Ever since triumphantly announcing that they plan to milk Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for not one but two movies, Warner Bros. has been tight-lipped on one thing: where they’re going to split the story up.  In other words, where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I will end, and where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II will start.

*Lots of Deathly Hallows spoilers.*

This is partly because for a while, they didn’t have any idea.  (Make no mistake: they came up with splitting up the movies, then went to writer Steve Kloves to ask him to make it work.  There were no creative reasons.  The whole “this way we can include as much from the books as possible” rationale is a ploy to get all us Potter fans to forget that Warner Bros. is doing this primarily as a way to make even more money.)

But now they do know.  Both parts of Deathly Hallows are currently filming, and this quote — from producer David Heyman in an interview with Empire magazine — is the most that’s been said on the matter:

“We’ve played around with a couple of places,” said Heyman, “and ultimately settled on a place that we think is very exciting, and I think quite bold, in that it’s not necessarily where one might expect. You want to give a sense of completion, on one hand, but a sense that there’s another piece, more to come. We tried one and then Steve (Kloves, screenwriter) came up with the idea to try it another way and when we tried that, it felt just right.”

To figure out where they might have split up the book, you’ve got to think like a screenwriter.  While novels can be more free-form, screenplays have a definite Act 1, 2, and 3, with action beats every ten minutes.  Here are, in my mind, the major action set pieces of Death Hallows:

• Harry escapes 4 Privet Drive with the help of the Order; Mad-Eye dies.
• Bill and Fleur’s wedding is crashed by Death Eaters; Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape to 12 Grimmauld Place.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrate the Ministry of Magic to steal the locket.
• Big fight in the woods; Ron leaves.
• Harry and Hermione are ambushed by Nagini at Godric’s Hollow and escape.
• Ron returns and uses Gryffindor’s sword to destroy the locket.
• Xenophilius Lovegood tells Harry, Ron, and Hermione about the Deathly Hallows, they escape after he admits Death Eaters are coming for them
• Harry accidentally says “Voldemort” and they’re captured and brought to Malfoy Manor
• Escape from Malfoy Manor: Pettigrew dies and Dobby apparates everybody to Shell Cottage, then dies from a knife wound
• Harry, deciding to go after the Horcruxes and not the Hallows, breaks into Gringott’s Vault with Ron, Hermione, and Griphook; they retrieve the Hufflepuff Cup but lose Gryffindor’s sword to Griphook.
• Aberforth Dumbledore smuggles Harry, Ron, and Hermione back to Hogwarts, where they’re reunited with the D.A.
• The Battle of Hogwarts begins.
• Harry, Ron, and Hermione head for the Room of Requirement to destroy Ravenclaw’s diadem; they battle Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.  Crabbe dies.
• Voldemort kills Snape; Snape gives Harry his memories.
• Voldemort “kills” Harry.
• Neville kills Nagini, setting off another round of battle; Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix.
• Harry and Voldemort face off; Voldemort dies.

I started writing this article with one idea about how the movies will be divided.  After writing that, I have another one.

FIRST IDEA:

The night of Harry and Hermione’s battle with Nagini serves as Part 1’s climax.  Shaken, they return to the woods.  Harry follows the Patronus and finds Gryffindor’s sword — and Ron, who destroys the locket.  The trio is reunited.

Afterwards, they visit Xenophilius, who tells them of the Deathly Hallows.  Now that we know why the movie is named what it is, it ends.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 opens with the trio still hiding in the woods; the plot kicks off when they’re captured by Death Eaters and taken to Malfoy Manor.

NEW IDEA:

The events at Malfoy Manor serve as Part 1’s climax.  Hermione’s getting tortured, all seems lost, Dobby shows up, miraculous escape, etc. etc.  Afterwards, at Shell Cottage, Harry buries Dobby and decides to ignore the Deathly Hallows and keep going after the Horcruxes.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 opens with the infiltration of Gringott’s.

NOTES:

The first idea could work, but I now like the second idea a lot better, and if I were a betting man, I’d place money that I’ve gotten it right.  Though in the novel, the escape from the manor happens nearly two thirds of the way through, the list above suggests that there’s plenty left to be told in Part 2.  It also makes sense in that the Manor scenes are by far the biggest thing to happen mid-book; they’re an obvious choice for a climax.

And ending the movie with a burial and then a big decision from Harry (Horcruxes vs. Hallows) allows the movie to finish strong, with an eye toward the follow-up movie.  It’s the perfect example of what Heyman said: “You want to give a sense of completion, on one hand, but a sense that there’s another piece, more to come.”

The main problem is a problem I’ve had with splitting up the book from the very beginning: Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be basically all climax.  Starting out the movie with the infiltration of Gringott’s will provide a fun action scene, but after that it’s basically the Battle of Hogwarts and lots of big deaths and huge revelations all the way.  Will they be able to sustain the momentum or will we get battle fatigue?

To be honest, I think it’ll work — this little exercise has actually made me feel better about splitting the book up.  That is, of course, if I’m right.  In reality, who knows? Maybe the first movie consists of everything up until the epilogue, and the second movie just drags the epilogue out for two hours.