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Harry Potter (character)

 
Harry Potter (character)

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Harry Potter (character)



 
 
Harry James Potter is the title character and the main protagonist
Protagonist

A protagonist is the main Character of a drama or Narrative. The word "protagonist" derives from the Greek language p??ta????st?? , "one who plays the first part, chief actor." In the theatre of Ancient Greece, three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a tragedy; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the othe...
 of J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling Order of the British Empire , who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, is a United Kingdom author, best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990....
's Harry Potter
Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a Heptalogy fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter , together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his friends from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry....
 fantasy
Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
 series. The books cover seven years in the life of the lonely orphan
Orphan

An orphan is a child whose natural parents are absent or dead. One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents"....
 who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. He attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwarts

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a setting in J. K. Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter series. In the series, it is a school of Magic for witches and wizards between the ages of eleven and eighteen living in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland....
 to learn magic. Under the guidance of the kindly headmaster Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character and a major protagonist within the Harry Potter novels written by United Kingdom author J....
, Harry discovers that he is already famous throughout the wizarding world, and that his fate is tied with that of Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the main Antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written by United Kingdom author J. K. Rowling....
, the universally feared Dark wizard who killed Harry's father and mother.

rding to Rowling, the idea for both the Harry Potter books and its eponymous protagonist came while waiting for a delayed train from Manchester
Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1853....
 to London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 in 1990.






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Harry James Potter is the title character and the main protagonist
Protagonist

A protagonist is the main Character of a drama or Narrative. The word "protagonist" derives from the Greek language p??ta????st?? , "one who plays the first part, chief actor." In the theatre of Ancient Greece, three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a tragedy; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the othe...
 of J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling Order of the British Empire , who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, is a United Kingdom author, best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990....
's Harry Potter
Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a Heptalogy fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter , together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his friends from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry....
 fantasy
Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
 series. The books cover seven years in the life of the lonely orphan
Orphan

An orphan is a child whose natural parents are absent or dead. One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents"....
 who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. He attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwarts

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a setting in J. K. Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter series. In the series, it is a school of Magic for witches and wizards between the ages of eleven and eighteen living in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland....
 to learn magic. Under the guidance of the kindly headmaster Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character and a major protagonist within the Harry Potter novels written by United Kingdom author J....
, Harry discovers that he is already famous throughout the wizarding world, and that his fate is tied with that of Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the main Antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written by United Kingdom author J. K. Rowling....
, the universally feared Dark wizard who killed Harry's father and mother.

Concept and creation

According to Rowling, the idea for both the Harry Potter books and its eponymous protagonist came while waiting for a delayed train from Manchester
Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1853....
 to London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 in 1990. She stated that her idea for "this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me". While she fleshed out the ideas for her book, she also decided to make Harry an orphan
Orphan

An orphan is a child whose natural parents are absent or dead. One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents"....
 who attended a boarding school
Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils not only study, but also live during term time, with their fellow students and possibly teachers....
 called Hogwarts. She explained in a 1999 interview with The Guardian
The Guardian

Sorry, no overview for this topic
: "Harry had to be an orphan  — so that he's a free agent, with no fear of letting down his parents, disappointing them ... Hogwarts has to be a boarding school  — half the important stuff happens at night! Then there's the security. Having a child of my own reinforces my belief that children above all want security, and that's what Hogwarts offers Harry."

Her own mother's death on 30 December 1990 inspired Rowling to write Harry Potter as a boy longing for his dead parents, his anguish becoming "much deeper, much more real" than in earlier drafts because she related to it herself. In a 2000 interview with The Guardian, Rowling also established that the character of Wart in T.H. White's novel The Sword In the Stone
The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1938, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King....
 is "Harry's spiritual ancestor." Finally, she established Harry's birth date as 31 July, the same as her own. However, she maintained that Harry was not directly based on any real-life character; "he came just out of a part of me".

Rowling has also maintained that Harry is a suitable real-life role model for children. "The advantage of a fictional hero or heroine is that you can know them better than you can know a living hero, many of whom you would never meet [...] if people like Harry and identify with him, I am pleased, because I think he is very likeable."

