhart is his field of expertise: Bourgoin is renowned for being a specialist in serial killers.
The Skele-Gro scene became a lot funnier than it was meant to be after the "bone hurting juice" meme became popular.
When Ginny stands up for Harry after Malfoy taunted the latter, Malfoy jokingly remarks that "[Harry's] got [himself] a girlfriend". Four books later, Harry and Ginny have a Relationship Upgrade.
Likewise, Lucius using Voldemort's diary becomes amusing when you realize that he was using the Dark Lord's soul to frame an innocent eleven-year-old girl. It even gets lampshaded by Dumbledore in The Half-Blood Prince where he says that Voldemort probably wasn't happy about a Death Eater treating it as a Dark Magic knickknack.
Lockhart is a fraud. This was fairly obvious at the start, but the reveal that he memory-wiped the real heroes was a surprise on the first reading (if only because before then, he came off as laughably incompetent and a huge Jerkass, but otherwise harmless).
Jerkass Woobie: Filch qualifies when his cat, Mrs. Norris, gets petrified. Also when it turns out he's unable to perform magic despite being wizard-born. No wonder the guy hates Hogwarts students so much.
Lockhart. He has the ability to erase memories, is completely lacking in morals, and charms (in the non-magical sense — we hope) girls as young as twelve. A number of fics show him seducing or outright raping students.
However unintentional it was on Rowling’s part, Tom Riddle in his interactions with Ginny has often, including on this site, been compared to an Internet predator luring in a child.
Lucius Malfoy crosses it when he plants Tom Riddle's diary on Ginny so that she'll be framed for the killings.
Then there's Lockhart's attempt to destroy Harry and Ron's minds—and Harry's obviously the only person who can stop the monster and save Ginny—simply because He Knows Too Much. Okay, and also the two had every intent of forcing him to be their human shield otherwise, but Ginny was an innocent.
Nausea Fuel: Ron using the slug-vomiting charm. Thanks to his broken wand, he inflicts himself instead of his intended target of Draco Malfoy. It got worse with a story of the scene in the film causing mass vomiting in a British cinema.
Take the diary out of the equation, and Tom Riddle's plot with Ginny is basically an older boy taking advantage of an extremely vulnerable and impressionable young girl. As the youngest of seven children and the only girl, her loneliness allows her to be easily led astray by someone who pretends to be her friend and gets her to do bad things once he's earned her trust. Ginny not remembering what she's done when possessed has several parallels to Gaslighting or even being given drugs or alcohol to make her easier to manipulate.
Salazar Slytherin creating the Chamber of Secrets in the first place was born out of a belief that pure bloods were superior to Muggle borns. Take the magic out of the situation, and Hogwarts was essentially founded on pure racism and supremacy. Innocent children are being targeted purely because they were born differently.
Signature Line: "Harry Potter must not go back to school this year!"
Signature Scene: Literary example, although the film version remains faithful to the scene in question: to this day, Dumbledore's exposition to Harry near the end of the book is considered one of the most iconic of Dumbledore's speeches in the series.
Squick: Harry getting his arm broken. Lockhart tries to fix him up, and the bones disappear. In the film version all that's left is a misshapen mess that makes an unnerving sound and Lockhart even plays with it a little.
One Mugglenet book suggested the basilisk to be this. It's apparently intelligent, centuries old, and Harry can understand its speech, but it only shows up at the end and mostly acts like a generic monster, rather than giving the audience any signs of even being a character.
Arguably Lockhart. His actions post-reveal are so despicable, that he could have being a rather compelling antagonist or Hate Sink in another story yet he's treated until the last minute as a Plucky Comic Reliefand receives Laser-Guided Karma barely one chapter after his true nature is revealed.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Arthur Weasley's scolding of Ginny after he finds out about her possession by Tom Riddle's diary, that she should have known better, especially if one takes into account what said possession parallels. The idea that an eleven-year-old girl is somehow more responsible for being taken advantage of by a predatory older man than the father who was too busy hiding illegal artefacts from his wife to notice the problems his daughter was having can make him seem scarily out of touch. Indeed, Dumbledore swiftly tells Ginny she'll face no punishment or repercussions whatsoever because nothing is her fault.
The reader is often reminded how poor the Weasley family are; Mrs Weasley cleans out their bank vault in order to afford Hogwarts supplies for five children, and even those are often second-hand; Harry, meanwhile, tries to hide his riches. Ron laments that they probably couldn't afford a replacement wand and thus is forced to use Chekhov's Gun all year, and Harry is both sickened to learn that Mr Weasley has received a 50 galleon fine for enchanting a Ford Anglia, and guilty they have bought him Christmas presents.
Poor Ginny, once everything that's happened to her is revealed. Part of the reason Riddle was able to prey on her was because she was so lonely, and prone to being overlooked by her family. He became her only companion, so the fact that he turned on her is even more horrifying. And she's only eleven too.
