Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

/ Steph

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This may just be my favorite tag yet, so thank you Rachel at pace, amore, libri for tagging me! Harry Potter is my favorite book series in the universe and it’s had a huge part in making me the person I am today. It’s brought me so much joy. Happy 20th anniversary, Harry ❤

GENERAL

1. Favourite book?

Prisoner of Azkaban or Deathly Hallows. Azkaban probably wins by a hair, but for more sentimental reasons. That book is just the definition of a comfort read for me. I mean, all of them are, but. Azkaban.

2. Least favourite book?

Ahhh probably Sorcerer’s Stone. I still love it, I just like the rest more. I’ve probably read Sorcerer’s Stone the most out of all of them, though (in many aborted rereads of the series).

3. Favourite movie?

Prisoner of Azkaban. I was distraught with disappointment the first time I saw it, but somehow it grew on me and I love the darkness, even though it’s so not the vibe I get from the book. I think it’s just a tone I enjoy in generaI. And for sentimental reasons again. When it was released, I would come home from school in 6th grade and watch the trailer over and over again on the offical Harry Potter movie website (I don’t think YouTube was around then???).

4 Least favourite movie?

Half-Blood Prince. I despise that movie. I’ve seen it only like twice and I want it erased from my brain.

5 Favourite quote?

It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.

6. Favourite Weasley?

Arthur. He cracks me up. And is just such a wholesome person and father.

Bonus favorite Arthur quote:

Madame Delacour glided forward and stooped to kiss Mrs. Weasley too. “Enchant´ee,” she said. ”Your ’usband ’as been telling us such amusing stories!”

Mr. Weasley gave a maniacal laugh; Mrs. Weasley threw him a look, upon which he became immediately silent and assumed an expression appropriate to the sickbed of a close friend.

7. Favourite female character?

Hermione! She’s got such a fierce heart and I love what an incredibly quick thinker she is. That part at Bathilda’s house?? The entirety of Order of the Phoenix?? Dang.

8. Favourite villain?

Voldemort, but the younger Tom Riddle version of him. The flashbacks in Half-Blood Prince are some of my favorite parts of the books. But I guess that amounts to Voldemort as a whole, so, Voldemort. I’m just fascinated by how he became Voldemort.

9. Favourite male character?

It’s always a toss up between Harry and Neville for me. Harry because he’s just so good and he’s SASSY and his bravery is so full of heart, and just- the whole end of Deathly Hallows. Neville I love because he’s softer and I adore his character development, and he always strikes a chord with me because I identify with him on a certain level.

10. Favourite professor?

Lupin.

WOULD YOU RATHER

11. A, Wash Snape’s hair, or B, spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself.

Definitely B, spend a day listening to Lockhart. Lockhart is hilarious. I remember laughing out loud when I read Chamber of Secrets the first time when I was 9 years old. “Do you live here?” Literally I was in hysterics .

12. A, duel an elated Bellatrix, or B, an angry Molly

Molly. I don’t think I’d have a great chance of survival against either of them, but I’d succumb much faster under Bellatrix. She’d terrify me.

13. Travel to Hogwarts via A. Hogwarts Express or B. flying car.

Hogwarts Express. I’d much rather spend a day eating sweets from the trolly and hanging out with my friends on a magical train, and it only comes once a year! I’ll fly a car another time.

14. A, Kiss Voldemort. Or B, give Umbridge a bubble bath.

Kiss Voldemort. Over and done. Unless maybe he kills me or something. But still.

15. A, ride a hippogriff, B, ride a firebolt

Firebolt, I’d love to ride flying broomstick. And I’d be much more in control. I really have no interest in riding a hippogriff.

BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATION

16. Is there a character which you felt differently about in the movies vs books?

Oh man, very many, and I really want to steal Rachel’s answer about Ginny, but I’ll go with an an opinion that may be unpopular- I really dislike movie Neville from movie 5 on. My main issue is they made him all preachy about braveness, whereas in the books he just…does it. No speeches, no fanfare. He just does what needs to be done. Kill the snake? Kill the snake.

17. Is there a movie you preferred instead of the book?

Heck no.

18. Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?

Richard Harris. I don’t like Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore at all.

19. Your top thing (person or event) which wasn’t included in the movie that annoyed you most.

Again, I could go on for hours about this question.  My biggest annoyance of all the movies was that they had Harry say goodbye to Ron and Hermione before he went into the forest in Deathly Hallows Part II instead of going alone. In the book, Harry very purposefully doesn’t seek them out because he knows they’d try to stop him, and it would weaken his resolve. “He felt he would have given all the time remaining to him for just one last look at them; but then, would he ever have the strength to stop looking? It was better like this.” It makes the whole thing SO MUCH more emotional.

