Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts behind to embark on a perilous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort's immortality—the Horcruxes—while the Wizarding World falls under the Dark Lord's shadow.
Synopsis
As Voldemort's power grows stronger, he seizes control of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, forcing Harry, Ron, and Hermione to go on the run. Deciding not to return for their final year of school, the trio sets out on a desperate quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, the magical objects containing fragments of Voldemort's soul. Isolated from their allies and hunted by Death Eaters, their friendship is tested to its breaking point by the dark forces they carry and the seeming hopelessness of their mission.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United Kingdom
United States |
Premiere date |
November 19, 2010 |
Running time |
146 minutes |
Genre |
Adventure
Fantasy |
Budget |
$250,000,000 |
Box Office |
$977,100,000 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
David Yates |
Produced by |
David Heyman David Barron J.K. Rowling |
Written by |
Steve Kloves |
Music by |
Alexandre Desplat |
Cinematography |
Eduardo Serra |
Edited by |
Mark Day |
Production Co. |
Heyday Films |
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #07 in Harry Potter Collection
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The Plot
The Darkening World and a Perilous Departure
In the summer of 1997, the Wizarding World faces its darkest hour. Rufus Scrimgeour, the newly appointed Minister for Magic, addresses the public with a grim resolve, finally admitting that Lord Voldemort has returned and poses a grave threat to their society, though he insists that the Ministry remains strong. Meanwhile, the trio prepares to leave their past lives behind to embark on the mission Dumbledore left them. At the Dursley home, Harry Potter watches silently as his aunt and uncle pack their car to go into hiding; he does not join them, knowing he must hunt the Horcruxes without the Order of the Phoenix's direct aid. Hermione Granger makes a heartbreaking sacrifice, casting the Obliviate charm on her parents to erase herself from their memories and family photographs to protect them. Ron Weasley also steels himself at the Burrow, ready for the journey ahead.
The Meeting at Malfoy Manor
Severus Snape arrives at Malfoy Manor, traversing the dark grounds to join a gathering of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Snape provides the specific date and time of Harry’s planned removal from Privet Drive. At the head of the table, Voldemort declares that he must be the one to kill Harry Potter personally. However, due to the twin cores of their wands causing a stalemate, he demands another’s wand. He coldly humiliates Lucius Malfoy for his recent failures and commandeers his wand, snapping the snake-head decoration off the handle. To demonstrate his cruelty, Voldemort introduces Charity Burbage, the former Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts, who is suspended above the table. After mocking her advocacy for Wizard-Muggle coexistence, and ignoring her pleas to Snape for help, Voldemort kills her with the Killing Curse and allows his snake, Nagini, to devour her corpse.
The Seven Potters and the Aerial Battle
The Order of the Phoenix arrives at Privet Drive to escort Harry to the Burrow. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody explains that they cannot use magic or the Floo Network to avoid detection. To confuse any potential attackers, six members of the group—Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus Fletcher—drink Polyjuice Potion to transform into identical decoys of Harry. As they take to the skies on brooms, Thestrals, and Sirius Black’s motorbike (piloted by Hagrid), they are immediately ambushed by a swarm of Death Eaters. A chaotic aerial battle ensues across the clouds. During the fight, Harry’s owl, Hedwig, is killed while trying to protect him. Voldemort himself joins the pursuit, identifying the real Harry when he uses a Disarming charm. Just as Voldemort prepares to kill him, Harry's wand acts of its own accord, shooting powerful magic that shatters Lucius Malfoy’s wand. The Order eventually reaches the Burrow, but not without cost: Mad-Eye Moody has been killed, and George Weasley has lost an ear to a curse from Snape.
The Will of Albus Dumbledore
While recovering at the Burrow, Harry feels the weight of the danger he brings to others and attempts to leave, but Ron convinces him that the fight is bigger than just one person. The next morning, Rufus Scrimgeour arrives to execute Albus Dumbledore’s will. He interrogates the trio before handing over specific bequests: to Ron, the Deluminator (a device to capture and restore light); to Hermione, a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard; and to Harry, the very first Golden Snitch he ever caught. Scrimgeour reveals that Dumbledore also left Harry the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, but the Ministry refuses to release it, claiming it is Hogwarts property and currently missing.
The Wedding and the Fall of the Ministry
During the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Harry attends in disguise and meets Xenophilius Lovegood, noticing a strange triangular symbol on a necklace he wears. He also speaks with Elphias Doge and Ron’s Auntie Muriel, who gossips about Dumbledore’s dark past, mentioning a brother named Aberforth and the historian Bathilda Bagshot who lives in Godric's Hollow. The celebration is shattered when Kingsley Shacklebolt’s Patronus appears with a chilling warning: "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." Death Eaters immediately attack, setting the marquee ablaze. In the chaos, Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparate away to Shaftesbury Avenue in London.
Ambush and the Secret of R.A.B.
