Harry Potter: 16 Crazy Fan Theories That Could Still Be True

When an author (and a subsequent movie franchise) creates a world as epic and expansive as that seen in a series such as Harry Potter, fans will definitely have questions about things in that world and what they mean. Some Harry Potter fans find symbolism in everything, even in things that author J.K. Rowling never thought about. There are plenty of theories out there about the characters from these stories, as well as some of their settings. In fact, there are so many theories that J.K. Rowling occasionally attempts to debunk the craziest: for example, Ron Weasley is not a time-traveling Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy is not a werewolf.

Occasionally, though, Rowling doesn’t address certain theories and just lets fans believe what they want. Some of these theories end up making a lot of sense, even after the end of the Harry Potter book and movie series. Perhaps some of these theories will get addressed in the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them movies, but most of these are just up to fans’ imaginations. At a glance, many of these theories seem crazy, but upon further thought, they could still prove true.

Here are Harry Potter: 16 Crazy Fan Theories That Could Still Be True.

16 Harry Potter is now immortal

This theory ties into the prophecy that entangled Harry Potter’s fate with that of Voldemort. The prophecy stated that one must meet his ebd at the hand of the other. This means that Harry Potter is the only person or thing that can end Voldemort’s life. But this also could mean that Voldemort is the only person or thing that can end Harry’s life.

Now that Voldemort is gone, this could potentially have left Harry Potter as an immortal being.

Voldemort also believed that if he eliminated Harry, he would achieve immortality, so who is to say that the opposite isn’t true: with Harry eliminating Voldemort, he gained immortality (or so the theory goes). If that is the case, Harry is now the boy who lived… forever.

15 The Dursleys were mean to Harry because of a horcrux

Harry Potter’s adoptive parents, the Dursleys, were truly awful people and it’s surprising how child services never knew about how horrible they were to Harry. But what if there was a reason behind their nastiness?

One fan theory suggests this reason is because they were under the constant influence of a horcrux. As explained in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being under the influence of a horcrux makes people miserable and mean. But what was the horcrux in question?

The theory suggests that Harry himself is the horcrux that Voldemort inadvertently created when he tried to take Harry out as a child.

Harry lived with the Dursleys most of his life, and if this is true, it’s probably a miracle that they didn’t go completely insane.

14 Ginny used a love potion on Harry

Ginny Weasley had a crush on Harry Potter in the very beginning of the books and movies. She pined over him with something akin to creepiness. Harry, on the other hand, never seemed to notice Ginny at all. That is, until The Half-Blood Prince, when Harry suddenly seems to fall head over heels in love with the Weasley girl.

This romance came on so suddenly that one fan theory suggests that their love affair isn’t entirely natural.

This theory states that Ginny created a love potion and used it on Harry and that’s why he suddenly seemed to fall in love with her.

Considering that the Weasley brothers actually sell a love potion in their shop, it would not have been that hard for her to get her hands on one.

13 Neville wasn’t a bad wizard, he just had the wrong wand

Neville Longbottom’s parents were two very esteemed and accomplished wizards. It seems a little weird that Neville seemed to have very little magical aptitude at Hogwarts. Neville spent most of his time in school botching spells, but at the same time, he was actually a bright student who had no problem defending himself from Death Eaters. So what gives?

One fan theory suggests that Neville was a good wizard, but that he had the wrong wand.

In Harry Potter, the wand must choose the wizard, but Neville chose to use his father’s wand.

It does make sense that this wand was not the right one for Neville. After this wand broke, though, Neville finally went through the process of having a wand choose him, and it seemed that he became a better wizard for it.

12 Arthur Weasley was under the Imperius curse

Arthur Weasley seems like a competent man. He has also put in many years working for the Ministry of Magic. Oddly enough, he doesn’t seem to have actually gone anywhere with his career there. But why is that?

Some suggest that Arthur was under an Imperius Curse, an unforgivable curse that forces a user to bend to another wizard’s will. Perhaps the curse was subtle enough that it just seemed like Arthur did not wish to rise through the ranks, keeping him and his wizarding family at bay.

Also, when Mad Eye Moody teaches the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and asks the students about the unforgivable curses, Ron mentions that his father told him about the Imperius curse. Moody replied with “Your father would know all about that.“

11 Hogwarts was all just in Harry’s head

The world of Harry Potter seems fantastical, a strange place full of magic, wonder, and creatures that defy explanation. It seems so outlandish that one fan theory suggests that it never existed at all for Harry.

This theory suggests that Harry is actually living in a mental institution, the victim of abuse and trauma. The world of Hogwarts is something that is entirely in his head, every part of it a coping mechanism he created in response to dealing with such a cruel, yet real, world.

This theory suggests that the Dursleys are Harry’s real family and that the Potters are something he created to deny the abuse he endured as a child at home.

Some incident occurred that sent Harry to a “special school” (the institution).

10 Dumbledore hired Gilderoy Lockhart for a laugh

From the beginning, Professor Dumbledore always demonstrated his sense of humor. He often made jokes and the students generally found him light-hearted. This personality trait led to a fan theory that Dumbledore hired the inept Gilderoy Lockhart for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position for a laugh.

This theory gained traction when Lockhart’s character profile turned up on the Pottermore Wiki: that profile suggests that Dumbledore knew that Lockhart was a fraud (because Dumbledore knows everything). Instead of exposing Lockhart directly, Dumbledore hired him on at Hogwarts so that Lockhart’s true colors would show when he completely failed at teaching.

Hiring Lockhart was not only for a good laugh, but also to expose him for the phony really was.

Dumbledore’s sense of humor was also a little devious.