Appearances


First book

Harry first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter , a young Wizarding world....
 (published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) as the novel's main protagonist. When Harry was a little over a year old, his parents were murdered by the powerful Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort; for some reason, Harry survived Voldemort's Killing Curse, which rebounded and ripped Voldemort's soul from his body. As a result, Harry carries a lightning-bolt shaped
Thunderbolt

A thunderbolt is a traditional expression for a discharge of lightning or a symbolic representation thereof. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, although this is not currently the case....
 scar on his forehead. Harry is famous as the only known person to survive "Avada Kedavra", the killing curse, and from that point on is known as "The Boy Who Lived". Technically, Voldemort also survived, although only his soul remained after his body was destroyed.

According to Rowling, fleshing out this back story was a matter of reverse planning: "The basic idea [is that] Harry ... didn't know he was a wizard ... and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was... When he was one-year-old, the most evil wizard in hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry  — he tried to curse him... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And  — so  — but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard who has been in hiding ever since".

As a result, Harry is written as an orphan
Orphan

An orphan is a child whose natural parents are absent or dead. One legal definition used in the USA is someone bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents"....
 living miserably with his only remaining family, the cruel Dursleys. On his eleventh birthday, Harry learns he is a wizard when Rubeus Hagrid
Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. The character is usually addressed only by his surname....
 arrives to tell him that he is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he learns about his parents and his connection to the Dark Lord, is sorted into Gryffindor House, becomes friends with classmates Ron Weasley
Ron Weasley

Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. He is one of the central characters in the books....
 and Hermione Granger
Hermione Granger

Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to magic school....
, and foils Voldemort's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone
Magical objects in Harry Potter

In the fictional Harry Potter series, many magical objects exist for the use of the List of Harry Potter characters. The following is a list of magical objects in Harry Potter, and can be found throughout the series by J....
. He also forms rivalries with characters Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy

Draco Malfoy is a fictional character and an antagonist in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is a Slytherin student in Harry Potter 's year, and his house's most visible adolescent representative....
, a classmate from an elitist wizarding family, and the cold, condescending Potions master, Severus Snape
Severus Snape

Severus Snape is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. In the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he is one of the primary antagonists....
, Draco's mentor and the head of Slytherin House. Both feuds continue throughout the series. In a 1999 interview, Rowling stated that Draco is based on several prototypical schoolyard bullies she encountered and Snape on a sadistic teacher of hers who abused his power.

Rowling has stated that the Mirror of Erised chapter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter , a young Wizarding world....
 is her favourite; the mirror reflects Harry's deepest desire, namely to see his dead parents. Her favourite funny scene is when Harry inadvertently sets a boa constrictor
Boa constrictor

Boa constrictor is a non-venomous Boinae species found in Central America, South America and some islands in the Caribbean. The common name is the same as the scientific name, which is unusual....
 free from the zoo in the horrified Dursleys' presence.

Second to fourth books

In the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. It continues the story of Harry Potter during his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry....
, Rowling pits Harry against Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort's "memory" within a secret diary which has possessed Ron's younger sister Ginny Weasley. When Muggle-born students are suddenly being petrified, many suspect that Harry may be behind the attacks, further alienating him from his peers. In the climax, Ginny disappears. To rescue her, Harry battles Riddle and the monster he controls that is hidden in the Chamber of Secrets. In the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999....
, Rowling uses a time travel
Time travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to a moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period ....
 premise. Harry learns that his parents were betrayed to Voldemort by their friend Peter Pettigrew, who framed Harry's godfather Sirius Black for the crimes, condemning him to Azkaban prison. When Sirius escapes to seek revenge, Harry and Hermione use a Time Turner to save him and a hippogriff
Hippogriff

A Hippogriff is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a Mare . Ludovico Ariosto's poem, Orlando furioso contains an early description :...
 named Buckbeak. But Pettigrew escapes, and an innocent Sirius remains a hunted fugitive.