While regrouping in a small cafe, the trio is ambushed by Death Eaters disguised as city workers, Antonin Dolohov and Thorfinn Rowle. After a violent skirmish, the trio subdues them and Hermione wipes their memories. They seek refuge at 12 Grimmauld Place, where they discover that the mysterious "R.A.B." who stole the real Horcrux locket was Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius’s brother. Kreacher, the house-elf, reveals that Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket from the house. Harry orders Kreacher to find him. When Mundungus is dragged back by Kreacher and Dobby, he confesses that he was forced to give the locket to Dolores Umbridge as a bribe.
Infiltration of the Ministry of Magic
With the Ministry now under Pius Thicknesse (a puppet of Voldemort) and branding Harry "Undesirable No. 1," the trio infiltrates the underground headquarters using Polyjuice Potion to pose as Ministry employees. They are separated in the lifts; Ron finds himself escorting Mary Cattermole to trial, while Harry searches Umbridge’s office, finding only files on the Order. They reunite in the courtroom where Umbridge is interrogating Mary Cattermole alongside Dementors to terrorize Muggle-borns. Harry, filled with rage, stuns Umbridge and retrieves the locket. They flee the Ministry, but their escape is compromised when the Death Eater Yaxley grabs Hermione during Apparition, revealing the location of Grimmauld Place to him. The trio is forced to abandon the house and hide in the Forest of Dean.
The Locket’s Curse and Ron’s Departure
Life on the run proves brutal. Ron is splinched during their escape and requires healing. They attempt to destroy the locket, but it is impervious to their spells. They decide to wear it in turns for safekeeping, but the Horcrux amplifies their negative emotions, making them paranoid and angry. Hermione realizes that the Sword of Gryffindor is capable of destroying Horcruxes because it absorbed basilisk venom in the Chamber of Secrets. However, the locket’s influence breaks Ron; overwhelmed by fear for his family and jealousy over Harry and Hermione’s bond, he lashes out and abandons them in the wilderness. Heartbroken, Hermione weeps, and Harry tries to comfort her by dancing with her in the tent, a fleeting moment of friendship amidst the gloom.
Tragedy in Godric’s Hollow
Harry discovers an inscription on the Snitch: "I open at the close." Seeking answers, he and Hermione travel to Godric’s Hollow on Christmas Eve. In the graveyard, they find the grave of Ignotus Peverell bearing the same symbol Xenophilius wore, as well as the grave of Harry’s parents. They are approached by an elderly woman they believe to be Bathilda Bagshot. Inside her home, Harry finds a picture of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, "Bathilda" reveals herself to be a trap; she speaks in Parseltongue and transforms into Nagini. The snake attacks Harry, and in the frantic struggle to escape, Hermione’s blasting curse accidentally snaps Harry’s wand in two.
The Silver Doe and the Sword
While keeping watch in the Forest of Dean, Harry sees a silver doe Patronus that leads him to a frozen pond. Beneath the ice lies the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry dives into the freezing water to retrieve it, but the locket around his neck senses the danger and constricts, trying to strangle and drown him. He is saved by Ron, who has returned guided by the Deluminator. Harry urges Ron to destroy the locket with the sword. The Horcrux fights back, projecting Ron’s deepest insecurities—visions of Harry and Hermione mocking him and embracing. Overcoming his demons, Ron strikes the locket, destroying it. They return to the tent, where Hermione is initially furious at Ron but eventually accepts his return.
The Deathly Hallows
The trio visits Xenophilius Lovegood to ask about the symbol. He explains it represents the Deathly Hallows from The Tale of the Three Brothers: the Elder Wand (power), the Resurrection Stone (bringing back the dead), and the Cloak of Invisibility. Possessing all three makes one the "Master of Death." However, Xenophilius has betrayed them to the Death Eaters in a desperate bid to save his kidnapped daughter, Luna. The trio barely escapes the ambush into the forest, where they are immediately caught by a group of Snatchers. Hermione hits Harry with a Stinging Jinx to disfigure his face and hide his identity.
Skirmish at Malfoy Manor
The Snatchers take them to Malfoy Manor. Draco Malfoy is asked to identify Harry but hesitates. Bellatrix Lestrange panics when she sees the Sword of Gryffindor, believing it was stolen from her Gringotts vault. She has the boys imprisoned in the cellar with Luna, Ollivander, and Griphook, while she brutally tortures Hermione upstairs. Harry uses a shard of a two-way mirror to beg for help. Dobby the house-elf appears, Apparating the other prisoners to safety at Shell Cottage. Wormtail investigates the noise, and Dobby helps Harry and Ron escape the cellar. A duel erupts in the drawing room. Harry disarms Draco, taking his wand, while Dobby drops a chandelier to cover their escape. As they Apparate away, Bellatrix throws a silver knife into the vanishing void.
The Free Elf and the Theft of the Wand
They arrive on the beach near Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's home. Harry discovers that Bellatrix’s knife has fatally wounded Dobby. The house-elf dies in Harry’s arms, happy to be with his friends. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dig a grave by hand and bury Dobby without magic as a final tribute. Meanwhile, Voldemort breaks into Albus Dumbledore’s white tomb at Hogwarts. He cracks open the marble seeking the ultimate power and steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s dead hands, firing a triumphant bolt of lightning into the night sky.
