Summary

• The movies changed Hermione's memory charm spell to "Obliviate," which couldn't be undone, resulting in her parents forgetting her forever.
• In the books, Hermione used a False Memory charm to make her parents believe they were named Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and J.K. Rowling confirmed she restored their memories after the war.
• It's unclear how Hermione would have reversed the spell, but it likely depended on Voldemort's defeat and added pressure to find the Horcruxes.

The Harry Potter movies made many changes from the books, but one small added detail sentenced Hermione Granger's parents to a dark fate. Of course, it's virtually impossible for movie adaptations to avoid changing the source material. Most of the time, adjustments are necessary to bring events to the screen that were only described second-hand in the books and therefore lacked the full context. This was the case for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows scene in which Hermione wiped her parents' memories to protect them. In the book, it was a temporary arrangement—but an added detail changed this for the movies.

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In the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book, Harry found out once he was safe at the Burrow that Hermione had erased her Muggle parents' memories so they wouldn't be in danger from Voldemort's Death Eaters. Harry never witnessed this happen, and Hermione provided no information about her process. All she said was that the Grangers no longer knew they had a daughter and had suddenly realized their dream to move to Australia. Though the Harry Potter books never again brought up Hermione's parents, the assumption is that they got their memory back after Voldemort's defeat—but the movies made this impossible.

Hermione's 'Obliviate' Charm In The Harry Potter Movies Can't Be Undone

The Harry Potter movies took the method of "show, don't tell," so audiences could witness Hermione wiping her existence from her parents' memories. This was a great choice since it significantly added to the drama of it all. Moreover, Deathly Hallows Part 1 even utilized real pictures of Emma Watson as a child, and watching her face fade away from the frames made the scene all the more emotionally impactful. However, including this meant movie audiences had to hear the spell Hermione used to do this—and the screenwriters chose "Obliviate."

The problem with this is that this particular memory charm is impossible to reverse without doing irreparable damage. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore explained that even he could not restore the memories of Gilderoy Lockhart's victims. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew managed to torture Bertha Jorkins to the point that the memory charm put on her by Barty Crouch was broken—but it damaged her mind beyond repair. These were measures that Hermione wouldn't have been willing to take.

Therefore, when Hermione wiped her parents' memories with Obliviate in the Harry Potter movies, she ensured they would forget they ever had a daughter—not temporarily—but for the rest of their lives. Mr. Granger would never walk Hermione down the aisle to marry Ron, and Mrs. Granger would never hold or even know about her grandchildren. In all, it was far too large a price for a small chance at safety—especially since ignorance wouldn't have saved them if the Death Eaters had ever tracked Hermione's parents down.

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Hermione's Parents Had Their Memories Restored According To Harry Potter Canon

This tragic ending for Hermione and her parents never happened in the Harry Potter books. This is because Hermione didn't just erase her parents' memories—she rewrote them using a False Memory charm. The incantation for this was never mentioned in Harry Potter, but it was used several times throughout the story. Instead of leaving victims with a blank slate where a specific memory should have been, Hermione's spell made the Grangers believe that they were actually named Wendell and Monica Wilkins, who had no children and always wanted to live in Australia.

Though the details of this specific spell are unclear, there is evidence in the Harry Potter books that it can be undone. Hermione told Harry it was her intention, if they survived the Second Wizarding War, to find the "Wilkins" in Australia and set them right. This moment was never described in the books, but author J.K. Rowling confirmed that she did precisely this, and Hermione's parents shared a joyfully tearful reunion with their daughter.

How Hermione Might Have Restored Her Parents' Memories In The Harry Potter Books

Since the spell that Hermione used is a topic of confusion, it's unclear precisely how she would have reversed it once the time came for the Grangers to again that they had a daughter. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore told Harry that Voldemort (back when he used the name Tom Riddle) had used a similar spell on his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, to make the man believe that he had murdered the Riddles when it had really been the young Dark Lord. Dumbledore could only partially recover Morfin's memory, but it's implied that this is because it had been so many years since the false memory had been planted.

This means that when Hermione altered her parents' memories, she likely knew that she would only be able to correct them if Lord Voldemort didn't take too long to defeat. This would have added another layer of pressure on the Horcrux search, though Hermione, of course, never mentioned this to Harry. It's precisely the kind of secret the cleverest witch in Harry Potter would have kept to herself—but the fact that she took the risk proved her loyalty to Harry and determination to make the world a safer place for her Muggle loved ones.