Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone if you’re used to the American version of the book) was the book that started it all. While this book might be smaller and a little less complicated than some of the other Harry Potter books, it’s still an essential read because it’s the foundation of everything we know and love about the wizarding world. As such, there are a lot of important details that are exclusive to the book.
While many things from the book are in the movie, there are also some differences and things that were left out. Here are 10 things from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that won’t make a lot of sense if you didn’t read the books.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HERMIONE HAVING KNOWLEDGE OUTSIDE OF THE WIZARDING WORLD
While the movies definitely focus a lot on Hermione Granger's intelligence, they do ignore one important detail about her intellect. While Hermione is definitely smart and great at magic, she also has intellectual skills that she gained in the Muggle world.
These skills in critical thinking and logic are essential in the book when she uses them to solve the potions riddle that are guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone. Leaving this detail out definitely ignored something important and special about her as a character.
WHAT HAPPENS TO BABY NORBERT
Originally in the book, a good amount of time is focused on baby Norbert, a newly-hatched dragon who Hagrid cared for. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are basically left to figure out a way to get Norbert away without getting Hagrid in trouble.
In the movie version, it’s basically just said that Norbert is taken away and there’s not much explanation given. But in the book, Harry and Hermione carry Norbert to the top tower of Hogwarts where they give him to Charlie Weasley.
WHY HERMIONE KNEW THAT JAMES PLAYED QUIDDITCH
This is one detail in this Harry Potter movie that actually doesn’t exist in the book at all. In the movie, Hermione knows all about James Potter and that he was a seeker for Grynddinor during his time as a student in Hogwarts. Thing is, this didn’t happen in the book at all.
Harry doesn’t learn about his dad’s Quidditch career from Hermione, and in fact, it’s never revealed in the books what James’ position on the team actually was. This was just something that was added in the movies.
WHAT HAPPENED TO QUIRRELL
This might be one of the key differences between the book version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the movie version. In the film adaptation, it’s implied that Harry touching Quirrel is so powerful that it kills him. How and why this is so is left up in the air.
However, in the books, it’s not really explained what happens to Quirrel until much later on. Originally, he didn’t die until Voldemort left his body. This explanation of Quirrell's death is somewhat off in the movie, and it isn’t focused on that much.
WHY VERNON TOOK THE FAMILY TO A HUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN
When the letters from Hogwarts start coming to the Dursleys' residence, Vernon begins to have a breakdown over it. However, in the movie, it seems that Vernon leaves his house and takes his family straight to the middle of the ocean to escape the flood of letters. In short, this seems like an extreme reaction.
However, in the books, it doesn’t go down like this. In fact, the letters are a much bigger problem, and they head to a hotel room first before trying to go somewhere more remote.
DOES HOGWARTS HAVE A LIBRARIAN?
This isn't necessarily a big thing, but it’s definitely a question that a viewer might have when watching the film. There are quite a few characters from the books that aren't big or important enough to make it into the movies, and Hogwarts’ librarian, Madam Pince, is one of them.
While it does seem like the library has no one guarding it, this actually isn’t the case. Sadly, however, Madam Pince isn’t a very kind or helpful librarian at all. Maybe it was better to leave her out entirely.
SNAPE’S IMPORTANCE IN PROTECTING THE SORCERER'S STONE
While both the book and movie set up the fact that Snape seems to be the bad guy, the book does a better job of explaining why Snape wasn’t. All of the ways that Snape was trying to protect the Stone are made clear in the books, but they aren't as focused on in the movies, thus making his actual motives a lot vaguer.
In fact, Snape made one of the most important rooms tasked with protecting the Stone in the first place.
RON IS MORE USEFUL THAN HE SEEMS
While in the movies Ron Weasley is often used a lot to provide comedic relief, he has a lot more to offer than that. He is definitely funny in the books, too, but he has a much more important role to Harry and Hermione. This is made clear in Philosopher’s Stone when he tells Hermione to use magic to stop the Devil’s Snare.
But in the movie, it’s Hermione who is cool-headed, not Ron. This is a big character different because it leaves out that Ron can sometimes be the group's grounding presence.
THE TRUE ANIMOSITY BETWEEN HOGWARTS HOUSES
While it’s clear that Slytherins aren’t loved very much by the other houses (especially Gryfindor), the movies don’t really explain just how much the Hogwarts houses are at odds with one another. While the other three houses that aren’t Slytherin are sometimes friendly to one another on any other day, the House Cup often turns students against each other.
For example, when Harry, Hermione, and Neville lose a bunch of points, the other houses are mad because they don’t want Slytherin to win again.
JUST HOW POORLY THE DURSLEYS TREATED HARRY
It’s fairly obvious even in the film that the Dursleys are pretty cruel to Harry. They keep him in a cupboard under the stairs after all. However, the finer details of just how they mistreated him are not explored.
First of all, the movies don’t reveal that the Dursleys always had a second room but instead kept all of Dudley’s old toys in there. The movie also doesn’t explain that the Dursleys rarely let Harry do anything fun, made him do chores, and neglected him in so many other ways.