15 Major Harry Potter PLOT HOLES

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re discussing PLOT HOLES. It shouldn’t come as any sort of a surprise that, even within the captivating wizarding universe, astute readers and viewers have stumbled upon perplexing plot holes. And these gaps in the narrative, where certain details seem to defy logic or leave unanswered questions, have sparked lively debates among Harry Potter enthusiasts.

Today we’ll embark on a quest to dissect some of the most intriguing plot holes that have left fans scratching their heads. Diving in to these mysteries, examining the inconsistencies and seeking to find plausible explanations or theories that help to reconcile these discrepancies. A few of the more common ‘plot holes’ identified by fans actually have simpler explanations than you may think.

Anyway, I won’t dawdle any longer, let’s dive in to it.

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[hudsonbakke]

For Sirius not escaping Azkaban sooner, if I recall correctly, Sirius never even thought of escaping until he saw Peter in the Weaselys' picture; he used his dog form to stay sane and not lose his mind to the dementors, but didn't even think of the possibility of escaping until he saw the picture and realized he had failed to kill Peter, so the desire to escape kind of came as a realization that he hadn't yet finished what he originally set out to do (which was to kill Peter in revenge for betraying the Potters)

[terakhanthis]

My theory regarding Harry and the Dementors, is that he is a horcrux. He's not just getting his own worst memory, but Voldemort's, as they would likely be the exact same moments. The death of Lily, followed in seconds by the destruction of Voldemort's body.
So he has two souls being affected by the Dementors, and gets a sort of feedback from it, like holding a microphone in front of the speaker its connected to.

[shaaz]

Harry couldn’t have used the mirror to talk to Sirius because he didn’t know about it. He never opened the package and didn’t know what it was until after Sirius had died.

That’s not a plot hole, it’s a plot device. It’s supposed to make Harry feel even more guilty for Sirius’ death considering how easily it could have been avoided.

[Joseph-nbcu]

In the book Harry tried to contact Sirius first but kreacher told him he wasn’t there

[MattWells]

The camera one is fairly easy to explain, it isn't that any muggle technology doesn't work but only electronic devices that don't work at Hogwards (like electronic bugs or walkie-talkies as examples from the series). Harry Potter was based in the 90s, back then cameras were mechanical and chemical which means that they would mostly be unaffected, the flash is the part that may not work as they have been electric for some time. It wasn't until the mid 2000s that digital cameras became the norm and those would not work at around Hogwarts.

[xandervampire]

I think Sirius stayed in Azkaban because despite being innocent, he still blamed himself to some degree. Remember, he was originally going to be the Potter's secret keeper but convinced them to change the plan and make Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper, instead. It's possible that he felt some responsibility for what happened and so stayed in Azkaban as a way of punishing himself for that mistake.

[larryjones]

Here's a question, if Hermione's parents were able to exchange muggle money for wizarding money to buy her school supplies why doesn't Harry ever exchange some of his wizarding money for muggle money when he went home for summer vacation so he'd have money to buy clothes instead of wearing Dudley's old clothes?

[Gjergji]

Here’s one massive plot hole: Wormtail is an animagus who transforms into a small rodent. We need to transport him back to the castle without allowing him to transform into said small rodent. What would the best way to accomplish this be? Could we maybe petrify him? Stun him? Heck, conjure a magical case to confine him, a bit like Voldemort did for Nagini? Naaah, we’ll just use handcuffs, the kind he can easily escape from if he transforms.

[baystated]

I doubt the map had a true password. Rather F&G struck up a conversation with the map until eventually pledging their mischievousness to it, which was good enough for its Marauder authors. If Harry had just told the map that he wanted to prank Snape, it would have revealed itself to him. If a password was truly required, it wouldn't surprise me if the map just offered it up to F&G once it understood their nature.

[KnightoftheKing]

7:59 you also have to remember that Harry already had a vision of Mr. Weasley being in trouble and that turned out to be true. If Harry hadn't taken action like he did Arthur probably would have died and he himself admits that.

So now the same thing is happening with Sirius, Harry has no reason to think this is any different. It makes perfect sense for him to act in haste as he did and for him to not even consider using the mirror.

[THEBOB]

i always rationalised Voldemort not using the vow as if someone betrayed him he didn't want then to just die he wanted to torture them. that and him being to full of himself

[WVsarahham]

Yes, Harry forgot about the mirror but he did try to contact Sirius before he went to the Ministry. He broke into Umbridge’s office so he could use her fire to contact Sirius at Grimmauld Place. Kreacher “answered the fire” (I’m not sure how else to describe it…) and lied to Harry and said Sirius wasn’t there. It was only after Kreacher lied that Harry (plus Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna) went to the Ministry.

[OceanChild]

Seamus Gorman came up with a great idea on Peter Pettigrew not having been spotted by the twins on the map: perhaps only Marauders can see other Marauders on the map. In the book, Harry has never noticed Pettigrew on the map, it was Lupin who did. Knowing the Marauders were up for mischief, making themselves invisible to anyone else would make sense

[alexw]

There’s another explanation for Voldemort not using unbreakable vows: he can’t make an example out of somebody who drops dead. When people turned on him he made a point of torturing them and everyone around them, either directly or though his followers. His horrific acts are why people became afraid of him to the point of not even saying his name, and he used that fear to control people whether they followed him or not.

[anthonyjohnson]

i love how the explanation of Harry not witnessing his parents dying as a baby so therefore can not understand death and then in the very next element talks about the trauma of harry witnessing his parents death and why the Dementors effect him. lol

[chipowow]

Another plothole: lack of refereeing in the quidditch matches.

