Highlights

  • The similarities between Hogwarts Legacy's protagonist and Harry Potter lie in their fated roles and unique abilities.
  • A potential Hogwarts Legacy 2 could explore its protagonist being a Parselmouth with gameplay avenues tied to this trait.

Hogwarts Legacy had a tremendously difficult line to toe: it chose to feature a protagonist who would be intimately paramount in its overarching plot and therefore it needed to balance them as both an omnipotent Ancient Magic-wielder and a mild-mannered student enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Being at the iconic school was more of an undercover role for the protagonist of Hogwarts Legacy, but it was still integral to creating a personalized action-RPG where players were immersed in either the Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff house.

Still, comparisons can be drawn between Hogwarts Legacy’s protagonist and Harry Potter because of their role in their respective stories and how they are fated to deal with the narrative’s ongoing events and antagonists. The protagonist is surely not a random student plucked from a crowd, and neither is Harry with his stunted upbringing and unusual abilities. One of these abilities allows Harry to communicate with snakes—a trait that could easily be overlooked as a magical power any witch or wizard might possess before learning why he has this power in particular, and a Hogwarts Legacy 2 could exploit a similar revelation.

a (3)
Related
Hogwarts Legacy’s Summer Update is Salt on the Wound for Hufflepuff’s Exclusive Quest

Hogwarts Legacy's Summer Update includes a new outfit for players' witches and wizards and to some it may be a sad reminder of an abrupt quest.

Hogwarts Legacy 2 Could Make Its Protagonist a Serpent-Commanding Parselmouth

It’d be difficult to introduce a basilisk beyond the premise of one being born in the castle and housed in the Chamber of Secrets for nefarious purposes. Obviously, though, one of the most thrilling ways a Hogwarts Legacy 2 could reveal its protagonist is a Parselmouth is by gradually having them realize that voices they think are in their head the whole time are actually coming from the school’s pipes as they hear a basilisk speaking.

Harry already knew he could talk to snakes even if he didn’t know how rare of a trait that was or that he was speaking a separate language when he was doing so, and it’s that realization that allows him to understand a basilisk is in the walls in The Chamber of Secrets .

This would harp on Harry Potter’s own twists and reveals and maybe to a fault since Hogwarts Legacy would be rehashing what made The Chamber of Secrets intriguing rather than come up with an authentic way for itself to represent something similar. The most bombastic and epic way being a Parselmouth could come into play in a Hogwarts Legacy sequel and be unique is if players themselves can command snakes, much less a hulking basilisk with the power to kill anyone who makes eye contact with it or petrify anyone who makes eye contact with it through a reflection.

Hogwarts Legacy Wouldn’t Need to Explain Why Its Protagonist is a Parselmouth

Like Hogwarts Legacy’s Ancient Magic and how the protagonist’s lineage didn’t seem to have any importance or relevance to it, neither would the protagonist’s lineage in Hogwarts Legacy 2 need to, even if being a Parselmouth is usually hereditary. Harry being a Parselmouth was a huge reveal since it linked him more intimately to Tom Riddle, but Hogwarts Legacy 2’s protagonist wouldn’t need such a drastic familial reveal.

Instead, knowing Parseltongue and being able to communicate with serpents could simply open interesting gameplay avenues. Otherwise, because a vast majority of Parselmouths are apparently mostly descendants of Hogwarts’ Salazar Slytherin, it would be doubly meaningful if players only possessed this trait if they chose Slytherin as their house.

Of course, the biggest downside to such a profound gameplay feature being exclusive to a house would be that all houses would need their own exclusive gameplay quirk. If a sequel could achieve that with a distinct feature for each, though, it would be an unmistakable improvement over the ephemeral and poorly balanced side quests exclusive to Hogwarts houses in Hogwarts Legacy.