There’s no denying that fans of Harry Potter are some of the biggest nerds (don’t worry, we say that lovingly) when it comes to trivia and lore for the series. However, tons of them were stumped today when a viral post on Reddit asked just who a certain character actually was in the series.
Let’s share some of the lines he said and see if you even recognize the character. “It’s like trying to catch smoke, like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands.” Still don’t know? how about, “Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it’s among the darkest omens in our world. It’s an omen…of death.”
Yeah, it’s okay if you didn’t know. The lines were uttered in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during Harry’s divination class. As for the character who said them? No one seems to actually know his name for sure.
In the film, he’s only credited as “Boy 1” and was played by actor Ekow Quartley. What makes things weirder, is that the books claim there were only five boys sorted into Gryffindor during Harry’s year including Harry himself, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas. However, “Boy 1” still wears a Gryffindor uniform during the class and would have had to be in the house to attend.
Some fan theorists jokingly suggested he’s just Dumbledore with a polyjuice potion, but we know that can’t be the real answer.
While tons of people took guesses — there are over five-hundred-sixty comments in the original thread — there’s is only one true answer. His name? Bem.
The only reason we know the non-canonical character is named Bem is due to the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD. On it, the closed captions identify the character as Bem by name. The user was also correct that he was eventually changed to be in Ravenclaw and was a member of Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He’s played by the same actor and is credited as “Ravenclaw Boy.”
Another user pointed out how you can also actually see Bem in the first two movies as well.
Did you have any idea who Bem was? Come on, be honest, we won’t say you aren’t a true Harry Potter fan! Tell us in the comments.
