It’s been almost 10 years since Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows was published – 10 YEARS. Seriously, how old do you feel right now?!
Yet Potter fans are still regularly coming out with new theories about the wizarding series.
The fans take these theories very seriously. In fact, they give Bielebers a run for their money. One fan has even dedicated a whole website to one that is particularly close to their heart…
dracomalfoyisawerewolf.com.
(In case you were wondering.)
Some fan theories have even got a stamp of approval from the big dog – JK Rowling herself. Imagine being on the same wavelength as ole’ JK. How great would that be?
So here at heat we decided to put together a list of all the best Harry Potter fan theories we could find. ‘Cause we’re still not ready to let go of the magic…
Dumbledore is Death
One fan gave us a whole new take on the Deathly Hallows and the story behind it. Remember Beedle the Bard’s Tale Of The Three Brothers that was introduced to Harry, Ron and Hermione in the final book?
Here's a quick visual reminder just in case:
Now a LOT of fans seem to think Harry, Voldemort and Snape represent the three brothers in the tale.
Voldemort bears more than a passing resemblance to the eldest brother, who wants the most powerful wand in existence. Snape is the middle brother, driven mad by an unrequited love – obvs Lily Potter, Harry's mum.
Then there is Harry as the youngest brother – a humble man who just really wants a happy life. Death never manage to capture the youngest brother, until at the end of his life, when he hands himself over willingly and greets death “like an old friend”.
And that’s the important bit: Harry’s “old friend” is Dumbledore. He greets Harry at King’s Cross station in that v weird scene in the final book and was behind both Snape and Voldemort’s deaths.
EPIC jaw drop time.
JK Rowling is Rita Skeeter
As in Rita Skeeter, the unpleasant witch journalist who specialises in writing poison-pen stories for the Daily Prophet based on very few facts.
One Potter fan who really, truly must believe in the magic of Hogwarts has theorised that the wizarding world actually exists, and in it resides Rita. That is until she was fired from her job.
Abso-fuming at the wizarding world and without work, Rita journals the whole Potter series with the hope of exposing magic to Muggles and to mess with the minds of the wizards who wronged her.
O.M.GEEE.
Unfortunately for Rita, all us Muggles reading her books believe they are fiction. Yet it’s not all bad for Rita as she becomes rich and famous under her alias of JK Rowling and decides to stay put in the Muggle world 4lyf.
Well, weirder things have happened…
Harry, Ron and Hermione only get into Gryffindor because they had the courage to ask for it
Rowling has led us to believe that Harry’s traits of courage, chivalry and determination made Gryffindor the obvious choice for him. It makes perfect sense, right? WRONG.
Harry was a Horcrux who contained arguably THE most famous member of Slytherin, Lord Voldermort. This combined with his cunningness and “a certain disregard for the rules” made Harry an obvious choice for Slytherin.
Well, he DID have a part of Voldermort’s personality inside him while he was a Horcrux. But when it came down to it in the ole’ Great Hall, the Sorting Hat took into account that Harry had been brave enough to ask to be in Gryffindor.
Well that could just have been a one-off, we hear you cry…
True, but you don’t have to have Hermione’s intelligence to work out that she was clearly meant for Ravenclaw with her traits: wisdom, wit and learning.
And let’s take a moment to remember Ron’s petrified response to the spiders in the Forbidden Forest in the third book.
Not that we blame him… we only have to see a spider web to have a full-scale panic. But TBH is that the reaction we’d expect of a true Gryffindor? Hate to say it but maybs Hufflepuff would have been a better choice for our fave ginger wizard. Soz Ron.
Remus Lupin is actually James Potter in disguise
While the Potters were in hiding from Voldemort, James and Remus decided to switch bodies using a switching spell as an extra, extra precaution. That is a real spell BTW, we checked in our personal copy of The Standard Book of Spells.
The switch happened in complete secret, with the exception of Lily, who probably was the one to perform the spell. After the switch had gone down, Lupin (in James’s body) stayed in Godric Hollow while James (in Lupin’s body) left.
That would mean that when Voldemort attacked and killed James… the person he actually killed was Lupin (in James’s body) and with no body to switch back into, James stayed stuck inside Lupin’s body.
Well this could explain why, unlike everyone else, Lupin never stared at Harry’s scar or mentioned his resemblance to his father.
Fred Weasley’s tragic death was actually foreshadowed when a Death Eater blasted off George’s ear
FYI, the Weasleys don’t escape the crazy web of conspiracy either. Oh no. Potter fans reckon they uncovered something interesting about the history of the Weasley and it involves ROYALTY.
