Sometimes movie heroes aren’t as heroic as they’re written.
I started reading the Harry Potter novels sometime between the release of the third (Prisoner of Azkaban) and fourth (Goblet of Fire) books, which means I started sometime in late 1999, when I was 14. I actually borrowed the first three books from my little sister’s friend Amy, a 10-year old bookworm with a single long braid that went down to her thighs. The author, J.K. Rowling, had me hooked and I read all three in a matter of weeks and craved every new release. I loved the characters, the imagery, and the unbelievable imagination of Ms. Rowling. And I loved that, by the end of the series, 8 year olds were dying to read 800 page books. My favorite book was Goblet of Fire and my favorite line is when Mrs. Weasley calls the evil Bellatrix Lestrange a bitch—I don’t think I’m alone on that one.
I have loved the movies too, particularly seeing the films evolve slightly as Harry shuffled through directors until finally landing on David Yates for the fifth (Order of the Phoenix), sixth (Half-Blood Prince), and sevenths (Deathly Hallows – Part I and II). It’s fun to look back at the first (Sorcerer’s Stone) movie, which was made in 2001, and see the young faces of our heroes and heroines. The sensation is not unlike looking at old family photos and wondering where the hell the time went. It’s been a very long ride and it’s all about to come to a bitter-awesome end on July 15.
That all being said, in my mind the films took a drastic turn to the unforgivable with The Half-Blood Prince. Towards the end of the story in the book, Harry is with his loving mentor and principal Dumbledore—the closest thing he has to a father. Hearing a pack of Death Eaters coming their way, Dumbledore orders Harry to put on his invisibility cloak and then, knowing that Harry might want to intervene, casts a spell on Harry that renders him completely silent and paralyzed. Harry then witnesses Snape kill Dumbledore right before his eyes. When the spell is released and Harry is able to move again, he knows that Dumbledore is truly dead. Harry chases after the Death Eaters but to no avail. Dumbledore is gone.
This is a pinnacle moment in the book and the series, and not only because Harry is losing the most important teacher in his life. Up until this point, Harry has been a reluctant hero, questioning why he has to be the chosen one and not fully grasping his destiny. When he is sitting there frozen, he is screaming inside, wanting to take on all the Death Eaters, protect Dumbledore, and then move on to kill Voldemort and end his evil reign. He finally knows now that it’s his duty. However, in his final lesson to Harry, Dumbledore leaves him frozen. Dumbledore is dying anyway (from a previous spell), and, if Snape kills Dumbledore as the two of them planned, Snape will prove his “allegiance” to Voldemort and become his right hand man. It turns out to be the ultimate sign of Snape’s loyalty to Dumbledore—Snape needs to kill Dumbledore to continue the fight against Voldemort. Harry doesn’t know all this yet. He doesn’t know that Snape is a double agent; he still thinks Snape is on Voldemort’s side. He’s got the drive but not the wisdom. Dumbledore’s final lesson to Harry is to wait—“Your time with Voldemort will come.”
The movie version of The Half-Blood Prince takes a different approach. For lack of a better word, Harry just kind of…stands there, crouching, frozen by fear and watching the whole thing go down. The outcome is the same: Harry does nothing, Snape kills Dumbledore, Harry chases after the Death Eaters to no avail. But, as anyone who’s studied law knows, the intent matters. Without the desire to fulfill his destiny, Harry has not begun his transformation into a true hero. He’s still just the same scared kid with some major baggage and an ocean of untapped talent.
A similar disconnect between the book and movie version happened in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. For most of the series, Aragorn is a reluctant hero. He is the long lost heir of Isildur, the king who cut the One Ring off the evil Sauron’s hand. Isildur eventually succumbed to the evil of the One Ring and did not destroy the ring in Mount Doom in the land of Mordor like he should have. Instead, he tried to use the great power of the ring for himself, which sealed his doom. Aragorn knows he’s the rightful King but refuses to claim his destiny out of fear and shame.
In the book Return of the King, the hobbit Pippen finds one of the seven palantirs, a spherical stone that somewhat functions as a crystal ball. Someone of great power can manipulate these stones to see virtually any part of the world. Sauron has taken control of the stones and is using them to spread evil throughout Middle-earth. Aragorn turns a corner towards his destined greatness when he takes control of the palantir Pippen found and fools Sauron to send his armies and attack Minis Tirith—a distraction that allows Frodo to get to Mordor to destroy the ring. It is the beginning of his transformation into a true hero. In the movie Return of the King, however, Aragorn just kinds of stares ominously at it—and that’s about it.
Now, I’m not trying to be one of those stuck-up, “the book was way better than the movie” people. I understand that changes have to be made to adjust a story to be more cinematic. In the book version of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, when Frodo is first given the One Ring by his uncle Bilbo Baggins, he takes years to prepare for his journey. The movie did the right thing in having Gandalf the Gray give Frodo the ring and essentially say, “Yo, you gotta skedaddle.” Additionally, the movies completely cut a major character—Tom Bombadil, who happens to be one of my favorites—because, in reality, the hobbits and Tom just smoke, drink, and sing in the forest for about 60 pages. Not very cinematic at all. Similarly, it would be impossible to expect everything in J.K. Rowling’s books to end up on the screen. These choices and cuts are effective and reasonable.
However, when Harry just stands and Aragorn just stares we are robbed of their crucial transformation. One of the major rules of screenwriting is that the hero or heroine has to be an agent of change. While many things can happen to a main character, eventually he or she has to do something about their predicament. Consider the movie Precious. The heroine is a poor, obese, black girl that is abused by her mother, raped and impregnated by her father, and oh yeah, has AIDS. If, in the final scenes of the movie, she wins $250 million with a Powerball ticket, granting her a happy, healthcare-filled life with her child free from her mother and father, we would walk out of the movie wondering why the hell we just paid $12 to see someone get lucky. Instead, she chooses to make a change after being inspired by her teacher. She stands up to her mother and runs away with her baby. At the end, we know that she’s still going to struggle, but at least we know she’s going to be ok. All because of her own actions.
Return of the King does eventually make up for the palantir fumble. In the final battle scene of the movie, Aragorn has finally accepted his regal destiny. He is leading his men into battle at the gates of Mordor to give Frodo one final chance to cast the ring into the flames of Mount Doom from whence it came. The mission is almost certain death. He rides on his armor clad horse, up and down the front lines, giving his men hope. “A day may come when the courage of men fails…but it is not this day! Today we fight!” We finally see him take hold of his fate and know that the King has in fact returned. He has earned his crown. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
I hope that Harry has a moment like this in the final movie. He needs to finally accept his fate and act upon it. He needs to not just kill Voldemort, but know that he’s going to kill Voldemort. He needs to believe that he truly is The One. If he doesn’t, then he’s just another lucky kid with a wand.
