Diehard fans of theHarry Potterfranchise have been counting down the days untilHogwarts Legacy’s 2022 release, with excitement and anticipation. As new details begin to emerge about what the game will be like,Avalanche Software’s vision of the Wizarding Worldis truly starting to take shape in the minds of fans. One element of the game’s promotional materials, however, was troubling to those familiar with the history of Hogwarts castle: the Whomping Willow tree was included in a promotional image for the game which is set in the 1800s despite the tree not being planted until 1971.
Luckily, Avalanche Software clarified that the tree’s use in the promotional image was “a rookie mistake” and that theHogwarts Legacyteam knows “better than to use that.” This statement has gotten fans wondering about what other differences the castle ofHogwarts Legacymight have from the Hogwarts of theHarry Potterbooks and films. There are a handful of major differences that may come to mind initially, exemplified with the Whomping Willow, but there are also some areas that may get expanded upon that aren’t prominently featured in the books or films.
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Notable Omissions in Hogwarts Legacy
In theHarry Potterfilms, the layout, structure, and architecture of Hogwarts change quite a bit. However, the changes from film to film aren’t necessarily intended to be canonical construction done on the castle. Two notable major changes were made to Hogwarts and its surrounding area as detailed in the films and books: the planting of the Whomping Willow tree and the creation of the Shrieking Shack. Both were made in 1971 to give Remus Lupin a place to safely stay when he would turn into a werewolf every month.
AsHogwartsLegacyis set far before the 1970s, both iconicPotterstructures and the tunnel connecting the two will be absent from its world.The Whomping Willow and Shrieking Shack’s omission was confirmed byHogwarts Legacywriter DC Allenon Twitter earlier this week.
Areas Hogwarts Legacy Will Expand On
Because the main cast of theHarry Potterseries consists of the titular boy-who-lived and his immediate group of friends, there’s a limited perspective of Hogwarts castle and the Wizarding World as a whole, as the majority of major characters are sorted into the Gryffindor house. Because of this, there’s an unequal amount of time spent exploring the experiences of characters sorted into other houses.
For example, only two house common rooms are shown onscreen in the films (Gryffindor and Slytherin) and while a third is visited in the books (Ravenclaw), the moments in bothSlytherin and Ravenclaw common roomsare fleeting. This means that it’s up toHogwarts Legacyto fully expand on what each common room will be like as the players sorted into the different houses will presumably be spending a good deal of time there.
In addition to the differences that are likely to show up in the common rooms,Hogwarts Legacywill probably also change parts of the Hogwarts layout in service of fitting the game’s timeframe. There areplenty ofHarry Pottergamesthat have nailed down different layouts of Hogwarts, but as most have been set during the events of the main series, they’ve all been pretty similar in layout.Hogwarts Legacymight make some major changes in terms of what types of buildings exist on the grounds and what types of rooms exist in the castle itself.
While there isn’t a lot of modern technology used in the castle, it’s likely that some updates to it have happened between the 1800s and whenthe mainHarry Potterseries is set in the 1990s. For example, the boathouse on the edge of the Black Lake may be altered or omitted entirely, as well as Hagrid’s hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Obviously, Hagrid didn’t become the gamekeeper until 1967, so his hut will also either be cut entirely or given a substantial makeover.
Hogwarts Legacyaims to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
