WARNING! This article contains references to violence and death that some readers may find disturbing.
The Fantastic Beasts series, including the most recent installment, The Secrets of Dumbledore, quickly proved that it was aimed at an older audience than its parent series, Harry Potter. While several themes are the same, the story no longer follows school children but grown adults dealing with far more political and often even darker conflicts. This was likely a smart move since those who originally grew up with the wizarding world are now adults who require slightly more mature storytelling.
Of course, this is not to say that Harry Potter didn't contain some dark themes. The books especially were full of scenes that were too eerie and disturbing even to be included in the movies, as they likely would have changed the PG or PG-13 ratings. Ranker asked fans to vote for the book scenes that were the most disturbing, and the result is a series of moments that audiences agreed were just too intense for the screen.
Note: Ranker lists are fan-voted, live, and continue to accrue votes, so some rankings may have changed after this publishing.
Tom Riddle Murdering His Family
In Half-Blood Prince, Harry begins learning everything there was to know about Voldemort's past, including his family tree. He learned that Tom Riddle's mother's family had been the Gaunts, a proud yet impoverished family that valued their Slytherin lineage above all else. His father, Riddle Sr, had been a Muggle who had been enchanted and tricked into marrying his witch wife.
Voldemort himself didn't know this for much of his life, but once he had found out, he quickly decided that his family was not worthy of him. He killed his father and grandparents and pinned the murder on his Gaunt uncle. While Voldemort committed many crimes in Harry Potter to attempt his victory, many fans agree that patricide went a little too far for comfort.
Ron Getting Attacked By Brains
When Harry and the rest of Dumbledore's Army went to the Ministry in Order of the Phoenix, they found themselves up against Death Eaters and several strange threats within the Department of Mysteries. Among these was a tank of swimming brains that, when Ron investigated, attacked to the point of near-death.
The brains had tentacles that latched on to Ron and seemed to drain his life. What was even more disturbing was that Harry was so stuck in battle that he could not go to his friend's aid and could only hope that he had survived. While there were still several more disturbing moments in the books, plenty of fans voted for this scene on Ranker.
Neville's Parents At St Mungo's
While visiting Mr. Weasley at the hospital in Order of the Phoenix, the Golden Trio happened upon Neville, who was visiting his parents. Frank and Alice Longbottom had been tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange after Voldemort's first downfall and had since lived in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Neville, who could have been the main character in Harry Potter had Voldemort made a different choice, was embarrassed for his classmates to see the state his parents were in. The most heartbreaking moment in this scene is when Alice gives Neville a candy wrapper as a gift, obviously desperate to care for her son.
Death Eaters Torturing Muggles
While the Goblet of Fire movie did include the march of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup, it left out one of the critical details about the moment of terrorism. As the masked figures moved through the tents in the book, they kept a family of Muggles hanging by their ankles above them.
The family-owned the property where the match was played, and the Death Eaters had taken offense to paying the Muggles for a property they would have preferred to take. To punish them, they tortured and humiliated not only the parents but the children as well. It was a disturbing moment that fans on Ranker felt would have only been made worse on screen.
Winky's Substance Abuse
In addition to Dobby and Kreacher, the Harry Potter books also introduced another prevalent house-elf by the name of Winky. She had been devoted to the Crouch family and was devastated beyond consolation after being dismissed in Goblet of Fire. While Dumbledore hired her to work in the Hogwarts kitchens, she never recovered from her shame.
To numb her embarrassment, Winky began to drink heavily. When Harry and co. saw her again, she was dirty, surrounded by bottles, and unable to put two words together. The sight was beyond sad, and the fact that she was upset about being freed from slavery made it a moment voters agreed was better off left out.
Molly Weasley's Worst Fear Revealed
While Boggarts are not considered overly dangerous, Harry witnessed several times the power they can have. In Order of the Phoenix, Molly tried to deal with one on her own at Grimmauld Place, but she ended up unable to dispel the creature as she was crippled by the fear that it revealed.
One at a time, the Boggart turned into the dead bodies of Molly's loved ones. Harry watched as Ron's body stared blank and unseeing before turning into the likes of Ginny, Arthur, and Harry himself, all while Molly screamed in desperation on the floor. It was a horrible moment that fans felt was hard enough to see in the mind's eye, let alone in a movie.
Peter Pettigrew Choking Himself to Death
In the Deathly Hallows movie, Peter Pettigrew was comically knocked out by Dobby in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, but that is far from how the events went down in the books. Instead, when Pettigrew came to check on the prisoners, he found Harry trying to escape and attempted to kill him.
Harry reminded Pettigrew that he owed him a life debt, which was enough to make the man hesitate. This triggered the silver hand that had been gifted to him by Voldemort to turn on him, punishing his weakness and Mercy. The Potter's betrayer died a slow, agonizing death as he was choked by his own hand, and Harry and Ron could do nothing to stop it.
Snape's Violent Death
Snape's death was certainly not pretty in the movies, but it was nothing short of grotesque in the Deathly Hallows book. Since Voldemort believed Snape to be the master of the Elder Wand, he did not believe that he could use it to kill him. So, he used his snake instead and left the potions master to bleed to death.
When Harry approached him, Snape had blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Suddenly, the silver substance that holds memories started leaking out of Snape's every orifice as well. While the book scene effectively left readers gaping, voters agreed that that level of gore could have potentially distracted from Snape's twist ending in the Harry Potter movie.
Fred And George's Extreme Bullying
Fred and George are a common favorite among Harry Potter fans, but it is hard to ignore that their jokes often border on bullying. In one instance, in particular, the twins trapped a Slytherin boy within a cabinet and left him there for several days.
While they didn't know that this was actually a broken Vanishing Cabinet that wound up half transporting the boy to Borgin & Burkes, they still gave very little care to the fact that the boy could have died had he not managed to get free. The magical device became essential to the plot of Half-Blood Prince but had the moment been included in the Order of the Phoenix movie, voters thought it might have lost the Weasley twins some fans.
Grayback's Lust For Adolescent Girls
Fenrir Greyback was already a disturbing character in the movies, but he could have been much worse. Not only was he a werewolf who loved the taste of human flesh even when he wasn't transformed by the full moon, but, in the books, he had a particular taste for young girls.
In Half-Bood Prince and Deathly Hallows, Greyback described girl children as the softest and tastiest. He relished the idea of being allowed to do with Hermione whatever he pleased after being tortured by Bellatrix. Audiences have believed that it is insinuated that Greyback's interest was not just in a meal, and the implication of his disturbing appetite made Greyback the most unsettling character of the Harry Potter books according to a large number of fans.