Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is about three friends on the run in 1997, after Voldemort's Death Eaters have gained enough power that the Order of the Phoenix must move Harry out of his childhood home in secret. Severus Snape tells Voldemort at Malfoy Manor when the move will happen, and the ambush that follows costs Harry his owl Hedwig and the Order member Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody before Harry reaches the Weasley home.

Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister for Magic, then delivers the bequests that Albus Dumbledore left to Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, although the Sword of Gryffindor is missing from them. The wedding of Bill and Fleur is broken up when the Ministry falls, and the trio has no choice but to run. From there the film leaves the school year structure of the earlier six films behind, and the three friends spend the rest of it away from Hogwarts.

The full plot of Deathly Hallows Part 1 runs from the Death Eater ambush on Harry's escape to Voldemort opening Dumbledore's tomb. Scrimgeour gives Harry, Ron and Hermione the items Dumbledore left them, including a Deluminator, a book of fairy tales and a Golden Snitch. At the wedding of Bill and Fleur, the guests learn that the Ministry has fallen and Scrimgeour is dead, and Death Eaters attack the celebration.

Harry, Ron and Hermione flee to Grimmauld Place, where they work out that a locket stolen by Regulus Black is a Horcrux. They sneak into the Ministry, take the locket back from Dolores Umbridge and escape, then go on the run in the countryside. The locket's influence makes Ron jealous, and after a quarrel with Harry he leaves. Harry and Hermione continue alone to Godric's Hollow, where Bathilda Bagshot turns out to be Nagini, and Hermione's escape costs Harry's wand its life.

A doe Patronus then leads Harry to the Sword of Gryffindor in a frozen pond. Ron returns, saves Harry from the water and destroys the locket with the sword. Xenophilius Lovegood tells the trio about the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone, the Cloak of Invisibility and the Elder Wand, but he secretly calls the Death Eaters to trade Harry for his daughter Luna.

Snatchers capture the trio and take them to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. Dobby appears and frees the prisoners, and Bellatrix fatally wounds him as they escape. Dobby dies at Shell Cottage and Harry buries him. The film closes on Voldemort taking the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb.

Deathly Hallows Part 1 reached US and UK theaters on November 19, 2010, with Australia one day earlier on November 18, according to The Numbers. It is rated PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia, the same ratings as Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.

The rollout had two notable disruptions. Warner Bros. announced on 8 October 2010 that it had dropped the planned 3D release, so the film played in 2D and IMAX, and about 36 minutes of the film leaked online roughly 48 hours before its North American release.

Across all of its releases it grossed more than $960 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, on a production budget of $125 million. That puts it ahead of both Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince in worldwide gross, and behind Part 2, which was the highest grossing film of the eight. The full numbers for every film are on the Harry Potter box office page.

The ending of Deathly Hallows Part 1 comes down to two beats: Dobby dies in Harry's arms at Shell Cottage, and Voldemort breaks into Dumbledore's tomb and takes the Elder Wand. Together they show what the friends have lost and what the villain is about to gain.

Dobby's death matters because the character has a long arc. Toby Jones's house-elf first appears in Chamber of Secrets (2002) warning Harry not to return to Hogwarts, so his return to rescue the prisoners at Malfoy Manor closes a loop that began eight years earlier in release terms. The rescue itself is tightly built: Bellatrix is torturing Hermione, Dobby appears, the prisoners are freed, and Bellatrix fatally wounds him as they escape. In my opinion, the choice to have Harry dig the grave by hand at Freshwater West is the film's quietest and most effective moment, because it shows grief without a set piece. Earlier films in the saga, such as Order of the Phoenix, tend to answer loss with a large magical duel, and this one deliberately does not.

The Elder Wand ending is about stakes. Over the preceding hour the trio destroy the locket Horcrux, with Ron using the Sword of Gryffindor after pulling Harry from the frozen pond, and they hear Xenophilius Lovegood describe the three Deathly Hallows (the Resurrection Stone, the Cloak of Invisibility and the Elder Wand). Voldemort, by taking the wand, moves a step ahead of them. It could be argued that the film ends on its villain rather than its hero for this reason, and that Part 1 is built as a first half rather than a standalone story.

That structure has a production explanation. Executive producer Lionel Wigram suggested splitting the final book into two films, and Parts 1 and 2 were shot back to back from 19 February 2009 to 12 June 2010, with one reported $250 million budget covering both. Because the two films were planned together, Part 1 can end on an unresolved note, with the Horcrux hunt and the fight over the wand left to the 130 minute final film. Compare that with Half-Blood Prince, which sits at 153 minutes and was shaped as a full instalment inside the school year structure. Part 1, at 146 minutes, borrows its tension from the road instead, and its ending is a setup in a way no earlier Harry Potter ending was.

Deathly Hallows Part 1 was filmed in part at the Dartford Crossing in England, which stood in for the Death Eater chase and ambush, and at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where Dobby's grave scene was shot.

The long wilderness stretch of the story is a deliberate break from the school settings of earlier entries such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, and shooting on a real road crossing and a real Welsh beach suits a film about characters with nowhere to settle.

• Executive producer Lionel Wigram suggested splitting the final book into two films.
• Principal photography on Parts 1 and 2 ran back to back from 19 February 2009 to 12 June 2010.
• Warner Bros. announced on 8 October 2010 that it had dropped the planned 3D release, so the film played in 2D and IMAX.
• Alexandre Desplat replaced Nicholas Hooper as composer for the series.
• The reported $250 million budget covered both Part 1 and Part 2, filmed together, which is why this film's own budget is listed at $125 million.
• About 36 minutes of the film leaked online roughly 48 hours before its North American release.
• It sits seventh in release order and tenth in chronological order, because the three Fantastic Beasts films are set earlier. The Harry Potter movies in order page has both lists.