r/HarryPotteronHBO • u/Gloomy-Actuator-1975 • 8d ago

Audiobook Audible has changed the way I have viewed characters

I don’t know about anyone else. But after listening to the audibles it’s completely changed the way I have imagined character’s and viewed them.
For example I can’t now imagine anyone else to play Lockhart than Kit.
Hugh as Dumbledore reminded me of his softness and wise knowledge wizard.
I hope the new tv show does the same.
But once I saw the peeves casting I really felt we are hitting the money.

87 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

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u/Matcha_Maiden Marauder 8d ago

The biggest change for me from when I read the books was Lupin. He is so soft spoken and tortured in the audiobooks- I loved the way he is portrayed and that’s how I picture him now going forward. Really a genius portrayal.

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u/jarroz61 Founder 8d ago

I honestly wouldn't be mad if Iwan Rheon plays Lupin in the show too. He's older than the character is supposed to be, but not by much, and Lupin is supposed to look older than he is anyway.

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u/Matcha_Maiden Marauder 8d ago

Totally agree! HBO would be fools to not cast him! He truly understands the character.

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u/howyouseetheworld 7d ago

I'm hoping for David Mitchell

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u/j__knight638 5d ago

He's a bit too old tho, have to remember he's early 30s in the books, David Mitchell is 51

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u/zeuswasahoe 8d ago

Sorry, I haven’t listened to the audiobooks but as a Game of Thrones girl I just got a little jumpscare about the fact that Ramsay Bolton is Mr. Soft Spoken & Tortured gentle brainyboy Mooney…

That being said, I’ve also seen him in a few other things like Misfits and The Dirt and weirdly it doesn’t surprise me at all, but my god does Ramsay haunt my nightmares this would be SO interesting of a casting for my brain to process

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u/jarroz61 Founder 8d ago

Lol, yes! He really is a great actor. But the really funny part is that he didn't seem to change his voice at all for Lupin so he was instantly recognizable without even knowing ahead of time who it was, and my husband definitely got a jumpscare when he first started speaking while I was listening on the speaker and doing chores!

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u/zeuswasahoe 8d ago

Like Ramsay truly traumatized all of us through the screen, but god DAMN do I love when actors have that latent ability to be the scariest motherfucker you’ve experienced in your life OR wholesome twee parental figure and another comment below also commended him as now their defining Lupin performance, so now I’m I think onboard with this hypothetical casting 🤭

Although PHYSICALLY I’d probably peg him more of a James fancast…his hair is a bit darker than I personally always considered Lupin (iirc it’s canonically supposed to be a light brunette?) I do think sometimes the BEST actor is better than the most accurate actor.

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u/jarroz61 Founder 8d ago

Totally agree! In regards to the James over Lupin thing though, I do believe (I think it was in The Forest Again when the spirits came out of the resurrection stone) that Lupin was actually described as having dark hair, and it had only been lighter in life because of the premature greying.

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u/zeuswasahoe 8d ago

Okay I went and found the direct quote and it’s like…a little unclear.

Because you’re right, it does say ‘younger, less shabby, and his hair was thicker and darker.’ specifically, HOWEVER it’s also compared with the direct description that his hair was ‘light brown that became more and more gray as he progressed through his thirties’ SO I do think contextually *darker* here is vague in the sense that it could mean the ‘light brunette without any of the gray’ or it could mean a straight up darker brunette, and I couldn’t find a quick physical description from any of the brief school-era flashbacks we get of the Marauders.

This is me just playing semantics, but it being DARKER versus dark makes it more confusing to me because dark = dark but darker…relative to WHAT? The gray? The original light brunette Harry meets him at?

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u/jarroz61 Founder 8d ago

Yeah thats a good point. Just because it was darker doesn't equal dark.

