FAQ

When she knelt down over Harry she could tell he was still alive because of reasons revealed later in the movie. Her question was to Harry asking him if Draco was still alive. That's why Harry nodded yes. It's at this point that her loyalties to Voldemort began to waver, so she lied and told him Harry was dead.

Because a jinx was placed on the name Voldemort. Anyone who said his name would instantly reveal their location.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry students Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermoine Granger (Emma Watson) continue their search to find and destroy the evil Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) three remaining horcruxes, the magical items responsible for his immortality.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) is the final book of the Harry Potter series, written by British author J.K. Rowling. The novel was adapted for the movie by American screenwriter Steve Kloves. The movie was preceded by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (2009), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) (2010).

Although producers thought of splitting the each of movie in the series into two parts, the books were adapted to movies mainly by deleting certain characters and subplots that served as background and were not critical to the plot. The makers felt that this was impossible for Deathly Hallows, as most of the subplots and trivial characters are eventually tied to the conclusion. Also, to give the series and each character's story a proper closure, the producers felt that they should not even try to cram all that information into a single film so the decision of a two-parter was made. Also, if they would have made it into one film to fit in the details needed, it would be nearly six hours long.

Voldemort split his soul into eight pieces, creating seven horcruxes (the eighth part being his own soul). In the previous movies, Harry, Ron and Dumbledore destroyed three horcruxes: Tom Riddle's Diary (in Chamber of Secrets), the Gaunt's ring (in Half-Blood Prince), and Salazar Slytherin's locket (in Deathly Hallows: Part 1). That brings the total amount of the remaining horcruxes to four. Before, it had been referred to as there being six horcruxes and a seventh thing which Voldemort's soul was hidden in that Harry must discover, as Dumbledore thought Harry would not be able to handle the fact that he himself was a horcrux.

We already know of Harry's romance with Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) as well as the romance budding between Ron and Hermione. However, little time is spent dwelling on how this grows in the actual film. Also, the film deviates from the book by suggesting a romance between Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) and Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch). Rowling has previously described Luna's future lovelife, which does not involve Neville; so in other interviews the Luna-Neville romance is explained as a "summer fling" in order to remain canonical.

Jamie Waylett, the actor who played Crabbe, was arrested for marijuana possession in 2009. Unable to reprise his role, Waylett's character Crabbe was written out of the final film. In the book, it is actually Crabbe who uses fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement and dies because he is unable to control it. The screenwriters changed this to Gregory Goyle (Josh Herdman) for the film. Blaise Zabini (Louis Cordice) is the other Slytherin student who accompanies Draco and Goyle in the Room of Requirement. He appears occasionally in Half-Blood Prince.

In Deathly Hallows: Part 1, a silver doe patronus leads Harry to the hidden Sword of Gryffindor. In this film, we find out that the patronus belonged to Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). In the book, Snape discovers Harry's location because Hermione has a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black in her bag. The trio frequently had discussions with Phineas, who also had a portrait hanging in the Headmaster's Office in Hogwarts. After overhearing the trio mention their whereabouts, Phineas told Snape. Without Phineas in the films, there is no obvious way for Snape to have found Harry. It is suggested that Aberforth Dumbledore (Ciarán Hinds) gave Snape the information. Right before Harry sees the silver doe in the forest, he is looking into the mirror shard that Aberforth used to watch over Harry. Presumably, Aberforth recognized Harry's location and notified Snape. This would be unlikely as it would cast either Aberforth as a turncoat or would imply that against all logic he knew Snape's secret. Another explanation could be that Snape heard about Ron's capture and subsequent escape from the Snatchers; perhaps he had secretly put a Tracking spell on Ron, enabled his escape, and when realizing that Ron was about to find Harry and Hermione through his Deluminator, sent his Patronus for both Ron and Harry to see. This explanation depends of course on Snape's ability to find out about Ron's capture and secretly putting an undetectable Trace on him. It is even conceivable that the Deluminator itself can be traced; Dumbledore's portrait could have told Snape how to do this. A third possibility is suggested by the book, where a Patronus charm can be used as a messenger; Arthur Weasley sends one to Ron while he hides in Grimmauld Place, without knowing that Ron would be there. It suggests that either Arthur sent his Patronus to all possible hiding locations or that a Patronus can be sent out to search a particular person. Snape might have done the same by intentionally directing his Patronus to Harry without knowing the location. This explanation depends on the possibility that a Patronus could be used as such. If this is the case, it is no ordinary display of magic, because it would enable any wizard to find another person, by simply sending out a Patronus. Perhaps Snape's highly developed talent for Legilimency was also helpful?