I refuse to believe Ron and Hermione would let him go without a fight, or let him go at all, and I HATE how they let him go so easily in the movie. And THEN to make it worse they have Harry hug only Hermione while Ron stands 5 feet away watching them?? First of all, what the heck, second of all, Harry and Ron are best friends. They’d hug. If such a scenario were to occur.

It disappoints me because the moment Harry realizes what he needs to and that he needs to do it alone is incredibly poignant to me, and it’s such an important moment for Harry’s character. And the part where he stops to talk to Neville…I was so hoping they’d get that in there. OKAY. Rant over. Let me know your thoughts on this, I’m curious.

20. If you could remake any of the Potter movies, which would it be?

Half-Blood Prince. They tried too hard with the humor and Ginny was terrible and Slughorn was blah and Michael Gambon as Dumbledore was just no. Everything was wrong and it all felt so anticlimactic.

BUT Order of the Phoenix is a close second because it severely pains me that they didn’t include Harry screaming and hurling things around Dumbledore’s office. Get me that scene ASAP.

HOGWARTS

21. Which house was your first gut feeling you’d be a part of?

Hufflepuff.

22. Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottemore (or another online sorting quiz)?

Hufflepuff.

23. Which class would be your favourite?

Hmmm maybe charms? Or Transfiguration, but I feel like I’d have a harder time with that. And shhhhh I’d totally love History of Magic. Just maybe not taught by Professor Binns. But especially if I was a muggle born I’d find magical history fascinating (I love the history JK Rowling put on Pottermore).

24. Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn?

Oh man. Most useful? Accio probably. Or maybe those cooking spells where they just like, twirl their wands and food comes together in the air.

25. Which character do you think at Hogwarts you’d instantly become best friends with?

Dean Thomas seems pretty chill and easy going, I think we’d get along well, though I’d probably think he was too cool for me at first.

MISCELLANEOUS

26. If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?

Invisibility cloak. I’d love to be invisible. So much free travel.

27. Is there any aspect of the books you’d want to change? This can be a character, an event, anything.

Albus Severus’s name. And all Harry’s kids’ names. Come on now, Harry. And the epilogue was pretty corny in general.

28. Favourite marauder?

Remus for sure. I feel like I don’t know James in enough depth to choose him, and Sirius got on my nerves a lot.

29. If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be?

Okay, so even though the deaths were painful it made the books so good? But my heart goes with Fred. If I want to be more generous, though, Lupin or Tonks so Teddy has a parent.

30. Hallows or horcruxes?

Hallows. My soul is staying in one piece, thank you very much.

I’m tagging anyone who loves Harry Potter and thinks this would be fun!! Please make sure to tag me, I love Harry Potter opinions 🙂

18 thoughts on “Ultimate Harry Potter Tag”

  1. Ahhhh I love your answers, even the ones where we don’t agree I totally get where you’re coming from. Like the PoA film – I do actually get why people like that one even though I hate it, but when people say they love the OotP film I’m just like ????

    And I actually don’t mind the HBP film, but I think it’s because that’s hands down my least favorite book so I can never find it in me to get incensed about all the changes they made. It’s not my favorite film or anything, I just find it kind of inoffensive.

    AHHH THAT QUOTE. SO GOOD.

    I know what you mean about Neville in the films! That always bugged me too! Neville’s always been one of my favorite characters, but his character growth in the books is so subtle whereas the last couple of films bash you over the head with it.

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    • I could definitely go on about all the ways they messed up PoA with the movie (nothing in the Shrieking Shack is explained???), but I think that movie also had a big part in lowering my expectations for future movies in really getting the details of the narrative straight. I don’t know how anyone who hasn’t read the books can really stand watching the movies after the first two, I feel like it would just turn into a a mess of disjointed plot points.

      I really love HBP so that’s really why I’m so offended by the movie, hahah. Perhaps on it’s own it’s fine, but compared to the book it felt slow and emotionless to me. Like there was some weird disconnect between the action and the way the actors responded to it.

      Exactly!! And what I love about Neville is that so much of his development is seen through his actions and reactions. I really, really dislike that speech he has in front of Voldemort at the end of the last movie. It was just too “heroic moment” and I refuse to believe that book Voldemort wouldn’t have just struck him down then and there. Voldemort only has time for his own speeches.

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      • I am firmly in the camp of ‘a good adaptation doesn’t necessarily mean it copies the book scene-by-scene’ so I totally get that! I could write a novel about all the things DH2 did wrong, but it’s still my favorite film, because I think the tone was just perfect. It’s so subjective, but adapting books to screen is such an art form. I hate when people are sticklers for getting EVERY SINGLE SCENE from the books into the films – you’d literally have an 18 hour long movie. Some stuff has to get cut. GoF was actually that film for me, where I realized that the films don’t have to be perfect copies of the books, and in a way I actually prefer when they’re not. Like, DH1 was such a faithful adaptation for the most part that I kind of felt like… what is the point of this movie? I could just be rereading the book instead? The movies have to add something to justify their choice in being made into visual media. I have a lot of feelings about how it’s so much more difficult to condense a 600 page book to a 2 hour long film than people realize.

