Diehard fans of the Harry Potter franchise have been counting down the days until Hogwarts Legacy's 2022 release, with excitement and anticipation. As new details begin to emerge about what the game will be like, Avalanche Software's vision of the Wizarding World is truly starting to take shape in the minds of fans. One element of the game's promotional materials, however, was troubling to those familiar with the history of Hogwarts castle: the Whomping Willow tree was included in a promotional image for the game which is set in the 1800s despite the tree not being planted until 1971.

Luckily, Avalanche Software clarified that the tree's use in the promotional image was "a rookie mistake" and that the Hogwarts Legacy team knows "better than to use that." This statement has gotten fans wondering about what other differences the castle of Hogwarts Legacy might have from the Hogwarts of the Harry Potter books and films. There are a handful of major differences that may come to mind initially, exemplified with the Whomping Willow, but there are also some areas that may get expanded upon that aren't prominently featured in the books or films.

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Notable Omissions in Hogwarts Legacy

In the Harry Potter films, the layout, structure, and architecture of Hogwarts change quite a bit. However, the changes from film to film aren't necessarily intended to be canonical construction done on the castle. Two notable major changes were made to Hogwarts and its surrounding area as detailed in the films and books: the planting of the Whomping Willow tree and the creation of the Shrieking Shack. Both were made in 1971 to give Remus Lupin a place to safely stay when he would turn into a werewolf every month.

As Hogwarts Legacy is set far before the 1970s, both iconic Potter structures and the tunnel connecting the two will be absent from its world. The Whomping Willow and Shrieking Shack's omission was confirmed by Hogwarts Legacy writer DC Allen on Twitter earlier this week.

Areas Hogwarts Legacy Will Expand On

Because the main cast of the Harry Potter series consists of the titular boy-who-lived and his immediate group of friends, there's a limited perspective of Hogwarts castle and the Wizarding World as a whole, as the majority of major characters are sorted into the Gryffindor house. Because of this, there's an unequal amount of time spent exploring the experiences of characters sorted into other houses.

For example, only two house common rooms are shown onscreen in the films (Gryffindor and Slytherin) and while a third is visited in the books (Ravenclaw), the moments in both Slytherin and Ravenclaw common rooms are fleeting. This means that it's up to Hogwarts Legacy to fully expand on what each common room will be like as the players sorted into the different houses will presumably be spending a good deal of time there.

In addition to the differences that are likely to show up in the common rooms, Hogwarts Legacy will probably also change parts of the Hogwarts layout in service of fitting the game's timeframe. There are plenty of Harry Potter games that have nailed down different layouts of Hogwarts, but as most have been set during the events of the main series, they've all been pretty similar in layout. Hogwarts Legacy might make some major changes in terms of what types of buildings exist on the grounds and what types of rooms exist in the castle itself.

While there isn't a lot of modern technology used in the castle, it's likely that some updates to it have happened between the 1800s and when the main Harry Potter series is set in the 1990s. For example, the boathouse on the edge of the Black Lake may be altered or omitted entirely, as well as Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Obviously, Hagrid didn't become the gamekeeper until 1967, so his hut will also either be cut entirely or given a substantial makeover.

Hogwarts Legacy aims to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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