Character Analysis
Trip Down Memory Lane
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is chock full of cameos and reappearances of people from Harry Potter's past. We see Moaning Myrtle, Hagrid, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Bane the centaur, Viktor Krum, Harry's Dead Parents, Dolores Umbridge, the Trolley Witch, Severus Snape, and Cedric Diggory.
Most of these characters are simple cameos, and we learn little new about them. However, we do see that the Trolley Witch is actually guardian of the Hogwarts Express. We learn that Aunt Petunia wasn't entirely heartless (only 99% heartless), and that Snape is noble enough that he is willing to change an entire timeline, even though the one he's changing it to is the one in which he is dead.
Cedric Diggory is perhaps the most complicated cameo. We never knew much about him before he died in Goblet of Fire, but here we learn that, if he'd lived, the whole world would have gone to hell. Seriously, it's good that he's dead, because after being humiliated, Cedric became a Death Eater. Yikes.
Finally, we have to discuss the cameo we're teased with, but never happens: Neville Longbottom. He is mentioned multiple times, but never seen on stage. Basically, The Cursed Child confirms that the fate of the world always rested on Neville's shoulders. In the "Harry's Dead" timeline, Voldemort isn't alive because Harry died, Voldemort is alive because Cedric killed Neville, which means Neville never killed Voldemort's snake.
As Ron says,
RON: You're telling me that the whole of history rests on… Neville Longbottom? This is pretty wild. (3.7.2)
Sure is, Weasley. Now if only we could get Neville's side of the story.