The Harry Potter franchise keeps getting bigger, with new additions like Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and the upcoming video game Hogwarts Legacy adding to the already profound lore that fans have come to love. Fantastic Beasts, which hit theaters in May 2022, explores the years surrounding Dumbledore's famous battle with the dark wizard Grindelwald. Hogwarts Legacy, which has a planned release in December 2022, will tell stories of the Wizarding World from the late 1800s.
The added details that these titles add to the franchise allow fans to build an even more realistic Wizarding World in their minds. So real that Harry Potter fans are known to fiercely argue about the events throughout the series as if they were true parts of history. Anything from the motivation of characters like Snape and Dumbledore to the couples that ended up together is debated so often that every fan is sure to have taken part in these arguments.
Is Snape A Good Character?
The main characters challenged Snape's allegiance several times throughout the Harry Potter series, but even once the story was laid to rest, fans still argued about whether Snape was morally a good or bad character. Everything from his motivation to turn good in the first place to the degree to which he loved (or obsessed over) Lily has been debated, and it seems that all fans will never fully agree.
Snape was always meant to be a grey character when it comes to it. He made good decisions as well as bad ones. Fans might have to agree that there is no correct answer to this debate.
Non-Canon Ships
Some fans love to ship Harry Potter characters together even if the series never referenced a romantic relationship between the two. While these pairings never happened in the books or movies, some fans cannot be convinced that these characters don't belong together.
Other fans hate the practice of pairing up characters that never had real romantic moments in the franchise. These fans hold strictly to canon events and see any divergence as harmful to the franchise.
S.P.E.W.
S.P.E.W. was an organization that Hermione put together to advocate for house-elf rights. While she considered it an important and worthy cause, several other characters disagreed with her, and the debate would last for the rest of the series.
The book debate transferred to fans, and the conversation is still going on today. This debate isn't just about whether house-elves should be free but also about whether J.K. Rowling should have included a race of creatures that seem to enjoy living in servitude. A lot can be said for either side, but fans seem no closer to finding a definitive answer to the question.
Ron And Hermione's Relationship
The end of the Harry Potter series saw Ron and Hermione finally acknowledge their feelings for each other. The epilogue revealed that they did eventually get married and have children. However, many fans believe that their relationship was unhealthy and never would have worked.
Other fans love Ron and Hermione as a couple and claim that the nature of their relationship was untraditional, but that didn't make it wrong. However, even J.K. Rowling admitted that the couple probably wouldn't have worked in real life; Ron and Hermione fans might be fighting a losing battle.
Dumbledore's Moral Character
The morality of Dumbledore has been heavily debated by fans ever since the series revealed that Dumbledore knew all along that Harry would have to die to defeat Voldemort. The Fantastic Beasts series has only brought new life to this debate, as the series reveals more of Dumbledore's choices, both good and bad.
Dumbledore admitted to Harry that he wasn't as good of a person as he wanted to be. He made several poor decisions that resulted in many people getting hurt. However, several fans believe that the accusation that Dumbledore is actually the villain of Harry Potter is overreaching a bit.
Hogwarts House Rivalries
The Hogwarts Houses in Harry Potter are meant to define the personalities of the individuals sorted into them. Fans enjoy sorting themselves into a Hogwarts House, either by their own choice or through online tests, and they will even sort favorite characters from other franchises into the Hogwarts Houses they think fit best.
There are several arguments that a Harry Potter fan could find themselves in regarding Hogwarts Houses. These might include which house is best, what the qualities are of that house, who was sorted into the wrong house, or whether the houses even make sense in the first place.
Over-Powered Spells And Abilities
The laws of a world run by magic can be difficult to define. People have had a common complaint with the franchise that specific problems should have been easy to solve with certain spells. However, other fans will argue why those spells couldn't have worked.
In the case of the Avada Kedavra curse, many fans found that it was far too powerful to exist and that if the killing was so easy, it might have, or should have, happened more often. Others argue that the curse isn't easy for just anyone to use. But, of course, there are always more arguments about that logic.
Why Does Voldemort Attack At The End Of Each Year?
The Harry Potter series always followed a specific formula. First, Harry would go to school, be presented with a mystery, and then the central conflict would happen at the end of the school year. This allowed the series to have one book per year at Hogwarts and produced a standard rise-and-fall climax.
However, when applying this formula to the real world, it makes little sense to some people why, in the Harry Potter series, Voldemort would always wait until the end of the year to attack. Some fans argue that it ruins the believability of the tale, while others claim it's just a standard storytelling trope.
The Rules Of Apparition
Apparition is how a wizard can disappear in one place and reappear in another. It's a popular mode of transportation in the series, but the rules of apparition are a common topic to debate.
Some fans say that apparition makes no sense and that if wizards had this skill, they could avoid danger far more often than they do. Others argue that wizards can only disapparate if they have their wand and in places that don't block that kind of magic. But, of course, fans will always be able to poke holes in this logic, and those holes will again be argued, resulting in a never-ending debate.
Should A Fantasy Story Be Dissected?
Some fans enjoy trying to tear apart a franchise as much as possible to see how well the story backs itself up. Even if a piece of fiction contains magic or other forces, fans like to follow a story that can make these impossible features believable.
Other fans argue that questioning a story full of impossible things is ridiculous. They may tell people to accept that the laws of spells or apparition don't make any sense since the entire story is fictional. These are just two different ways to enjoy a fictional story, and neither type of fan will ever "win" this debate.