Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the sequel to the original series penned by J.K. Rowling. It was adapted into a play by Jack Thorne. Premiering in 2016, the play has been a great success both in the West End and Broadway. Some of the characters are simply older versions of the ones we know from the original books and movies. But some are new. Other changes? Hermione is played by a black actress.
In a world where a Time-Turner ends up creating an alternate reality, we even encounter characters we thought were dead. We pick up the story in 2017, nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Here are 10 hidden details about the characters in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Their actions speak louder than words.
Delphi Diggory
Delphi Diggory has a Dark Arts pedigree, being the illegitimate child of Lord Voldemort and his biggest fan Bellatrix Lestrange.
The key to unlocking Delphi is that she keenly feels her status as an orphan. Her main goal is to bring her father back. Her Gothic/Punk style shows a tendency to separate herself from others. Like her father, she could fly unaided and was a Parselmouth. She was a dangerous Dark Arts witch who was capable of wandless magic, making her a formidable enemy. Her ability to use the Cruciatus Curse shows that, like her parents, she was deeply sadistic.
Albus Severus Potter
Albus is the son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley Potter. In some ways, he is a chip off the old block. We first meet him when Harry and Ginny bring him to Platform 9 3/4 to catch the Hogwarts Express. Surprisingly, he meets up with and becomes friends with Scorpius Malfoy, Draco’s son.
Like his father, he fears being sorted into Slytherin House, which is exactly what happens. From his father, he inherited a quiet, kind and thoughtful nature. Much of his time is spent trying to distance himself from his father and the Potter legacy, a kind of magical world teenage rebellion. This is confounded in his early years at Hogwarts when, unlike his father, he was capable of only very basic magical skills. He feels very much in his father’s shadow.
Scorpius Malfoy
Blonde and aristocratic, Scorpius is a Slytherin through and through. Or is he? His friendship with Albus Potter surprises many, including most of his Slytherin housemates.
Having been brought up in the isolation of Malfoy Manor, Scorpius displays a tendency to separate himself from others, together with melancholy loneliness. He was more of his mother’s child than his father’s and her death and her death exacerbated his perennially depressed state. Jealousy? Yes. Especially where Albus was concerned. Moody and deeply conflicted, Scorpius tries to find his own way.
Harry Potter
Now a father and Head of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, Harry worries endlessly about his relationship with his son Albus, who seems rebellious and distant. The legacy of his time with the Dursleys is that Harry was forced to make his own way very early in life, leading to frustration and anger, at times.
His willingness to sacrifice himself during the Battle of Hogwarts shows both nobility and acceptance of the necessity of death, which extends into his character in the play. Even as an adult, he is basically conflicted, feeling the pull of the Dark Arts, yet resisting the impulse. He is a hero, who is tempted but does not succumb.
Cedric Diggory
Albus’s use of the Time-Turner creates a reality in which Cedric Diggory did not die at Voldemort’s hand in the graveyard at the end of Goblet of Fire. The fact that, in the alternate reality, Diggory goes over to the Deatheaters shows a resentful, rebellious and self-serving mentality.
His actions during the Triwizard Tournament while at Hogwarts shows, if not laziness, a tendency simply to sit back and see what happens. It perhaps indicates a certain superiority and arrogance, which ultimately led to his death in the real reality and to his moral destruction in the alternate one. His character does not grow, just the opposite.
Rose Granger-Weasley
The daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, Rose grew up spending a lot of time with her cousin Albus Potter. This changed when they went to Hogwarts together.
Unlike her cousin Albus, Rose is a basically happy, positive girl that people gravitate to. She inherited her mother’s brains, but was more secure in the wizarding world, having been born into a magical family. Her tenacity on the Quidditch pitch shows a competitive nature. Her popularity at Hogwarts reveals a generosity of spirit and a positive outlook.
Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, a screaming Voldemort is killed. Like his daughter Delphi, Voldemort is driven by anger. The fact he was an orphan is a telling detail, in what is basically a childhood spent being isolated and cut off from “normal” children.
His intelligence is obvious, as is his tendency to be impulsive. He is quintessentially self-absorbed, a man out to wreak revenge on those who have wronged him. The Dark Lord is deeply sadistic and amoral, traits which ultimately brought his downfall in both Wizarding Wars. From the beginning through the play, his arrogance and anger grow exponentially.
Hermione Granger Weasley
We all remember Hermione’s tendency to lord it over Ron. There was, in their school days, a great love/hate thing going on. Still, Ron and Hermione marry in the end. Hermione, during her days at Hogwarts, shows herself to be fiercely intelligent, but insecure. She consistently feels the need to prove herself.
Hermione fears failure more than anything else, which can make her driven in a negative way. Despite claiming to be a proud Mudblood, she seems to feel a certain anger at being an outsider. As an adult and Minister of Magic in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, her strong character makes her central to the defeat of Voldemort.
Ron Weasley
It is clear that when Ron and Hermione see Rose off on the Hogwarts Express, little has changed. He still has the Weasley red hair, sprinkled with gray.
In the alternate reality set out in the play, everything is completely different, including Ron. While more mature than in his Hogwarts days, he displays a lack of passion, leaving the Ministry of Magic to join his brother George at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. He is loyal and very much willing to take a back seat to his wife Hermione, supporting her when she becomes Minister of Magic in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Dolores Umbridge
We all remember Dolores Umbridge, the cruel Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and High Inquisitor in the Order of the Phoenix. In the end, she gets her due and is suspended.
In the alternate world of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, her sadistic and cruel actions, particularly towards children, reveal a sociopathic personality. Her utter devotion to authority and power and her slavish devotion to the Ministry of Magic show her essentially amoral character.