In the previous books, Harry is written as a child, but Rowling states that in the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, published on 8 July 2000. The book attracted additional attention because of a pre-publication warning from J....
, "Harry's horizons are literally and metaphorically widening as he grows older." Harry's developing maturity becomes apparent when he becomes romantically interested in Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw student. Tension mounts, however, when Harry is mysteriously chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament, even though another Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, was already selected. It is actually Voldemort's elaborate scheme to lure Harry into a deadly trap. During the Tournament's final challenge, Harry and Cedric are teleported to a graveyard. Cedric is killed, and Voldemort, aided by Peter Pettigrew, uses Harry's blood in a gruesome ritual to resurrect Voldemort's body. When Harry duels Voldemort, their wands' magical streams connect, forcing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Cedric and James and Lily Potter, to be expelled from his wand. The spirits briefly protect Harry as he escapes to Hogwarts with Cedric's body. For Rowling, this scene is important because it shows Harry's bravery, and by retrieving Cedric's corpse, he demonstrates selflessness and compassion. Says Rowling, "He wants to save Cedric's parents additional pain.” She added that preventing Cedric's body from falling into Voldemort's hands is based on the classic scene in the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
 where Achilles
Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
 retrieves the body of his best friend Patroclus
Patroclus

In Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , son of Menoetius , was Achilles? beloved comrade and, according to some , his lover....
 from the hands of Hector
Hector

In Greek mythology, Hector , or Hektor, is a Troy prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba, descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy....
. Rowling also mentioned that book four rounds off an era in Harry's life, and the remaining three books are another, "He's no longer protected. He's been very protected until now. But he's very young to have that experience. Most of us don't get that until a bit later in life. He's only just coming up to 15 and that's it now."

Fifth and sixth books

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. It is the longest book in the series, and was released on 21 June 2003....
, the Ministry of Magic
Ministry of Magic

In J. K. Rowling's fictional universe of Harry Potter, the Ministry of Magic is the Government for the Harry Potter universe. The government is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and makes its first actual appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, with #Cornelius Fudge as the Minister for Mag...
 has been waging a smear campaign
Smear campaign

A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by Conflate#Logic with a Social stigma group....
 against Harry and Dumbledore, disputing their claims that Voldemort has returned. A new character is introduced when the Ministry of Magic appoints Dolores Umbridge as the latest Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor (and Ministry spy). Because the paranoid Ministry suspects that Dumbledore is building a wizard army to overthrow them, Umbridge refuses to teach students real defensive magic. She gradually gains more power, eventually ousting Dumbledore and seizing control of the school. As a result, Harry's increasingly angry and erratic behaviour nearly estrange him from Ron and Hermione. Rowling says she put Harry through extreme emotional stress to show his emotional vulnerability and humanity — a contrast to his nemesis, Voldemort. "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanised himself. And Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down, and say he didn't want to play anymore, he didn't want to be the hero anymore  – and he’d lost too much. And he didn’t want to lose anything else. So that  – Phoenix was the point at which I decided he would have his breakdown." At Hermione's urging, Harry forms a secret student organisation called Dumbledore's Army
Dumbledore's Army

Dumbledore's Army is a fictional student organisation in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series that is founded by the main characters, Harry Potter , Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, in order to stand up to the regime of Hogwarts High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge, as well as learning practical Hogwarts#Defence Against the Dark Arts....
 to teach defence against the dark arts. Their plan is thwarted, however, when a Dumbledore's Army member informs Umbridge about the D.A., causing Dumbledore to be ousted as Headmaster. Harry suffers another emotional blow, when his godfather, Sirius is killed during a duel with Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange at the Department of Mysteries, but Harry ultimately defeats Voldemort's plan to steal an important prophecy and helps uncover Umbridge's sinister motives. Rowling stated: "And now he [Harry] will rise from the ashes strengthened." A side plot of Order of the Phoenix involves Harry's romance with Cho Chang, but the relationship quickly unravels. Says Rowling: "They were never going to be happy, it was better that it ended early!"

