The Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Movie cuts an important moment from the books, ultimately missing an opportunity to drive some important details home. While any book-to-screen adaptation must make cuts to the source, it’s often frustrating which moments are chosen to cut and which remain. Each of these Harry Potter Cinema is guilty of this, to some extent, however Saucer’s stone is often praised as the installment that made the least changes to the book. Unfortunately, a specific obstacle at the end of the first Harry Potter Book stands as an exception.
At the end of the US Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Movie, Harry, Ron and Hermione bravely face the obstacles meant to protect the Sorcerer’s Stone. They passed Fluff and the trap door, fell into a pit of Devil’s Snare, and played a daring game of wizard chess before Harry was left to face Professor Quirrell and the Mirror of Erised. It was an exciting sequence, but that’s not all the Golden Trio faced in the first Harry Potter book. A potion trial arranged by Professor Severus Snape was another obstacle protecting the stone, which should never have been cut.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Cutting the Potions process downplays Harry’s bravery
This was Harry’s last chance to turn back or move on
in the Harry Potter Kino, the chess room is the final obstacle before Harry confronts Quirrell in front of the Mirror of Erised. He walked into the room alone after Ron gave his big”Not me, not HermioneYou!” speech and instructed Hermione to stay behind with an unconscious Ron only because his friend had urged him forward. However, in the Saucer’s stone In the book, Harry chooses to continue alone after the Potions trial room since the potion vials he and Hermione faced would allow one person to go forward and one person to go back.
By choosing to be the one to continue, Harry demonstrated his most defining quality – his bravery. It would be precisely this fact that would allow him to face Lord Voldemort and win years later, and it was through this act in Saucer’s stone That Dumbledore first fully realized just how brave – brave, and, therefore, strong Harry was. Without the moment in the Saucer’s stone movie, it seemed as if Harry had no real choice but to continue alone. It was implied that someone had to stay with Ron, and Harry certainly couldn’t do that after his friend’s brilliant speech. The impact of his own choice is significantly reduced.
Hermione’s character was also hurt by the Harry Potter movie change
The potions trial was Hermione’s time to shine
Although the follow-up to the Potions trial was a time for Harry to prove his bravery, the event itself was all about Hermione. The Saucer’s stone The movie makes it clear that Harry, Ron and Hermione each have a moment to shine as they go after the titular stone. Harry grabbed the winged key from a broomstick, Ron demonstrated his strategy skills while playing chess, and Hermione demonstrated her intellect and logic while working out the pooches puzzle. The room, which contained several potions all in a row, came with a puzzle for her to solve, and Hermione barely broke a sweat:
Choose, unless you want to stay here forever,
To help you in your choice, we give you the four clues:
First, but cunningly, the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;
Secondly, those who stand at each end are different,
But if you would go ahead, not your friend;
Third, as you can clearly see, all are different sizes,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death within them;
Fourth, the second on the left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, although different at first sight
Hermione let out a big sigh and Harry, surprised, saw her smile, the last thing he wanted to do.
“Brilliant,” said Hermione. “That’s not magic – it’s logic – a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards don’t have an ounce of logic, they’d be stuck in here forever.”
“But so will we, won’t we?”
“Of course not,” Hermione said. “All we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine. One will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple.”
since the Harry Potter Kino cuts the potions process, Hermione was instead given the Devil’s Snare problem to solve. However, this was more of a joint effort in the Saucer’s stone book. Hermione was just as panicked as her friends, and the three all worked together to find a solution (with Hermione forgetting for a moment that she was a witch and could make fire until Ron reminded her).
Ultimately, the Potions trial was a much better demonstration of Hermione’s strength. You are defeating the devil’s snare in the Saucer’s stone Movie only reinforced that Hermione can memorize everything she reads and regurgitate it. While this is true, her intelligence goes far beyond this –She has practical logic far beyond that of even grown witches and wizards. As she said after reading the riddle, even some of the bravest and strongest would have been stuck in that room forever, but Hermione had them through in a matter of moments.
The omission of the potions process makes no sense when you really think about it
The trials are the final clue that Quirrell, not Snape, was after the stone
While Hermione and Harry prove themselves through the Potions trial is an excellent argument for why it should be kept in the Harry Potter Movies, it’s not even the strongest. Until the end Saucer’s stoneHarry, Ron, and Hermione are certain that Severus Snape is the villain. However, in the book and the movie, Hagrid tells the Golden Trio that “Snape is one of the teachers who protect the stone.” It was this unintentional slip of information that tipped them off that there were spells and enchantments under Fluffy’s trap door. However, in the movie, Snape’s contribution is nowhere to be seen.
It makes no sense that the movie Hagrid would provide this tidbit, but there would be nothing contrived by Snape protecting the stone in the end.
It makes no sense that the movie Hagrid would provide this tidbit, but there would be nothing contrived by Snape protecting the stone in the end. This was a significant part of his twist and served as one of the hints that it was actually Quirrell that Harry would find standing in front of the Mirror of Erised. after all, Quirrell also placed a form of protection in the way of the stone in the First Harry Potter Book – a troll. This detail, combined with the existence of Snape’s potion trial, was A subtle clue that Quirrell was behind everything since a troll was the distraction on Halloween night.
The first Harry Potter movie should have stopped this glitch (but it’s clear it didn’t)
There just wasn’t time in the Harry Potter movie
Overall, there are various reasons why the pot trial should have been kept in these Harry Potter Movies. It gave both Hermione and Harry a moment to show their worth while also subtly revealing who the real villain was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was. By cutting this, the films removed the more nuanced aspect of the mystery and threw away the poetic, literary balance that was the protection of the Sorcerer’s Stone. The trials were not only physical obstacles standing in Harry’s way, but a metaphor for the overarching journey he and his friends would face over the next six Harry Potter Books.
The trials were not only physical obstacles standing in Harry’s way, but a metaphor for the overarching journey he and his friends would face over the next six Harry Potter Books.
Of course, it must be recognized that this would not come across the same way in the Harry Potter Movies. While Hermione pondering this puzzle is fun in the books, it would have been a difficult moment to bring to the screen, where “Show, don’t tell“is a necessity. There just wouldn’t have been room in the ending sequence of Saucer’s stone Without cutting other essential moments of the story. Hopefully, this is something that HBO’s Harry Potter Remake can fix since the TV format should mean more time overall. Now, however, fans must content themselves with the events of the book.