Considering the fact that Dudley Dursley only appears in five out of the eight Harry Potter films, there is a lot that audiences don’t know about this demented cousin. At least, those who haven’t read the books. Despite this, Dudley has always kind of acted as a background character that is never fully fleshed out or seen from his point of view. We only get minor glimpses into Dudley’s psyche, making much of his persona up for debate.
What we do know isn’t presented in the films to its full extent. And, yes, certain scenes have to be cut for time’s sake, but it would have been nice to get a more well-rounded look at Dudley Dursley. So, for those who want to know a bit more about Harry Potter’s rather large cousin, here are ten things about Dudley that the film’s leave out.
He Beat Up Harry
The very first scene we see Dudley in is when he obnoxiously runs down the stairs and pushes his small cousin back into his little cupboard. From this scene alone, audiences can surmise that Dudley is a bully in every sense of the word. However, throughout the remainder of his appearances, the films don’t really depict just how rough Dudley is with Harry.
Before Harry’s Hogwarts acceptance letter came, he attends St. Gregory’s Primary School with his cousin. It’s during these days that Dudley and his gang use Harry as a human punching bag.
His Temper Tantrums
Again, Dudley’s exceptional whining display is given to audiences full force in his first few minutes on screen. However, Dudley’s temper tantrums far exceed what people may have dreamt; he’s not your average spoiled child. He’s worse.
In the opening scene, Dudley excitedly tells his cousin they are going to the zoo. In the book, however, Dudley is mortified that Harry will be joining the family alongside Dudley’s school friend. He throws an immense, fake temper tantrum and only stops because his friend arrives. Another off-the-handle tantrum happens when Harry is given Dudley’s second bedroom. This makes him so mad that he hits his own father with his school stick, kicks his mother, and even throws up. On purpose.
He Has His Tail Removed
Hagrid left the Dursley’s in quite a predicament after his magics a tail onto Dudley’s behind. Although it’s not shown in the films, the Dursleys actually take Dudley into London to have the tail removed. In fact, they make this trip on the day that Harry leaves for Hogwarts. They even uncharacteristically take Harry to King’s Cross to drop him off because it’s on their way to the hospital.
It’s here that the Dursley’s point out that there is no Platform 9 3/4. The Dursley’s drive off to take care of Dudley’s tail, laughing as they leave Harry to fend for himself into the metropolis city.
He Goes On A Diet
Dudley is a big boy throughout the tale of the wizarding world. Year by year, it seems, his body starts to swell like a balloon as he excessively gains weight. He gets to the size of a baby killer whale, which can exceed over 300 pounds, and his school nurse makes him go on a diet. Aunt Petunia enforces this regime to the entire household the summer before Harry’s fourth year. Harry rebels against this diet, as he is fortunate enough to have a variety of sweets sent to him by his friends.
The actor who plays Dudley, Harry Melling, actually had the opposite problem. He lost so much weight in between films that he was almost unrecognizable. They almost recast Dudley for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, but Melling had been able to reprise his role by wearing a fat suit.
His School
While Harry is running off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dudley is proudly attending Smeltings Academy. This is a uniformed private boarding school and Vernon Dursley’s alma mater. This school also had Dudley attending year-round, meaning that both boys did not live at Number Four Privet Drive for most of the year.
Dudley wears a maroon and orange-colored uniform to Smeltings (oddly close to Gryffindor’s colors, right?). They also give him a cane, which the students use liberally on each other.
Dudley Takes Up Boxing
After Dudley fails at dieting thanks in large part to Fred and George leaving him candy, he spends his next year at Smeltings by taking up boxing. This hinders his weight problem slightly, but it also gives him further range for beating up other students. Dudley accrues a full-fledged gang where they do more than just terrorize younger students. Dudley and his friends routinely vandalize property and cause chaos throughout Little Wigington during the summer.
And Dudley becomes a pretty successful boxer, as a matter of fact. He becomes the boxing champion at his school; an immense point of pride for Vernon and Petunia, naturally.
The Effect Of The Dementors
The scene in which Harry saves his cousin from the dementors is, thankfully, well displayed in the films. Dementors strike down in Harry’s neck of the woods, and Dudley is caught in the crosshairs. He later points to Harry as if pinning the blame of the effects of the dementors on his own cousin; he couldn’t see them, after all. Dudley is then taken to the hospital in his exhausted and traumatized state.
The next audiences see him is when he is bidding his cousin a heartfelt farewell. So, what exactly changed to make Dudley more fond of his cousin? J.K. Rowling insinuates that the attacks cause Dudley to see himself as he truly is. She says “this was an extremely painful, but ultimately salutary lesson, and began the transformation in him.”
Going Into Hiding
In the films, there is only a brief moment where audiences get to see Dudley’s change of heart towards Harry. He extends his hand and ensures his cousin that he doesn’t think that he is a waste of space. However, Harry’s final summer at the Dursley’s offers more than one reconcile moments. Dudley leaves cups of tea outside of his cousin’s door numerous times as a sort of peace offering, though Harry thinks Dudley is playing a prank on him.
When the Order arrives to take the Dursley’s into hiding, Vernon and Petunia initially refuse because of their disdain for the wizarding world. However, Dudley tells his parents that he is going with the “Order people,” forcing the other two to follow suit. Dudley is then the only member to say goodbye to Harry. He even thanks him from saving him from the dementors.
He Gets Married
In the nineteen years later epilogue, Rowling doesn’t really mention the fate of Harry’s once-horrendous cousin. Of course, those curiosities have since been resolved. Rowling mentions on her website that Harry and Dudley would send each other Christmas cards every year.
This must be how Harry knows that his cousin ends up marrying another muggle and possibly why Harry and Dudley would eventually get together to visit. Rowling mentions that “Harry would have taken his family to visit Dudley’s when they were in the neighborhood (occasions dreaded by James, Albus, and Lily).”
He Has Two Children
Along with a wife, Dudley also has two children. Many people voiced the fact that they would have liked to have seen Dudley end up at King’s Cross in the epilogue to send his own magical children off to Hogwarts.
And apparently, this is a scene that Rowling considered. She wrote on her website, “I must admit that it did occur to me to do that very thing, but a short period of reflection convinced me that any latent wizarding genes would never survive contact with Uncle Vernon’s DNA, so I didn’t do it.”
