What Went Wrong With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? 

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The worst sin of the story...the confirmation that someone actually had sex with Voldemorte X.x;;

Sorting Albus into Slitherin doesn't subvert expectations. Sorting him into Hufflepuff, that would subvert expectations.

It's kinda ironic that the book is about Harry's son, Albus, being cursed by his dad's shadow and the actual book is cursed by the whole Harry Potter series' shadow

In a nutshell: It's badly written fan-fic.

I *refuse* to believe _Voldemort_ had a _child_

The whole book is cursed, not just the child.

I feel like J.K Rowling just found two bald dudes who had never heard of Harry Potter and asked them to write a Harry Potter book

The part I hate most is the fact they made Cedric diggory into a death eater even though the whole reason people loved his character was his moral decency and kindheartedness

12 year old Scorpius is rumored to be the illegitimate child of Voldemort, who died 19 years ago? Gee, I wonder why nobody bought it

I've read one fan theory that says harry potter and the cursed child never actually happend in the potterverse and it was all just an overblown attention hungry story written by rita skeeter inside the potterverse. So JK Rowling if you ever feel like tweeting another random fact to add to the harry potter lore, here's my recommendation!

"He [Harry] marries Ginny. They live happily ever after. There is literally no way to move forward from this point." -A Very Potter Sequel, which came out 6 years before Cursed Child did.

Broke: Plan to save Diggory Woke: Plan to save Hedwig

I don't consider the Cursed Child part of the Harry Potter series either, it's completely terrible.

I just pretend it doesn't exist.

“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” *Well ROWLING, that was a FUCKING LIE.*

the only things i liked from the cursed child: •albus being a slytherin •albus and scorpius being best friends that has so much potential but goddamn did they fail at it

Imagine naming your kid 'Scorpius' and they don't turn out to be a bad guy.

I used to think people only hated the Cursed Child because a black woman was cast to play Hermione. But then I read Harry Potter and realised this is pretty much just a rushed fanfiction

_"Albus expects to hear cheers, but here's booze instead!"_ Everything is more entertaining with automatic subtitles, even Harry Potter videos! 😆

I refuse to believe Harry Potter, who spent the first 11 years of his life loveless and in a literal cupboard, would turn around and be a horrible father to his son. And I refuse to believe that Ginny Weasely, daughter of two parents who always cared for her and loved her and did their best, would let this happen.

I don't know but the whole thing feels like a rushed fanfic.

The Cursed Child is a fine example of "quit while you're ahead"

i like that dumby is like 167 when he dies, but apparently madam hooch being alive still is pushing it

I got to see this monstrosity on the stage, and let me tell you, if it weren't for the writing this would have been the best play I've ever seen. The costuming, the choreo, and the set were all so well made I almost forgot the writing sucked. When they revealed all of Delphi's writing, I actually gasped since it covered the walls and floors of the entire theatre. The train scene was so good. They used revolving floors and lots of stairs throughout the play and it was so beautifully made. The costumes were amazing as well. I cannot rave about the play enough. I just wish the writing didn't destroy the whole thing.

"I am Voldemort's daughter" In that moment, I recalled Rowling saying Voldemort could not have children and from then on didn't really believe much of what she has said in Twitter

the thing im most annoyed about is how Cedric, a HUFFLEPUFF who was always known to be kind hearted and loyal, would turn into a *death eater* just because he lost a tournament? i mean its fine if they decided to change the 'hufflepuff never had a dark wizard' law, but still, it didn't really add to the story.

I will never ever consider Cursed Child as the said 8th story.

"Madame Hooch is still alive apparently" absolutely killed me

My biggest problems are 1) Harry being a horrible father made me feel gross and 2) Cedric becoming a death eater is so *wrong*

'The Secret Daughter of Voldemort' is where this completely lost me.

Big Potterhead here (read/write fanfiction etc.). I'd AVOIDED The Cursed Child specifically to avoid tarnishing in any way my appreciation for the originals. And I'm glad I didn't read/watch it now. Hearing your summary and analysis make me think that, a few years earlier, this would have killed my continuing fascination with the series. Your bit at the end analysing what a "Proper Harry Potter story" consists of is spot on. I've read far too many fan-mad stories which, while executed at the low-level well enough, they focus on the Harry Potter stuff and don't build their own mysteries into the world. Meanwhile there's a 1+ million word-count fanfiction (Prince of the Dark Kingdom), which has endless mystery and could quite honestly have been made into its own series outside of Harry Potter.