        I also don’t get how people can follow the movies who haven’t read the books. There is literally no cohesion to them, even all the ones that Yates directed.

        Totally fair re: HBP, you’re right that it was very emotionless. I don’t actually remember a lot about that movie, but interestingly the scenes that stick out to me are ones I really enjoyed – Tom Felton’s entire performance, Hermione crying on the stairs, Harry drunk on Felix Felicis. But I remember there being a lot I also didn’t like, I just can’t remember it as clearly. It’s weird, there are some HP movies I’ve seen probably at least 50 times and others I’ve seen like twice.

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      • Oh definitely! It’s all about getting the tone and the heart of the book right, and the overall message. I don’t mind if they change some stuff here or there as long as they get that right, and it can be really fun to watch a cinematic interpretation of a scene that veers from the book. Because exactly- why watch it on screen when I can just read it and watch it in my head? I’m just a stickler for getting the essence of a character right, and it really niggles at me when they a character portrayal feels off, usually because of the writing. I don’t mind if movies add or change all that they want, as long as they have the characters react in-character. And that can be really fun, to see characters engage with something new on-screen that we didn’t experience in the book. And it can add to a character. It just pains me when I feel like a movie missed the mark with characters, moreso than plot. BUT then again, everyone has their own interpretations of characters, and you’re right- so much work goes into turning a giant book into a movie, I think it’s easy to be unfair toward the movie makers sometimes. I think my biggest overall criticism is that they throw out lots of details that they don’t really do much with, kind of like they’re just trying to fit them in so fans will be happy, but it makes it messy instead.

        Oh man, yes, I will definitely give Tom Felton all the credit for what I did enjoy about HBP. He was fantastic. The bathroom scene, the part where he’s trying to work up the nerve to kill Dumbledore- YES. But lol these are the exact moments I think of when I think of the stronger parts of this movie, particularly Hermione crying! But a lot of the rest of it just feels like empty space in my memory. I don’t even remember the Harry/Ginny parts. And yes- I feel like I could have the scripts for some of the HP movies memorized and then others I’ve only seen a few times.

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      • TOTALLY I am the same way about needing to get the essence of characters right. It is probably not coincidental that we both prefer character driven stories to plot driven stories too.

        I always wish we could redo the HP movies but with (mostly) the same cast. Because for the most part I really love this cast and I have such a sentimental attachment to them, but the films are just a mess all around. I wish we could have the same director for all of them so there would be one cohesive vision, rather than the disjointed films we ended up with. That said, there are definitely some people I’d want to recast. I’ll never get over how they aged up the Marauders and Snape, when half the tragedy of Lily and James’ death was how young they were.

        Hahaha I don’t remember any of the Harry/Ginny parts from that film either! Oh, I guess they had that awkward kiss in the Room of Requirement?!

        I just remembered the scene where they burned down the Burrow, too. I had totally forgotten that. Who told them that was a good idea.

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      • Ahhh YES the same director would have probably solved so many continuity problems. I wonder if it would have helped preserve some of the character acting, like Ron. And to have all the films have the same tone would be WONDERFUL. Going from the 2nd to 3rd movie feels like whiplash.

        Ahhh oh my gosh that awkward scene in the room of requirement. I was never super into Ginny and Harry but honestly they were done 0 justice. Their book kiss was great, at least. And like I said I’m all about mixing up and adding scenes, but that Burrow scene felt like it took up valuable space that could have been fulfilling things that DID happen in the book.

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  4. Richard Harris is exponentially better than Michael Gambon. Also, as a twin, I’d totally bring Fred back to life too–living without your twin sounds like the worst thing ever. Loved this post, I may have to do it too sometime! 🙂

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  6. I may or may not have to steal this tag from you xD

    OK I totally agree how they portrayed Harry’s walk to his death wrong in the movies because YES it was important for Harry not to say anything to his best friends because they would PLEAD for him not to go and it would have made it so much more difficult for Harry to do what needed to be done.

    And yes about Prisoner of Azkaban being the most sentimental book/movie – it was the first of the series that I read so it holds a lot of value for me in that regard!

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    • Please do!!! I’d love to see your answers! Oh my gosh, I’ll never be over Harry walking to himself in the DH movie, I remember watching for the first time in the theater and my heart shriveling inside…I’m glad we agree!!

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