The most shocking thing about Saltburn isn't actually Barry Keoghan drinking Jacob Elordi's bathwater (and, no, not the grave scene either).
Viewers may have noticed that Elordi's Felix Catton is reading a Harry Potter book while summering at his family's Saltburn estate. But as TikTok user @murped points out, who began investigating the meaning behind Felix and his sister's matching tattoos, the film's connection to the series goes far beyond his literary choices.
written in the stars
Felix and his sister Venetia have six-star tattoos on their hands. Some super fans of Harry Potter get three-star tattoos as a nod to the three stars drawn next to each book's chapter title. However, the pattern is on either side of the chapter head, meaning there are six stars.
The siblings' tattoos mean they could have been further along in becoming Harry Potter fans than most.
The six stars could also be one star per book, since only the first six books had been published by 2007 (the time the movie takes place).
This theory also holds true because Felix was reading the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , which had just been published that summer.
Felix went to Hogwarts
The TikTok user also pointed out some similarities to the Harry Potter film series. Saltburn begins at Oxford University, which is used as the backdrop for Hogwarts for many scenes throughout the series, most notably in the fourth film , Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .
Maybe Felix wants to live out his Hogwarts fantasy in college?
Interestingly, that film bears an eerie resemblance to "Saltburn." Goblet of Fire deals with class differences at Hogwarts, as shown by Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) having to wear a dress robe inappropriate for the Yule Ball to comply with the dress code. This is similar to Keoghan's Oliver, who gets advice from Felix on how to dress properly in Saltburn.
The film also includes a strange bathtub scene, though not as out of place as Saltburn, in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) conjures a ghost while bathing. In Goblet of Fire , a character (Robert Pattinson's Cedric Diggory) also dies in the maze, similar to Felix's death in Saltburn .
Elordi himself doesn't seem as familiar with Harry Potter as his character, as seen when Access Hollywood asked him about his Hogwarts house. "Which one is Robert Pattinson in? He's in one of them," Elordi replied. "I think he was wearing something yellow, I don't know what it was, but maybe it was that one, just because he was cool." In fact, Cedric was in Hufflepuff, and the color was yellow.
Director Emerald Fennell didn't talk about the Harry Potter references in Saltburn and whether they were intentional, but it's safe to say Felix is a Potter fan. He might be assigned to Slytherin.