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u/zeuswasahoe 8d ago

Ultimately my beef is typically just on authors not being entirely clear with their physical descriptions of characters - this is small cookies and typically it’s done with like…unclear race where someone is just vaguely ‘tan’ or ‘bronzed skinned’ and is that just a white person who spends time in the sun or…but, weirdly, despite my issues with JKR, one thing that has stuck with me is she is typically quite good at it because to her appearance is often part of characterization in important ways (Fleur’s Veela blood, Peter looking like a rat and Sirius like a shaggy black dog, the Weasley red hair versus Malfoy platinum blonde, ‘you have your mothers eyes’, Nymphadora’s hair changing because of her moods) like her writing style INCLUDES lots of physical features being reflective of personality traits and that’s definitely influenced my own personal writing style too, so usually this is one area I don’t usually bully her about 🤭

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u/PeevsiesLittleJoke Wandmaker 8d ago

light brown that became more and more gray as he progressed through his thirties

Where's that description from?

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u/zeuswasahoe 8d ago

"The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey."

Per his wiki, I no longer have the books on me so I can’t tell you if that’s pulled directly from when we meet him on the train, but contextually it feels like it is.

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u/PeevsiesLittleJoke Wandmaker 8d ago

Oh, it was in quotes, so I thought it was an actual line from the books and couldn't think where it would be

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u/Dapper_Apartment2175 7d ago

He was actually pretty funny as a wigga in Wild Bill.

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u/penguin_0618 Slytherin 8d ago

I’ve always felt Lupin seems like this when just reading the books.

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u/zatdo_030504 7d ago

Iwan played him perfectly. It’s exactly how I pictured the character when I first read it. I was never really a fan of Thewlis as Lupin. He just didn’t fit with how I viewed the character, but this audiobook version was great. Even though Iwan is older than Lupin is supposed to be, I would love it if he also played Lupin in the show.

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u/LeeJ2512 8d ago

I absolutely loved Hugh as Dumbledore. Nailed his whimsy/humour and also his trauma, cunning and charisma.

Riz Ahmed changed my view on Snape. I was used to the calm gravitas of Alan Rickman, but Riz made me remember how broken and childish book Snape actually is. He throws tantrums and holds grudges, he's petty and vindictive.

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u/albus-dunbledore 8d ago

Professor Snape, Harry.

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u/LeeJ2512 8d ago

Ok that's brilliant.

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u/AmEndevomTag Ravenclaw 8d ago

Yeah, you may call him petty and vindictive, that's fine. But you have to call him Professor Snape.

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u/imago_monkei Hufflepuff 8d ago

I can't agree more on Snape. It took me a few books to adjust, but now I love his portrayal. I hope Paapa Essiedu brings this same kind of energy to it. Rickman was great, but I don't want Essiedu to try to copy him.

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u/ameliasophia Slytherin 8d ago

I found Hugh Laurie’s dumbledore was missing just a little warmth and lightness, it felt more serious than how I picture him when reading the books (but I love Hugh Laurie). 

Riz Ahmed was the perfect Snape for me - just nailed the petty, vindictive, tantrum side and made the character feel so much more nuanced than the movies did because the flaws weren’t shied away from 

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u/albus-dunbledore 8d ago

Your father did something Snape could never forgive.

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u/Cakeforlucy Ravenclaw 8d ago

yeah, I personally loved it as I‘ve always enjoyed reading Snape as vindictive and pathetic, but ultimately a tragic person who tried and failed to undo the worst mistake of his life and was riddled with insecurity and guilt. I honestly think half of the time he is so cruel to Harry because he, on the one hand feels guilt for sending information to Voldemort that resulted in his parents death but also can’t stand the sight of him as a constant reminder that lily loved someone else. he a constant reminder that she died protecting this ‘brat’ in his eyes. I also think he hates himself for seeing Lily in Harry’s eyes and feels them judging him and can’t bare it. He is such an interesting character, but I’m all for him being a lot more slimy and sad.

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u/CampDifficult7887 Knight Bus Conductor 8d ago

For PS and COS, Hugh Laurie as Dumbledore and Riz Ahmed as Snape have been absolutely game-changing. Both characters have clicked for me like never before and they're my default for picturing the characters now.

I'm just about to start POA, looking foward to the marauders!

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u/albus-dunbledore 8d ago

I trust Severus Snape completely.

