The story of the boy who lived, lives on in our hearts and has marked the childhoods of many moviegoing fans around the world, especially those born in the 90s. We saw Harry Potter from when he was a baby and saw him grow up to eventually put an end to Voldemort once and for all - with the support of his friends and peers, of course. Throughout the movies, we heard about how much his eyes resembled his mother's, and we heard a few stories regarding both of his parents throughout the saga, but how much was told? How much was revealed? This article will explain the differences between what was revealed about James Potter in the books and the movies, staring with what was stated in the movies.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The movie told us about the death of Harry's parents at the hands of the dark wizard Voldemort. It revealed to us that they were killed at home and that Harry was taken from there to the Dursley household, to be raised by his mother's sister Petunia and her family. The movie did not reveal that much more, as it focused on introducing us to the world of wizardry through Harry's point of view. However, there were still a few things that were shown and mentioned regarding James Potter, aside from his death. The movie mentioned that James was a great seeker during his time at Hogwarts, probably the best one they ever had. He had a lot of skill on the broom.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The second movie in the saga brought more to the lore and showed us a bit about Voldemort's past...and we only found that out in the end of the movie when it turned out that he was the one pulling the strings all along...or...at least...the memory of Voldemort. This movie did not tell us much about James. Like all the others, it talked about Lily Potter. She was the one out of the two that was universally loved. We get some sort of glimpse into James' rivalry with Snape, as he belittles Harry due to his similarities to his father.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The third movie in the franchise finally introduced someone that could enlighten the audience more about James' time in Hogwarts. In fact, it introduced two people: his two very best friends: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Sirius is the prisoner of Azkaban mentioned in the title, convicted due to allegedly betraying the Potters to Voldemort, and of murdering Peter Pettigrew. He escapes Azkaban and heads to Hogwarts in order to track down Pettigrew. Remus mentions that he knew both James and Lily, and talks about Lily, saying that Harry has her eyes (something which everyone tells him.) Sirius is revealed to be Harry's godfather, and it is shown that he was friends with James. That is pretty much all we get.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
This was the one which showed us just how scary it was to fight Voldemort. It was the movie in which he came back. When it comes to being action packed, this movie only comes second to Deathly Hallows pt2. This movie did not do much with information regarding James, but there were people who, again, mentioned that Harry's eyes were like Lily's.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Order of the Phoenix was the small army of wizards that had united to counter the Death Eaters, who were followers of Voldemort. It was a group that Harry's parents were a part of, and that Harry wanted to join but was considered too young. In this movie, we get to see the full extent of Snape's hatred towards James Potter. Snape is tasked with teaching Harry how to resist Voldemort's telepathic control, and, eventually, after learning how to counter spells on his own, Harry reversed an intrusion spell and got a glimpse of Snape's time in Hogwarts as a student, with James holding him upside down with a spell while everyone around them laughed and cheered. This was after Snape constantly insulted James and Harry defended his father's name. After this, Harry realized that Snape was right about James all along, and went to Sirius to talk about it. Sirius simply told him that James changed eventually. That was pretty much all of it. It seemed that Harry got over it, but we did not really see it delved into.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
This was the sixth entry in the movie saga, based on the sixth book, and was meant to explore Voldemort's past. The audience was meant to find out more about the past of the saga's main antagonist. We found out that he was in an orphanage and was found by Dumbledore himself, and already had dark tendencies. We did not get any information about James in this one. What we got was a bit of information on Snape.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt1
This was the penultimate movie in the saga, and the one which would build up to the final steps towards the showdown with Voldemort. There was nothing that mentioned James, aside from the indirect references like the night of his death.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt2
The last movie in the saga. This one had us see a lot of the backstory regarding Snape and Lily, as well as James. The audience sees James' first appearance in their lives as a time he just ran and cut between Snape and Lily then looked back arrogantly at them. We saw how after everything, James never apologized and ended up marrying Lily anyway, and that Snape felt bad about the Potters dying. James himself appeared to Harry in the woods, alongside everyone that Harry loved, that loved him, except, suspiciously, but probably justifiably, Snape, through the use of the resurrection stone. This one had Harry speak to Lily, Sirius, Remus but never say a word to James. James was the one who spoke to Harry.
What Everyone Missed out on
While, yes, James did bully Snape during their time at Hogwarts, there was a lot more to him than what we saw in the movies. In the books, his story is fleshed out a lot more than what we saw in the movies. He comes from a rich family and was an only child. His parents had him late, and so, they were not as attentive and active as they could have been with him. He eventually went to Hogwarts and met Sirius on the train there, and they hit it off. They also met Sirius and Lily that same day, and James and Sirius got into an argument about which house was better between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It all started with Sirius making a sly remark that caught James' attention. From then on, they became rivals and played pranks on each other, with James having won the day most of the time. Eventually, he met Remus Lupin and they became friends. James became aware of Remus' werewolf problem, and studied how to become an animagus, along with Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, so that they could keep him company during the nights that he would transform. None of this was mentioned in the films. In fact, Remus barely talked about James at all in the movies.
James also made the Marauders' Map. In fact, the Marauders that the map makes reference to is the name of the group that he was the leader of. He made the map in order to keep track of the teachers around Hogwarts on the nights that he would go out to keep Remus company during his transformations. The map was used throughought the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, but the only reference to James' involvement in its creation was his nickname on the map, which was more of an easter egg than a reference. There was a point in time when Sirius tricked Snape into approaching Remus as he transformed (Snape wanted to know why Remus kept disappearing and was investigating), and James, unaware of Sirius' prank, saved Snape from Remus. Snape was not convinced that this was genuine. He presumed that it was because James did not want to get expelled.
After many years of playing pranks on each other, things finally got heated enough when James raised Snape upside down in front of everyone, (which is a flashback we saw in the movies), and Lily told him to stop. The whole thing led to Snape calling Lily a mudblood and her ending their friendship. James even stepped in to defend Lily and told Snape to apologize, but Lily would have none of that, and scolded him too. It is described as Snape's most painful memory, but serves to show that despite everything, James was still good at heart, just immature at the time.
James also took in Sirius after he ran away from home, not wanting to be part of a family with a dark history and dark tendencies anymore. James took him in and they became like brothers. He also helped Remus with money since there were laws in place which made it hard for those with lycanthropy to get jobs in the wizarding world.
Finally, we get to the night where he died. The movies put emphasis on the love that Lily had for Harry and only ever showed how she died. All the flashbacks pointed to her alone, but nothing was ever shown regarding James. It was said that he had left his wand in the living room, as he was playing with baby Harry, and when Voldemort came, he told Lily to take the baby to their room while he held off the dark wizard. He could not do anything at all, and was killed due to not having any weapon to defend himself with.
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