Ok, I completely agree with this video The cursed child has an incredibly poor story, but I saw it on stage 3 years ago and it is incredible - the spells, everything. If you ignore the story while watching it, you may actually really enjoy it

i just wish it will end with hermione putting the newspaper down and saying to Harry and Ron "what a stupid story from Rita Skeeter"

It's been my fan theory for ages that this is actually a terribly written story by Rita Skeeter

Just read the book, it's been gathering dust on my shelf for the last 4 years since I was in no hurry. I've read way better fan fiction, plot wise. I did like Scorpius somewhat as a character, and that he and Albus became friends and they were sorted into slytherin together. That's about it.

The problem is that time turners just go back a couple of hours and using it you can't actually Change anything because it already happened, you're just going through the motions like harry casting the patronus at the end of PoA "I know I could do it because I had already done it" there is a reason that nearly every fanfiction that has long term time travel uses unknown magical phenomenon or cosmic entities like death or fate etc. : Its more realistic

Harry went through years of feeling unloved while living with the Dursley’s. There is NO WAY he would make his son feel the same way by telling him he wished he weren’t his son. That is one of my biggest issues with this story. The characters are not consistent with those developed in the original series.

I also noticed that at the end of Deathly Hallows, Rowling said "His scar never bothered him again"... but in Cursed Child...

The trolley witch was the point when I realized I was, in fact, reading bad harry potter fanfiction, and that honestly made the entire thing a whole lot more enjoyable.

man, i forgot so much of this story that i was starting to wonder "was it really that bad??" and then every time you said something that made me remember a part of it it just made me cringe because YES. IT REALLY WAS THAT BAD.

the only thing in the Cursed Child that i’m okay with it is Scorpius and Albus are bffs

Harry...tells... his son... he wishes.... he'd never been...born...? What? Edit: holy sh*t this has 4000 likes... ya'll the real MVPs 💯 🙌 👏

“There are times i wish you werent my dad” “Well there are times i wish you werent my son” This is almost word-for-word taken from the live action Cat in The Hat

The biggest gripe I have is that it makes no sense for either of the main characters to be in Slytherin. Albus isn't cunning or ambitious, and Scorpius just wants to make friends and keep his head down. It's clear that Albus is only put in Slytherin for the drama. So what's a better solution? Put both of them in Hufflepuff. Not only is it more accurate to their characters, but the story can still have the "failing your family's/society's expectations" thing because Hufflepuff is one of the more irrelevant houses, so Albus is becoming a disappointment not by being in Slytherin, but by being in a house so devoid of excitement and drama that he's a disappointment anyways.

I'll just pretend that the last book is Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

I don't know why Cedric had to be a big part of this story. He's dead. Let him rest. Also, he wasn't a super important character, so, why him?

I can relate with this so well. I also remember literally growing up with the Potter franchise. I felt the thrill of waiting for the next book to come out and wondering how the story will go. And I had the same thrill when I realized that a new book was out. It really really disappointed me when I read the book. I felt really sad.

Nothing against the actress, I am sure she is very talented. But I just cannot see her as Hermione. As for the book, I have to say I was pretty disappointed.

Written before watching: Although flawed, I enjoy the book, HOWEVER I refuse to believe that Cedric, a HUFFLEPUFF would become a death eater because he was humiliated. No.

My opinion on went wrong in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Everything.

Honestly would’ve been great to see Albus become a Ravenclaw. They’re canonically full of bullies who maliciously targeted Luna for years, and attention-seeking characters like Quirrell and Lockhart came from there too. They never really got any heroic characters except for Luna and Flitwick, and both of them were kinda overshadowed even then. It would also show a nice change in priorities from Harry to Albus. Albus would hope to escape fame unlike most Ravenclaws. He would seek true wisdom and knowledge rather than glory or justice. It would even start things up for Albus to be kinda dark-leaning, as Ravenclaw House has produced the second highest number of dark wizards. Scorpius himself could’ve been a great Hufflepuff. And the two low-attention Houses could’ve been in the spotlight.

