This Dark Harry Potter Theory Might Explain Why Neville Is So Forgetful

The "Harry Potter" franchise is full of sad, dark stories, but Neville Longbottom's deeply upsetting childhood might be the saddest and darkest of them all. Played in the films by Matthew Lewis, Neville is a sweet yet apparently ineffective young wizard who has trouble correctly casting spells and making potions throughout his classes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but he's got a troubled past. As Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) learns in the fifth book and movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Neville's parents Frank and Alice were tortured into insanity by followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), and he was subsequently raised by his stern, rigid grandmother.

Neville's memory issues are constantly mentioned throughout the narrative, and some fans think this might mean something. Redditor u/SamyD23 put forth a theory on this thread that either Neville was tortured alongside his parents (to manipulate and torment them), or that he was present for the torture of his parents ... at which point a Memory Charm was used on Neville when he was just a baby. This would explain, as the Redditor puts it, "his memory issues, especially focused on early in the books from what I remember." This is a particularly dark thought, but based on the stuff that happens sometimes in "Harry Potter," it's definitely not impossible.

Redditors on the thread had some quibbles with the theory, but some clearly felt it had a little validity. As u/mallob- wrote, "I would guess that losing his parents made Neville a lot more anxious as a child which turned him into who he was in the books/movies. Obviously, we see some of the courage his parents had show through more and more as time goes on. I think it's possible that he didn't have a memory charm because I believe if he wouldn't have remembered seeing his parents like that or being parent-less, he would have been a much more confident person. The forgetting things might also be a trauma response."

The childhood anxiety they're referring to is a feature — not a bug — when it comes to Neville's portrayal. Bullied by classmates and even a few teachers (Alan Rickman's Severus Snape in particular), Neville comes across as pretty incapable a lot of the time. Whether he's messing up in Potions class or stranded outside of the Gryffindor common room because he forgot the password again, Neville definitely doesn't seem like he'll end up growing into his power. You'd be surprised, though — by the time the franchise ends, Neville is one of its toughest fighters.

In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Harry and his friends form a forbidden club called Dumbledore's Army to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts in a Ministry-run school, and when news breaks that several of Voldemort's Death Eaters have escaped the wizarding prison Azkaban, Neville seems more driven than ever to learn expert spellcasting. A real turn for Neville comes, though, in the most unexpected of moments. During the climactic battle at the Ministry of Magic itself, Neville notes (in the books, not the movie) that the wand he breaks in combat belonged to his late father Frank. Wands, though, "choose the wizard" — so Neville's subpar spellcasting could have simply been due to the fact that he had the wrong wand all along.

In any case, Neville really comes into his own as the series continues, and when Harry leaves Hogwarts in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" to find and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes, Neville keeps Dumbledore's Army alive in a school now run outright by Death Eaters. When Harry returns to track down a Horcrux within Hogwarts itself, he finds a hardened yet determined Neville covered in battle scars ... and in the end, Harry trusts Neville enough to instruct his friend to attack Voldemort's snake Nagini (a Horcrux herself). Neville does just that and chops off Nagini's head with the legendary sword of Gryffindor. It is, to put it lightly, extremely awesome.