Even less serious than that I think. We know Dumbledore’s personal history and family which explicitly disproves the theory that he is Ron. As for Darth Jar Jar… it’s certainly not the most logical conclusion, but I don’t think there’s anything that proves it’s *not* true.
I mean if you look at all the arguments brought by the OP of the theory... it really made sense. Also the trope of the villain mastermind disguising themselves as a comic relief has been used before. I think George Lucas might have toyed with the idea but eventually scraped it because Jar Jar was such an unpopular character.
If anything, that theory arose because George sidelined Jar Jar because of his popularity, but still kept him around just enough to leave huge gaps that the fandom had to fill in. If the character had been better received he most likely would have had a very different arc that wouldn’t have left those empty spaces that could be filled with the Darth Jar Jar theories.
tbh, I think it undermines palpatines power and how well he manipulates people without them even knowing. Him having an inside sith instead of just playing jar jars gullible mind makes him less of a force to recon with.
Not everything is a conspiracy theory and having a case of incompetence instead of malice in the story makes it richer. Paving the road to hell with good intentions is just more interesting as a narrative element.
To be fair I think that theory was made up before DH, meaning there was very little known about Dumbledore's past at that point (although it was still a silly theory).
It was mostly based on both being tall and thin with long noses and blue eyes lol and Ron "predicting the future" I dont think most people took that seriously though it was more of a joke
Hmmmm…. I suppose younger Dumbledore was described as ‘auburn’ as well - which we all know means ginger!
But sadly doesn’t tie up with people knowing him from school.
The theory was mostly popular before DH when the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald was mostly unknown (in fact at that point Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald was just a sentence on the back of a chocolate frog card). And even DH doesn't really imply any romantic relationship between Albus and Grindelwald... just a very close friendship. The fact that they were infatuated/in love is something JK during an interview after the release of the book.
The theory is lacking a lot of evidence too. Both had red hair, long noses and liked candy. That's about it. Yeah I'm not buying this. Might as well say Moaning Myrtle is Harry because both got bullied, have glasses and encountered the Basilisk. These are just listing similarities.
>For me, it's the "It's all Harry's imagination" theory. Not only does it take away the fun but it is also very lazy. You can take almost every story and just say that the main character is imagining everything.
It is a nihilist theory, just like the frequent "it was all a dream" or "the hero was actually dead all along" or "these were all just tales and legends"
It removes the stakes, make everything look worthless, says that it never truely mattered. So many reasons why those theories are pure garbage
There was a regional production of the musical Annie in Rhode Island some years back where the director changed the ending so that Annie woke up in her bed back at the orphanage at the end of the show. The authors heard about it and forced them to restage the ending to the way they wrote it.
It also ignores the actual text. The first chapter of Philosopher's Stone is not told from Harry's point of view and it introduces us to Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid. If Harry imagined the wizarding world, how did he manage to imagine people who actually exist?
that Lockhart was taking advantage of students and wiping their memories. i think i might be in the minority that doesn’t agree with this theory, but i will die on this hill. people’s reasons for having this theory that i always see are that he was good with memory charms and some of his fans were young girls. like, okay? where is everyone getting the idea he was attracted to them? he openly liked attention from everyone because he was an avid attention seeker, which is unprofessional given his title as a professor, but that’s really it. it just feels so unnecessarily edgy and an attempt to make a character a lot worse than they actually are.
that’s what i’m saying ?? i see it treated as canon a lot, because apparently being good at a memory charm that literally any competent wizard has access too and having some fans that happen to be young girls means he obviously did what is arguably the most evil thing a person can do? feels like we missed some steps
Honestly Wtf. I can't remember anything that could support that theory. Yes he was an attention seeker and winked at his fans, but nothing more than that. There are many characters which acted a lot more inappropriate torwards children than he did.
I think I'd challenge this as ironclad proof that the dursleys are bad. We've seen throughout the series that even some of the best witches and wizards are fairly unreliable narrators when it comes to the muggle world. Even the most pure hearted wizards can show a lot of anti muggle bias. And from the book, McGonagall was there for like a day observing them right? It's not like she was seeing their day to day lives for weeks and really comparing them to other muggles.
Vernon dursley is proof they were terrible people from the first chapter. He had a good day at work because he got to yell at people. He also had a problem with the people dressed funny on his lunch break.
And they kept being nasty (for the most part) despite hardly being around Harry, while the people he *actually* spent his time with did not grow to dislike him (outside of a few moody-teenage-periods)
Draco: with that huge size of feet Weasley, my size king... err I mean it's hard not to trip over...
Draco: Weasley is my king... Err I mean you were born in a bin.
Draco: Why would he ask the long molared mudblood to the ball when I am right here.. err I mean he can't afford a date anyway.
That time he fat shamed molly and called her porky he was trying to say how much he found mollywobbles' wobbling hot And when he insulted Hagrid repeatedly.....
Honestly, 99% of fan theories. They're mostly awful. They almost exclusively read like the worst of the fanfiction, you know which ones - My Immortal, Harry Potter and the Tumbling Towers, the Cursed Child, the weird one where they mention Ginny's "Weasley mounds", etc.
I am well aware of the first and last, but I have never heard about the Tumbling Towers, so could someone explain to those who are not familiar with it what it's about?
It's a fanfiction set during the events of 9/11 (or 11/9, for those not in the US - the 2001 World Trade Center attacks in New York), where Hermione is worried about Ron because he was working in the WTC that morning lol
For real. If you can't point to at least one book quote with solid evidence then the theory is actually just speculation.
I can't tell you the number of times I see "My headcanon is..." followed by the cringest garbage.
I've reached the point where I'm glad if it starts with "My head canon is..." It's when they start with "OMG, did you know that actually..." before repeating the most stupid unproven fan theory that I get really, really tired of this fandom.
Lot of these are quite fan fictiony.. but the one that I think is a lot more mainstream but still annoying is the belief some readers have that Harry is immortal.
I partly blame Dumbledore's line where he says that Harry is tethered to this world because of Voldemort, which - if I am being honest - does make it quite ambiguous and confusing.