I know this is an old video but it is exactly what I needed to see right now - a humorous and spot-on critique of the screenplay from a not-obsessed fan. Bravo. Thank you for articulating so many of the issues I had with this work. The unsatisfying character development, the inconsistent time-travel rules, the missed opportunities... nearly everything you pointed out was something that I noticed reading it, but you put your finger on it better than I could in a single reading. And your final point, about the books being mysteries rather than fantasy, is literally the same realization I recently had while re-reading them as an adult. In truth, I think fantasy is not so much a genre as a setting. All good fantasy (and sci-fi) stories are at their core good stories, but wrapped in a unique and interesting setting that takes us out of our ordinary world and presents a sandbox with nearly infinite opportunities for the author to create and invent. The world of Harry Potter is delightfully whimsical, romantic, surprising, and humorous. But what draws me in is the story, the characters, the intrigue and mystery, and the moral lessons. This screenplay lifted the magical setting from the books, but none of the other narrative qualities that I associate with the original series. I think to blame the problem on the advertising is generous to a fault. As another "retired" Potterhead who apparently lives under a rock, I only just discovered that this play existed, after indulging in some nostalgia now that my oldest kid is reading the books for the first time. I never saw any advertisements or trailers. I got a paperback copy and could immediately tell from the cover that it fell somewhere between fanfiction and a reboot. So my expectations were low...but not low enough. I really wanted to like it. I really did like parts of it. A few, very short parts. But the problems with the story overall got so bad I was cringing by the end of the second act. A few additional problems you neglected to mention: the Polyjuice potion the kids manage to brew on the same day they jumped off the train. I think book 2 clearly established that Polyjuice potion takes several months to brew, and requires a slew of hard to find ingredients. That was a really hard plot hole to overlook. I also thought the prophetic dreams were a bit of a mcguffin, and Harry's scar hurting during the (original) timeline where Voldemort is still dead (supposedly because spacetime ruptures were imminent? I guess?) seems to defy the previously established rules about the severing of their connection in book 7. I also thought the changing timelines were extremely confusing. The constant back and forth; the scenes between time jumps with the parents running around trying to find, fix, discipline, or rescue the children while also fretting about Voldemort, who, let's remind ourselves, is still dead; the lack of clarity about whether previous scenes had still happened after subsequent jaunts into the past; and confusion about, for example, what would have happened to the original Hermione and Ron, had the dark fascist parallel universe versions of them managed to make it back to the original universe. (Would there have been 2 of each of them? Would one version of them have ceased to exist? Which one? Is it a parallel universe that the boys are travelling between? Or are they actually changing the present and thereby killing off and reanimating characters?) And how is it that no time paradoxes are generated by all this clambering around in the spacetime continuum? Also, the whole Voldemort's child thing, strains credulity. Even the proliferation about the rumor about Scorpius strains credulity. But even with Delphi, when exactly was Bellatrix supposed to have been pregnant and given birth? Some time during book 7? Wasn't she busy running around doing Death Eater activities throughout that year? Wasn't she torturing Hermione at Malfoy Manor shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts? You can't just insert a pregnancy and birth into all that without seriously fudging with the original story. I could go on but really I just gave up trying to explain things pretty early on and decided to treat it like a piece of fan fiction rather than part of the canon. Possibly most disappointing is the failure of Albus and Harry to ever really figure out the problems in their relationship - Albus never gets that insight into his dad's past that could have been so poignant had it been explored in scenes like first Triwizard task, and Harry never figures out that the "black cloud" around Albus, which portrait-Dumbledore also hints at, is the fog of Harry's own legacy, and both his and Albus' inability to see each other through it. I kept waiting for that scene where either of them gets some insight into the other, I was hoping for a heart-wrenching moment of father-son connection, and I never got it. We get it with Harry and Dumbledore, but Harry fails to make the same bridge with his own son. It's disapointing to the point of tragic. It feels like the only character that really grows somewhat authentically is Scorpius, due to his experiences in the Voldemort-run world, which at least affords him an opportunity to do some soul-searching. But disapointingly, Albus misses out on this adventure because he's been wiped from existence (which also doesn't make a lot of sense, again, because the time travel rules are clumsily and inconsistently hinted at but never really made explicit or even clear). Well you've probably long since moved on from this video but I appreciate the satisfying critique and the opportunity to rant in agreement. I should have remembered the lesson I learned from the movies: JK Rowling's standards for the third-party-generated Potter- lore to which she gives her blessing, are far, far lower than the ones she holds herself to when she's actually writing.

I like the idea of Harry’s kid being best friends with draco’s kid but the plot sucked just saying 🧍‍♂️

Imagine going back in time to find your aunt had changed race somewhere along in her aging process.

