My first time reading through theHarry Potterbooks, I completely missed this tragic story, and that’s exactly why HBO’s TV remake must make a change. Though the first priority of the upcoming series will be to faithfully adapt the novels to the screen, there are further opportunities here. ATV format forHarry Potterwould be wildly beneficial, especially for the lesser-known canon stories.
Like many otherHarry Potterfans, I first read the book series when I was a child. I grew up waiting for the next installment to release, and spent my summers obsessively reading through my copy. As an adult, I have read and reread theHarry Potterbooks, and certain details now stand out to me that I hadn’t noticed when I was younger. Each readthrough seems to come with something new.
Something that stands out to me more now is the names of some of the unseen characters, many of which are repeated throughout the series. For example, two men, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, were mentioned several times, though they never seemed particularly important. Of course, I now know thatthese two were Molly Weasley’s own brothers, and theHarry Potterseries slowly spells out their family’s story.
The Harry Potter Books Subtly Told The Tragic Story Of Molly Weasley’s Family
Their Deaths Were Slowly Spelled Out
TheHarry Potterbooksare full of information about Ron’s father’s side of the family, but Molly’s family, the Prewetts, were rarely brought up. Throughout all seven books, this family name is mentioned exactly six times. It’s not even immediately clear that Molly herself was a Prewett. However, with each instance that this name appears, more subtle information is revealed.
The first time the name Prewett is mentioned inHarry Potteris inSorcerer’s Stone, when Hagrid explains to Harry how significant it is that he survived Voldemort’s killing curse. He listed powerful witches and wizards who had fallen to it, among them being “the Prewetts.” Of course, at this point, we have no idea who these people are, and Molly hadn’t even been introduced yet.
Later, inHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Prewetts were mentioned again when Mad-Eye Moody showed Harry the old photograph of the original Order. The old Auror pointed outFabian and Gideon Prewett, who he said were killed by five of Voldemort’s Death Eaters. Later in this book, we learn that Antonin Dolohov, who was convicted of killing Fabian and Gideon Prewett, escaped Azkaban.
Death Eaters murdered Fabian and Gideon, but Hagrid specifically listed “the Prewetts” as victims of Voldemort’s killing curse. It’s likely that the Prewetts Hagrid mentioned were different members of this family—most likely, Fabian, Gideon, and Molly’s parents.
The next time these characters were referenced was inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Molly gifted Harry an heirloom watch for his 17th birthday. She noted that it had belonged to her brother Fabian, who didn’t take particularly good care of his belongings. Though Molly didn’t confirm that this was the same man killed by Death Eaters, this fact was confirmed in the epilogue, when an adult Harry glanced at the “battered old watch that had once been Fabian Prewett’s.”
It’s no wonder Molly was so terrified to lose the Weasleys when the Order of the Phoenix was reformed. More importantly, it’s no wonder Molly loved Harry so much—they had both lost their families to Voldemort’s war.
Each of these small instances comes together to tell a tragic story about Molly Weasley’s life. Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters murdered every member of her family. She had no one left aside from the Weasleys. It’s no wonder she was so terrified to lose them when the Order of the Phoenix was reformed. More importantly, it’s no wonder Molly loved Harry so much—they had both lost their families to Voldemort’s war.
Fabian and Gideon Prewett’s Deaths Foreshadowed Fred & George’s Fates
Fred Suffered The Same Fate As His Uncle & Namesake
A whole tragic backstory was quietly constructed for Molly Weasley in theHarry Potterbooks through just a handful of mentions of the Prewett name. I put it together years ago that Molly Weasley had originally been a Prewett and that her brothers were murdered, but it took several more readthroughs for the full weight of it to settle in—the heartbreaking reality.
This goes even beyond the realization that Molly lost her parents and brothers to the same war that robbed Harry of his family. It extends into the lives of Molly’s own children, sinceFred and Georgeare reflected in Fabian and Gideon’s stories.
Molly named her own twin sons with the same first initials as her brothers—Fabian and Gideon are paralleled by Fred and George.
While thinking about Fabian and Gideon,I wondered if the pair were twins. This is when it dawned on me that they very likely were. After all, Molly named her own twin sons with the same first initials as her brothers—Fabian and Gideon are paralleled by Fred and George.
The full reality of the tragedy that Molly had faced during the First Wizarding War became clear inDeathly Hallowswhen she gave Harry Fabian’s watch. It’s interesting that later in that same book,Molly’s greatest fear—that her children would die like her brothers—came true. Fred was killed by Death Eaters.
Of course, unlike Gideon, George survived Lord Voldemort’s war. He lost a great deal, but he lived. This is meaningful as well. It’s a sign of the increased hope in the Second Wizarding War, which Harry himself had managed to inspire.
HBO’s Harry Potter Remake Can Bring The Tragic Stories Of The First Wizarding War To The Surface
These Subtle Background Stories Can Get Their Own Features
Readers could easily make it through theHarry Potterbooks without ever noticing anything about Molly Weasley’s backstory. The Warner Bros. movies never bothered with it, and, said and done, it doesn’t have a significant impact on the central story. However, it’s subtle details like this that have kept theHarry Potterseries popular for so long. It’s something to analyze and turn over.
The same is true for many other stories that happened before Voldemort attempted to murder the infant Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived didn’t witness theFirst Wizarding War, and since theHarry Potterbooks are told from his perspective, audiences only know what he knows.TheHarry PotterTV show, on the other hand, has a longer format that should allow it more room to exploresome of the more subtle stories.
We could potentially get a Molly Weasley flashback episode, which could really dive into just how much this character was impacted by Voldemort’s reign.
Though it’s fun to guess at certain background elements, it wouldn’t hurt for theHarry PotterTV show to bring some of these stories to the surface. We could potentially get a Molly Weasley flashback episode, which could really dive into just how much this character was impacted by Voldemort’s reign.It would be a slight change for the books' way of doing things, but such a shift would allow theHarry PotterTV show to actually enhance the original story.
