When viewing the latest opus of the Harry Potter saga , it is possible to note that the robe worn by Lord Voldemort during the final battle at Hogwarts changed color numerous times. What is this due to? All the spectators believed, logically but wrongly, that it was dust.
In fact, if dear Voldemort’s dress becomes more and more faded over the course of the film, it is to symbolize the evolution of the destruction of his horcruxes.
Indeed, the effect was confirmed by the Deathly Hallows costume team , on the Wizarding World Instagram page .
Voldemort’s latest wizarding robes were indeed created in seven shades of green for each of his seven horcruxes. Each time one of them was destroyed, by Harry and his friends, the robe would lose a shade of green, becoming more faded , to give the impression that it was fading and disappearing along with its horcruxes. Indeed, let’s not forget that these allowed him to hide the parts of his soul and ensure immortality.
In fact, we remember that at the end of the film, unlike the book, Voldemort’s body disintegrated and flew into hundreds of pieces of ashes. Considering the fact that he was deteriorating throughout the last two films, it made sense that the writers decided that there would be nothing left of his body at the end.
This detail was perfectly and intelligently illustrated by the costume team.
So, as we can see in the films, his wizard robes were completely black during his rebirth in Goblet of Fire , and then began to fade little by little. At the very beginning of Deathly Hallows , only Riddle’s journal and Gaunt’s ring had been destroyed, so his robe was still very black .
Then, it faded away little by little. This is how the wizarding robes looked after Helga Hufflepuff’s cup was destroyed by Hermione.
Despite the fact that the light is very dark, in this scene after the destruction of Ravenclaw’s diadem, obviously due to the fact that it took place at night, we can see that Voldemort’s robe is lighter.
Finally, we see that his robes appear even grayer as he enters the Hogwarts courtyard, after destroying the horcrux inside Harry.
As said before, the last two films are visually quite dark. The evolution can therefore be difficult to perceive due to the lack of light. In the end, it is at the Warner Bros studio in Leavesden that the degradation is really noticeable, thanks to the different robes of Lord Voldemort which are on display there.
Below is the first.
Then, the very last one.
This amusing detail shows us, once again, that in the magical world of Harry Potter , there are still many little hidden details to discover.