It’s early September and the unofficial Harry Potter season begins. Because every year on September 1st Back To Hogwarts Day celebrated by fans worldwide. The Hogwarts Express traditionally departs from platform 9 3/4 on this date. Maybe you too will start your Harry Potter marathon again now.
Perhaps the best Harry Potter film is The Prisoner of Azkaban. The exciting time travel plot is naturally prone to logic errors – the gross blunderswhich is the subject of this article, occurs much earlier.
What? Harry allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts in Prisoner of Azkaban?
The error: Even in the opening scene, the film contradicts one of the most important rules of the fantasy franchise – underage students are not allowed to do magic outside of school. What Harry does: magic. The camera pans through the logo to his room on Privet Drive at the Dursleys’. Light flickers and Harry whispers several times: “Lumos maxima”, which is the spell that creates light, because Harry is reading under the covers. When Vernon storms into the room, the 13-year-old pretends to be asleep.
The video starts at the Harry Potter 3 opening:
At this point you will find external content from YouTube, which complements the article. You can show it and hide it again with one click.
Why This Harry Potter Mistake Is Particularly Stupid
First: The scene does not appear in the book. You can blame JK Rowling for many things, but she respects the laws of her books, for the most part. In the book, according to Reddit, Harry uses a flashlight.
Secondly: The ban on using magic outside of Hogwarts is particularly present in Harry Potter 3. After all, Harry casts an inflating/levitation spell on his horrid aunt in Act I, committing the mortal sin: casting magic in front of muggles. Only a much bigger problem in the magic world, the outbreak of the alleged criminal Sirius Black, saves him from serious consequences.
Our Harry Potter Ranking
From Garbage to Masterpiece – We Rank All Harry Potter Movies | Ranking
A possible explanation for the error: Lumos or Lumos maxima is considered trivial and not considered “real magic” by the ministry. After all, the spell only conjures up a bit of light. Nobody is endangered, muggles could also mistake the glowing wand for a somewhat strange flashlight.
The much more likely explanation: Director Alfonso Cuarón just loved the magic that opened his film and didn’t give a damn about the Harry Potter rules.
Either way, the error is hardly a problem and doesn’t scratch the film’s status as probably the best representative of the series. Harry Potter 3 is too rich in detail and too important for the whole series for that.
*. . .
What do you think of the error?