As most avid fans will know, the Weasley siblings all share their names with actual British royalty. Fancy eh.
Just to confirm, there’s Arthur, Bill (William), Fred (Frederick), George, Percival, Ron (the name of Arthur’s spear) and Ginevra (a form of Guinevere).
And now onto the good bit…
The real King George III was deaf in one ear when he became monarch in 1760 – and the only reason he had taken the throne was due to the shocking early death of his brother, Prince Frederick.
Sounds just the tiniest little bit familiar doesn’t it…
George Weasley had his ear blasted off by a Death Eater in a sky battle. Fast-forward to the Battle Of Hogwarts and we experience the devastating death of his brother Fred. Which, BTW, we’re still pretty torn up about it.
The next logical step to jump to is that JK chose to include George losing his ear as a way of a warning of Fred’s fate to fans.
So OBVS when you think about it, right?
The Dursleys actually had a very good reason for being so horrible to Harry
Could this be the craziest theory of the lot? Yes, probably.
Remember how mis Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the last book until they realised the giant locket/Horcrux they were lugging around was having that effect on them? Well get your brains around THIS: what if the only reason Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley were so awful to Harry was because HE, as the container of Voldy's bit of soul, was MAKING them act out that way?
Could it be that the Dursleys were probably very nice people who took in their orphaned nephew only for him to turn them into arses?
Nah.
The Dursleys knew more about magic than they led us to believe
There’s a whole other dimension to the Dursleys that we never even knew existed, and it’s pretty revealing.
Just as you’ve got your head around the possibility that you've been misinterpreting the Dursleys for like, ever, another fan has spotted something that messes up EVERYTHING we thought we knew about Hazza's Muggle relatives for a second time.
Harry only ever received three Christmas presents from the Dursleys. But Reddit user iShootWithACamera has spotted that these three gifts can be directly related to one of the three Deathly Hallows.
The first present he receives from the remainder of his family is a 50p piece representing the Resurrection Stone.
Harry then gets a toothpick from his aunt and uncle in his second year – and this represents the Elder Wand.
And finally, the generous gift of a single tissue from the Durleys represents the Invisibility Cloak.
Surely this groundbreaking evidence confirms that the Dursleys knew WAY more about the wizarding world than they ever let on to anyone?
JK Rowling is Voldemort
On a scale where one is probable and 10 is just plain weird, this theory is a solid 12.
It’s a theory that only really has the backing of horror author Stephen King.
He said: "JK Rowling created seven Horcruxes. She put a part of her soul into every book and now her books will live forever."
So basically, both Voldemort and Rowling created seven Horcruxes and because of this they must be the same person. OKKKKK.
Soz but it's v unlikely that JK Rowling really is the Dark Lord. She seems far too nice…
Dumbledore is a time-travelling Ron Weasley
This theory is a personal fave due to the name it has been given by fans: The Ronbledore theory. Genius.
It’s based on the fact that Dumbledore and Ron are both described as tall and thin with a long face. It is also revealed when Harry saw him in the pensieve visiting a young Tom Riddle that Dumbledore used to have ginger hair.
Unfortunately for all Ronbledore fans out there, JK Rowling disproved this theory in a tweet last October.
But this hasn’t stopped fans from continuing to believe in it. Ronbledore lives on! Woooo.
Harry is now immortal
In Sybill Trelawney’s first prophecy she specifies that:
Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives
Most people have interpreted that to mean that in the end, either Harry or Voldemort would have to kill the other.
But PLOT TWIST: what if it actually meant that the only way either of them could die would be at the hand of the other?
It would be the ultimate cruelty dished out by Voldemort to Harry, who's only wish is to be reunited with his family.
So what if, when he 'sacrifices' himself at the end of the Battle of Hogwards, Harry actually plays right into Voldy's hands?
Because once Voldemort is dead, Harry cannot die.
He is literally The Boy Who Lived... Forever.
Mind. Blown.
Let's end with some of the more far-fetched fan theories…
Snape is a vampire
Urm, well he does have very pale skin. And he was described as flying out of a classroon window like a bat just before the Battle of Hogwarts kicked off.
Draco Malfoy is a werewolf
Not according to JK Rowling… she’s shut down this theory on Twitter. That hasn't stopped roughly one trillion people writing fanfic about it though.
Ginny dosed Harry with a love potion
OBVS this has been strongly denied by HINNY fans everywhere.
Sirius and Remus were secret lovers
Er, LOL.
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