Priori Incantatem is not simply connecting beams of spells. It is rare magic that occurs when brother wands are forced to battle, while it does result in the charms fired connecting, it also results in a dome of light surrounding the two duelling wizards (in the books it also moves them away from the crowd of Deatheaters). There is a point that the spells meet, and when this is pushed back into either wand, it will force echoes of that wand's previous spells to appear. This only happens once in the entire series of 8 movies: When Voldemort duels Harry in the graveyard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Remember that Harry's wand with the core of the Phoenix feather was identical to Voldemort's, as mentioned in the first book and movie, the wand chooses the wizard, and because it turns out that Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, they ended up with "twin wands". (Voldemort used his wand to kill Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce (the Muggle caretaker of the Riddle house), and James and Lily Potter and echoes of these people come out of Voldemort's wand and help Harry escape.) What has confused people, is that in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, an artistic decision was made to have the Dumbledore & Voldemort duel appear more visually impressive and take advantage of the scene being shot in IMAX by having the lava-like connection of spells (such a connection does not occur in the books). This was not priori incantatem. But the effect has remained in the following movies. The key difference being that there is no dome of light, and no echoes being forced from wands due to the meeting point of spells being forced into one of the wands. The only instance of a spell being forced into a wand is in the instance of the start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 when Voldemort uses Lucius Malfoy's wand, and the wand is destroyed. This was not Priori Incantatem either. Harry does not cast a spell, the wand acts of its own accord (Harry is prone in pain), and destroys Lucius's wand. In the final duel, it is not priori incantatem either, the Elder Wand is refusing to kill its master, Harry, and the avada kedavra curse backfires on Voldemort. Shortly after the novel-release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K Rowling revealed that the core of the Elder Wand was a Thestral tail hair, and the Elder Wand was the only wand in the world that had that kind of core, and because of that the Elder Wand can't create Priori Incantatem with any other wand, because there is no "twin wand".

Harry already has it, because it is the Invisibility Cloak originally given to him by Professor Dumbledore (Richard Harris) in the first film. The book explains that it was probably created by Ignotus Peverell, one of the three brothers mentioned in The Tales of Beedle the Bard as the original owners of the three Deadly Hallows. The Cloak was passed onto his descendants and ended up in the hands of Harry's father, and finally Harry, as the last of Ignotus' blood line. The Cloak has an absolute invisibility, which does not wear out over time (like common invisibility cloaks do) and is shielded from most magic. Parallel to this, the Resurrection Stone was passed onto the descendants of its original owner, Cadmus Peverell, of whom Voldemort is the last descendant. Harry very likely keeps his Cloak in Hermione's bag. He uses it to stay invisible with Griphook (Warwick Davis) when they enter Gringotts Bank, attempting to get into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault.

This film is spoken mostly in English with some characters speaking Parseltongue in some scenes. During the scene where Voldemort finds out Gringott's was robbed, he speaks Parseltongue to his snake Nagini, with on screen subtitles. In the scene where Ron and Hermione go to the chamber of secrets to destroy Helga Hufflepuff's cup, Ron speaks "open" in Parseltongue to get in. Generally only Parselmouths (Voldemort, Harry Potter, Salazar Slytherin, and Marvolo, Morfin, and Merope Gaunt) can speak Parseltongue. Ron Weasley isn't a Parseltongue but he merely muttered the Parseltongue word for "open" which he remembered from Harry speaking it. Ginny Weasley also isn't a Parseltongue but was able to speak it to open the chamber of secrets various times while possessed by Voldemort. Also, Professor Dumbledore can understand (and very possibly, speak) Parseltontgue, such as Goblins' and Mermish languages.

No. Only an intended, malicious act of murder would cause the soul to be ripped apart. In the book, Harry sees another one of Snape's memories, where Snape voices this concern to Dumbledore. Dumbledore reassures Snape by saying that he himself wants to die on his own terms, and that is why Snape must do it as an act of mercy, which will keep Snape's soul intact. He remains reluctant and the actual killing causes him profound difficulty (Dumbledore has to effectively beg Snape to do it), showing that Snape had no intention whatsoever to kill Dumbledore, and therefore his soul will remain whole.

The doe was originally Lily's Patronus. Snape's Patronus took on the same appearance as a reflection of his love for Lily.

Remember that Snape, at this point, is a triple agent: he is, in fact, still loyal to the Order of the Phoenix he supposedly betrayed, and therefore has to convince Voldemort and his fellow Death Eaters that he is on their side. It is quite clear that Death Eaters who outlive their usefulness (such as Lucius Malfoy) quickly fall out of Voldemort's favour. Snape has a role to fulfill until the end, so he needs to walk a delicate line, remaining an asset to the Death Eaters by providing them with valuable information, yet not enough for them to permanently defeat the Order. The books also reveal why Snape was the best person to infiltrate the Death Eaters: due to his uncanny talent for Occlumency; not even Voldemort would be able to read his mind and learn of his true loyalties.