9 There was a war between wizards and muggles

One of the main premises behind the world of Harry Potter is that wizards spend much of their time hiding magic and their abilities from the Muggle world. One of the main rules is that wizards must adhere to is keeping their secrets from the hands of Muggles. But why all the secrecy?

One fan theory suggests that this is because there was once a war between wizards and Muggles.

The theory looks at the words “Avada Kedavra,” which are suspiciously close to the Muggle word “abracadabra.”

The theory believes that “abracadabra” was one of those things left after the war that Muggles say without really knowing what it actually means. This suggests that there was a violent past between the two groups because wizards used “avada kedavra” so much on Muggles that it remained a part of the Muggles’ misremembered culture.

8 Crookshanks was Lily Potter’s cat

In Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling wrote about how Lily Potter once had a cat. A fan theory suggests that this cat was actually Crookshanks, who eventually became Hermione’s familiar.

The theory suggests that Crookshanks lived in the Magical Menagerie until Hermione adopted him.

The book even confirms that the cat had been there for a really long time. This would also explain how Crookshanks knew that Ron’s rat, Scabbers, was actually Peter Pettigrew and knew that Peter was up to no good. This theory also explains why Crookshanks once helped Sirius Black, even when it meant putting the lives of the children in danger. The theory states that’s because Crookshanks knew both men before he ever met Hermione, Ron and Harry.

7 The defense against the dark arts teaching position was cursed

Hogwarts seemed to have a revolving door for its Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position. That position proved so troublesome that students had a different teacher for that class every single year. It is not much of a reach to come up with a theory that the position was cursed (especially considering the fate of some of those teachers).

This happened after Dumbledore refused to allow Tom Riddle to teach the class.

Angry, the future Voldemort placed a curse on the position. The most interesting evidence to support this theory is that regardless of how much Snape wanted to teach that class, Dumbledore refused him the position. The theory suggests that this is because Dumbledore did not want the curse to touch his friend.

6 Harry and Sirius are related by blood

When Harry first met his godfather, Sirius Black, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he finally felt like he had someone that cared about him as family should. Sirius was one of his father’s closest friends and took Harry in as if the boy were his own son.

One fan theory suggests that Harry and Sirius have another bond, though. This theory states that Harry and Sirius are probably actually related by blood.

The Black family tree had many “blood traitor” names burned off of it, but it did show a a marriage shown between Dorea Black and Charlus Potter.

The theory suggests that James Potter was their unnamed son on that family tree. or that Charlus Potter was another kind of direct blood relation to James. Considering that most pure-bloods are probably related in some way, this theory makes a lot of sense.

5 Rita Skeeter is J.K. Rowling

Authors writing themselves into their own stories has become a sort of trend in the modern age. Stephen King did it in his The Dark Tower series, after all. But did J.K. Rowling write herself into Harry Potter in some way? If she did, she gave the character a different name. Some fans think that Rowling wrote herself into her books as Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter for The Daily Prophet that always seems to get up in Harry’s business.

This theory goes beyond that, though, and suggests that Skeeter got fired from her job and wrote the entire Harry Potter book series in retaliation to expose the wizarding world to Muggles. She goes on to become rich and famous as J.K. Rowling. This assumes, though, that the world of Harry Potter is real. Is it?

4 The centaurs always knew Harry would face Voldemort

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry ends up meeting the centaur Firenze in the Forbidden Forest. That meeting sets the tone for the rest of the book series, especially according to one fan theory. This theory suggests that the centaurs knew all along that Harry would eventually face Voldemort.

Firenze states that the centaurs don’t go against events that are “written in the stars.”

Firenze later gets banished from his herd for helping Dumbledore in The Order of the Phoenix, because he interfered with those events. In the final book, The Deathly Hallows, the centaurs watch as Voldemort and Harry cast each other unconscious after Voldemort uses Avada Kedavra. It is as if the centaurs always knew that would happen and knew better than to interfere.

3 Harry and Hermione are actually brother and sister

Harry and Hermione had a special relationship: it was almost like the two were brother and sister. But what if they really were?

There is a theory that suggests that James and Lily Potter actually had two children: a boy and a girl (Harry and Hermione).

For some reason, they gave the girl up for adoption to the Granger family. The theory even states that Hermione eventually finds out that she is adopted and that she is Harry’s sister. It also explains that because she is his sister, she has Lily’s blood in her, which is why she seems so naturally protective of him. It could also explain why, in spite of their closeness, there was never a romantic relationship between the two.

2 The Sorting Hat can predict the future

One of the most mysterious elements at Hogwarts is the Sorting Hat, the item of apparel that, when placed on a student’s head, knows exactly what house that student belongs in, all based on that student’s personality traits. at first seems that some students are entirely in the wrong house.

Take Neville, for example: he seems like a coward, but still gets sorted into Gryffindor, the house of heroes. Draco doesn’t seem all that cunning, but he still gets sorted into Slytherin. Eventually, though, the students take on the personalities of their house.

One theory suggests that this is because the Sorting Hat can see into the future, knowing where each student should go even before their personality traits match that particular house.

1 Dumbledore’s true identity

The Harry Potter mythology includes a story called “The Tale of the Three Brothers”. This story is about three brothers who face Death after crossing a magical river where others have drowned. Feeling cheated, Death was angry at the brothers but offers to grant them each a wish – but it was a trick. The brothers ask for the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and an invisibility cloak, all items that eventually become the Deathly Hallows.

A fan theory suggests that Death was actually Dumbledore all along, givent hat he played a role in the ends of both Snape and Voldemort and due to the fact that he gave Harry the invisibility cloak. This theory proved so popular that J.K. Rowling acknowledged it as “fitting.”

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What other Harry Potterfan theories do you still believe? Let us know in the comments!

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