Among the most curious novelties of Harry Potter, the eagerly anticipated HBO series, there is a detail that might seem minor but speaks volumes about the approach chosen to bring J.K. Rowling’s world to the screen in her beloved novels: the crests of the four Hogwarts Houses have been completely redesigned. The new versions were officially unveiled during the annual Back to Hogwarts event celebrations and represent a clear shift in direction from the graphic identity established by the film adaptations. The colors and symbolic animals remain the familiar ones – the lion for Gryffindor, the serpent for Slytherin, the badger for Hufflepuff (or Badger, as in the new translation), and the eagle for Ravenclaw – but their presentation is quite different.
Harry Potter: Here’s how Hogwarts’ crests will look in the TV series
The most evident difference concerns the structure. The crests of the films were built as true heraldic emblems: shields, elaborate decorations, ornamental elements and an aesthetic strongly inspired by European medieval tradition. The new crests for HBO’s series, instead, are decidedly simpler and more modern. Each animal is placed inside a circular medallion, surrounded by botanical motifs and accompanied by the House name on a ribbon (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff in the original version). The result resembles more a school insignia, a decorative seal, or an institutional sign than a traditional noble emblem. Gryffindor features the golden lion on a red background; Slytherin a long serpent on a sober green background; Hufflepuff a golden badger on a yellow background; while Ravenclaw finally shows an eagle, an element likely to spark discussion especially among film fans.
It is Ravenclaw that offers the most interesting connection to the novels. In the books, indeed, the animal associated with Ravenclaw is an eagle, whereas in the films the image used has been mainly that of a raven. The original colors of the House are blue and bronze, while the cinematic version has established itself in popular imagination with a blue and silver combination. The new crest for HBO’s series seems to correct both of these deviations: the bird is unequivocally an eagle and the metallic hue leans toward bronze. The same official guide to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter confirms that Ravenclaw’s emblem is an eagle and that the House colors are blue and bronze.
Does this mean the new crests are more faithful to the novels? Yes, but with an important caveat. The books do not provide a detailed description of the four crests comparable to what we see now on screen. They do not establish, for example, that each animal must be enclosed in a circular medallion surrounded by leaves. The new graphics are therefore an artistic reinterpretation, not a simple literal transposition of an illustration found in the novels. Yet, HBO seems to have paid closer attention to textual details that the films had altered, especially in Ravenclaw’s case. The overall iconography of the Houses – animals and colors – also returns more closely to the features indicated in the books.
The choice is meaningful because it shows how the series is aiming to differentiate itself from the visual heritage of the eight films. Instead of merely reproducing the objects the audience already knows, HBO is building its own graphic identity for Hogwarts, while keeping the four Houses instantly recognizable. The crests are thus less “medieval” and more minimalist, yet also closer to some details of the literary source. It isn’t a perfect philological reconstruction – and it couldn’t be, since the novels leave a lot of room for visual interpretation – but it is a fairly clear signal: this new Hogwarts wants to be recognizable, without necessarily being the same Hogwarts we’ve seen in the cinema.
Harry Potter will debut with the first cycle of episodes based on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on December 25, in Italy streaming on HBO Max.
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