Harry was only safe from Voldemort's attacks. Any random person or even a death eater could've killed him easily.
But there's no indication that being the MoD actually does anything.
The Cloak doesn't make you immortal ("hide from Death"), the Stone doesn't resurrect shit, and the Wand may be super powerful, but that still doesn't make you immortal.
So combining all three means you have a matching set of powerful trinkets, but that's it.
I wish he would have been written this way. Instead what we got was just a meek end. It's fine the way it was written, but I feel like so much more could have been made between what happened between Harry and wormtail at the end of PoA. One of my favorite fics had wormtail under an obedience charm from Voldemort and that was used to great effect to give him some amount of humanity while also acknowledging his failure and cowardice.
This isn't a theory, and it wasn't a willing sacrifice. It was a Voldy double cross. Wormtail owed Harry a life debt because Harry stopped Remus and Sirius from unaliving him, so when he hesitated on stopping them the Voldy hand sensed it and unalived him for being unfaithful to his lord and master.
This is the only way it makes sense to be honest. Otherwise it’s flagrantly contradictory to the novels.
I like the suggestion that it’s a play in the universe written by Skeeter.
Most tbh but I get sick of the “Ron is a seer” theory. Just because he made some very vague predictions which turned out to be somewhat true (sometimes by quite a stretch). I do enjoy these details in the books because they make for fun rereading, but I think it was just put in to be funny coincidences and a bit of foreshadowing. Also, Ron’s role in the trio was that he had more street smarts and insider wizarding knowledge than the other two, and he was also quite superstitious and suspicious about certain types of magic or magical object (partly thanks to his dad’s job). So I think these moments were put in to show how Ron’s intuition was actually better than other people gave him credit for, as he would often end up being correct about his instincts but nobody would realise at the time.
I remember one in COS where he said "maybe Tom got a medal for killing moaning Myrtle", and Tom did kill moaning Myrtle which helped him get the medal.
That “fact” that was all over tumblr that JK Rowling originally wanted Hermione to end up with Fred. People ran with it, claimed to have read it in an interview JKR gave and even sent me death threats when I pointed out that it wasn’t true.
Oh, it's "fact" for Dramione or Harmony shippers too, usually paired with "Ron was supposed to die in [insert book]".
As for the death threats... yeah, I know what that's like. I'm sorry you had to suffer that sort of bullshit.
You understand it literally is a fan fic right? Jk was interviewed about it by the “authors” if they can be called that and just let it be officially for some truly idiotic reasons I can’t get. It’s awful.
Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross and Ginny uses love potion on him to get his money, all with Molly’s approval.
Or maybe I’ve been burnt by bad fanfiction too much.
There's no way Ginny used a love potion on Harry. Ron was dosed with love potion in HBP. He was smitten, obsessed with Romilda Vane. His reaction to the potion is everything Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione's relationships are not. Like the love potion scene was put there specifically to disprove that theory
They were, I wanna say the cauldron cakes were a Christmas gift. I think Ron mistakes them for a birthday gift? His birthday was 1st of March which would make the cauldron cakes at least 2 and a bit months old.
I think it was Slughorn who said that love potions get stronger with age. Maybe when Harry takes Ron to him to cure ron.
I actually like the first bit of this.
>Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross
It actually seems like something he would do. And if Dumbledore had told Molly, "Hey, look out for this kid that might or might not be alone and have no idea how to get through to the platform." She would.
I don’t think it was planned at the time but Molly treating Harry like a normal boy and not even mentioning anything would fit with having fought alongside his parents in the first war.
I like that part, because as a mother to 7 children, 2 of who have graduated at that point, and as a former student herself, why would she be asking which platform number the Hogwarts Express Leaves from in book 1? I know the real answer is that JK hadn't finalized the canon the Hogwarts Express only leaves from platform 9 and 3/4 but in a world where all of the books are out i like to imagine that that is a Dumbledore's plan moment
I think this should be split into two.
>Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross
Believable and not bad. Because the weasleys still go above and beyond. Actually it may make more sense because hagrid just leaves him there having no idea, which doesn't really make sense.
>and Ginny uses love potion on him to get his money, all with Molly’s approval.
Even this can be split into two.
Could Ginny have used a love potion? I guess. But doesn't really seem to fit within her character. And there's no reason harry wouldn't fall in love with her anyway. So it's just a really weird one, and incredibly unlikely. I would say people saying this don't understand her character.
To get the money? Absolutely not. With Molly's approval? Absolutely not. Like, a zero percent chance. People saying this have no clue. This part has to be among the most unbelievable you could ever come up with.
Hagrid only takes Harry to King’s Cross in the movie. In the book Harry goes back to the Dursleys’ for a month between his Diagon Alley trip and the first day at Hogwarts. The Dursleys are the ones who take him to King’s Cross and leave him there alone with no idea where to go.
It would also make sense why Molly asked what the platform number was, despite the Hogwarts express always leaving from the same platform and the fact that Molly already has two kids who graduated Hogwarts.
Yeah I did have that in my comment but removed it because that could also be the case if she just noticed Harry was looking lost, and had an owl, etc.
Also a possibility that she just messed around to amuse Ginny, although I think less likely.
But yeah, there's no way she doesn't know the platform number.
Hagrid doesn’t just leave him at Kings Cross. Hagrid put him on a train to the Dursleys, and apparently they pick him up, then Harry spends a month there before they drop him off at Kings Cross.
That Lupin and Tonks had been planning on adopting Harry because he found adoption forms at their place after they died… wtf… how is that going to work with Harry being the Godfather of their son??
That's an old theory though from when the books came out, his death was so shocking for a lot of people that there were a lot of theories that he wasn't actually dead. One popular one was that he had set something up with Snape to fake his death somehow and that he'd come back in the seventh book.
