Adapting a popular book into a film is never easy, especially when the story features the death of an iconic character. The Harry Potter series faced this challenge when adapting Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The sixth installment balances dark drama, comedy, and romance better than any other book in the series.
The film does a good job capturing this tonal balance from the source material. However, there are some intriguing and noticeable differences between the content of the book and film. Most notably, some characters' roles are expanded while other characters are cut entirely. Check out these changes and more with these 10 differences between The Half-Blood Prince book and film.
The Prime Minister Scene
The first chapter of the novel is told from the perspective of the Muggle Prime Minister. He is visited by the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge throughout the years, particularly to inform him of magical events that impact the Muggle world. In his final meeting with Fudge, the Prime Minister meets the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour.
Scrimgeour informs the Prime Minister that events like the collapse of a famous bridge, a vicious hurricane, and two thoroughly publicized murders are actually the work of Voldemort and his followers. The Prime Minister also learns that his reliable secretary Kingsley Shacklebolt is an Auror who has been placed there for his protection. The Prime Minister is never shown in the movie. Instead, the movie shows events like the bridge collapsing that are merely referenced in the Prime Minister's conversation with Scrimgeour.
No Dursleys
Every Harry Potter book has Harry stuck at the Dursleys before he enters the magical world. The Half-Blood Prince is no exception, as Harry is at the Dursleys until Albus Dumbledore arrives and takes Harry with him.
The Dursleys don't appear in the movie at all, though. Harry is instead seen at a railway station café reading the Daily Prophet and flirting with a waitress before Dumbledore arrives and whisks him away.
Who Rescues Harry From The Hogwarts Express
Draco Malfoy leaves Harry in a Full Body-Bind Curse and trapped beneath the Invisibility Cloak aboard the Hogwarts Express. It seems unlikely that anyone will find an invisible and immobilized Harry, and he is powerless to stop the train from taking him back to London.
In the novel, Nymphadora Tonks is the one to find Harry in this situation, as she noticed he never got off the train. In the movie, Luna Lovegood finds him as she is wearing her spectrespecs and sees Wrackspurts, which makes her realize that there must be a person hidden out of sight.
Missing Memories
Dumbledore spends a great deal of time showing Harry a variety of memories via the Pensieve during The Half-Blood Prince. The movie includes the memory of Dumbledore meeting young Tom Riddle at the orphanage and Horace Slughorn's memory where Riddle asks him about Horcruxes.
The movie does not include many of the memories that Dumbledore shows Harry in the book. Viewers don't get to see the memory at the Gaunt shack featuring Tom Riddle's mother Merope Gaunt. They don't get to see Tom Riddle visiting Hepzibah Smith as she shows him Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket, nor do they get to see Voldemort returning to Hogwarts and requesting that he be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
When Ron First Becomes The Gryffindor Keeper
Ron first becomes the Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. None of the book's Quidditch scenes or storylines are included in the film adaptation, though.
Thus, in the films, Ron first becomes Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in The Half-Blood Prince. The Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts play out the same way in the book and the film. That being said, there's a somewhat different context surrounding the tryouts in the two mediums, as in the book Ron has already been on the team and helped them win the Quidditch Cup, while the movie has him fighting to be on the team for the first time.
No Scrimgeour
The new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour is introduced to readers in the opening chapter with the Muggle Prime Minister. He also appears at the Burrow later in the story to meet with Harry in the hopes of working together, although Harry rebukes this offer and puts Scrimgeour in his place.
Scrimgeour does not appear in the movie at all, though. Bill Nighy was cast to play Scrimgeour in The Half-Blood Prince, but he was cut from the film and isn't seen in the role until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
Bellatrix And Greyback Attack The Burrow
The film includes a sequence where Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback attack the Burrow. Harry chases after Bellatrix and Ginny, Lupin, and Tonks follow to help him. Bellatrix and Greyback Disapparate and on their way out they set the Burrow on fire.
No such sequence exists in the book. There are many protective enchantments around the Burrow and there is never even a hint of Bellatrix, Greyback, or any of Voldemort's other followers getting close enough to infiltrate the area.
How Harry Hides In The Astronomy Tower
Harry is forced to hide while Draco Malfoy and other Death Eaters confront Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, and there is an important difference in how Harry hides in the book versus the film.
In the book, Dumbledore immobilizes Harry with a Full Body-Bind Curse while he's underneath the Invisibility Cloak. This makes Harry invisible to Draco and the Death Eaters and also powerless to move and do anything to help. In the movie, Dumbledore just tells Harry to hide. Harry is not invisible or immobilized but just stays out of sight. Harry and Snape even see each other and Snape motions for him to stay quiet.
Bellatrix's Involvement During The Battle Of The Astronomy Tower
The only time Bellatrix appears in The Half-Blood Prince novel is when she and Narcissa go to Snape's house, where Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow. Bellatrix is given a larger role in the film. Not only do she and Greyback attack the Burrow, but she is also among the Death Eaters who Draco smuggles into Hogwarts via the Vanishing Cabinet.
Bellatrix is depicted as the Death Eaters' leader during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. She urges Draco to kill Dumbledore and witnesses Snape kill him instead. She also lays waste to parts of Hogwarts, sets Hagrid's hut on fire, and attacks Harry before Snape tells her to leave him alone as he belongs to the Dark Lord. In the book, it is the Death Eater Thorfinn Rowle who sets fire to Hagrid's hut.
Dumbledore's Funeral
Readers get to see Dumbledore's funeral with Hogwarts professors, current and former students, Order of the Phoenix members, centaurs, Merpeople, Ministry of Magic officials, and individuals from all walks of life as they come to pay their respects to the legendary wizard.
No funeral is shown in the film, although Dumbledore's tomb is seen at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as Voldemort breaks into it to take the Elder Wand for himself.