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on 16 July 2005, is the sixth of seven novels in J. K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series....
 Harry enters a tumultuous puberty
Puberty

Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads ....
 that, Rowling says, is based on her and her younger sister's own difficult teenage years. Rowling also made an intimate statement about Harry's personal life: "Because of the demands of the adventure that Harry is following, he has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had". This inexperience with romance was a factor in Harry's failed relationship with Cho. Now his thoughts concern Ginny, and a vital plot point in the last chapter includes Harry ending their budding romance to protect her from Voldemort.

A new character appears when former Hogwarts Potions master Horace Slughorn replaces Snape, who assumes the Defence Against the Dark Arts post. Harry suddenly excels in Potions, using an old textbook once belonging to a talented student known only as "The Half-Blood Prince." The book contains many handwritten notes, revisions, and new spells; Hermione, however, believes Harry using it is cheating. Through private meetings with Dumbledore, Harry learns about Voldemort's orphaned youth, his rise to power, and how he splintered his soul into Horcrux
Horcrux

A Horcrux is a fictional Magical objects in Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. It is a Magic in Harry Potter#Dark Arts device created for the purposes of attaining immortality....
es to achieve immortality. Two Horcruxes have been destroyed; the diary and a ring, and Harry and Dumbledore locate another, although it is a fake. When Death Eaters invade Hogwarts, Snape kills Dumbledore. As Snape escapes, he proclaims that he is the Half-Blood Prince — Harry's admired mentor
Mentor

In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcumus and, in his old age, a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War he placed Mentor in charge of his son, Telemachus, and of his palace....
 is actually his hated enemy. It now falls upon Harry to find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and to avenge Dumbledore's death. In a 2005 interview with NBC anchorwoman Katie Couric
Katie Couric

Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an United States journalist who became well-known as co-host of NBC's Today . In 2006, she made a highly publicized move from NBC to CBS, and on September 5, 2006 she became the first solo female anchor of the weekday evening news on one of the three traditional United States broadcast networks....
, Rowling stated that [after the events in the sixth book] Harry has, "taken the view that they are now at war. He does become more battle hardened. He’s now ready to go out fighting. And he’s after revenge [against Voldemort and Snape]."

This book also focusses on the mysterious activities of Harry's rival Draco Malfoy. Voldemort has coerced a frightened Malfoy into attempting to kill Dumbledore. During a duel in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Harry uses the Half-Blood Prince's spell, Sectumsempra, on Malfoy who suffers near-fatal injuries as a result. Harry is horrified by what he has done and also comes to feel compassion for Draco after learning he was forced into doing Voldemort's bidding under the threat of his and his parents' deaths.

Final book

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts to complete Dumbledore's task: to search for and destroy Voldemort's remaining four Horcruxes, and then find and kill the Dark Lord. The three pit themselves against Voldemort's newly formed totalitarian police state
Police state

The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population....
, an action that tests Harry's courage and moral character. According to J. K. Rowling, a telling scene in which Harry uses Cruciatus and Imperius (unforgivable curses for torture and mind-control) on Voldemort's servants shows a side to Harry that is "flawed and mortal." However, she explains that, "He is also in an extreme situation and attempting to defend somebody very good against a violent and murderous opponent".

Harry experiences occasional disturbing visions of Draco being forced to perform the Death Eaters' bidding and feels "...sickened...by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort", again showing his compassion for an enemy.

Harry comes to recognise that his own single-mindedness makes him predictable to his enemies and often clouds his perception
Perception

In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sense information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines would take about a decade, a goal which is still very far from fruition....
s. When Voldemort kills Snape later in the story, Harry realises that Snape was not the traitorous murderer he believed him to be, but a tragic anti-hero
Anti-hero

In fiction, an antihero is a protagonist whose character or goals are antithetical to traditional hero. The term dates to 1714, although literary criticism identifies the trope in earlier literature....
 who was loyal to Dumbledore. In Chapter 33 ("The Prince's Tale") Snape's memories reveal that he loved Harry's mother, Lily Evans, but their friendship ended over his association with future Death Eaters and "blood purity" beliefs. When Voldemort killed the Potters, a grieving Snape vowed to protect Lily's child, although he loathed young Harry for being James Potter's son. It is also revealed that Snape did not murder Dumbledore, but carried out Dumbledore's prearranged plan. Dumbledore, who was dying from a slow-spreading curse, wanted to protect Snape's position within the Death Eaters and spare Draco from completing Voldemort's task to murder him.

