Here's How David Yates Ruined Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Finale
There was just one detail in the last movie's finale that was crucial to get right, and by failing it, Yates ruined an essential message intended in the original books.
Harry Potter 's main plotline virtually ends with the death of Lord Voldemort, a psycho terrorist and the main antagonist of the series.
Arguably, it's the most important scene in the entire saga, and it hides a whole lot of symbolism… A whole lot of symbolism that was completely lost in the movie's version of the ending.
In the book and in the movie, the last fight between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort varies tremendously.
While it's understandable that the movie had to be, well, cinematic, and include more action and graphics, there was no need to butcher the meaning of the finale the way David Yates ended up doing.
There are at least three reasons why the movie mangled the symbolism of the Dark Lord's death.
It doesn't end the cycle
The cycle is a leitmotiv throughout the Harry Potter series. For the book Tom Riddle, the cycle ends where it started: in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
This is where he first started his journey to become Lord Voldemort, and this is where his path led him.
The Great Hall is the beginning and the end of Tom Riddle's personal tragic story. In the movie, he just dies somewhere in the backyard. Random and pointless.
It's not 100% final
The main problem with Voldemort's first "death" was that no one saw it happen and there was no body. That's why many people kept living in fear that he might return, which he did.
When Voldemort is really finished, he's surrounded by victims and he leaves the body behind as proof that the terror is over, and the Dark Lord is gone.
Not in the movie, though; in the movie, no one is there to witness Voldemort's death, and there's no body to show for it. Who will believe that he's really dead this time?
It denies Voldemort's humanity
Finally, the main reason why the movie death is the worst possible adaptation: it completely misinterprets JKR's message.
Voldemort is no god and no devil, he's a human just like everyone else. He was not a mythical monster, and despite his terrible crimes, he's flesh and bones — and he dies like a usual person as proof.
In the movie, Voldemort doesn't really die; instead, his body disintegrates.
This completely denies the message about the Dark Lord's commonness, and David Yates even said this out loud when he shared that the disintegration of Voldemort's body was to show that he was an inhuman monster.
This is the complete and utter opposite of what the Dark Lord's death was supposed to symbolize on every single level, like Merlin's beard!
How could one man mess up the finale so badly?