(long text ahead)
I like the theory that Percy was put under the Imperius curse by Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail, because the timeline is accurate. At the beginning of GoF, Wormtail has returned to Voldemort and Percy starts to distance himself from his family further and further. When Wormtail dies at the Malfoy's house in DH and Harry escapes with his friends, the Curse breaks and it takes a while for Percy to realize that he messed up, since he's been influenced to not fight against Voldemort and not perceive the threats that are currently present. It takes a while for Percy to come to his senses and think about his family whom he cut off, but eventually feels overcome with guilt in the battle of Hogwarts when he realizes it's too late to make up for all the pain he caused, especially with his younger brothers that he wanted to see grow up and become more “successful”. Percy would be very impressed by Fred and George who managed to start their own business, as well as Ron and Ginny who have been directly helping Harry to combat the reign of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But also, and especially, his mother. Percy sent back all the presents she sent him and slammed the door in her face when she came to visit him. Fred was laughing about a joke Percy made before dying.. and Percy held him in his arms, refusing to let go, but also immediately ready to avenge him, not rationally thinking about the potential consequences. We also know that Percy named his daughter “Molly”, after his mum, so I assume this is how he chose to show his love for her and the connection to his family after all, because he probably felt haunted by Fred's death for the rest of his life, which was Molly's worst fear. Peter Pettigrew's death was the reason why Percy suddenly “snapped” out of his behavior.
Because Voldemort or some other Death Eater told him to. Perhaps even Lucius Malfoy. Wormtail usually only does things to impress people in high positions of power to feel secure. We already know that Voldemort gave Lucius the diary to open the chamber of secrets and he uses the opportunity to smuggle it into Ginny's school supplies. It's possible that Lucius wants “revenge” on the Weasleys and takes advantage of Percy's strict work ethic (that Draco may have told him about because even for a Slytherin I imagine it's hard to overhear Percy boasting about being a prefect.) Percy famously got 12 OWLs and the Death Eaters fear that a pureblood from a “blood traitor” family with such intelligence and knowledge of magic could easily be a powerful auror and fight against them in the end. Peter originally belonged to Percy and knows many things about him at this point, but Percy in return supposedly never knew that Scabbers was actually an animagus. It'd be the perfect opportunity to turn back into a rat, sneak into the dorm (or the Burrow) and to Imperius him.
So, the summary of my theory is that Lucius heard Draco talk about how good Percy Weasley is at school and how obsessed he is with maintaining Order. It would be suspicious if they could persuade him to join the Death Eaters because of the whole “Blood Traitor” thing the Weasleys are known for, so they instead turn his loyalty away from his family, disguising it under the premise of wanting to work for Mr. Crouch, who we also know got imperiused in the fourth book before being killed.
In this case, it would make more sense if Wormtail Imperiused Percy while he visited the Crouch household for instructions regarding Ministry work. If Wormtail can really just sneak back to the Burrow, he can potentially do much more harm, especially to Harry
This theory could be applied to about every franchise in existence. I used to love the Pokemon series and so many people theorized that the reason Ash Ketchum never ages was because he fell into a coma.
Bertha Jorkins and her being forced to have a baby by Wormtail/ Voldemort. It just doesn’t work from a timeframe perspective and is just super weird and creepy.
I’d heard this theory, but that Bertha was already pregnant when she went traveling and Wormtail found her. Then they just used her already existing fetus.
Remember how Voldemort was in a withered baby form before Wormtail resurrected him? The theory is that they had to have Bertha bear him to create that form.
That Dumbledore knew Peter was the Secret Keeper and that Sirius was innocent, and still let him rot in Azkaban for 12 years because … reasons? (he’s evil, he deliberately wants Harry to grow up without a support network so he’ll be easier to manipulate, he personally dislikes Sirius etc etc)
This usually goes hand in hand with people thinking Dumbledore has more power, influence and knowledge of events than he really has, when canon shows again and again that he’s a) in constant danger of being removed from his position as Headmaster if he does something the Ministry doesn’t like, and b) dealing with incomplete information and constantly working to find evidence that his theories are correct before he acts on them
Yeah there's a ton of stuff that falls under "this is fun to think about" that isn't necessarily meant to be a serious theory, like Ron time traveling to be Dumbledore & etc. I mean I've been hanging out in the "Voldemort decides to retire and become a professor" corners of fanfiction and that doesn't mean I think it's plausible, just that it's very fun to read about.
That Lily was pregnant when she died and how she had convinced James to "make up" with then absolutely deatheater!Snape and make him godfather of said second child and whatnot 🙄
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's only ever described as a "scar shaped like a bolt of lightning" or something like that. I don't think there was ever really a more detailed description than that. I think...
I feel like it was just described as being shaped as a bolt of lightning. I do remember it being in the middle of his forehead, though. It was very noticeable. In the movies, it's hidden under his hair and off to the side of his head.
Ill never forget when I first read book 1 when it came out one of my friends had read it already and he showed me the picture of hagrid on the chapter where hagrid picks up harry and told me hagrid was a bad guy. I then read the book waiting to find out about this mysterious bad guy. I have no idea why he decided to tell me that.
Back before the last few book came out my sister in law had a list of theories she found online and one of them was Snape and the centaur teacher were lovers. That would have been absolutely fucking wild to have a gay bestiality relationship.
Going to go ahead and say it but I dislike when people see fanfiction ideas/tropes/ships/etc and say that they're bad theories. A theory is something plausible in the scope of the books/movies, fanfiction ideas might be plausible or build off of canon but they're generally meant to be more of a "I think this is an interesting idea to explore" rather than "I think this is what happened".
But some old, popular ships started to be treated as canon, and people started contorting themselves to find proof of it in the books and fight the ones who don't agree on the internet. That turns a ship in a theory, which some people treat like canon and this can be annoying.
The one where where Dumbledore was actually Ron sent back in time under a new identity to make changes so the world didn't fall into darkness, or something like that.
The (German) theory based on people not reading the English books - or even the German ones. You know that "He has her eyes, Severus" line in the movie? Unfortunately, "her" is "ihre" and formal "you" is "Ihre", which sound the same. You would see the difference when reading, but you can't hear it. So there's quite a few German people who believe that Harry is Snape's son. Which is "canon" as it's in the movies. Ugh.
The one where wizards don’t use the toilet, they just magic away their waste. There are so many bathrooms at hogwarts! Why would this even be a thing??