To defeat Harry, Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. It is the most powerful wand ever created, and he twice casts the Killing Curse on Harry with it. The first attempt merely stuns Harry into a death-like state. In the chapter "King's Cross", Dumbledore's spirit tells Harry that when Voldemort failed to kill baby Harry and disembodied himself, Harry became an unintentional Horcrux
Horcrux

A Horcrux is a fictional Magical objects in Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. It is a Magic in Harry Potter#Dark Arts device created for the purposes of attaining immortality....
; Harry could not kill Voldemort while the Dark Lord's soul shard was within Harry's body. Voldemort's soul shard within Harry was destroyed because Harry willingly faced death. But Voldemort's Killing Curse fails because Voldemort used Harry's blood in his resurrection. In the book's climax, Voldemort's second Killing Curse also fails and rebounds upon himself, as the result of Harry's Expelliarmus spell, finally killing him, because Harry, not Voldemort, had become the Elder Wand's true master. Harry also becomes the worthy possessor of the remaining Deathly Hallows: the Invisibility Cloak and the Resurrection Stone, hence becoming the true Master of Death. J. K. Rowling said, the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry willingly accepts mortality, making him stronger than his nemesis. "The real master of Death accepts that he must die, and that there are much worse things in the world of the living" At the very end Harry decides to leave the Stone and Elder Wand but keeps the Invisibility Cloak because it belonged to his father.

Epilogue
According to Rowling, after Voldemort's defeat, Harry joins the "reshuffled Auror Department under Kingsley Shacklebolt at age 17, rising to become Head of said department in 2007." Rowling said his old rival Draco has overcome his animosity after Harry saved his life three times in the seventh book, though there is no sign that they have actually become friends.

In the end, Harry and Ginny are married and have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna.

Movie appearances

In the five Harry Potter movies screened from 2001-2007, Harry Potter has been portrayed by British actor Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe is an England actor, best known for playing Harry Potter in the Harry Potter film series based on the popular Harry Potter....
, who is slated to appear in the three final films, the last book being made into two parts. Radcliffe was asked to audition for the role of Harry Potter in 2000 by producer David Heyman
David Heyman

David Heyman is a United Kingdom film producer born in London, England in 1961.Heyman went to school in the United States, earning a degree in Art History from Harvard University in 1983....
, while in attendance at a play titled Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets

Stones in His Pockets is a two-hander written in 1998 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland....
 in London. The Harry Potter role has been highly lucrative for Radcliffe; as of 2007, he has an estimated wealth of £17 million.

In a 2007 interview with MTV
MTV

MTV is an United States cable television network based in Media of New York City. Launched on August 1, 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJ ....
, Radcliffe stated that, for him, Harry Potter is a classic coming of age
Coming of age

Coming of age is a young person's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition....
 character: "That's what the films are about for me: a loss of innocence, going from being a young kid in awe of the world around him, to someone who is more battle-hardened by the end of it." He also said that for him, important factors in Harry's psyche are his survivor's guilt in regard to his dead parents and his lingering loneliness. Because of this, Radcliffe talked to a bereavement counsellor to help him prepare for the role. Radcliffe was quoted as saying that he wished for Harry to die in the books, but he clarified that he, "can't imagine any other way they can be concluded." After reading the last book, where Harry Potter and his friends survive and have children, Radcliffe stated to be glad about the ending and lauded author J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling Order of the British Empire , who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, is a United Kingdom author, best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990....
 for the conclusion of the story.

