TV & Movies
This Saltburn & Harry Potter Connection Is Going Viral On TikTok
Did anyone else notice what book Felix Catton was reading?
The most shocking thing about Saltburn actually isn’t Barry Keoghan slurping Jacob Elordi’s bathwater (and, no, not the grave scene either).
Viewers may have noticed Elordi’s character Felix Catton reading a Harry Potter book while summering at his family’s Saltburn estate. But as pointed out by TikTok user @murped, who set out to investigate the meaning behind Felix and his sister’s matching tattoos, the film’s connections to the franchise go way beyond his choice of literature.
Written In The Stars
Felix and his sister Venetia have six-star tattoos on their hand. Some Harry Potter superfans get three-star tattoos, nodding to the three stars that are drawn next to the chapter titles in each book. However, the design is on both sides of the chapter head, meaning there are six stars.
The siblings’ tattoos mean they could have taken their Harry Potter fandom further than most.
The six stars could also be one star for each book, as only the first six books had been published by 2007, which is when the movie takes place.
This theory also adds up, because Felix is reading the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which had just come out that summer.
Felix Went To Hogwarts
The TikTok user also noted some similarities to the Harry Potter film series. Saltburn starts at Oxford University, which was used as the setting of Hogwarts for many scenes across the franchise, most notably in the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Perhaps Felix wanted to live out his Hogwarts fantasy in college?
Interestingly enough, that film contains eerie parallels to Saltburn. Goblet of Fire deals with class differences at Hogwarts, as shown when Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) had to wear dress robes that didn’t fit properly to the Yule Ball to follow the dress code. This is similar to Keoghan’s character Oliver, who receives tips from Felix about how to dress at Saltburn properly.
The film also includes an odd bathtub scene, albeit not nearly as NSFW as Saltburn, in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) conjures up a ghost while taking a magical bath. One character (Robert Pattinson’s Cedric Diggory) also dies in a maze during Goblet of Fire, mirroring Felix’s death in Saltburn.
Elordi himself doesn’t seem to be quite as familiar with Harry Potter as his character, as seen when asked by Access Hollywood about his Hogwarts house. “Which one is Robert Pattinson in? He's in one of them,” Elordi replied. “I think he's in the yellow one, I don't what it is, but maybe that one, just cause he's cool.” Indeed, Cedric was in Hufflepuff, whose color is yellow.
Director Emerald Fennell has not spoken about the Harry Potter references in Saltburn and whether they were intentional, but it’s safe to say that Felix was a Potterhead. He probably would’ve been assigned to Slytherin.