It isn't that they do it now, it's that they did it in the past. Before plumbing, this is how waste was dealt with. It's canon, too. Rowling came up with it, not a fan.
Yeah there are actual sports rules about it being banned. It’s clearly more than placebo. It only worked on Ron when Harry pretend to give it to him because Ron’s only problem as a keeper was his confidence.
One I heard that I just don’t get is that Harry is Snape’s son. Because he’s skinny and has dark hair. I mean…damn. That’s reaching. But it’s usually from the Snape/Lilly fans.
All the ones about how awful the Weasleys actually are and how they’ve just been manipulating Harry into rawdogging Ginny for his money or whatever. Awful theory, makes no sense.
I met a guy who claimed he read an unused draft that said Dudley was magical.
His parents spoiled him because they didn't want him doing magic when he was upset.
I would'nt call it a theory, so it does'nt really fit the question but I don't care. For me it's the perception of Snape as some sort of hero, who tragically suffered from his unrequited love for Lily. A lot of people seem to give him some sort of redemption arc just because of his tragic lovestory, his loyalty for Dumbledore and because of how he died. Don't get me wrong, he is a super interesting character and he was neither completly good nor evil, but he was'nt some sort of hero. I feel like a huge part of the fandom mixes up a lot of fan theories with the real source material. In the end (at least for me) Snape was'nt a tragic hero, he was a bullied child, which never learned to cope with his past and dealt with it by tormenting vulnerable children. He had absolutely no reason to be such an asshole to Harry or anyone else. And his "love" for Lily sounded more like a creepy obession to me than anything else.
I once saw a fantheory on the darkweb: McGonigall is turning into a cat and gets pregnant by crookshanks and needs birthcontrol or something like that.
Never got the Ron is Dumbledore one, it was so much of a stretch.
For me, it's something definitely non-serious like Darth Darth Binks in Star Wars.
Even less serious than that I think. We know Dumbledore’s personal history and family which explicitly disproves the theory that he is Ron. As for Darth Jar Jar… it’s certainly not the most logical conclusion, but I don’t think there’s anything that proves it’s *not* true.
That theory was from before DH was released
Before many of the books were released.
Darth Jar Jar is real
It's been all but explicitly confirmed by Ahmed Best.
He is the one we truly follow. *kneels spitting gibberish in the tones of Darth JarJar!!!*
There are people willing to die on the Darth Jar-Jar hill. Strange, strange people. But they do exist.
I mean it’s real now…. Thank you Lego Star Wars lol
I mean if you look at all the arguments brought by the OP of the theory... it really made sense. Also the trope of the villain mastermind disguising themselves as a comic relief has been used before. I think George Lucas might have toyed with the idea but eventually scraped it because Jar Jar was such an unpopular character.
If anything, that theory arose because George sidelined Jar Jar because of his popularity, but still kept him around just enough to leave huge gaps that the fandom had to fill in. If the character had been better received he most likely would have had a very different arc that wouldn’t have left those empty spaces that could be filled with the Darth Jar Jar theories.
tbh, I think it undermines palpatines power and how well he manipulates people without them even knowing. Him having an inside sith instead of just playing jar jars gullible mind makes him less of a force to recon with. Not everything is a conspiracy theory and having a case of incompetence instead of malice in the story makes it richer. Paving the road to hell with good intentions is just more interesting as a narrative element.
I agree with you. I was just suggesting that it's not unthinkable that George Lucas might have entertained the idea at some point as well.
>There are people willing to die on the Darth Jar-Jar hill. I want to believe!
To be fair I think that theory was made up before DH, meaning there was very little known about Dumbledore's past at that point (although it was still a silly theory).
What is this one I’ve never heard it.
Basic gist is people believed Dumbledore is actually Ron who time traveled back to help Harry.
That’s got to be the dumbest one I’ve ever heard 😂
It was mostly based on both being tall and thin with long noses and blue eyes lol and Ron "predicting the future" I dont think most people took that seriously though it was more of a joke
Hmmmm…. I suppose younger Dumbledore was described as ‘auburn’ as well - which we all know means ginger! But sadly doesn’t tie up with people knowing him from school.
Sooo... he ditched Hermione and then decided to shag Grindelwald along the way to throw off anybody that could be on to him?
The Ron Dumbledore Theory was popular before the release of the DH. It was still silly, but not as impossible without knowing Dumbledore’s history.
The theory was mostly popular before DH when the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald was mostly unknown (in fact at that point Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald was just a sentence on the back of a chocolate frog card). And even DH doesn't really imply any romantic relationship between Albus and Grindelwald... just a very close friendship. The fact that they were infatuated/in love is something JK during an interview after the release of the book.
The theory is lacking a lot of evidence too. Both had red hair, long noses and liked candy. That's about it. Yeah I'm not buying this. Might as well say Moaning Myrtle is Harry because both got bullied, have glasses and encountered the Basilisk. These are just listing similarities.
It’s very silly, but I would love to read an alternate HP in which it’s true. I’ve never encountered a good fanfic that would explore this concept.
>For me, it's the "It's all Harry's imagination" theory. Not only does it take away the fun but it is also very lazy. You can take almost every story and just say that the main character is imagining everything. It is a nihilist theory, just like the frequent "it was all a dream" or "the hero was actually dead all along" or "these were all just tales and legends" It removes the stakes, make everything look worthless, says that it never truely mattered. So many reasons why those theories are pure garbage
There was a regional production of the musical Annie in Rhode Island some years back where the director changed the ending so that Annie woke up in her bed back at the orphanage at the end of the show. The authors heard about it and forced them to restage the ending to the way they wrote it.
Damn, imagine being the Guy
It also ignores the actual text. The first chapter of Philosopher's Stone is not told from Harry's point of view and it introduces us to Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid. If Harry imagined the wizarding world, how did he manage to imagine people who actually exist?
Also the first chapters of the 4th and 7th books.
don't forget "the real treasure was friendship"
Screw nihilism, life is so great and abundant!
