Top 10 Facts You Probably Did Not Know About Harry Potter

8. The Dementors are based on J.K Rowling’s struggle with depression.

Rowling’s mother, who had multiple sclerosis, died in 1990, after which Rowling suffered a period of depression. Rowling told Oprah Winfrey during an interview that “It’s so difficult to describe [depression] to someone who’s never been there, because it’s not sadness.” She continued to say, “I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling, that really hollowed-out feeling. That’s what dementors are.”

Rowling described Dementors, in the Harry Potter franchise, as creepy creatures that feed on human emotion. If you look closely you can see the resemblance, such as how it gets unbearably cold when Dementors are near. The ability to put your own life experiences and emotions into a story or novel is one of the best ways to write. This is one of the many reasons why Rowling is so successful.

7. Haley Joel Osment almost played the role of Harry!

The original director of the Harry Potter movie series, Steven Spielberg, wanted the Sixth Sense star, Haley Joel Osment to play harry. However, Spielberg resigned after getting into a creative clash with J.K Rowling, which is never a good thing. When the new director Chris Columbus took charge, he had to find his own Harry Potter. After about 300 kids tested for Harry potter over a period of seven months there was still no luck. “There were times when we felt we would never find an individual who embodied the complex  spirit and depth of Harry.” Columbus said.

Then, one night, Heyman went to the theater with the screenwriter Steve Kloves. Sitting behind the two was Daniel Radcliffe who would later play the role of Harry Potter. “There sitting behind me was this boy with these big blue eyes It was Dan Radcliffe,” Steve Kloves told HeroComplex in 2009. Kloves persuaded Daniel’s parents to let him audition and the rest was history!

6. The Patronus Charm

One of the most famous spells in the Harry Potter series is the Patronus charm. This charm emits a spiritual guardian that “projects all of your positive feelings” the Patronus takes form of the animal that closely resembles the deepest affinity. Many wizards usually use it to reflect the dementors, which explains fact number 8. Positive feelings reflect the Dementors which resemble depression! The deep use of metaphors in the franchise are what made it such a big hit!

“Expecto Petronum” literally translates to “I await a guardian” in Latin. Expecto meaning Expect and Petronum being a guardian. Wizards that use this spell expect a guardian to protect them from various things like Dementors. Many wizards, however, have a hard time finding positive feelings to project because of a hard past, etc.. And since the charm is a representation of one’s soul, James Potter’s stag and Lily Potter’s doe make them literal soul mates.

5. If Voldemort saw a Boggart it would take form of his own corpse.

Rowling stated in an interview that “if Voldemort saw a Boggart, it would take the form of his own corpse, since death was his greatest fear. Boggarts are creatures that acquire the form of the biggest fear of whoever is looking at it. These shapes can be reversed by a spell named “Ridikkulus.” Which turns the Boggart into something amusing and comical. Boggarts are only seen in the Prisoner of Azkaban in the movies, however, are seen throughout the whole series in the books.

Voldemort is definitely famous for having a fear of dying. However, if you don't analyze the book/movies close enough, you may miss the obvious observance. Voldemort may seem like a relentless killing machine that will do whatever it takes to kill everyone in his path, but he's done everything he can to stay alive. These include making a decent amount of horcruxes and having his servants resurrect him.

4. Moaning Myrtle was played by a 36 year old!

Moaning Myrtle, a 14 year old ghost who was killed by a basilisk’s stare in the chamber of secrets, was actually played by a 36 year old woman by the name of Shirley Henderson! The director said that Shirley was the perfect person to play Myrtle because of how she looked young but mature at the same time, giving the effect of an old ghost.

Shirley told bbc that playing a ghost was harder than playing a real person! She explained “because of all the technical stuff it involved. I had to be strapped up to this harness so it looked as if I was flying and so I could be pushed through the air and twisted and turned over and over again. It was very physically tiring on my body.” Shirley was the oldest actor playing a student throughout the whole series!

3. Dumbledore is gay!

I know many people have heard about this, but I just had to include it in this list! In 2007, when

a fan asked Rowling if the famous headmaster had ever been in love, she responded “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” She later revealed that he had fallen in love with Grindelwald, a dark wizard, “and that added to the horror when Grindelwald showed him to be what he really was.”

Rowling said she found the reaction to the news interesting. She continued to say “to me it's not a big deal” she told Daniel Radcliffe “this is a very old man who has a very terrible job to do. And his gayness is not very relevant.” She continued to talk about how she kept on adding lines that may have taken away from the fact that he was gay on accident. She was for a fact, convinced Dumbledore was gay!

2. J.K Rowling wanted more female characters fighting in her series!

In an interview Rowling states, “I don't like the marginalization of women when the fighting breaks out. We get to fight too. I really wanted that. In the book, Minerva McGonagall is the one who does it and for me, it was very important that she did that.” Rowling continued to talk about how women are pictured as people who should just let men do all the work while they cower in fear, and she's tired of it.

Rowling was not happy about the director’s decision about having Harry fight Snape in the Deathly Hallows part 2, when instead it should have been Professor McGonagall. However, she was a big fan of McGonagall leading the process of defending the castle from Voldemort.

1, There's going to be another Harry Potter movie!

Rowling has confirmed that her 2001 book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will in fact be made into a movie. However, this movies will take place many years before Harry’s generation. So you most likely won't be seeing those characters. The book includes information about the many creatures in the world of Harry Potter and is based off one of Harry’s textbooks mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The movie will follow the story of the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she developed a lot of information in earlier books.