Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’re going to be discussing the Dursleys Harry Potter’s awful adoptive family.
More specifically, we’re going to be breaking down three thought-provoking Harry Potter fan theories that pertain to the members of this dysfunctional family.
1. Harry’s Hallows
What if I told you there was a connection between the Dursleys, a seemingly mundane family living in Little Whinging, Surrey, and the fabled magical tale of the Deathly Hallows, which centers around three artifacts crafted by Death himself and the three wizard brothers who received them as gifts?
Because as it turns out, if we really dissect Harry Potter lore and dive in deep, there is a connection here. The three Deathly Hallows from legend were the Resurrection Stone (a stone with the power to resurrect one’s loved ones, albeit not properly), the Invisibility Cloak (a cloak that can turn the wearer invisible), and the Elder Wand (the most powerful wand in all of existence).
But while these artifacts sound impressive on their own, you’d be hard-pressed to find a wizard more powerful than the one who possessed all three at once a true master of death. Glancing back at the Harry Potter story, it’s certainly not news that the Dursleys mistreated Harry.
However, as it turns out, one particularly cruel act is noteworthy, as it establishes a connection between the Hallows and Harry’s Christmas gifts. Over the course of the novels, Harry receives three Christmas presents from the Dursley family: a 50 pence piece, a toothpick, and a single tissue.
Harry also got a pair of socks, but it’s important to note that the socks were a birthday present. What this theory suggests is that the 50 pence piece is a representation of the Resurrection Stone, the toothpick is a representation of the Elder Wand, and the single tissue is a representation of the Invisibility Cloak.
What do you think? Was this Easter egg planned by Rowling? Or just a huge coincidence?
2. Harry’s Horcrux
Now it’s no secret that Harry and the Dursleys never exactly saw eye to eye, and 99% of the time, I think that you could argue that this toxic relationship is the fault of the Dursleys.
However, one consideration that I had was that perhaps the Dursleys were influenced by the long exposure to Harry’s Horcrux. I don’t think that the Horcrux possesses the ability to completely change them as people, but perhaps it exposes and exaggerates their inner, darker nature.
Despite openly treating Harry as if he was their lowly servant, punishing him in unthinkable ways, they seem to really love each other and acted quite civil with other members of society. This makes me wonder, why did Harry incite such rage in them?
We don’t know a lot about Harry’s relationship with the Dursleys before the Philosopher’s Stone takes place, and we don’t know how they treated him as a baby. Harry was left on their doorstep at such a young age, and I really can’t see how, instead of mistreating him, they wouldn’t have just tried to raise him as their own.
This was a baby who had no preconceptions about anything at all, and they would have been able to meld this baby into someone just like them if they gave it a chance. They could have at least tried, right?
Cue Horcruxes
As we know, Horcruxes can seriously affect people’s behavior, making them behave in a much more negative manner. This manner gets progressively worse the more that you are exposed to the Horcruxes.
We see this same sort of behavior in Ron when he wears Slytherin’s locket around his neck in the Deathly Hallows. Over time he becomes moodier and moodier, with each passing minute becoming less and less like himself, so perhaps the Dursleys were affected to a lesser extent, the same way that Ron was affected.
However, if Harry’s Horcrux makes people angrier, you might argue that it would have had more of an effect on his close friends in the series. My argument for this is that in the Dursley household, Harry would have had the closest proximity to other people for longer periods of time.
At Hogwarts, Harry would run around all over the place and had plenty of distance between him and others in his sleeping quarters. Additionally, perhaps the severity of the negative effect that Horcruxes give off is totally dependent on the person that’s exposed to it.
Maybe some aren’t affected at all, while others are crippled by it. The Dursleys are just muggles, so maybe it was just too much for them. Maybe the Horcrux in Harry wasn’t enough to affect magical folk.
3. Is Chudley Canon?
This theory, aka the Chudley theory, suggests that Harry’s awful cousin Dudley Dursley ended up marrying Ravenclaw graduate Cho Chang. Let’s break it down. This theory came about for a couple of reasons, but the main driver behind it is that Cho Chang ended up marrying a muggle.
That’s canon Cho Chang married a muggle. Furthermore, we also know that Dudley Dursley ends up getting married himself, but the name of his wife is never revealed. This is basically the main basis for the theory an unnamed wife and an unnamed muggle but let’s bust it open some more.
We know Dudley Dursley is a muggle, and while it’s unusual for witches and wizards to marry muggles, it definitely still happens. However, the main issue with witches and wizards marrying muggles is that it will often cause problems later on.
We saw this with Snape’s parents (Eileen Prince and Muggle Tobias Snape), as well as with McGonagall’s parents (Isabel Ross and Muggle Robert McGonagall). It happens, but usually not without conflict.
Often, when a witch or wizard is courting a potential muggle spouse, they fail to mention their magical abilities, which causes tension down the line when their kids start performing magic themselves. The guilt eventually becomes unbearable, and they end up confessing their magical status to their other half.
However, the years of lies are not often entirely understood. So, in this respect, the relationship between Cho and Dudley does sort of make sense. If Cho were to have married a regular muggle, then she would have no doubt encountered the aforementioned difficulties associated with muggle courtship.
However, if she were to end up with Dudley, who was a muggle, there is the obvious advantage that she would never have to hide anything from him. Dudley was privy to the magical world, and there wouldn’t have been much that Cho could have said to put him off or surprise him.
Okay, now I know what you’re thinking. Cho and Dudley? Dudley was about as awful as a young boy could be. He tormented Harry, he was ruthless to other children, and he was about as spoiled and pompous as you can get.
However, there was a point in Dudley’s life at which he hit a bit of a crossroads the Dementor attack. Though the Dementors weren’t able to successfully suck out Dudley’s soul, the attack still had a profound impact on him, as it forced him to observe the type of person that he was.
Dudley really did change and even later felt remorse for how he treated Harry. Cho Chang was a bright witch and even had a brief fling with Harry Potter himself. However, their relationship eventually fell apart due to her best friend betraying Dumbledore’s Army.
Before Harry, Cho was in love with Cedric Diggory, and after his demise, she certainly had a tough time in school. She really was a lovely young woman, and I can completely see why she ended up marrying a muggle, just wanting to escape all of the madness of the wizarding world.
So, who better than the new and improved Dudley Dursley? Who better to marry than a witch when you’re trying to leave your life of prejudice behind? And who better to marry than a magically informed muggle when you’re trying to ditch a fully-fledged magical existence?
I think that the theory is highly unlikely but possible. It’s certainly something to think about, and Chudley really rolls off the tongue. What do you guys think? Was Chudley canon?
And that’s it for this blog post! Did you guys know about these theories already? Are any of them plausible? Or are these just perfect examples of reaching too far?
