Highlights

• Hogwarts Legacy is filled with numerous easter eggs, ranging from small callbacks to funny appearances, that only die-hard Harry Potter fans can find and understand.
• Many of the easter eggs in the game are details that won't be recognized until players reread the books or pay close attention to the movies.
• The game features easter eggs from the books and the movies, including references to specific scenes, characters, and magical objects.

For a game like Hogwarts Legacy, which was built upon the back of an entire book and movie series with all sorts of spinoffs, there is naturally a vast array of easter eggs waiting for players to discover. Considering how many pages the Harry Potter books span, there are plenty of details people may not remember without reading the whole series multiple times.

In Avalanche Software's game, these easter eggs range from small callbacks to the lore, to funny and somewhat out-of-place appearances. The best easter eggs in Hogwarts Legacy, however, are those that only die-hard Harry Potter fans are able to find and understand.

Updated November 18, 2023 by Joe Grantham: Due to how big Hogwarts Legacy is and how much love the developer poured into the game as huge Harry Potter fans themselves, there are countless easter eggs just waiting for players to stumble on.

In fact, there are many minute details in the game that won't even appear to be easter eggs until players reread the books or pay close attention to the movies. Furthermore, Hogwarts Legacy is now available on Nintendo Switch, meaning all these Easter eggs await Potter fans playing on the move or nestled under a pile of blankets.

1 The Painting That The Fat Lady Hid In

A Prisoner Of Azkaban Movie Easter Egg

• Found behind a map in the South Wing of Hogwarts using Depulso.

While Hogwarts Legacy was primarily based on the books, there are still many movie easter eggs dotted around, and one of the best is one that players will only see if they manage to find the secret room hidden behind a map in the South Wing of Hogwarts. To get in, they must first learn the Depulso spell and then use it above the map.

Inside, players will find many paintings, but one featuring a hippo and giraffes might stand out in particular. This is because it is the very same painting in which the Fat Lady hid after Sirius Black tried to enter the Gryffindor common room in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. This iconic painting isn't the only reference to the Fat Lady in this room, as a note to a certain Violet can be found inquiring about the procurement of more alcohol. Book readers might recall that Violet is the Fat Lady's friend and that they often get drunk together.

2 A Student Throwing Up Slugs Into A Cauldron

A Chamber Of Secrets Easter Egg

• A random interaction in the Hospital Wing.

Hogwarts Legacy has many funny random interactions that players might trigger upon entering certain areas of the castle or surrounding highlands. With how rare some of these events can be, most players won't have seen the instantly recognizable easter egg of a student throwing up slugs into a cauldron.

Obviously, this is a reference to the time when Ron Weasley's spell backfired in The Chamber of Secrets, causing him to throw up slugs instead of his intended target, Draco Malfoy. What exactly happened to this particular student is unknown, but the result was the same. This interaction happens in the Hospital Wing where players rarely go seeing as it is a dead end high up in the castle.

3 Curse-Breaking Runs In The Weasley Family

A Chamber Of Secrets Easter Egg

• Talk to Madam Kogawa to find out about Professor Weasley's past.

After completing the Assignments set by the professors in Hogwarts Legacy, players can often engage in conversations with their teachers to find out more about them and their past. By talking to Madam Kogawa and Professor Onai, however, players will also find out more about Professor Weasley's past, and as it transpires she used to be a curse-breaker for the Ministry.

This is a nod to Bill Weasley, Ron's eldest brother, who worked as a curse-breaker in Egypt for Gringotts Wizarding Bank. His ancestor Matilda Weasley seems to have traveled even further afield, by going deeper into the heart of Africa, as well as spending time in Japan while working.

4 Gladrags Wizardwear

A Goblet Of Fire Easter Egg

• Found easily in Hogsmeade.

For the latest in wizarding fashion, players can head down to Gladrags Wizardwear in Hogsmeade. Here they can sell their gear and purchase a range of outfits and accessories from proprietor Augustus Hill, the self-proclaimed expert in clothing extraordinaire.

What not many players will know is that Gladrags Wizardwear was actually mentioned a few times in the Harry Potter books. The first time the clothing store was mentioned was on the magical billboard at the Quidditch World Cup Final, with the brand humorously advertising its various branches in London, Paris, and Hogsmeade.

5 Talking Mirrors

A Chamber Of Secrets & Prisoner Of Azkaban Easter Egg

• Found in multiple bathrooms inside Hogwarts, as well as in Gladrags Wizardwear.

