Summary

• The Harry Potter movies had to omit many emotionally devastating plotlines from the books, including tragic backstories of characters like Neville, the Crouch family, and Lord Voldemort.
• Details such as Winky the house-elf's involvement in the mystery of Barty Crouch Jr and the Golden Trio meeting Neville's parents were left out of the movie adaptations.
• The books also revealed additional tragic elements, such as Merope Gaunt's story, Snape's role in reporting the prophecy to Voldemort, Lupin's decision to leave Tonks and their son, and the resolution surrounding Dumbledore's family history.

The Harry Potter books were full of heartbreaking stories, many of which were cut from the movies. Though intended for young audiences, the Wizarding World franchise can get rather dark, with many of the characters Harry interacted with having rather tragic backstories. Of course, the Boy Who Lived himself saw tragedy only a year into his life, and this solidified his destiny as the one chosen to destroy Lord Voldemort. This was at the center of the plot in Harry Potter and therefore couldn't have been omitted from Warner Bros movies. However, several smaller plotlines that couldn't be included were just as emotionally devastating.

Each of the Harry Potter movies saw Harry's story grow ever darker, with a new loved one lost to the war against Voldemort around every corner. The death of Lily and James Potter, Harry's upbringing under the abusive Dursleys, and the countless losses of the Second Wizarding War tugged at audiences' heartstrings. However, there's only so much that a book-to-screen adaptation can include, and many details of the Harry Potter books didn't make it to the big screen. This included the tragic backstories of characters like Neville Longbottom, the Crouch family, and even Lord Voldemort, all of which contributed in their way to the Chosen One's story.

10 Winky The House-Elf & The Crouch Family

Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire

In the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie, it's revealed that Barty Crouch Jr, son of Ministry official Barty Crouch, had been using Polyjuice potion to impersonate Mad-Eye Moody all along. Little else was explained about his character, but that wasn't the case for the books, where the Crouch's house-elf, Winky, played a major part in the mystery. At the end of the Goblet of Fire book, the tragic little house-elf revealed that she had been keeping the secret that her mistress had taken Crouch Jr's place in prison for years. When Crouch's son escaped her care, the man dismissed the elf, leaving her to drink her sorrows away.

9 The Golden Trio Seeing Neville With His Parents

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

Neville only ever mentioned his parents in the Harry Potter movies, but in the books, the Golden Trio got to meet Frank and Alice Longbottom. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys visited Arthur Weasley at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries after Nagini had attacked him, they ran into the Longbottoms in one of the long-term wards. Harry saw with great sadness that neither Frank nor Alice knew precisely who their son was, though the latter seemed to maintain some maternal instinct since she slipped the boy a candy wrapper as a Christmas present.

8 The Tragic Deaths Of Merope & The Gaunts

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A significant part of who Lord Voldemort was in Harry Potter is his backstory, but the movies didn't have enough room to squeeze in all the details. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry entered the Pensieve several times to see memories involving Voldemort's family, one of which revealed the family of Tom Marvolo Riddle's mother, Merope Gaunt. The girl had been a severely neglected and abused witch in a proud but impoverished family headed by Voldemort's namesake, Marvolo Gaunt. Merope ultimately died in childbirth after being rejected by her Muggle husband. Her father died in Azkaban, and her brother, Morfin, was murdered by Voldemort years later.

Merope Gaunt tricked Tom Riddle Sr. into marrying her with a love potion.

7 Snape Reporting The Prophecy To Voldemort

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Though it's clear from the Harry Potter movies that Severus Snape regretted ing the side of the man who murdered Lily Potter, it's never revealed that it was entirely his fault that this happened to begin with. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry learned that Snape had been the one to tell Voldemort about the Chosen One prophecy that had inspired the Dark Lord to target the Potters. Had Snape never ed Voldemort and had he not been so eager to impress his master, Lily would have never been killed. It adds an extra, definitive player of tragedy to Snape's already dark story.

6 Lupin's Decision To Leave Tonks & Their Son

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Lupin and Tonks' relationship was undoubtedly tragic in the Harry Potter movies. Their deaths in the Battle of Hogwarts were devastating, but it was far worse in the books, considering the pair had had a son just a few months before. Still, Lupin's character arc as a whole was rather heartbreaking in the Harry Potter books since he had really struggled with the idea of getting married and having a child. In fact, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he decided to leave Tonks and little Teddy, determining that they would be better off without him. Lupin and Harry had a massive fight about it, which ultimately set the man straight.

5 Dumbledore's Full Family History

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

One of the more frustrating aspects of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 movie was how it left out the resolution surrounding Dumbledore and his family history. Not only did the films leave out the details surrounding his mother's death, but the most tragic aspect of Ariana's terrible end was missed as well. Part of the guilt Dumbledore carried for his entire life was that he never knew whose stray spell had killed Ariana—his, Aberforth's, or Grindelwald's. This haunted the old heaster even after his death, something seen in the books when Dumbledore cried to Harry while telling him the whole story.

4 Grindelwald's Attempt To Protect Dumbledore's Body

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Through Harry's connection with Lord Voldemort, he witnessed the murder of Gelert Grindelwald. At this point, Voldemort didn't know that Dumbledore had been the master of the Elder Wand—he only knew that Grindelwald had once stolen. In the Deathly Hallows movie, Grindelwald immediately told Voldemort that the wand was in Dumbledore's grave. In the book, on the other hand, the Dark wizard did his best to keep Voldemort from getting his hands on the Elder Wand. Later, in the King's Cross Purgatory, Harry and Dumbledore discussed how Grindelwald's attempt to keep Voldemort from desecrating his grave was evidence of remorse for his actions years before.

3 The Story Of Helena Ravenclaw's Murder

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Helena Ravenclaw reluctantly gave Harry help in his search for Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in both the Harry Potter books and movies. In the former, she gave the Boy Who Lived a hint about the Room of Requirement, and that was about the end of it. In the Deathly Hallows book, she and Harry had a much more in-depth conversation. The ghost revealed that, when she was alive, she had stolen the diadem from her mother and ran away. Heartbroken, Rowena sent a man who loved her daughter to bring her back. When the girl refused to return with the Baron, he murdered Helena and committed suicide. The two became spirits haunting Hogwarts Castle—the Bloody Baron and Grey Lady.

2 Colin Creevey's Death At The Battle Of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

After being petrified in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Colin Creevey didn't make many more appearances in the Harry Potter movies. This means that his tragic death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was left out. The boy was under 17 when the battle started, so he was supposed to have fled with the other underaged witches and wizards. However, he must have managed to stay behind without anyone noticing. The poor Muggle-born boy was killed at some point during the battle. Harry saw his body being retrieved by Neville and Oliver Wood after the fighting, and it absolutely broke his heart.

1 Lily & Petunia's Big Fight

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Petunia was a pretty despicable character throughout Harry Potter, and there was nothing that could have justified the way that she had treated her nephew. Still, she was a far more complicated person in the books. In Snape's memories in Deathly Hallows, Harry witnessed a fight between the two girls in which it's revealed that Patunia had desperately wanted to follow Lily to Hogwarts. When she was forbidden from doing so, she began to treat her sister horribly. A letter from Lily to Sirius also revealed that Petunia had sent her sister a vase the Christmas before her death, subtly revealing that Petunia hadn't cut her sister out as much as Harry Potter had initially implied.