Harry Potter: 10 Hidden Details About The Cupboard Under The Stairs You Never Noticed

Often, certain words or phrases from literature or movies become part of our everyday vocabulary. Harry PotterThe cupboard under the stairs is one such phrase – believe it or not, it’s actually an address in the Potterverse – that has gone down in history in the popular children’s literature scene.

Harry Potter lived in a cupboard under the stairs until he was almost 11 years old. Potter is a skinny boy introduced when Aunt Petunia knocks on the door of this closet – more like a wardrobe – to wake Harry from his slumber. Although the Dursleys eventually had to retreat and move Harry into Dudley’s second bedroom, the cupboard under the stairs has become an indelible part of the canon. Let’s take a look at some details that may have been missed along the way.

closet full of spiders

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Wands and owls, apparitions, three-headed dogs and a talented little witch with bushy hair and big teeth will take audiences into Harry’s wizarding world for the first time.

While viewers are drawn into the wizarding world of this Knuckle-Knee witch, some may overlook the small detail of the cupboard under the stairs where our hero has lived for most of his time. his childhood. Besides, how many people remember that Harry’s wardrobe was full of spiders? This is not surprising, as in any other home, this cabinet would be a natural choice for a broom closet.

Cabinet lacks light

Art by Jim Kay.

The movie gives the impression that Harry’s closet might be fine. For example, it could actually be a cozy den for a young boy in addition to the pile of trash around his bed.

However, the book confirms that the cupboard is dark. It’s not hard to imagine the light here, maybe just a dim light bulb, and very little light from outside. After all, who built the windows into cabinets under the stairs?

Sawdust will fall on Harry, thanks to Dudley!

Life with the Dursleys is never easy! Harry’s big, sadistic cousin would jump up the stairs above Harry’s cupboard, covering the cupboard with sawdust.

It seems odd to think that the “Survivor Boy” was tormented by his spoiled, slow cousin growing up. Hoping that something strange happened to their childhood; maybe, Dudley suddenly starts tapping in the air every time it tries to jump, or finds itself standing at the bottom of the stairs every time it tries to run up and down the stairs. Maybe Rowling hasn’t revealed this yet.

wired and other things in harry’s closet

For all intents and purposes, cabinets under stairs are a health and safety hazard. Of course, it’s not designed for humans, especially children, to live in it.

exist magic stone, Harry wakes up in his small closet with a pile of wires, wires, boxes, and circuit boards on the side wall. As obnoxious as it is, are the Dursleys really planning on blowing up their young grandson, and possibly the whole house, knowing full well that the boy may have uncontrollable magical powers?

Little Harry has some friends in the closet

No, we don’t mean spiders, although we’ll talk more about that later. Sadly, none of Harry’s friends died. They were toy soldiers and toy horses, and he was alone in his unhealthy, unsafe, and pathetic little closet.

It is unlikely that the Dursleys gave Harry soldiers at any point. But most likely, Harry stole some of Dudley’s old things and put them in a cupboard to keep himself busy. In the last book, when Harry visits the closet for the last time, he is a little nostalgic about this army of toys.

This is a small closet

Since Harry himself lived in it as a very young child, he is not fully aware of the lack of space in the closet in a bad way, and neither does the reader until the last book. When the wizard boy was first introduced, he seemed to fit in a small closet. But in reality, it is very small.

exist Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsHarry takes Hedwig on a tour of the house, taking a trip back in time, or at least some fond memories of the house, before saying goodbye to 4 Privet Drive in Little Winging, Surrey.

He was just about to stand up when his head hit the cabinet door. Needless to say, when he grew up, the Dursleys had to give him a bedroom anyway. Don’t forget that they moved him out mainly because they were afraid of the letters Hogwarts sent to Mr. H. Potter in the cupboard under the stairs.

A closet full of shoes and umbrellas

cabinet, long forgotten by the time the last book was published, Harry in Deathly Hallows when he said goodbye to the house. In the first book, Harry moves into the smallest bedroom in the house, but the closet is where he spends 10 years of his life.

When Harry visited him again, the closet was filled with shoes and umbrellas. Apparently, when Harry moved out, it reverted to a regular closet, not a boy’s closet.

Meet Spider-Man Alastair

Art by Jim Kay.

Ok, this is where things get a bit dark. Screenwriter Steve Kloves, who has adapted most of the Potter novels into movies, gave young Harry a friend named Alastair. Alastair is a spider, not in the original book.

Alastair and Harry hang out in the closet under the stairs, and Harry will talk to him. Kloves’ idea was to make Harry look a little crazy on a friendless basis to add an extra layer of fantasy to the rest of the story. Alastair was cut from the final script, but it’s certainly one of the lesser-known details about the cabinet.

the closet can drive Harry crazy

This is pure speculation, but a rather nasty fan theory based on previous ideas to suggest that Harry may indeed have lost his mind in the cupboard. If he wasn’t completely driven to that extent, he was at least terribly sad and lonely, since he could have concocted the whole next story in his head.

Of course, this is just a theory, and while the idea may be overwhelming for any Potter fan, Rowling herself never seems to have completely disproved it, though she hasn’t. never endorse it. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, let’s hope that the boy with the glasses actually leaves the cupboard and rushes straight into a magical universe.

cabinets symbolize abuse

This is again rather dark, but seems to have something to do with emphasizing that the cupboard under the stairs represents a form of child abuse. Harry Potter, before knowing the truth of his existence, was the victim of trauma and abuse at the hands of his aunt and uncle.

While the cupboard may have become as iconic as many other concepts in the Potterverse, the truth is that it represents a very dark childhood for wizard boys. Harry was abused. If he hadn’t discovered his true identity, he would have been locked in a closet for a long time.