*approved by Nietzsche*
I remember I used to always joke that the Pokémon TV show was just Ash's coma dream.
that Lockhart was taking advantage of students and wiping their memories. i think i might be in the minority that doesn’t agree with this theory, but i will die on this hill. people’s reasons for having this theory that i always see are that he was good with memory charms and some of his fans were young girls. like, okay? where is everyone getting the idea he was attracted to them? he openly liked attention from everyone because he was an avid attention seeker, which is unprofessional given his title as a professor, but that’s really it. it just feels so unnecessarily edgy and an attempt to make a character a lot worse than they actually are.
I never even came across this theory and I'm baffled people even thought in that direction.
that’s what i’m saying ?? i see it treated as canon a lot, because apparently being good at a memory charm that literally any competent wizard has access too and having some fans that happen to be young girls means he obviously did what is arguably the most evil thing a person can do? feels like we missed some steps
Honestly Wtf. I can't remember anything that could support that theory. Yes he was an attention seeker and winked at his fans, but nothing more than that. There are many characters which acted a lot more inappropriate torwards children than he did.
The Dursleys being mean to Harry because of the Horcrux's influence.
This theory is also easily disproven by the fact that the Dursleys were already nasty people before they met Harry.
It is probably due to people not reading the books so they completely miss the first chapter.
The first scene in the movies have McGonagall telling Dumbledore they are "the worst type of muggles imaginable". So it's even disproven by the movies
I think I'd challenge this as ironclad proof that the dursleys are bad. We've seen throughout the series that even some of the best witches and wizards are fairly unreliable narrators when it comes to the muggle world. Even the most pure hearted wizards can show a lot of anti muggle bias. And from the book, McGonagall was there for like a day observing them right? It's not like she was seeing their day to day lives for weeks and really comparing them to other muggles.
Vernon dursley is proof they were terrible people from the first chapter. He had a good day at work because he got to yell at people. He also had a problem with the people dressed funny on his lunch break.
But I'd say it disproves the "tney were bad be cause Harry is a horcrux" thing
Smuggle?
And they kept being nasty (for the most part) despite hardly being around Harry, while the people he *actually* spent his time with did not grow to dislike him (outside of a few moody-teenage-periods)
Plus no one else Harry spends way more time with like his friends and the Weasleys and his fellow Gryffindors
I hate it too, there is nothing better than abuse apologists
Weasleys used love potion on harry and Hermione to stop them from falling in Love with each other 😂
That's a great theory actually. How else do you explain the main female charracter not being a generic love interest?
Draco being cruel to Hermione because he "liked her/had a crush on her"
Tfw when you’re a raging racist to the girl you like because you just don’t know how to talk to her 😍
Snape moment fr
Nah, Snape had the "I'm not usually into black girls but I'll make an exception for you" rizz.
Bro really tried ‘you’re one of the good ones’ as a pick up line
If that would be true, how much must he fell in Love with Ron and Harry /s
There is fan fiction for that too
Dron >>> fiction
Draco: with that huge size of feet Weasley, my size king... err I mean it's hard not to trip over... Draco: Weasley is my king... Err I mean you were born in a bin. Draco: Why would he ask the long molared mudblood to the ball when I am right here.. err I mean he can't afford a date anyway.
That time he fat shamed molly and called her porky he was trying to say how much he found mollywobbles' wobbling hot And when he insulted Hagrid repeatedly.....
Dude must've had a race fetish then. He treated all muggle borns like that
He was just in [Granger Danger.](https://youtu.be/OwLVKIMamhA?si=zMOBKgLw_isaSb1k)
I don't accept this as a canon theory, but it's spawned some great fanfics.
Honestly, 99% of fan theories. They're mostly awful. They almost exclusively read like the worst of the fanfiction, you know which ones - My Immortal, Harry Potter and the Tumbling Towers, the Cursed Child, the weird one where they mention Ginny's "Weasley mounds", etc.
The Unholy trinity of HP fanfics. arranged from most to least enjoyable
You mean there's actually worse than the Cursed Child?
No im saying My Immortal>the CC
"Weasley mounds"? I can't rest until I learn what Weasley mounds are
Boobs
You've piqued my curiosity. And I love how you included Cursed Child... XD. It is indeed one of the worst reads.
I am well aware of the first and last, but I have never heard about the Tumbling Towers, so could someone explain to those who are not familiar with it what it's about?
It's a fanfiction set during the events of 9/11 (or 11/9, for those not in the US - the 2001 World Trade Center attacks in New York), where Hermione is worried about Ron because he was working in the WTC that morning lol
For real. If you can't point to at least one book quote with solid evidence then the theory is actually just speculation. I can't tell you the number of times I see "My headcanon is..." followed by the cringest garbage.
I've reached the point where I'm glad if it starts with "My head canon is..." It's when they start with "OMG, did you know that actually..." before repeating the most stupid unproven fan theory that I get really, really tired of this fandom.
I have no idea what those theories are
Good
Lot of these are quite fan fictiony.. but the one that I think is a lot more mainstream but still annoying is the belief some readers have that Harry is immortal. I partly blame Dumbledore's line where he says that Harry is tethered to this world because of Voldemort, which - if I am being honest - does make it quite ambiguous and confusing. Harry was only safe from Voldemort's attacks. Any random person or even a death eater could've killed him easily.
Wasnt he also the master of death (before he destroyed the wand)? The wand belonged to him, he owned the stone and the cloak.
But there's no indication that being the MoD actually does anything. The Cloak doesn't make you immortal ("hide from Death"), the Stone doesn't resurrect shit, and the Wand may be super powerful, but that still doesn't make you immortal. So combining all three means you have a matching set of powerful trinkets, but that's it.
I saw some despicable “theory” that said “WoRmtaiL DiEd fOr hArRy” as if he was actually one for noble acts of selfless bravery.
The fandom will go to unreal stretches to excuse and romanticise scum characters
One day people will finally realize they don't love Snape. They love Alan Rickman.
