Hogwarts Legacy Fixed A Glaring Plot Hole From The Harry Potter Movies

There is a major plot hole in the "Harry Potter" movies that came as a result of cutting an important character who had been pivotal to the plot in the books: Former headmaster, Phineas Nigellus Black. This plot hole is sort of fixed in Avalanche Software's new game, "Hogwarts Legacy." The game re-introduces the character, thereby making him a canonical part of the Warner Bros. adapted version of the universe.

Black's absence is most notable in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1." There is a point in the story where Harry and Hermione are on the run and searching for a tool capable of destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes. Then, seemingly at random, an ethereal doe leads Harry to a frozen pool in the Forest of Dean that contains the Sword of Godric Gryffindor — a magical weapon imbued with the venom of a Basilisk, which is one of the few substances powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux. This seems entirely too convenient until it is later revealed that this doe was actually Severus Snape's Patronus, and he'd been a double agent against the Death Eaters the whole time. It's an important moment for the Potions Master, but the film never adequately explains how Snape knew where Harry and the gang were. This leaves a logistical gap in the story since Snape's knowledge of their whereabouts is something that can only be explained by the presence of Phineas Black.

Snape's knowledge of Harry's location is explained in the books when it is revealed that the sentient painting of the deceased headmaster, Phineas Black, relayed a message from one of his portraits (which Hermione had taken from the Black House) to Snape via another portrait in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. It's the only way that Snape could have known where they were. Warner Bros. had to sacrifice a lot of secondary characters in order to boil the novels down to film-length stories, and it seems that Headmaster Black's contributions were left on the cutting room floor, but he plays a very important role in "Hogwarts Legacy."

The events of "Hogwarts Legacy" take place in 1890, when Phineas Black was still alive and the headmaster of the school — roughly 200 years before the events of "Harry Potter." It was during this period that he famously banned quidditch and subsequently became known as one of the most unpopular headmasters in the school's history. This was also the period when Ranrok's goblin rebellion notably took place, which is the main focus of the game.

Aside from being Sirius Black's great, great grandfather, Phineas was generally regarded as unpleasant and was a known pure-blood supremacist. Still, he played a pivotal role in the Second Wizarding War, and so it's good to have him finally be introduced as part of the Warner Bros. canon. Now fans can pretend that his entire involvement in the resistance still took place in the films — even if it might have happened off-screen.