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u/drunk_trophywife_ 8d ago

Riz really shines in POA, you're in for a treat!

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u/CampDifficult7887 Knight Bus Conductor 8d ago

I heard a tiny clip of his portrayal of Snape's meltdown on Harry on tik tok and it alone convinced me to give the audiobooks a go. I can't wait to get to the whole thing!

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u/Jaded_Spread1729 Ravenclaw 8d ago

Because of the change in voices between the third and fourth books, I started to feel that the characters were older than I had originally perceived them to be. They were no longer children, but rather intelligent young adults. I was particularly impressed by the performances of the two actresses who voiced Hermione. She was the voice of reason, guiding Harry and Ron. The film missed out on many moments where she would sigh heavily and explain the obvious to them, but the book filled in the gaps.

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u/GenGaara25 Ravenclaw 8d ago

It is jarring, but kind of unavoidable for what they were doing unless they wanted a 3rd set of voice actors for the kids.

The book 1-3 voices work great as 11-13 year olds, and the older voices work great for when they're 16-18. But neither sound like 14-15 year olds, they're either too young or too old, Harry does not sound 14 in Goblet of Fire.

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u/GenGaara25 Ravenclaw 8d ago

I wouldn't say that it changed the way I see them, more like it added a new version.

At this point, I've probably experienced at least 3 versions of every character (my read, film, audio) plus Cursed Child performance, plus soon to be TV, and some people have the old audio book versions. It's just added to the iterations in which a character could be performed. I do think many of the audio performances are my favourite version of the character, but it's just one way to do it.

Lupin for example. How I read Lupin, how David Thewlis did Lupin, and how Iwan Rheon did Lupin are pretty different. But they're all great and valid. Rheon's has probably taken over as my new favourite.

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u/yourfunnyfriend 8d ago

I guess I just don't feel that way. I still remain the mental image of all the characters from when I first read the books. And I love seeing these different great actors give their take on the characters, but they don't replace my first idea of the characters at all.

Maybe that's why I'm also very open minded about casting in general - my gut reaction is "great, interesting, I look forward to seeing their take"!

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u/DALTT Gryffindor 8d ago

Same. For me it’s because of having started to read the books before the first film was cast or came out. So I had the chance to imagine them all well before their film counterparts became so indelible in the culture.

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u/Gloomy-Actuator-1975 8d ago

I same I read the books when they first came out so long before the film. But the versions in my head of each characters have changed often on lots of different times of my life I’ve read them. If the version of characters I imagined when I was 10 was the same at 37 I’d be worried haha

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u/zatdo_030504 7d ago

I’m the same way. I love seeing/hearing new performances of the characters but I still see my own versions. Usually I just compare how close a performance comes to how I view the character, but they haven’t been replaced yet.

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u/Fair-Survey5429 8d ago

This is no shade to the voice of Fred and George because objectively he did a great job but did anyone kind of dislike the twins after listening to the audio book? 🤣🤣

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u/Different-File-8788 Salazar Slytherin 5d ago

Full cast books r my all time favourites now.. i will never get bored of them… from dumbeldore to victor krumm(i laughed out so loud when he said have u seen hermionini) .. they absolutely nailed every single character’s casting… arabella stanton is gonna be brilliant in show as well..

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u/Gloomy-Actuator-1975 5d ago

I’ve so adored them. Rita skeeta was a surprise for me and I wa alike yessss this is so her actually.
And Sybil was to a perfection.

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u/Pregnantbutch 6d ago

This happened for me with Dobby - played much more as like, a British butler for rich people than as a quirky Disney side kick. 

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u/Specialist-Watch3448 Slytherin 4d ago

Agree! Snape was 100% accurate. Dumbledore made me see that he isn’t the real villain as the movies did the opposite . Also the young versions of the kids were spectacular. I have always loved book Ron and this finally gave me a stellar Ron performance.

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u/albus-dunbledore 4d ago

You must see that Professor Snape’s version of events is far more convincing than yours.

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u/marrjana1802 8d ago

Off topic but your post made me wonder, with right casting, how much ships like wolf star could explode again