Harry Potter is a beloved series the world over. The story has been translated into over eighty different languages, has sold over 500 million books, and has earned of seven million dollars at the box office. The story now stretches far beyond its initial seven installments including the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film series and the Cursed Child stage production.
Add to all of that the amusement parks, video games, and school books and Harry Potter filters into most parts of fans' lives. However, just because something is beloved does not mean that it is perfect. Here are a few of the less popular storylines in the HP series.
Harry and Ginny
In the end, Harry finds his true love, Ginny Weasley. The obsessive fangirl of books one and two turns into the quidditch star and self-assured teenager of later books and Harry is smitten. Ginny and Harry receive a lot more hate for their portrayals in the films, where they spend far less time together, Ginny is far less developed as her own character, and sort of getting shoved together out of convenience. Yet, the Ginny/Harry paring is still seen as slightly problematic in the books as well. Ginny's looks are a bit too similar to Harry's mother's to be completely comfortable and, while the first six books focus on Harry and his appreciation for his found family of friends and guardians gets upended by his marrying into his best friend's family at the end.
Snape The Hero
Snape doesn't come out all squeaky clean at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but his image is certainly rehabilitated by the reveal that, not only was he in love with Harry's mother Lily, but he was protecting Harry all along. No one was upset to finally find out what Snape's end game was, his being a complex character was always clear, but the idea that he could be seen as a real hero put many fans off. Of course, he helped Harry, but it was never for Harry's sake, it was all because Snape himself was still lovesick. Add to that Snape's regular bullying of Harry, along with many of his classmates and other students, and Snape still really isn't that great of a guy.
Umbridge
Dolores Jane Umbridge is the only character who is hated at least as much, if not more so, than Voldemort himself. She makes for a great villain, highlighting that you don't have to be a world taking, monologue spewing despot to be truly evil, but much of her behavior was troubling for fans (and many teachers).
Her actual torture of Harry (making him carve sentences into the back of his hand for detention) is a bit out there, especially as she works in an environment surrounded by other adults who are supposed to be taking care of children in the absence of their parents.
Grawp
Sure, it's great to see Umbridge meet Grawp, but that really seems to be the only reason that Hagrid's half brother was introduced into the series at all.
Grawp takes a lot of time (particularly of Harry and Hermione's in Order of the Phoenix) in a book that was already the longest in the Harry Potter series. Was he terribly necessary or terribly interesting? Not in comparison to what else is going on in that central book.
Moody Harry
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry is, understandably, depressed, angry, frustrated, very moody overall. He watched another student die, he's been left on his own all summer, and Dumbledore is being very cagey. Add to that that Harry is also a fifteen-year-old and his moodiness is understandable. However, it's not terribly entertaining to read about and many fans struggled as the books, per usual, stuck so close to Harry's perspective throughout.
Camping
Along the lines of "Moody Harry" the camping that the trio was forced to endure in the seventh book and film, Deathly Hallows, were understandable from a plot perspective. They were searching for Horcruxes without enough information to go on and, they were doing it alone. Of course, it would take them more than a week to find everything they were looking for.
Still, it's a lot of wandering forests, complaining, and wondering what they are supposed to do in an over 700-page book. Some fans had a problem slogging through it all in writing as well as in the first of the Deathly Hallows films.
Nagini
Not all the most hated storylines in the Harry Potter universe come from the original seven books. In fact, most of our top contenders come from the newer works that J.K. Rowling had a hand in. Here we have Nagini who, apparently, was not always just Lord Voldemort's pet snake. Apparently Nagini used to be a witch under a blood curse who eventually was trapped as a snake forever. Casting a South Korean actress caused an even bigger stir due to prevalent stereotypes about submissiveness and Asian women that certainly didn't make this retcon of Nagini's backstory any more palatable.
Harry's Kids
The epilogue of the last Harry Potter book divided fans perhaps more than any other storyline element before it. It tied too much of a bow on the end of the series, everyone married and content. But nothing was more problematic than the naming of Harry Potter's children.
His eldest son was named after his father and godfather (James Sirius) and his daughter after his mother (Lily Luna). Harry's middle son was named after two Hogwarts professors, one of whom was "the bravest man" Harry ever knew. Albus Severus Potter was cursed with two names of problematic men in Harry's life and, well, fans noticed.
Credence Dumbledore
Really the character is either Credence Barebone or Aurelius Dumbledore, but the point is the same. At the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald, it is revealed that Ezra Miller's Credence may, in fact, be the long lost sibling of one Albus Dumbledore.
Many fans were not keen on this addition to the Dumbledore bloodline and many more said that it couldn't even be possible.
Delphini
For those fans who have seen Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on stage and the many more who have read it the character of Delphini (SPOILER ALERT) is revealed to be the long lost daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. While it is possible to do backflips and fit her presence into the Harry Potter timeline the idea of Voldemort, whose greatest failure was his inability to know or understand love, having a child was at least disturbing and at most absurd. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker should have been paying attention.
