Harry Potter Fans Noticed A Key Dumbledore Detail 15 Years After The Half-Blood Prince
One enterprising Redditor thinks they might have figured out where Hogwarts headmaster and beloved "Harry Potter" character Albus Dumbledore got this key item — but are they right?
Reddit user u/FawkesNK — who likely took their username from Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes — posted two photos from the film "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" with the caption, "Just realised something watching HBP, I think I found out where Dumbledore got his memory bottles!" The first photo is a close-up of the tiny bottles that Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) frequently uses for his Pensieve, a glimmering magical cauldron of sorts that holds important memories from throughout the wizard's long life. The cauldron doesn't simply contain the memories but is more like a projector for Dumbledore's thoughts, so all of the older wizard's memories are stored in the small bottles. The second photo is of Dumbledore and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) in the London Underground looking at a perfume ad, and the bottles in that print ad happen to look suspiciously like the vials from the first photo.
So does this theory hold any water — or memories, like the Pensieve's vials? Or is it simply an Easter egg placed there by a clever graphic designer working on the "Harry Potter" films?
Is this really where Dumbledore got his Pensieve bottles?
Other Redditors on the thread didn't necessarily seem convinced, but at least a few thanked the original poster for pointing out a cool small detail, like u/TheRealTomSnow: "Thats a great detail, saw the film a dozen times and never noticed. Thanks OP!" Others were frustrated that the post reminded them of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which happens to be the least favorite "Harry Potter" film for some fans. "That second picture makes me angry because it reminds me of what a travesty the 6th movie was!" u/nursewithnolife wrote.
Others pointed out, that, while the theory is cool, it doesn't really make much sense. As u/VflShagrath succinctly wrote, "Close but not the same." Meanwhile, u/scienceteacher91 agreed, responding, "Right? They're definitely not the same bottle." Another Redditor, u/superjames_16, chimed in: "Maybe he noted a similarity? But yeah he's been collecting those memories for years."
All in all, the fans voicing dissent are probably right; while the Pensieve vial detail is definitely a nice visual callback to the ad in the London Underground, Albus Dumbledore is not stealing (or buying) and subsequently emptying perfume vials in order to store his precious memories. Not only is it much more likely that the vials are made from a magical substance, but there's one major factor at play here that makes it impossible for this theory to be true.
The perfume bottles one Harry Potter fan clocked aren't in the source material — just the movie
There are many differences between the "Harry Potter" books and their film adaptations, and this vial issue is just one of them — because that London Underground ad isn't present in the books. In fact, at no point do Harry and Dumbledore even visit the Underground together; in the books, the former takes it once with Hagrid in the first installment, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." The film version of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" sees Harry and Dumbledore meeting up during their summer break from Hogwarts to track down an old professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), and convince him to return to the school as its Potions master that fall ... but the movie shows them meeting up in the Underground, for some reason. That's not how it happens in the book.
In the novel, Dumbledore informs Harry that he'll come and fetch him from the home of Harry's Muggle relatives, the Dursleys — at which point Dumbledore invites himself into the Dursley home, severely chastises them for their cruelty towards Harry, and tells Harry that he's inherited a house-elf from his late godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman in the films). From there, the two set off to find Slughorn, and they Apparate instead of bothering with the train. That's why this whole vial thing can't be true — they don't exist in the books in the same way.
To read more about everyone's favorite wizarding headmaster, check out Dumbledore's best moments from the "Harry Potter" movies.