Voldemort's Significant Anagram name, revealed in this book, in the original was Tom Marvolo Riddle, an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort." Translations changed various parts of his name; for example, in the German version, his name was Tom Vorlost Riddle, which becomes "... ist Lord Voldemort" (is Lord Voldemort). Something is gained in the German version particular here, as his middle name sounds an awful lot like Verlust, meaning "loss," which applies to Voldemort in a variety of ways.
The Spanish translation called it Tom Sorvolo Ryddle, to spell Soy Lord Voldemort. Of course, "Ryddle" isn't an English word, but a Spanish speaker could pronounce it the same way as the English name without noticing anything wrong.
Other languages aren't quite so lucky. Just ask Romeo G. Detlev Jr. in Denmark (The G. stands for Gåde = Riddle)
The Russian translation got interesting with it: since the first two books were translated back-to-back, Tom's name had only two letters changed (and one removed since that's what Russian language does to silent e's) — becoming Tom Narvolo Reddl. It's Voldie's name that got changed — to Volan-de-Mort. And thus Tom Narvolo Reddl becomes Lord Volan-de-Mort. It creates a small continuity error in the sixth book, in which his and Marvolo Gaunt's name get their M back.
In Hungarian it became Tom Rowle Denem. "De nem" is negation in Hungarian, and the anagram became "Nevem Voldermort" meaning "(My) name is Voldemort", putting Voldemort disowning of his father's name into both said name and into the anagram.
Ironically, The Bulgarian translation was a bit hard to do because of a translation done too well: Back in the first book, Voldemort's name was transliterated as Волдемор instead of Волдеморт*Modern Bulgarian rules for transliteration dictate that it follows a word or name's pronunciation in the original language; the translator correctly deduced that Voldemort's name comes from the French mort where the T is silent. The lost T meant that in the anagram, the T from Tom's name had nowhere to go if one were to think of some "I am Lord Voldemort" variant. Together with the I*"И" [i] means "and" in "Riddle", that resulted in the rather awkward "Тук съм и Лорд Волдемор", which could be taken to mean "Here [in the Chamber of Secrets] I am Lord Voldemort as well".
The Swedish translation adds Gus as a middle name and uses a Latin phrase instead, "Ego sum Lord Voldemort".
The film
Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Lucius Malfoy's appearance is barely described in the book, beyond looking like an older version of Draco. The long hair, velvet cloak and walking stick to conceal the wand were all thought up by Jason Isaacs, and are generally accepted as canon.
Genius Bonus: The bronze statue of a boar that has a prominent place in the Hogwarts entrance hall is a copy of Il Porcellino, a famous statue in Florence, said to have magical powers. The original Il Porcellino figures in one of Hans Christian Andersen's lesser known fairy tales, The Metal Hog, in which it comes to life and tells a poor street urchin that he is destined to become an artist — not unlike what happens to Harry Potter.
Harsher in Hindsight: In a deleted scene, reincorporated for the extended edition, a guilt-ridden Harry suspects himself and says, "maybe you can do something, even something horrible, and not know you did it," to which Hermione firmly replies, "you don't believe that, Harry, I know you don't." It turns out that's exactly what's going on. It's just that it's happening to Ginny rather than Harry.
He Really Can Act: For two kids who were presumably cast for their ability to look hulking and threatening behind Tom Felton, Jamie Waylett and Josh Herdman do a shockingly good job of playing Ron and Harry when transformed into Crabbe and Goyle, particularly since they basically have to carry the movie for those scenes (although they are helped by the voice-over work from Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe).
Among the people who auditioned for the role of teenage Tom Riddle was one Eddie Redmayne, who apparently bombed hard. Fourteen years later, he finally appeared the Potter franchise in a big way as Newt Scamander.
At one point in the film, Ron attempts to turn Scabbers into a goblet only for him to turn him into a rat/goblet hybrid. With the reveal at the end of the next instalment, one can only wonder how Peter Pettigrew was reacting to the failed spell. It's this trope rather than Harsher in Hindsight when you consider Peter thoroughly deserved it.
The flashbacks in the film to 1940s Dumbledore become pretty hilarious when Fantastic Beasts shows us a much younger-looking Dumbledore wearing three-piece suits less than twenty years before.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Many film critics talk down to this film for taking a slow-paced, Adaptation Distillation approach like the first film. After the third film came out and the tone of the film series changed profoundly, it's common for only purists to mention this one.
Moral Event Horizon: In addition to giving Riddle's diary to Ginny like in the book, the film also features Lucius almost using the killing curse on Harry.
One-Scene Wonder: Aragog only appears in one scene but his terrifying appearance and polite but intimidating personality mixed with Julian Glover's menacing performance make sure that he leaves a hell of an impression and make up what many fans consider one of the scariest scenes in the entire series.
