50 Harry Potter Facts That Will Have You Ready for Hogwarts
Learn surprising facts about the books, movies and all of the Wizarding World.
With over 500 million copies sold worldwide, Harry Potter is the best-selling book series in history. But the wizarding world of Harry Potter is so much more than just books or a movie series or a franchise.
For many fans, it's an actual world that they can escape to when reading or watching. There is so much going on in the Harry Potter world, actually, that it can be hard to keep track of all the little details. In fact, there are lots of fun facts about Harry Potter and the wizarding world that even some of the biggest fans aren't aware of. They add an extra layer of fascination to the stories and, if possible, make J.K. Rowling's made-up world even better. Here's a look at some facts about HP you probably didn't know.
Harry Potter Trivia
1. J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter have the same birthday, which is July 31.
2. Dumbledore has a deeper meaning. It's actually an Old English word for "bumblebee." Rowling has said that she chose that name because she always thought of Dumbledore humming to himself.
3. Rowling eventually revealed the fate of Dolores Umbridge, although we didn't read about it in the books: she was eventually imprisoned for her actions at the Ministry of Magic and was sent to Azkaban.
4. The names of some of the main characters were changed from Rowling's original names. Before she changed them, they were: Hermione Puckle, Draco Spinks, Neville Puff and Lily Moon (who ended up as Luna Lovegood).
5. Whenever you saw Harry, Ron and Hermione doing schoolwork in the movies, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were actually doing their homework.
6. Harry, Ron and Hermione's names all had deeper meanings too. Harry is the middle-English version of Henry, which was a name popular for English kings (because Harry is a leader). "Ronald" comes from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, a title for a ruler's adviser (he's Harry's best friend). Hermione's name is from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, and was just meant to be clever, since her parents are scholarly.
7. Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid in the films, was the first actor to be cast in the series.
8. Rowling credits the Harry Potter books to her mother's death, saying the books have a major death theme in them because she started writing them six months before her mother died. She has said that if she didn't die, there wouldn't be a Harry Potter.
9. Rowling once said that when she wasn't in a happy place, she almost killed off Ron out of sheer spite.
10. If you look closely, you'll notice that the scar on Harry's head on the book cover and in the film are different. On the books, the scar is in the middle of his forehead. In the films, it's off-center.
11. Although Hogwarts is in England and Harry lived in London, much of the series is inspired by Edinburgh, Scotland, which is where Rowling lives.
12. The Dementors were based on Rowling's experience with depression. She once described it as "that cold absence of feeling—that really hollowed-out feeling. That's what Dementors are."
13. Rowling created Quidditch after having a big fight with a now ex-boyfriend. She said she doesn't remember the connection between the fight and the game except that maybe "in my deepest, darkest soul I would quite like to see him hit by a bludger."
14. The Harry Potter movies could have been a lot different. Before an argument with Rowling, Steven Spielberg was supposed to direct the first movie, and he wanted Haley Joel Osment to play Harry.
15. Rowling was inspired by a real-life bookstore in Porto, Portugal called Livraria Lello, which she lived near for a few years. Many say the bookstore reminds them of Flourish and Blotts.
16. Peeves, the poltergeist in the books, was supposed to appear in the films played by British comedian and actor Rik Mayall, but director Chris Columbus didn't like how the character looked onscreen and cut him.
17. In the books, Hermione had buck teeth, and she almost did in the movie too. Emma Watson first wore fake buck teeth, but when the crew realized she couldn't speak properly with them in her mouth, they decided to take them out.
18. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Arthur Weasley was originally supposed to die, but his death was replaced with the death of Sirius.
19. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Trelawney refused to sit at a table with 12 other characters because she would be the 13th and the first one to get up after that would die. In Order of the Phoenix, 13 members of the order are sitting and Sirius was the first one to stand up.
20. The names of the plants in the wizarding world are based on real names. Rowling said that they're from a book called Culpeper's Complete Herbal, which was written in the 17th century by English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper.
21. The American name for the first Harry Potter book was almost different. It was going to be Harry Potter and the School of Magic instead of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but Rowling asked for Sorcerer's Stone instead.
22. Rowling spent the first five years writing Harry Potter just setting up rules on what the characters could and couldn't do.
23. In the Amortentia potion, Hermione recognizes a few smells. The third one is Ron's hair.
24. The final book almost had two different titles. One was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and the other was Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
25. The feasts of food in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was all real food... but it wasn't really enjoyed, since it spoiled quickly because of hot lights on set.
Related: Harry Potter Movies Ranked
26. The threat of leaks and spoilers was real with the release of the last books. The publisher, Bloomsbury, gave them code names, which included Edinburgh Potmakers and The Life and Times of Clara Rose Lovett: An epic novel covering many generations.
27. In the second film, there's a scene where Harry explains he's missing a sock. For that scene, Radcliffe had to shave one leg.
28. Alan Rickman knew things about Harry Potter most people did not. Rowling gave him spoilers about the story to help him really land the role of Snape.
29. Both Radcliffe and Grint admitted to having crushes on Watson when filming early movies.
30. Tom Felton almost didn't play Draco—he auditioned for the roles of both Harry and Ron.
31. Harry's eyes are described as green in the books, but Radcliffe's eyes are not green. They tried green contacts, but Radcliffe had a bad reaction to them and couldn't use them.
32. Shirley Henderson, who played 14-year-old Moaning Myrtle, was 36 when filming began.
33. Rowling has said that "The Mirror of Erised" is her favorite chapter in the first book and one of her favorite chapters in the whole series.
34. The name Voldemort comes from French words that mean "flight of death."
35. Fred and George Weasley, perpetual jokers, were born on April Fools' Day.
36. Rowling has said that if she were a teacher at Hogwarts, she would teach Charms, and if she had a job, she would write spell books.
37. One of the directors, Alfonso Cuarón, told Watson, Radcliffe and Grint to write essays about their characters. Radcliffe wrote a page, Watson wrote 10, and Grint didn't write anything—just like their characters.
38. The HP books were the first children's books on the New York Bestseller list since Charlotte's Web in 1952.
39. The actors were not allowed to play contact sports because they weren't safe, so they only played golf during their free time.
40. Colors have deeper meaning in the HP world. Red represents goodness, which is why Gryffindor's robes are red and the Weasleys have red hair. Green is associated with negative events, like when Harry saw a flash of green when his parents died.
41. Rowling said that when she took a Sorting Hat quiz, it sorted her into Hufflepuff.
42. Makeup artists applied Harry's scar over 2,000 times, and Radcliffe went through 160 pairs of glasses.
43. Rowling famously revealed that Dumbledore was gay after the series was completed.
44. Rowling has said that she regrets pairing Ron and Hermione together, saying she did it because of "wish fulfillment" and not because of the plot.
45. The killing curse, "Avada Kedavra," comes from an Aramaic phrase "Abhadda kedhabhra," which means to "disappear like this word."
46. The character of Moaning Myrtle was inspired by all of the crying girls Rowling had run into in bathrooms over the years, especially at clubs.
47. Hermione's Patronus is an otter, and Ron's is a Jack Russell Terrier, which is known for chasing otters.
48. Ernie and Stanley, the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus, are named after Rowling's grandfathers.
49. Two American actors wanted to be in the Harry Potter movies so badly they offered to do it for free—Rosie O'Donnell and Robin Williams. But Rowling said no because she wanted a cast that was only British or Irish.
50. Radcliffe broke about 80 wands throughout filming because he kept using them as drumsticks.
Story by Jessica Booth.
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