It is clear to see why Hogwarts Legacy stood out so well among fans, with its portrayal of the famous Harry Potter location being extremely thorough and detailed. The title had a difficult job at adhering to and building upon the IP's extensive lore, yet it managed to stay more than faithful to the wider franchise.
While a lot of Hogwarts Legacy's lore comes from more implicit aspects of the game, its quests are a fantastic way to have segments dedicated to worldbuilding and links to the mainline books and movies of the franchise. With this in mind, one quest in Hogwarts Legacy offers a fantastic mix of lore exploration as well as an overt nod to the game's iconic source material.
Hogwarts Legacy: The Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial Quest
The Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial quest is one of the most unique and memorable quests in Hogwarts Legacy, taking the player on a reality-being journey in locations built specifically for the quest. Players will start the quest by entering the Headmaster's Office in Hogwarts, before being instructed by a portrait of Niamh Fitzgerald to read a book towards the back of the room.
Niamh Fitzgerald plays an important role in Hogwarts Legacy, having been a Headmistress at Hogwarts in the 1800s. Fitzgerald was also a member of Hogwarts Legacy's Keepers, a secretive organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of ancient magic. The quest in question sees Fitzgerald put the player character through an imposing trial in order to learn the location of the Keepers' Caverns.
Upon reading the book, the player is sucked into a dangerous fictional reality, having to fight a representation of Death in order to pass the trial. A lot of the key moments of the quest mirror the famous Tale of the Three Brothers from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being one of the largest direct links between the game and the original media of the franchise.
Hogwarts Legacy and the Deathly Hallows
Fans of the Harry Potter franchise will be familiar with the Tale of the Three Brothers, with it being a massively important piece of lore. The tale outlines the creation of three of the most powerful magical items in existence - the invisibility cloak, the resurrection stone, and the elder wand.
In the story, these items are crafted by Death, whom the player fights in the quest. Throughout the quest, the player will acquire and utilize the three magical artifacts, which together form the Deathly Hallows. The sequence is even stylized in the same way the tale is within the films, giving a solid and clear link between the two entities. With how important the Deathly Hallows are to the finale of the mainline Harry Potter story, the Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial quest may just be the most important piece of explored lore in Hogwarts Legacy.
As well as linking the game and the wider franchise, Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial builds upon the legacy of the Tale of the Three Brothers and the Deathly Hallows. With Hogwarts Legacy being set in the 1800s, the already legendary status of the Deathly Hallows speaks volumes to how rare and respected the items and their origins are within the books and films. Hogwarts Legacy of course does well to build its own lore and overall feeling, yet the Niamh Fitzgerald's Trial quest provides a necessary and effective boost to one of the most important events of the entire IP.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version releasing November 14.