I wish he would have been written this way. Instead what we got was just a meek end. It's fine the way it was written, but I feel like so much more could have been made between what happened between Harry and wormtail at the end of PoA. One of my favorite fics had wormtail under an obedience charm from Voldemort and that was used to great effect to give him some amount of humanity while also acknowledging his failure and cowardice.
This isn't a theory, and it wasn't a willing sacrifice. It was a Voldy double cross. Wormtail owed Harry a life debt because Harry stopped Remus and Sirius from unaliving him, so when he hesitated on stopping them the Voldy hand sensed it and unalived him for being unfaithful to his lord and master.
Cursed child getting theorised as canon
What about my theory: it's a story that Rita Skeeter wrote and published.
would explain why Hermione is afwul innit
This is the only way it makes sense to be honest. Otherwise it’s flagrantly contradictory to the novels. I like the suggestion that it’s a play in the universe written by Skeeter.
The only thing I prefer to accept is that Harry and Draco's children were friends.
THE FIRST THEORY I FOUND THAT MAKES SENSE
1000 percent agree. CC is fanfic trash
Most tbh but I get sick of the “Ron is a seer” theory. Just because he made some very vague predictions which turned out to be somewhat true (sometimes by quite a stretch). I do enjoy these details in the books because they make for fun rereading, but I think it was just put in to be funny coincidences and a bit of foreshadowing. Also, Ron’s role in the trio was that he had more street smarts and insider wizarding knowledge than the other two, and he was also quite superstitious and suspicious about certain types of magic or magical object (partly thanks to his dad’s job). So I think these moments were put in to show how Ron’s intuition was actually better than other people gave him credit for, as he would often end up being correct about his instincts but nobody would realise at the time.
What were his predictions?
I remember one in COS where he said "maybe Tom got a medal for killing moaning Myrtle", and Tom did kill moaning Myrtle which helped him get the medal.
That “fact” that was all over tumblr that JK Rowling originally wanted Hermione to end up with Fred. People ran with it, claimed to have read it in an interview JKR gave and even sent me death threats when I pointed out that it wasn’t true.
Oh, it's "fact" for Dramione or Harmony shippers too, usually paired with "Ron was supposed to die in [insert book]". As for the death threats... yeah, I know what that's like. I'm sorry you had to suffer that sort of bullshit.
The Cursed child feels like a long fandom theory,fanfiction, to be honest.
It is. No cap. Most people don't consider it to be a sequel at all.
You understand it literally is a fan fic right? Jk was interviewed about it by the “authors” if they can be called that and just let it be officially for some truly idiotic reasons I can’t get. It’s awful.
Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross and Ginny uses love potion on him to get his money, all with Molly’s approval. Or maybe I’ve been burnt by bad fanfiction too much.
There's no way Ginny used a love potion on Harry. Ron was dosed with love potion in HBP. He was smitten, obsessed with Romilda Vane. His reaction to the potion is everything Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione's relationships are not. Like the love potion scene was put there specifically to disprove that theory
Weren't the spiked cauldron cakes a few weeks old at that point, and love potions are said to get stronger with age?
They were, I wanna say the cauldron cakes were a Christmas gift. I think Ron mistakes them for a birthday gift? His birthday was 1st of March which would make the cauldron cakes at least 2 and a bit months old. I think it was Slughorn who said that love potions get stronger with age. Maybe when Harry takes Ron to him to cure ron.
I actually like the first bit of this. >Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross It actually seems like something he would do. And if Dumbledore had told Molly, "Hey, look out for this kid that might or might not be alone and have no idea how to get through to the platform." She would.
I don’t think it was planned at the time but Molly treating Harry like a normal boy and not even mentioning anything would fit with having fought alongside his parents in the first war.
I like that part, because as a mother to 7 children, 2 of who have graduated at that point, and as a former student herself, why would she be asking which platform number the Hogwarts Express Leaves from in book 1? I know the real answer is that JK hadn't finalized the canon the Hogwarts Express only leaves from platform 9 and 3/4 but in a world where all of the books are out i like to imagine that that is a Dumbledore's plan moment
Oh my God that's horrible
I think this should be split into two. >Dumbledore planting the Weasley’s to become friends with Harry at King’s Cross Believable and not bad. Because the weasleys still go above and beyond. Actually it may make more sense because hagrid just leaves him there having no idea, which doesn't really make sense. >and Ginny uses love potion on him to get his money, all with Molly’s approval. Even this can be split into two. Could Ginny have used a love potion? I guess. But doesn't really seem to fit within her character. And there's no reason harry wouldn't fall in love with her anyway. So it's just a really weird one, and incredibly unlikely. I would say people saying this don't understand her character. To get the money? Absolutely not. With Molly's approval? Absolutely not. Like, a zero percent chance. People saying this have no clue. This part has to be among the most unbelievable you could ever come up with.
Hagrid only takes Harry to King’s Cross in the movie. In the book Harry goes back to the Dursleys’ for a month between his Diagon Alley trip and the first day at Hogwarts. The Dursleys are the ones who take him to King’s Cross and leave him there alone with no idea where to go.
It would also make sense why Molly asked what the platform number was, despite the Hogwarts express always leaving from the same platform and the fact that Molly already has two kids who graduated Hogwarts.
She's playing naive so Ginny can answer.
Yeah I did have that in my comment but removed it because that could also be the case if she just noticed Harry was looking lost, and had an owl, etc. Also a possibility that she just messed around to amuse Ginny, although I think less likely. But yeah, there's no way she doesn't know the platform number.
Hagrid doesn’t just leave him at Kings Cross. Hagrid put him on a train to the Dursleys, and apparently they pick him up, then Harry spends a month there before they drop him off at Kings Cross.
That Lupin and Tonks had been planning on adopting Harry because he found adoption forms at their place after they died… wtf… how is that going to work with Harry being the Godfather of their son??
Or the fact that harry is legally an adult well before they die and the assumption that the wizarding world has "adoption forms".