When Harry wields the Sword of Gryffindor against the basilisk, there are several points where one can tell that Radcliffe was not wielding a sword so much as a ball-pointed prop.
In the shot where Harry crashes his cart after unsuccessfully trying to enter Platform 9 3/4, Hedwig is briefly replaced by a very obvious owl dummy.
The Quidditch matches in general tend to be full of conspicuous CGI, but Chamber of Secrets has a particularly cringeworthy shot where Harry flies through the Slytherin stands, causing the students there to have to jump out of his way. The actors are obviously digitally inserted into the scene and move in an incredibly unnatural way. Notably, this bit was actually deleted from the theatrical cut of the film and was only reincorporated for the extended edition.
The shot of Harry transforming into Goyle is surprisingly seamless, considering that the movie came out in 2002.
The Fawkes animatronic. To put it into perspective, when Richard Harris first saw it, he initially thought it was a real bird and was impressed with how "well-trained" it was.
The Basilisk is perfectly brought to life via a perfect combination of Practical Effects and wise usage of CGI that still holds up to this day.
The video games
Demonic Spiders: Imps in the PC port. First encountered in the relatively late-game Spongify challenge, they have higher attack power than almost any other non-boss enemy in the game; they also move quickly and frequently appear in groups, making them able to overwhelm Harry quickly without quick spellwork.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In the Game Boy Color version, after defeating the Basilisk, Tom taunts Harry that he still has Harry's wand, and Harry retorts that he still has Gryffindor's sword before stabbing it into the diary. This is the one deviation where the Basilisk fang isn't used to destroy it. Come books 6 and 7, we learn that the Diary is a Horcrux with loads of protective enchantments, one of the only things that can destroy a Horcrux is Basilisk Venom, and that Godric Gryffindor's Sword is enchanted to only ever take in that which makes it stronger which includes the venom.
Memetic Psychopath: The prefects from the console game get this in some circles, with the Scare Chord that plays when they notice you, and in general feeling like a horror game enemy.
Most Wonderful Sound: PC version, when you drink a Wiggenweld potion and your health goes up.
Paranoia Fuel: In older ports of the game (barring the Xbox, GameCube, GBC and GBA versions), you can come across chests that look like every other one. You open it up... PEEVES! PEEVES! Peeves was inside! Bad enough that he jumps out and attacks you with no warning, but this also won't be the last time he appears. And he could be anywhere... in any chest at all...
Polished Port: The PlayStation 2 version; while it isn't as well optimized as the GameCube and Xbox versions, it is often considered the definitive version of the game due to allowing the player to freely walk and fly around the Hogwarts' grounds (the Xbox and GameCube versions instantly warp the player to a location depending on which direction they walk in).
No Problem with Licensed Games: Many people feel like the video game for the Chamber of Secrets was much better than film adaptation. This was especially true for the 6th Generation Consoles (namely the PS2 version) which used a battle system that wouldn't seem out of place in the Legend of Zelda, allowed the players to explore iconic locations from the film (such as the Burrow and Diagon Alley), free roam on the Hogwarts grounds (exclusive to PS2), provided them with spell challenge obstacle courses which had puzzles that required players to think to solve them, had an impressive final boss with the Basilisk, an improved soundtrack from Jeremy Soule, and made players feel like they were actually in the magical world of Harry Potter.
Special Effect Failure: Aragog in the GBC version. His mouth is the bit that attacks you and that you attack, whereas the spider body is part of the background. This leads to a pretty hilarious instance where he's defeated and his mouth runs away but his body is still there.
That One Boss: On the Game Boy Color, Aragog is this. He can paralyse your party for multiple turns, and deals exactly 80 damage per hit. If you don't have decent card combos to heal or prevent status effects, nor have Mucus Ad Nauseam let alone Petrificus Totalus handy, you could be there for a while.
That One Sidequest: In the Game Boy Color version, it's impossible to fill up all the information of the Folio Bruti using the Informous Spell. This is due to the developers just straight up forgetting to provide 3 of the monsters with any locations for them to spawn. Thus, leaving 3 blank squares within the Folio Bruti, which would drive any 100% Completionist runners absolutely nuts if they don't know about this error.
Underused Game Mechanic: In the PS1 game, Lockhart’s first class teaches Petrificus Totalus, which is used to fight and immobilize pixies. This spell has the worst result of all, as no pixies appear after this point, rendering the spell as useless for the rest of the game.
Woolseyism: In the PC version, Snape's line about making Wiggenweld potion was changed in the Finnish version:
English!Snape: Those of you who are adventurous or, more probably clumsy, will no doubt want to make Wiggenweld potions on your own.
Finnish!Snape: Those of you who are adventurous or, rather stick their noses where it doesn’t belong, will no doubt want to make Wiggenweld potions on your own.
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