Hogwarts Legacy (2023)

Well then, well then, well then. It took me a while longer than I had intended, but I finally managed to get a hold of a copy of Hogwarts Legacy, play through it (two weeks, roughly 40 hours of gameplay) and formulate enough of an opinion on the substance and style of the game, to be able to write my review. Here goes.

Spellcaster University (2019)

If, like me, you’ve yet to pick up a copy of Hogwarts Legacy, be it for monetary, societal justice or one of many other reasons, then you may be wanting to get your magical school fix elsewhere. I gave Spellcaster University a go, but what do I make of it?

The Truth about Delphini: A Cursed Child Headcanon

It is safe to say that the 2016 stage play sequel to the Harry Potter Franchise, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was controversial. While almost every element of the production was lauded and received positive attention, acting, sets, etc., the most plot was immediately written off as resembling the most amateurish of fanfiction. Of all the criticized story elements, however, none has drawn more ire than the idea that Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort had a child. I agree wholeheartedly with this criticism and want to present my own theory that I’ve been cultivating over the last few years.

Harry Potter’s Wand

No, no, this isn’t a dirty fan fiction – we don’t do those here, but if we did, they’d be the fifteenth best dirty fan fictions in the world. This is one of those thoughts that just won’t leave my mind, and so rather than try and come up with something to review to fill this spot, I figured I’d let you all ponder it too.

Flashback : Top Five Death Eaters

This is probably the most popular of the posts I’ve chosen for my round of flashbacks – though, that hasn’t always been the case. Despite being originally written in 2018, at the height of our previous success, this had only managed a measly 44 views before the start of the year. This year, though, it seems to be incredibly popular and seeing as it’s one that doesn’t need a lot of work to get ready for a flashback, why not plug it some more, eh?

Flashback: Who was the Better Dumbledore?

DISCLAIMER:

The third post in my Flashback series and we’ve finally reached one I expected to be popular. The question of whether Richard Harris or Michael Gambon gave the best performance of Albus Dumbledore is a controversial one, and I knew it. Is my answer just as controversial? No, far from it, but my reasoning is sound and I explained myself well. I still really like this post. It’s not the best written but it has a good premise, the argument works, and I still think it’s funny in places, even if my feelings on the Harry Potter franchise have altered slightly. I just hope the next ones hold up as well…

As with most of my generation, I am a massive Harry Potter fan. I struggle to think of another work of fiction that has had quite such a large impact on my life and I’m sure many people my age feel the same. The themes were great, the world was interesting and the characters were likable. However, there has always been something of a rift in the fanbase over one key character and two legendary actors. Richard Harris played Dumbledore until his death in 2002, meaning the role needed to be recast and the actor chosen was Michael Gambon, and while both men are excellent actors, there is some debate over which was the better portrayal. I’m going to weigh in on the argument and provide, what I believe, is the true answer of which actor gave us the best Dumbledore.

The Five Most Despicable Harry Potter Characters

But TG, what do you mean by this? The ones that you most want to slap? Surely that last one would just be Voldemort, five times? Well, dear reader, this is where I qualify the title of this post by saying that Death Eaters and Voldemort are off limits. We’re not counting them. We know that they’re bastards, so let’s take them off the table. If it wasn’t for Voldemort and his cronies being the absolute worst, these are the five most despicable Harry Potter characters.

Salazar Slytherin: A Rigorous Defence

Of all the Founders of Hogwarts, it is Salazar Slytherin who extends the most influence over the events of the book series. He is the father of the pure blood movement, the man who put an exceptionally deadly creature in a boarding school to purge it of undesirable children, and an ancestor of Voldemort. Slytherin is presented to us as the token villain of the four founders; a racist whose prejudice saw his former friends expel him from the school they had built and whose house is home to a motley collection of sadists, bullies, and racists. However, I posit that this is an unfair interpretation of a pragmatic realist whose very understandable aversion to muggles has been hijacked and mutated into something far uglier.

Top Ten Things Missing From The Harry Potter Movies

It’s no secret that a lot of things had to be removed from the Harry Potter series in order to fit into reasonable movie lengths. Some of those things aren’t that big a deal, but some of them will be sorely missed by fans and critics alike. Today, I present to you my list of the top ten things that were present in the books, not did not make the cut into the movies.

Top Five Death Eaters

Everyone loves a good bad guy, right? It’s why we all prefer Hannibal Lector over Clarice Starling, prefer Scar over Simba and Wile E. Coyote over The Roadrunner. It’s all about depth and mystery – we either need to know the backstory so that we understand the motives behind the evil, or we need to be told as little as possible so that we’re left to fill in the gaps ourselves.

From what we know, and what we don’t, we form an opinion on every villain, from the named henchmen like Oddjob or Paulie Gatto, up to the masterminds themselves like Emperor Palpatine or The Joker. It’s just the way it is.

With all of this in mind, there’s a few Death Eaters we find out about through the Harry Potter series… But which is best? Which are in the Top 5, even? Well, let’s find out, shall we?