This 'Cursed Child' Character Is Troubled

The release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has provided a major throwback to childhoods spent waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out. And just like we wondered what the Deathly Hallows were or who the Half-Blood Prince was, fans are now dying to know just who is the cursed child at the center of the new story. Is it Harry, the boy who lived? One of his kids with Ginny, or one of Hermione and Ron's children? Or is it a totally new character that fans who haven't yet read the new play haven't met yet?

Well, it's complicated. (Spoilers ahead!) As you likely already know, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child centers on a middle-aged Harry and his youngest son, Albus. It is currently on stage at the Palace Theater in London, but a book version of the play was released on Saturday night, and to make this an even more meaningful occasion, JK Rowling has revealed that Cursed Child will be the last in the Harry Potter franchise. But what's up with its title? In this play, the exact words "The Cursed Child" aren't spoken by any of the characters. It's less of a formal title in the way "Half-Blood Prince" was, and more of a description of an existing character. The question of which Cursed Child character is the cursed child remains slightly ambiguous, but many readers share one theory.

The cursed child is, most likely, Albus. Aside from Harry, Albus is the main character in the play, with his relationship with his dad at the center of the story. Why is Albus cursed, you ask? Well, Harry's son is, in many ways, cursed by the legacy of his father, constantly feeling the pressure to live up to his dad's fame. He is also "cursed" by being the only member of his family to be sorted into Slytherin, and by generally struggling at Hogwarts, where he was expected to excel because of his parentage.

While there has been some speculation that the cursed child is actually Delphi, Voldemort and Bellatrix's love child, Delphi doesn't make as much sense as a cursed figure, in my eyes. She is not burdened by the evil of her father, but instead embraces that evil. Albus, on the other hand, is teased as "Albus Potter, the Slytherin Squib" for not being like his father and has to reckon with his inclinations away from goodness throughout the play. It is Albus who spends the entirety of the story dealing with the curse of his parent, and thus it makes sense that the central theme would be reflected in the title.