Actually would've been interesting if Albus just didn't enjoy Hogwarts, or magic in general, with the attention of being a hero's son and the unnecessary judgement he got from being unwillingly placed in Slytherin, and decided to renounce his wizardry roots, and live his life as a muggle - go to normal schools etc etc (and maybe just learn the basics of magic just so he can keep it in check and not lose control of it). It would have been an interesting twist - the son of Harry "the boy who lived" Potter and Ginny "badass prodigy" Weasley, who was named after 2 talented wizards, Albus and Severus, wants to be an ordinary muggle. He wants to single himself out, not have great expectations placed on him. It could've been a nice parallel to Harry, a kid whose whole life was turned around by magic. Albus' life could be turned around by just the same way but by living as a muggle. He would make friends at normal muggle school (he and Scorpius can still be penpals or something), he won't be sorted into houses, and people won't expect greatness from him. He'd be him. Not as The Chosen One's son. But as Al, a kid who likes science and math, a kid who likes playing soccer, a kid who'd rather have technology solve his problems than wands. A kid who likes shitposting memes on reddit. But i guess time travel is fine too

I saw live a few years ago having not read the script. The staging and the way they adapted magic to the medium of theater was super well-done. I definitely was most engaged during the first part. At the end of the 1st part there are dementors everywhere and it’s so spooky and when you come back for part 2, all the ushers are wearing death eater uniforms (they wore Hogwarts uniforms for part 1) and they’re wishing you “Happy Voldemort Day!” which was a lot of fun. But part 2 just relies so heavily on what had already happened in the books rather than actually creating a NEW story about the kids doing their own things. I loved the kids characters and which they had had a chance to have their own story rather than keep living in their parents’ shadows.

Things I'm okay with. Albus being in Slytherin....thats it.

I've read better FanFiction. Literally.

Wow! This is the first time I heard someone express my exact feelings about the book series and its place in my life. I'm so comforted to know that I'm not alone! I retired after book seven and the writing hold a special place in my life, but I now have a life that doesn't include Harry and company. Very cool that you shared that too.

There is only one thing (well... two) about this that I even remotely like: Draco seems to be a decent-ish person that learned from his mistakes and Scorpius is a decent child. Edit: also there is a point I wanted to expand upon: I am _really_ not fond of people comparing this to fanfiction because fanfiction is the baseline for bad writing (like come on, no other amateur writing gets as much hate and contempt as fanfics) but in this case, I think it's an excellent comparison, because Cursed Child _is_ a fanfiction in that it wasn't written by the original author, but there is one thing that 95% of fanfiction, bad or not, have, and this didn't: I don't think the authors put much love and passion into the work. In general, people write fanfiction because they love and care for the canon; sometimes they try to fix plotholes, sometimes they rewrite the whole thing, sometimes they merely expand on the universe, but they almost always do so because they genuinely love what was given to them, and it shows no matter how bad the writing is (and, in spite of all her flaws, I think Rowling understands this). I don't feel it from Cursed Child. I don't think they cared like fans do, because I don't think they _are_ fans to begin with. And that's not to insult or demean the authors; I just don't think it was a good fit.

I can't believe J.K Rowling allowed this book to go on, it's just an awful way to end a great book series. My problems: a) Harry is described so egoistic, arrogant, and a boastful hero b) There is no bonding between the characters c) Hermoine is so not like herself d) The weird moments just not gr8 e) Cedric; a death eater....like really...gosh f) I refuse to believe Voldemort had a child g) The writers didn't even read the previous books...how awful !! h) We are shown nothing abt hogwarts The play was awful

Don´t say cursed child is a fanfic! Because is an insult to fanfic culture

Title: what went wrong with the cursed child. Ans - 'Everything'

I think this could have worked a lot better if Delphi was just a villain in present day. Like, she's trying to build a Time Turner and Albus & Co have to prevent her from succeeding. The whole thing could happen during Albus's fourth year (maybe Delphi is at Hogwarts). It could even be called "Albus Potter and the Cursed Child."

i didnt hate the book. but i did hate that i paid for it. it feels like fan fic that i should be able to read free on deviantart or something...

I can't even express how wrong the whole 'i wish you weren't my son' thing was. Harry's character would never say that having suffered through an awful childhood where all he wanted was a family of his own.

Albus being in slytherin was so dumb. He literally shows none of the qualities that make someone a slytherin. He’s not ambitious or power hungry and he doesn’t have any of voldemorts abilities like Harry did.

His scar hurts... But it hurt because he had a part of voldemort in him. That part was REMOVED. By the elder wand. So this just ignores all canon.

