Harry Potter: How Each Order Member Is Supposed To Look

When examining the casting of the Harry Potter films it’s hard not to be impressed. Just thinking about Alan Rickman’s Professor Snape and Maggie Smith’s Professor McGonagall, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking on these roles, or anyone else appearing in the mind’s eye while reading.

But, just because the crème de la crème of British actors took on the parts doesn’t mean that they were always exactly how J.K. Rowling herself imagined them in her writing. In fact, there were quite a few changes. Here we will examine just who in the Order of the Pheonix looks as they were first described.

10 Sirius Black

Sirius Black was portrayed by Gary Oldman in the Harry Potter series. While he certainly brought the insanity of Sirius’ time in Azkaban to the performance, he didn’t quite look the same way he was described in the novels.

For one thing, Gary Oldman was 46 when he first portrayed Sirius who, like his Marauder co-stars, was supposed to be only about 31 years old. He never quite had the waxy skin or yellow teeth J.K. Rowling described in the third book either. And, while his hair was long, it didn’t quite reach his elbows.

9 Remus Lupin

While David Thewlis was a bit closer to Lupin’s presumed age (41 to the character’s 31) he, like Oldman, was still older than the character described in the books. (Though he looks his proper age in petitemarianna’s drawing.)

Perhaps to address that, Thewlis’ Lupin had brown hair without the flecks of gray described in the novels. Instead of making Lupin look older due to his lycanthropy, graying hair, etc., they added scars to his face, never mentioned in J.K. Rowling’s original novels.

8 Nymphadora Tonks

Tonks, portrayed by Natalia Tena, kept her punk rock outfits and outgoing manner. However, in the films, Tonks (while still able to change her appearance as a Metamorphmagus) would usually sport straight purple hair (especially in her first appearance in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

However, in the books, Tonk’s usual hair is described as a bright bubblegum pink. It is also usually spiky rather than straight. UptheHill gets her hair perfect.

7 Kingsley Shacklebot

Kingsley Shacklebot, portrayed by George Harris, beginning in the fifth Harry Potter film, is one of the actors who comes closest to the true original book description of the character.

Kingsley, upon arriving to help speed Harry away from the Dursley’s is described as black, tall, bald, and sporting a single gold hoop hearing. In the films, Harris even has the earring, so it’s quite impressive overall, as is wandaXmaximoff’s drawing.

6 Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore, portrayed by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon respectively, was much closer to his original description when played by Harris in films one and two. In the books, Dumbledore is described as having half-moon spectacles, tall, thin, with silver hair and a beard so long it could be tucked into his belt (as visible in powerwisdomecourage depiction).

He also had blue eyes and a crooked nose. It is clear that director Christopher Columbus stuck much closer to the books than Alfonso Cuaron who followed him and he was the first director to work with Gambon instead of Harris.

5 Severus Snape

Played by the incomparable Alan Rickman, Severus Snape, like Kingsley Shacklebot, comes very close to mirroring his description on the page when appearing on screen (drawn by Marina Michkina above).

The sallow skin, the greasy black hair, the all-black outfit, Rickman has it all. Like Oldman and Thewlis, he too is a bit older than the character in the novels (again, Severus was supposed to be in his 30s in the books), but there are very few fans who would ever complain about Rickman’s performance.

4 Mundungus Fletcher

Mundungus was played by Andy Linden in the movies and, while his performance in the movies didn’t lead to any complaints, he doesn’t look very much like the Mundungus who is described on the page. He’s much closer in jlestrange’s depiction, above.

J.K. Rowling describes Mundungus as having shaggy hair, bandy legs, and bloodshot eyes. In the films, Linden is basically bald and his eyes are maybe a little watery, but certainly not bloodshot.

3 Alastor Moody

Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, in both his real form and as a polyjuiced Barty Crouch Jr., was played by Brendan Gleeson. In the books, Moody is described as grizzled and missing a large chunk of his nose. (As seen in Makani’s depiction). He has a clawed foot and dark gray hair.

In the movie, Moody’s hair is a sort of strawberry blond, rather than gray. His magical blue eye is strapped to his head rather than actually sitting in his skull, and he seems to have a scar on his nose, but it’s not missing quite as much as one might have guessed from reading the books.

2 Aberforth Dumbledore

While Aberforth, played by Ciarán Hinds, isn’t introduced on screen until the eighth film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, he was and is a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

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In the books, he is described as looking quite a bit more like his brother, Albus, than he does in the film. Though he certainly looks like his brother in VivalaVida’s drawing. Like Dumbledore, he is supposed to be tall and thin. His hair is more stringy gray than silver, but he has blue eyes like Albus, and spectacles (though Aberforth’s are dirty).

1 Bill Weasley

Bill Weasley, played by Domhnall Gleeson, looks a little bit like the Bill of the Harry Potter novels, but not exactly. Tall and thin Gleeson certainly is, but his red hair is a bit shorter than Bill’s is described in the book, and he never pulls it into the ponytail that fans see on the page. UptheHill includes both in their drawing.

In the book, he also sports an earring with a fang, which fans were sad never to see Gleeson wear on screen.

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