In Snape's first scene, he tells Voldemort when Harry will be leaving the Dursley's home, correcting inaccurate information provided by Yaxley. Snape is also correct in pointing out that the Auror Office is not involved in rescuing Harry, so nobody in a position of authority at the Ministry would know of the plan or its details. These were known only to the small group actually involved in the rescue, so one of them must have been Snape's source. The book's chapter on Snape's memory deals with some of this more fully. The rescue plan is actually Snape's idea, and he passes it on to Mundungus Fletcher using the Imperius Curse. In particular, it is Snape's idea to have six others pose as Harry so that Voldemort will not immediately know which is the real one. In the first half of the film, Snape notably does not give that detail to Voldemort. Voldemort is only able to correctly identify the real Harry because (in the film) Hedwig tries to come to his rescue, sacrificing her life in the process. (In the book it is because Harry refuses to kill Stan Shunpike to defend himself, instead employing the Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus), which the Death Eaters recognize as his "signature move".) Snape also does not give away which safe house Harry will be traveling to, something he should be able to find out quite easily.

The ethereal representation of King's Cross Station where Harry ends up after Voldemort "kills" him, is known in catholic tradition as Limbo; the state between life and death for people who have not yet crossed over to the afterlife. For Harry, it represents a crossroads between life and death, hence it takes shape as King's Cross Station, Harry's personal crossroads between the Muggle and wizarding world.

The reason Harry ends up there has to do with two things. Firstly, Voldemort cannot kill Harry himself due to the blood protection (the "old magic" mentioned by Voldemort in Goblet of Fire), which is detailed in the books but not in the movies. As Harry's mother sacrificed herself for her son, the proximity of her blood gave infant Harry a magical protection and caused the Killing Curse to backfire on Voldemort. Since Harry's blood is similar to his mother's, and Harry's blood in turn was used to resurrect Voldemort, this means that Lily Potter's blood now effectively runs through Voldemort. So this provides Harry with magical protection from death as long as Voldemort is near. Also, as neither Harry nor Voldemort know yet, Harry is the legitimate master of the Elder Wand, so whatever Voldemort tries, this wand will not kill its master, Harry.

Secondly, Harry still has the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside, making him effectively a Horcrux. Voldemort's Killing curse cannot kill Harry, it merely destroys this soul fragment. Whether the weakened curse sends Harry's consciousness into Limbo, pulling Voldemort's with it, or the destruction of the soul fragments drags Harry into Limbo is debatable. Regardless, the stunted, deformed creature that Harry finds there is what remains of Lord Voldemort's soul. As the books explain, killing another person is the ultimate act of evil, one that tears the soul apart. Only a feeling of deep remorse for the killing could mend the soul, but such powerful feelings could also kill the wizard. As Voldemort committed dozens of murders and showed no remorse whatsoever, his soul is maimed and scarred beyond repair, forcing him to exist in Limbo and later the afterlife in this decrepit state.

Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) continues on as gameskeeper. He is mentioned in the epilogue. Harry tells his son that he will be travelling in the boats with Hagrid to the castle.

McGonagall (Maggie Smith) survived the Battle of Hogwarts, and she became Headmistress. The Battle of Hogwarts ended in 1998, and she continued her job until at least 2008, 9 years before the trio's kids came to Hogwarts. There is a different unknown headmaster when the children arrive at Hogwarts.

The movie gives no clear resolution on his fate; in the previous movie, he was Stunned when Harry escaped Malfoy Manor, so technically he was still alive then. However, Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew (Timothy Spall) is nowhere to be seen in the Battle of Hogwarts, which is curious, given his unrelenting loyalty to Voldemort. Although this doesn't provide any conclusive evidence, it is possible that he may have been killed in Malfoy Manor during Voldemort's fit of rage. In the book, however, during Harry's escape, there is a struggle in which Harry reminds Peter that he once spared Pettigrew's life (in Prisoner of Azkaban, when Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) and Remus Lupin (David Thewlis) were about to execute him) and that he owes him his life. After mentioning that, Peter loosens his grip on Harry. Immediately, Peter's artificial hand (the one he got from Voldemort in Goblet of Fire) grabs his owner's throat and strangles himself to death. Presumably, Voldemort must have made it so the hand would kill Peter if he ever disobeys him even in the slightest.