
And that's something that both muggles and wizards can enjoy. While you'd need Hermione's time-turner to go back and include these scenes in the film, fans looking for answers about Lord Voldemort's backstory can always return to the books. Yes, the plot is trimmed, but does it matter if the threat hanging over Harry and his friends doesn't seem so.threatening? If the book's meaty flashbacks had been incorporated, the film would have provided the deeper context to understanding Voldemort and the rationale behind his actions. Instead of granting viewers insight into his past - the how and why of his transition to one of the most powerful wizards of all time - the film settles for a pair of minute flashbacks that cause the film to lose its narrative juiciness. The film adaptation of Half-Blood Prince had the opportunity to really dive deep into his three-dimensionality to make him more than a generically evil Big Bad, but chooses not to utilize it. Especially because he's more human than we first realized. Harry is lent a potions book by Professor Slughorn, which Harry finds a number of notes from its previous owner, which allow Harry to excel in a subject he has.

Understanding what makes him tick, however, makes him downright chilling.

As the story crawled closer to climax, Harry discovered Professor Severus Snape had given himself the nickname 'Half-Blood Prince' when he was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Harry's mother and father, Lily and James. Riddle-turned-Voldemort is a terrifying villain. The book once belonged to a student who only referred to himself as the Half-Blood Prince.