Harry's broom is bewitched by Quirrell to try and kick him off?
Madam Hooch: I sleep

Rogue bludger attacks Harry the entire game?
Madam Hooch: I sleep

Hundreds of dementors invade the pitch (yes the book specifically says at least ONE HUNDRED)
Madam Hooch: I sleep

[arinerm]

In my view, the most glaring plothole of the series is the Seven Potters ploy to remove Harry from Privet Drive. There is a loosely related plothole about Hermione, but they corrected hers in the movie. Harry could simply have walked away under the Invisibility Cloak, which was still in his possession and would have hidden him from death itself. Upon reaching a reasonable distance, he could have used any transportation he wanted.

[gameschadwick]

Have you read Order of the Phoenix? In the Summer before Harry’s fifth year, Sirius gave Harry a gift. Sirius told Harry to use this when he needs him. So Harry put the gift with the rest of his stuff and forgot about it. Over the course of the school year when Harry needed to contact Sirius, he wrote him letters or used a fireplace to speak to him through the flu network. When Harry has the vision, he snuck into Umbridge’s office to use her unmonitored fireplace to check if Sirius was at home. Kreature answered and lied to Harry and said Sirius was not there. Then all of the stuff at the ministry happened and Sirius died. When Harry was putting his stuff back together at the end of the school year, he found the gift. He opened it and it was the two way mirror. The communication method was not “established earlier in the series”. Harry didn’t even know it existed. Yes he had the method but he didn’t know because he never opened the gift. But during all the times Harry and Sirius communicated in other methods during Harry’s fifth year, Sirius should have told Harry to open the gift and use the mirror.

[Dreadjaws]

1 - Voldemort's ego seems to be the de facto reason for why he keeps screwing up, so it's a perfectly reasonable explanation
2 - A good theory is that the Marauders are visible only to themselves on the map, which tracks with their behavior. And while Harry does see Peter this is only a thing in the movie, so not really a plot hole in the book and, in any case, him being the son of one of the Marauders might let him see them too.
3 - Are we sure Alohomora is taught to first year students? Hermione knows the spell, but she's known precisely for being able to master advanced magic.
4 - Cameras are a thing in the wizarding world. Wizards take pictures all the time. How is this a plot hole? Muggle technology isn't useless in Hogwarts, _electronics_ are, and Colin is using and old film camera, not a digital one. While a camera's flashbulb requires an electrical contact to work it doesn't use any complicated circuitry.
5 - A popular theory for this is that the Marauders specifically planted the map in Filch's office as a way to let a new generation of troublemakers make good use of it. The map was likely enchanted to hint about its use to those who were willing to use it for mischief, kinda like how Dumbledore enchanted the mirror of Erised to read into the looker's intentions.
6 - The trace isn't really inconsistent, it's just extraordinarily ineffective for its main purpose, but otherwise it works as intended. Sure, we're not told about any effects when members of the Order use it, but it's very likely they could just have alerted the Ministry that they were going to move Harry out of the premises. While they weren't getting along at the time, it would have made sense to do so precisely to avoid more trouble for Harry, since he was already put in trial. Same when Arthur visited the Dursleys in the previous year. Since he had already connected their fireplace to the Floo network it's clear they knew he'd be the one doing magic there.
7 - Absolutely not a plot hole. The book makes it very clear that Harry simply forgot the mirror existed and he was the only one besides Sirius to know it existed. Hell, Harry had never even used the mirror before, so he had no reason to think of it.
8 - Only really a plot hole in the movie, and the entire Fantastic Beasts trilogy is full of them, so I don't know if we should really take them into account.
9 - OK, again with the "students with minimal training" thing. It's Hermione. It's always Hermione who does these things. Her entire shtick is that she's exceptionally adept to magic, able to master spells that much more advanced students or even adults cannot manage. You gotta stop pretending that just because she does something it means it's easy. But even then, how is Sirius gonna be making the potion? It needs hard to find ingredients (and being a dog isn't gonna be much help finding them) and has to be cooked for like a month. Considering that no one else wants him to leave the place and he has a domestic elf trashing the place all the time I don't see this as a viable option.
10 - But... w-why? You have literally the explanation for why this is not a plot hole right there, why even include this on the list?
11 - It's never established that Neville was present when his parents were tortured. Harry was there when his parents were killed. While he didn't _see_ them die he did hear their voices (and Voldemort's) which generated repressed memories his younger self couldn't understand but were still on the back of his mind once he was grown enough to understand the events.
12 - Is it really so hard to understand that portkeys can be created to work at a specific time for convenience reasons but that doesn't mean it's the only way they can work? It's obvious the Triwizard cup was set to be used when touched and not at a particular time frame. You can claim this is a mystery (even though no, it isn't), but calling it a plot hole is pushing it.
13 - This is probably the only actual plot hole in the whole list. While I could come up with a reasonable explanation there's nothing in the story to back it up. Snape's only words about it is that its use is watched by the Ministry, but doesn't say anything about it being hard to make or possible to resist. Like, you could make the case that powerful wizards can resist it (sort of like with the Imperius curse) and it only worked on Crouch because he was completely unprepared for it (he wasn't even conscious when forced to drink it in the book) but, again, nothing in the books even hints to it.
14 - Again, literally explained in the book. Not a plot hole.
15 - Jesus. OK, first, we're introduced to Cho in Prisoner of Azkaban, not Goblet of Fire. She only becomes more prominent in the latter. Second, you literally make the point that there's a different explanation for this in the book and the movie. You have _two_ explanations for it, why would you even call this a plot hole?

This is killing me. As much as I like the Harry Potter series, I know these books are full to the brim of plot holes, yet you make a list comprised nearly entirely of nitpicks or perfectly explained story bits.

[larson]

Ive always wondered, where are harrys grandparents? You want us to believe all 4 are dead when he is born?