The Tale of the Three Brothers, a critical part of Deathly Hallows which formally introduced the Hallows themselves, was almost told by a different character: Rolf Scamander.
Harry Potter alum Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) revealed the interesting tidbit while speaking at a fan expo in Australia over the weekend.
According to Evanna, J.K. Rowling was seriously considering having Newt Scamander’s grandson Rolf — who Luna eventually marries — narrate The Tale of the Three Brothers in Deathly Hallows.
Evanna would receive frequent updates on Rolf’s presence as work continued on the final book. “He’s in, he’s out, he’s in, sorry, he’s out,” said various messages from J.K. Rowling.
In the final version of the book it’s Xenophilius who tells the tale. In the movie the story is told by Hermione (in the presence of Mr. Lovegood).
The actress and author would keep in touch via pen and paper, according to Evanna (via Snitch Seeker), as work continued simultaneously on the Order of the Phoenix film and Deathly Hallows book in 2006. Since Luna marries Rolf, Jo deemed Evanna privy to plot information way before the public would be.
Unfortunately Evanna didn’t elaborate on why Jo was contemplating having Rolf tell The Tale of the Three Brothers. If we were to guess, it may’ve been to introduce Luna’s eventual husband. Perhaps she decided against it because it’d be hard for readers and Harry, Ron, and Hermione to put their faith in an entirely new character?
No matter what Jo was thinking, there’s also the question of how he’d end up meeting Harry, Ron and Hermione on the open road.
The tidbit is particularly interesting since the Scamander family is about to become very well known by Harry Potter fans. The upcoming Wizarding World spinoff series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will follow Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) as he arrives in New York to study beasts.
Rolf never appeared in the Harry Potter books — We only became aware of his marriage to Luna thanks to a couple of interviews post-Hallows.
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