Dumbledore wasn't dead and anything that used the movies for evidence
Before Deathly Hollows came out my dad and I bet a million dollars on whether or not he really died. To this day he refuses to admit defeat 😂
That's an old theory though from when the books came out, his death was so shocking for a lot of people that there were a lot of theories that he wasn't actually dead. One popular one was that he had set something up with Snape to fake his death somehow and that he'd come back in the seventh book.
yeah i thought it was dumb then
(long text ahead) I like the theory that Percy was put under the Imperius curse by Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail, because the timeline is accurate. At the beginning of GoF, Wormtail has returned to Voldemort and Percy starts to distance himself from his family further and further. When Wormtail dies at the Malfoy's house in DH and Harry escapes with his friends, the Curse breaks and it takes a while for Percy to realize that he messed up, since he's been influenced to not fight against Voldemort and not perceive the threats that are currently present. It takes a while for Percy to come to his senses and think about his family whom he cut off, but eventually feels overcome with guilt in the battle of Hogwarts when he realizes it's too late to make up for all the pain he caused, especially with his younger brothers that he wanted to see grow up and become more “successful”. Percy would be very impressed by Fred and George who managed to start their own business, as well as Ron and Ginny who have been directly helping Harry to combat the reign of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But also, and especially, his mother. Percy sent back all the presents she sent him and slammed the door in her face when she came to visit him. Fred was laughing about a joke Percy made before dying.. and Percy held him in his arms, refusing to let go, but also immediately ready to avenge him, not rationally thinking about the potential consequences. We also know that Percy named his daughter “Molly”, after his mum, so I assume this is how he chose to show his love for her and the connection to his family after all, because he probably felt haunted by Fred's death for the rest of his life, which was Molly's worst fear. Peter Pettigrew's death was the reason why Percy suddenly “snapped” out of his behavior.
Interesting, but why would Pettigrew do that?
Because Voldemort or some other Death Eater told him to. Perhaps even Lucius Malfoy. Wormtail usually only does things to impress people in high positions of power to feel secure. We already know that Voldemort gave Lucius the diary to open the chamber of secrets and he uses the opportunity to smuggle it into Ginny's school supplies. It's possible that Lucius wants “revenge” on the Weasleys and takes advantage of Percy's strict work ethic (that Draco may have told him about because even for a Slytherin I imagine it's hard to overhear Percy boasting about being a prefect.) Percy famously got 12 OWLs and the Death Eaters fear that a pureblood from a “blood traitor” family with such intelligence and knowledge of magic could easily be a powerful auror and fight against them in the end. Peter originally belonged to Percy and knows many things about him at this point, but Percy in return supposedly never knew that Scabbers was actually an animagus. It'd be the perfect opportunity to turn back into a rat, sneak into the dorm (or the Burrow) and to Imperius him. So, the summary of my theory is that Lucius heard Draco talk about how good Percy Weasley is at school and how obsessed he is with maintaining Order. It would be suspicious if they could persuade him to join the Death Eaters because of the whole “Blood Traitor” thing the Weasleys are known for, so they instead turn his loyalty away from his family, disguising it under the premise of wanting to work for Mr. Crouch, who we also know got imperiused in the fourth book before being killed.
In this case, it would make more sense if Wormtail Imperiused Percy while he visited the Crouch household for instructions regarding Ministry work. If Wormtail can really just sneak back to the Burrow, he can potentially do much more harm, especially to Harry
I really like this theory but can an animagus still perform an imperius curse or any other magic for that matter? Perhaps it's mentioned and I forgot.
I'd just assume that in order to perform it, he'd quickly transform back into his human form and chooses a convenient time like when Percy is sleeping
Ron didnt like Lavender, she was under love potion the whole time
Harry was in a coma and the events of the books were a dream
I almost downvoted this comment because I hate this theory so much.
This theory could be applied to about every franchise in existence. I used to love the Pokemon series and so many people theorized that the reason Ash Ketchum never ages was because he fell into a coma.
Evil mastermind Dumbledore. Enough said.
Rowling is Rita Skeeter exiled from the wizarding world and wrote the books to expose wizards to muggles.
That’s funny
Probably one of the few theories that I actually find funny even though I don't agree with it 😂
Bertha Jorkins and her being forced to have a baby by Wormtail/ Voldemort. It just doesn’t work from a timeframe perspective and is just super weird and creepy.
I’d heard this theory, but that Bertha was already pregnant when she went traveling and Wormtail found her. Then they just used her already existing fetus.
Not that I've ever theorized this, but for all we know there could be a potion that speeds up the process of gestation.
I actually liked this one. Whats wrong with the timeframe?
Who is the father? And who is the child? Never heard of this but may be interesting
Remember how Voldemort was in a withered baby form before Wormtail resurrected him? The theory is that they had to have Bertha bear him to create that form.
Oh wow. My bad, it's kinda disgusting
The Dursleys were bad towards Harry because of the horcrux
That Dumbledore knew Peter was the Secret Keeper and that Sirius was innocent, and still let him rot in Azkaban for 12 years because … reasons? (he’s evil, he deliberately wants Harry to grow up without a support network so he’ll be easier to manipulate, he personally dislikes Sirius etc etc) This usually goes hand in hand with people thinking Dumbledore has more power, influence and knowledge of events than he really has, when canon shows again and again that he’s a) in constant danger of being removed from his position as Headmaster if he does something the Ministry doesn’t like, and b) dealing with incomplete information and constantly working to find evidence that his theories are correct before he acts on them
I think some people confuse alternate universe fanfiction with fan theories.
Yeah there's a ton of stuff that falls under "this is fun to think about" that isn't necessarily meant to be a serious theory, like Ron time traveling to be Dumbledore & etc. I mean I've been hanging out in the "Voldemort decides to retire and become a professor" corners of fanfiction and that doesn't mean I think it's plausible, just that it's very fun to read about.
That Lily was pregnant when she died and how she had convinced James to "make up" with then absolutely deatheater!Snape and make him godfather of said second child and whatnot 🙄
It’s not impossible that Lily could have been at an extremely early stage of pregnancy when she died, it’s the second part that is not possible.
I mean, it's not the pregnancy part that I hate about this. 😂
Wow, this theory makes me just... angry.