Harry: has a map of the school and an invisibility cloak Also Harry: gives his kid a old blanket. Like really old

They mad Harry very arrogant, they made Ron look dumb, they made Cedric a death eater and they made it way too easy for Delphie to infiltrate in to Hogwarts

Woah, has it really been 5 years since Cursed Child was released?! Damn, I feel like it was only a year back since I bought it the day it came out. The Bookstore had a huge stack of the novels and I ended up buying the first copy, disliked it 3 days later and now, its just gathering dust in the attic.

Cursed Child: people applauded for harry, but just not as much as for cedric The actual book: nobody clapped

what went wrong with the cursed child? J. K. didn't fucking write it.

I think it’d be cool to have one of Harry’s kids being best friends with Draco’s son. But everything else, Jesus. It’s to the point where I’ve no problem staring straight at the *author of the series* and flat out say “No. No. I don’t accept this as cannon”.

Harry Potter in the Multiverse of Madness.

Don’t forget, at the end of the deathly hallows book, it said, “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.”

The very notion of Voldemort having a child in case he died goes against his entire character and motivation towards everything he's ever done. No matter how you spin it, Voldemort doesn't have back-up plans in case he dies because he believes he can _never_ die. The Horcruxes were to ensure he never truly died, that was it. Even when he discovered Harry was hunting the Horcruxes, he kept telling himself that Harry would never find and destroy all of them, and his first thought wouldn't be _"I better impregnate Bellatrix so my child could keep my memory alive and possibly go back in time to prevent my possible death"_ because HE WOULDN'T EVEN CONSIDER THE NOTION THAT HE _MIGHT_ DIE

21:30 the rise of sky walker described in 20 seconds

I'm surprised that McGonagall didn't retire the moment she found out that the Potter, Weasley and Granger family lines merged together and the kids were heading thier way to Hogwarts about 11 years after the first of the kids was born. She gets an owl with a letter announcing the birth of James Sirius and she thinks: "... I feared this day would come..."

For me cursed child doesn't exist

The story as a whole wasn't very good, but I do like the concept of Harry's son being Slytherin. Destroy the stigma of every Slytherin being evil.

The most unrealistic thing about this is that Albus didn’t try to unalive himself after second year.

I love how they say Harry's biggest regret was letting Cedric die when Sirius is right there.

The things I like about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Scorpius.

Stop posting comments roasting this book I’m getting tired of liking all of them

revisiting the classics. my baby is still the parachute vid, but aye. i was searching the youtubes for this play and found you. so glad to see how you've grown. metaphorically AND yt sub speaking ;')

I find this kind of similar to The Legend of Korra, they add on to a series that already had an amazing end to wrap everything up while leaving it to the reader to imagine what comes next. And unfortunately nothing will be better than what we imagine and what we want to come next. So when you already have a great series that had an end, that everyone loved. Dont touch it. I honestly wish I didn't know about this book and had no idea what its contents were, the same with legends of korra. Fantastic beasts and where to find them is a different story, because it has little to do with the original harry potter series and was able to world build and expand on the harry potter universe. So its really unfortunate to see this flop and just ruin the image I had of the time after the books ended.

comparing this cursed story to fanfiction is an insult to fanfiction

The name should be Harry Potter and the confused child

I hate the fact that you have to clarify that you're not as "successful" as JK rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany or else you would get hate... why is that people can't take an opinion? , you don't have to know anything about cooking to know when a food tastes bad, you are able to say "I DONT LIKE THIS" and not have the expertise to do it yourself... saying "well, but can you do it better"... is not a valid argument, and i fucking hate people like that.

I love how you totally simp for adult Harry, so true

The thing I'm mildly annoyed about most is how this implies that Voldemort has a dong.

Title: What Went Wrong With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? Me: Everything except Scorpius Malfoy

Didn't Harry at the end of Deadly Hallows say that it didn't matter if Al was on Griffindor or Slytherin because he carried the name of two great wizards from both houses?

That is such a great point about the core books being mysteries - hard to parallel that intrigue with a story that’s largely do-overs and “remember when…?”

JK Rowling: "White skin was never specified, Hermoine can be black!" Also JK Rowling in Prisoner Of Azkaban: " *Hermoines WHITE FACE* was sticking out from behind a tree."

The book that must not be named.

I still can't believe that you thought that Harry and Hermione having an affair would fix this story

23:23 Ah the good ol’ Chekhov’s Moldy Baby Blanket