There isn’t much that can be said about the amazing wizarding world of Harry Potter that its unprecedented success doesn’t already say volumes about. From the time the original books first took hold in the world, the engrossing tales of Hogwarts and its manifold cast of characters have been changing the lives of fans everywhere.
For older fans, the sublimely timed twists that come as the greater story unfolded may be old news, but we can still appreciate them again every time a new friend or family member picks up one of the books or starts the movie franchise for the first time. Potter fanatics will know the feeling all too well.
It’s part ecstasy getting to be their Sherpa and guiding them through it all, and part agony waiting for them to get to the major twists for themselves, so we can relive them again. It reminds us of the emotions we felt ourselves when we reached those moments ourselves.
Knowing full well how devastatingly epic, tragic, and brilliant those twists were, here’s a look back at the 10 most unforgettable ones from the Harry Potter movies.
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10 Professor Quirrell’s Secret — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
During the first film in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it’s immediately made apparent that twists are a large part of this franchise. In that movie, the biggest and most unforgettable one comes at the end when Harry first learns that it was actually the seemingly terrified and fidgety Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart) who was the villainous teacher at Hogwarts instead of Snape. Worse yet, he also learns that Voldemort is still around and actually had his face stuck to the back of Quirrell’s head the entire time he was their teacher.
Never Saw It Coming
For most people, whether it was experiencing this moment in the book or the movie, it’s deceptively brilliant reveal is like an initiation to the world of Harry Potter. What makes it unforgettable is the clever way all the red herrings up to this point lead you astray. Once it’s out in the open, it becomes obvious that the world of Harry Potter is going to be anything but straightforward.
9 Tom Marvolo Riddle — Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
By the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, although you’ve already been primed to expect twists now, they still come in a shocking variety here. This story follows Harry and his friends during his second year at Hogwarts when mysterious happenings make it seem that an old school tragedy may be repeating itself.
As the dreaded Chamber of Secrets first comes to light, there are two unforgettable twists in this one, the first being that it was Ginny Weasley who was opening the Chamber all along, and the second being who the mysterious Tom Riddle actually was.
A Series of Revelations
Chamber of Secrets truly upped the ante as the entire story fleshed out Harry’s world in a lot more detail, punctuated by a series of shocking revelations, we learned things in this installment, like the fact that Harry could speak Parseltongue. However, by the end, as if Ginny’s involvement wasn’t shocking enough, finding out that Tom Marvolo Riddle was actually an anagram for “I AM LORD VOLDEMORT” again showed us what a brilliant storyteller J.K. Rowling was.
8 Harry Likes Ginny — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By the sixth movie, fans of Harry Potter were well-accustomed to expecting major twists. Although Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had many larger twists, one of the smaller ones that also became unforgettable was the revelation that Harry has developed a crush on Ginny. Amid all the mysterious questions like who the Half-Bloof Prince was, this information came as a sweet surprise.
A Natural Progression
While other romantic angles like Hermionie and Ron may have been a little more predictable, Harry’s crush on Ginny was a pleasant shock. It did make sense though, since they had basically spent every summer together for years and sort of grew up together.
7 Professor Lupin Is a Werewolf — Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is often revered as one of the best stories from the Harry Potter saga. This one also shifted the story away from Voldemort as the main villain for the first and last time, as it also introduced us to major characters like Sirius Black and Professor Remus Lupin. Once we were fully invested in who we thought the major characters were, we’re treated to the shocking revelation that Professor Lupin was a werewolf all along.
A Howling Horror Surprise
The finale of this one was amazing, since it featured the Time Turner and literally saw our heroes turn back time with it. The ending scenes brought with them a series of shocking revelations, among them the jarring fact that Lupin was a werewolf. Of more significance than it initially seemed, his transformation caused everything to go horribly wrong afterward, since it allowed Peter Pettigrew to escape that night.
6 Sirius’ Death — Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
One of the most tragic moments in the franchise, Sirius Black’s death in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was a particularly jarring twist for fans. This was mostly down to the circumstances. Not only did he have to live a tragic life behind bars after being falsely accused of murdering Harry’s parents, but even after getting out, he still had to spend most of his time as an outcast.
Throughout all that, he stayed fiercely loyal to Harry and the Order, but was still murdered unceremoniously by Bellatrix Lestrange of all people — his own cousin.
A Hero to the End
As much as this twist hurt, it also cemented Sirius as one of the all-time most endearing characters. As Harry’s Godfather, their bond had grown so much in such a short time, and it was the possibility of them being able to one day live together and Sirius possibly filling in as a father figure to James’ son that made it that much harder to accept. Nevertheless, for fans, Sirius will always be a legend for the fact that he lived and died the same way, as a true hero of the franchise.
