The vile and hideously named Dursley family were known for their wicked temperament and horrible treatment of young orphan Harry Potter – but what if their hatred was based upon something more than what meets the eye? The wizarding franchise, whose catalogue of films ranged from 2001’s The Sorcerer’s Stone to 2011’s climactic Deathly Hallows Part Two, were based on J.K. Rowling’s seven-part series of fantasy novels. Daniel Radcliffe starred as the titular character, alongside an expansive supporting cast which, throughout the years, included Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman and Maggie Smith, among others.

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Following the vicious murder of both of his parents, young Harry was sent to the Dursley’s home. The Dursley matriarch, Petunia (Fiona Shaw), was the oldest sister of his mother Lily. Whilst there, Harry was brandished as the bad sheep of the family, forced to sleep underneath the staircase, and kept ignorant of his magical background until the magic literally burst at the seams.

Though Harry’s cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) eventually saw the errors of his tortuous ways – that is, once Harry saved him from a cruel butchering by a Dementor – there may have been an alternative reason as to why the Dursleys loathed their nephew so much. As Harry ventures through his schooling at Hogwarts and engages in his outstanding battle against Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the young wizard comes to find out that his own existence is an accidental life source for the Dark Lord. When Voldemort killed Harry’s parents, his already wretched soul had fractured, and one of the remnants had latched itself onto the infant boy, turning him into a horcrux. Given the fiendish and evil nature that was lurking inside of him, perhaps the mogul Dursleys had a toxic reaction to Voldemort’s presence inside of Harry, cursing them into hating their orphaned nephew.

The capabilities of the horcruxes are explored all throughout Rowling’s books and the subsequent films. Their primary purpose – restraining the souls of destroyed bodies from passing through to the other side – is doubled by their ability to tamper with their immediate surroundings, including nearby persons. The horcrux’s conniving manipulation is amplified, however, when the subject is emotionally vulnerable. Even Harry Potter, following the death of Sirius Black in The Order of the Phoenix, was possessed by Voldemort, who fed off of his shock and anger.

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With that in mind, given that the Dursleys’ familial situation has been greatly stirred up – not only has one of its members been murdered by the most horrendous being in the world, but now they have the “burden” of raising a new child with similar, and potentially dangerous abilities – it is hardly unreasonable to suggest that Harry’s horcrux could have affected the muggles. If these cursed soul fragments have the ability to tramp the will power of moral-minded wizards, what’s to stop them from tampering with the minds of a band of snobbish, pig-headed and comparatively weak human beings?

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Luke Parker
(77 Articles Published)

Luke Parker is an award-winning film critic and columnist based in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. As an entertainment journalist, he has interviewed several members of the film industry and participated in some of its most prestigious events as a member of the press. Currently, he is working to obtain his bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication at Towson University. Follow Luke on Twitter @montyparker31

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