Throughout Hogwarts Legacy, players will run into a variety of talking mirrors that will comment on their appearance. Sometimes the mirrors compliment the player's fashion or beauty, and at other times they insult.

What makes these mirrors an easter egg is the fact that Harry himself had to deal with talking mirrors during his time both at The Burrow and at the Leaky Cauldron. The mirrors in both the game and the books all have hilarious lines.

6 Sweets That Make You Sound Like Animals

A Prisoner Of Azkaban Easter Egg

• Found inside Honeydukes sweet shop in Hogsmeade.

The third installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner and Azkaban, is one of the best and does a great job of making life at Hogwarts feel more fun and natural. One of the best scenes in the film, as small as it is, shows Harry and his fellow 3rd year Gryffindor friends trying out an assortment of sweets in Gryffindor Tower.

These sweets make the boys erupt into hilarious and accurate impressions of animals, including an elephant and lion before Harry takes one that turns him into a steam train. Amazingly, these exact sweets and their effects can be enjoyed in Hogwarts Legacy by visiting Honeydukes and finding the Elephant on a Bicycle poster.

7 Herbology Award

A Hogwarts Legacy Easter Egg

• Found in the Trophy Room at the top of the Grand Staircase.

One easter egg, which players can find by heading up to the Trophy Room from the Grand Staircase, is a Hogwarts Herbology Award. This trophy was presented to none other than the current Herbology teacher Mirabel Garlick.

Mirabel Garlick earned the award in her 7th year at Hogwarts, exceeding expectations in her work with flora, from Mandrakes to mistletoe and Bubotubers to Bouncing Bulbs. The Trophy Room is host to many other throwbacks to the main series, including the casket that holds the Goblet of Fire.

8 The Giant Squid Likes Toast

A Goblet Of Fire Easter Egg

• Found during Scrope's Last Hope Quest for Slytherins.

Hogwarts Legacy has unique quests for members of different houses. One such Slytherin mission presents a funny easter egg. In Scrope's Last Hope, Slytherin students will have to place a piece of toast on a pedestal to get through the wall decorated with a depiction of The Giant Squid.

Once inside, the ghost of Richard Jackdaw says that some squids seem to love toast, which is a callback to Harry and others feeding toast to The Giant Squid on days off.

9 De-Gnoming

A Chamber Of Secrets Easter Egg

• Revealed during the first Herbology class with Leander Prewett.

Some fan-favorite moments from the books sadly never made it into the movies even as a small mention, but thankfully the length and depth of Hogwarts Legacy allows them their moment in the sun. One such book memory which fans hold dear to their heart is Harry helping out the Weasleys with de-gnoming their infested garden.

Harry learns to swing the gnomes around to make them dizzy before flinging them as far as possible in the hopes they will be unable to make their way back to the garden. When players attend their first Herbology lesson, Leander Prewett, himself an ancestor of Molly Weasley, will tell them about his memories of de-gnoming, something that his Weasley descendants will do a century later.

10 Potion Brewing In The Toilet

A Chamber Of Secrets Easter Egg

• Found in the Witches' toilets near Professor Fig's office.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as part of the plan to sneak into the Slytherin common room, Hermione brews a batch of Polyjuice Potion in one of the cubicles of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. However, Hermione wasn't the first witch to come up with the idea of brewing potions in a cubicle.

For a Polyjuice Potion easter egg, players can head to the witches' toilets near Professor Fig's office and upon opening one of the doors they will find a full cauldron, books, scales, and anything else needed for a potion.

11 Secrets Of The Darkest Arts

A Deathly Hallows Easter Egg

• Found in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library.

When players explore the Restricted Section of the library with Sebastian Sallow, they will pass a moving book that Sebastian comments on, naming it as Secrets of the Darkest Arts. However, only hardcore Harry Potter fans will realize that this is the very book where Tom Riddle learned about Horcruxes.

This book was later removed by Albus Dumbledore and subsequently read by Hermione after his death. For players who missed this particular easter egg during the quest, they can still view it in the library.

12 Snape In A Music Box

A General Harry Potter Easter Egg

• Found during the Room of Requirement quest when exploring, near a boar's head and a painting of a witch.

During the main story, players will head into the Room of Requirement with Professor Weasley. Among the thousands of items hidden by Hogwarts students over the centuries, there are many secrets to be found, but one is harder to spot than the rest.

As players walk past a boar's head and a painting of a witch, they will trigger a musical box. The musical box will only open this one time, and so most players will miss the fact that the figure who pops up looks awfully like the future Potions Master, Severus Snape.