5 Barty Crouch Jr. Was Alive — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire featured some of the most coming-of-age moments of young Harry Potter’s life. It was the story that essentially saw him transition from a boy into a teenager who first finds himself attracted to a girl, and going through other normal things from that phase of life. It was also the transition in the series from children’s books into something darker, where characters may die horribly.
By the end of this sweeping tale, fans get a double twist as we learn that the real Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody was kidnapped and replaced by a Polyjuice Potion-drinking Barty Crouch Jr, who was supposed to be dead.
A Child No More
By this point, Harry was no longer a child and his teenage years were immediately shown to coincide with a far darker edge to the stories. Amid Cedric’s death, Voldemort’s return, and many other more mature plot points, it was clear that the main plot of Harry Potter had come to prominence now. The massive twist aside, this movie also signaled that everything from here on out was ultimately going to build up to an inevitable showdown between Harry and Voldemort one day.
4 Harry is a Horcrux — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
This film became one of the biggest cinematic events of our time, since it was the one that drew the curtain on one of the largest pop culture phenomenons in history. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 portrayed the second half of the seventh and final book from the Harry Potter novels.
For fans who had followed it all from the beginning, it was highly symbolic, with a massive marketing campaign that saw the words “IT ALL ENDS” emblazoned across massive billboards and advertising screens everywhere. But before the grand finale, there was first a massive twist to get past: the revelation that Harry was the last horcrux and would have to die.
Diabolically Genius
J.K Rowling’s amazingly intricate plots have thrown up many unforgettable twists before this one. When it got to the end, it seemed only fitting that one was as startling as this would be around the corner. However, it was the diabolical manner in which it toyed with our emotions that made it so epic. For a few crushing moments, it all pointed to the fact that the only way for Harry to kill Voldemort was to die himself.
Here’s a reminder of the epic trailer for the film Warner Bros. featured at the time:
3 Scabbers Wasn’t a Rat — Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Amid the flurry of revelations that accompanied the conclusion of Prisoner of Azkaban came the shocking truth about Scabbers. It all started with an epic string of events that first saw Sirius and Remus embracing, making it seem like Professor Lupin was evil too.
Then, we learned that Sirius was actually good, which was a welcome surprise. However, then came the true twist: the fact that not only was Ron’s rat Scabbers not a beloved pet rat, but that he was actually Peter Pettigrew, still alive and revealed to be the true traitor who had betrayed Harry’s parents all along.
A Genius Conclusion
As great as the first two installments of Harry Potter were, it was the third one that truly made fans take notice of just how exceptional J.K Rowling’s saga was. The conclusion to this one was packed with amazing twists that featured everything from a sublimely devised and executed time travel subplot, to a series of revelations that eventually led to the fiendish truth about Scabbers.
2 Snape Kills Dumbledore — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
In one of the most heartbreaking and unforgettable twists in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ends with the shocking death of Albus Dumbledore. As jarring as it was to lose him, what made it all worse was the build-up that initially saw Draco Malfoy tasked with killing him — just for him to chicken out and Severus Snape to step up and kill Dumbledore himself with seemingly cold indifference.
The Bigger Picture
It wasn’t just that this happened that shocked audiences to their core, but the fact that it seemed to prove that Snape was actually evil all along. Throughout all the installments before it, Harry and many others despise Snape for his past, and his attitude in the present. However, it always seemed like he couldn’t actually be evil, because Dumbledore himself trusted him after all, and we had been primed to intrinsically trust Dumbledore.
1 Always — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
After Snape’s initial twist left us heartbroken, of course, the epic conclusion to all of it came in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. This film ultimately revealed that the end of Half-Blood Prince was all part of a more elaborate subplot. In the most stunning twist of all to come out of the Harry Potter franchise, we learn after Snape’s death that he was actually a hero all along.
A Shakespearean Tragedy
In what eventually becomes a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, we learn that Snape actually loved Lily Potter his entire life and vowed to protect her son at all costs. The kind of hero that makes Harry come to regard him as the bravest man he ever knew, Snape actually spent the rest of his life dedicating himself to switching sides and being a spy for Dumbledore, all in honor of the woman he never stopped loving.
Moments like these mean the world to fans, but to Muggles who don’t get it, the kind of fanaticism the Harry Potter franchise stirs up can be summed up by what it means to them. If you don’t know, there is a “Celebration of Harry Potter” Event that takes place at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando each year. Among the features was the so-called “Muggle Wall,” which invites fans to write a short message declaring what Harry Potter means to them.
Here are a few select things fans have written about Harry Potter on that wall which prove why the franchise is far more than just books and movies to fans:
“Harry Potter means family. Anyone I meet who loves Harry Potter is an instant friend.”
“HP helped me survive through my infertility and pregnancy losses and the depression that comes with it.”
“Love and friendship can overcome even the greatest of evils. Stay true to your heart…”
“Harry has always been there for me, even when nothing and no one else were. It’s saved me countless times.”
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