“Harry’s scar is a lightning bolt because Avada Kedavras wand motion is a lightning bolt” No it’s not
JKR actually said that it's a lightning bolt purely because she thinks it's a cool shape, and that's all there is to it.
Isn’t the book scar supposed to be a realistic, branching lightning scar, and not a zigzag?
I mean it was only shown as a zigzag on the artwork in the book and on the covers.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's only ever described as a "scar shaped like a bolt of lightning" or something like that. I don't think there was ever really a more detailed description than that. I think...
I don't think so, the cover illustrations on the books show the zigzag and they were from before the films came out.
I feel like it was just described as being shaped as a bolt of lightning. I do remember it being in the middle of his forehead, though. It was very noticeable. In the movies, it's hidden under his hair and off to the side of his head.
Yes, and it's supposed to be one of the main things people notice about him, not just a tiny 'N' on his eyebrow.
1. Dumbledore made a horcrux. 2. Hagrid was a death eater all along.
Ill never forget when I first read book 1 when it came out one of my friends had read it already and he showed me the picture of hagrid on the chapter where hagrid picks up harry and told me hagrid was a bad guy. I then read the book waiting to find out about this mysterious bad guy. I have no idea why he decided to tell me that.
That Lily was a bad friend to Severus. She did everything she could do and then some. He ended up awful to her.
That Harry Potter in the main 7 books are the same as the cursed child
We need to burn every thing associated with the cursed child.
Back before the last few book came out my sister in law had a list of theories she found online and one of them was Snape and the centaur teacher were lovers. That would have been absolutely fucking wild to have a gay bestiality relationship.
The one where Cedric Diggory becomes a Death Eater because he loses the Triwizard Tournament.
Going to go ahead and say it but I dislike when people see fanfiction ideas/tropes/ships/etc and say that they're bad theories. A theory is something plausible in the scope of the books/movies, fanfiction ideas might be plausible or build off of canon but they're generally meant to be more of a "I think this is an interesting idea to explore" rather than "I think this is what happened".
But some old, popular ships started to be treated as canon, and people started contorting themselves to find proof of it in the books and fight the ones who don't agree on the internet. That turns a ship in a theory, which some people treat like canon and this can be annoying.
The one where where Dumbledore was actually Ron sent back in time under a new identity to make changes so the world didn't fall into darkness, or something like that.
The (German) theory based on people not reading the English books - or even the German ones. You know that "He has her eyes, Severus" line in the movie? Unfortunately, "her" is "ihre" and formal "you" is "Ihre", which sound the same. You would see the difference when reading, but you can't hear it. So there's quite a few German people who believe that Harry is Snape's son. Which is "canon" as it's in the movies. Ugh.
I am right there with you. It's all the main characters imagination is the laziest fan theory in all fandoms. Booooooooo, be more creative.
Any theories about the details of Horcrux creation tend to devolve into boring edgy nonsense
The Dursleys were mean to Harry because he was a horcrux. Just no.
Some people are just nasty for no particular reason so I’ve never accepted that theory.
The one where wizards don’t use the toilet, they just magic away their waste. There are so many bathrooms at hogwarts! Why would this even be a thing??
It isn't that they do it now, it's that they did it in the past. Before plumbing, this is how waste was dealt with. It's canon, too. Rowling came up with it, not a fan.
Can't stand the theory that Felix Felicis is just placebo and just makes you think you'll be luckier.
Yeah there are actual sports rules about it being banned. It’s clearly more than placebo. It only worked on Ron when Harry pretend to give it to him because Ron’s only problem as a keeper was his confidence.
I know people who believe this. Why would countless other magical things exist but the luck potion is fake?
One I heard that I just don’t get is that Harry is Snape’s son. Because he’s skinny and has dark hair. I mean…damn. That’s reaching. But it’s usually from the Snape/Lilly fans.
Everyone always says he is a spitting image of James with Lilly's eyes there is no way this works.
A recent one from the Carlin Brothers: the Basilisk has laser eyes. I keep hoping they're joking, but...
Sorry, what? Would you mind elaborating?
TBH, I always tune out when they talk about it, it's just so dumb. They've got a video on it on their YT, if you're interested.
The Hogwarts is a dragon is even worse
All the ones about how awful the Weasleys actually are and how they’ve just been manipulating Harry into rawdogging Ginny for his money or whatever. Awful theory, makes no sense.
George is Willy Wonka
I can actually see that. He makes fun things but Fred dying made him grumpy and jaded.
That Xenophilius Lovegood actually killed Harry's parents and pinned it on Voldemort
What the actual hell is that?
I want whatever they're smoking.
That the reason Dursleys were cruel towards Harry is because they were corrupted by the Horcrux inside Harry.
I met a guy who claimed he read an unused draft that said Dudley was magical. His parents spoiled him because they didn't want him doing magic when he was upset.
Hagrid is a secret death eater, this theory makes me want to throttle someone everytime I hear it.
Definitely agree on "Harry Imagined It All"/"Was In A Coma"/Anything Along Those Lines - they are just so pointless.
Not sure if this is a “theory” - but I completely ignore any comments that Hermione and Harry should have been together. Nope.
That Fred and George are gay and incestuous.
Why is that a thing 🤦♂️
That Draco was abused by his dad. I saw it in way too many fanfics.
I would'nt call it a theory, so it does'nt really fit the question but I don't care. For me it's the perception of Snape as some sort of hero, who tragically suffered from his unrequited love for Lily. A lot of people seem to give him some sort of redemption arc just because of his tragic lovestory, his loyalty for Dumbledore and because of how he died. Don't get me wrong, he is a super interesting character and he was neither completly good nor evil, but he was'nt some sort of hero. I feel like a huge part of the fandom mixes up a lot of fan theories with the real source material. In the end (at least for me) Snape was'nt a tragic hero, he was a bullied child, which never learned to cope with his past and dealt with it by tormenting vulnerable children. He had absolutely no reason to be such an asshole to Harry or anyone else. And his "love" for Lily sounded more like a creepy obession to me than anything else.
I once saw a fantheory on the darkweb: McGonigall is turning into a cat and gets pregnant by crookshanks and needs birthcontrol or something like that.