The concept art death of Voldemort was a much better spectacle than his ash-ridden movie death but was a little too disturbing for the already dark Harry Potter theory suggested the way Voldemort died was a reflection of his character development in the movies as he gradually became less human, Andrei Riabovitchev's concept art would have made his movie death so much better.
Voldemort's disintegration into ashes was not only inconsistent with the books but also in how his presence was depicted in the rest of the movie series. In Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, Voldemort's character was a soul seeking a host. This was clearly shown when his soul was shown floating away from Quirrel's inanimate body in the final scenes of Harry's battle with him. When Voldemort's physical form takes shape before Harry in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, his cloak was draped over him by smokey darkness that made for an intimidating entrance for the wizarding world's arch-nemesis. The final movies often used ghost-like and smoke-ridden depictions of Voldemort's soul. From when Harry viewed Voldemort's past in the pensieve in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince to when Ron fought through Voldemort's Horcrux taunts in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the visual depiction of Voldemort's presence remained cloaked in smokey and ghost-like darkness.
Riabovitchev's concept art [via Voldemort's nose is shown as even more deformed. The various alternatives Riabovitchev put forward for Voldemort's death showed he wanted to incorporate the ghost-like darkness that enveloped his depiction in earlier films. The proposal of Voldemort's soul as lighter would have solved the inconsistencies in the books and the films. It maintained the ghost theme of previous films and would have given a neat contrast to his darkest presentations. It would have also incorporated the book's portrayal of Voldemort as more human in death if the filmmakers wanted to add a layer of complexity to Voldemort's villainy.
However, this version of Voldemort's death would have been a far more unsettling spectacle. Voldemort's film design change already made him creepier than in the books, but in this concept art, his face became grotesquely deformed which would have proved to be the stuff of nightmares not only for their young audiences but also for those more mature. The latter films had become very dark by this point, and filmmakers did not want to alienate viewers for the final installment of such an epic series.
This concept art had the potential to fix inconsistencies not only in Voldemort's movie depictions but in how he was presented in the books as well. It is however undeniable that it was a far more disturbing image than his final movie scene. Though Riabovitchev's concept art looked like a more fascinating spectacle than his movie death scene, it showed the difficulties filmmakers face in balancing their audience base for a series like Harry Potter.