Radcliffe stated that the most oft repeated question he has been asked is how Harry Potter has influenced his own life, to which he regularly answers it has been "fine", and that he did not feel pigeonholed by the role, but rather sees it as a huge privilege to portray the character of Harry Potter.

Some minor differences of the on-screen description of Harry and the novels' version include small things like his hair and eyes. In the novels, Harry's hair is described as being jet-black and very untidy. In the first two films, while his hair is black, it hangs down quite tidily and cleanly. The untidiness is, however, captured in the third and fourth films. In the third film, his hair is again black but also quite unkempt and untidy, sticking up in several places. In the fourth film, Harry's hair has grown considerably longer, appearing even untidier than in the previous film. In the fifth film, however, his hair is rather short and very well combed, gelled, and kempt, making it his most "un-Harry-like" hairstyle so far. In addition, another difference is his eyes, which are blue in the films but a "brilliant shade of green" in the books.

Characterisation


In the books, Harry is categorised as a "half-blood" wizard in the series, because although both his parents were magical, his mother, Lily Evans, was "Muggle-born". According to Rowling, to characters for whom wizarding blood purity matters, Lily would be considered "as 'bad' as a Muggle
Muggle

Muggle is the word used in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling to refer to a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born into the magical world....
," and derogatively referred to as a "Mudblood".

Harry's parents left behind a somewhat large pile of wizard's gold, used as currency in the world of magic, in a vault in the wizarding bank, Gringotts. Later in the series after Sirius' death, all of his remaining possessions were also passed along to Harry. This inheritance becomes Harry's source of funding. Rowling noted that "Harry’s money never really is that important in the books, except that he can afford his uniform and so on.”

According to Rowling, Harry is strongly guided by his own conscience, and has a keen feeling of what is right and what is wrong. Having "very limited access to truly caring adults", Rowling said, Harry "is forced to make his own decisions from early age on." He "does make mistakes", she conceded, but in the end, he does what his conscience tells him to do. According to Rowling, one of Harry's pivotal scenes came in the fourth book when he protects his dead schoolmate Cedric Diggory's body from arch villain Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the main Antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written by United Kingdom author J. K. Rowling....
, because it shows he is brave and unselfish.

Rowling also said that Harry's two worst character flaws are "anger and occasional arrogance", but that Harry is also innately honourable. "He's not a cruel boy. He's competitive, and he's a fighter. He doesn't just lie down and take abuse. But he does have native integrity, which makes him a hero to me. He's a normal boy but with those qualities most of us really admire." After the seventh book, Rowling commented that Harry has the ultimate character strength, being able to do what even Voldemort could not: the acceptance of the inevitability of death.

Outward appearance

Throughout the series, Harry is described as sporting his father's perpetually untidy black hair, his mother's bright green eyes, and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. He is further described as "small and skinny for his age" with "a thin face" and "knobbly knees", and he wears round eyeglasses. In the first book, the scar is described as "the only thing Harry liked about his own appearance". Asked what is the meaning behind Harry's lightning bolt scar, Rowling said, "I wanted him to be physically marked by what he has been through. It was an outward expression of what he has been through inside....It is almost like being the chosen one or the cursed one, in sense..." Rowling explained that Harry's image came to her when she first thought up Harry Potter, seeing him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy". She also mentioned that she thinks Harry's glasses are the clue to his vulnerability.

Abilities and Interests


Throughout the series, Rowling wrote Harry Potter as a gifted wizard apprentice. She stated in a 2000 interview with South West News Service that Harry Potter is "particularly talented" in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and also good in Quidditch
Quidditch

Quidditch is a fictional sport developed by J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter book series. It is described as an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport played by wizards and witches around the world....
. Rowling said in the same interview that until about halfway through the third book, his good friend Hermione Granger
Hermione Granger

Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to magic school....
  — written as the smartest student in Harry's year — would have beaten Harry in a magical duel. From the fourth book onwards, Rowling admits Harry has become quite talented in the Defence Against the Dark Arts and would beat his friend Hermione in a magical duel. His power is evident from the beginning of the series; specifically, Harry shows immediate command of a broomstick, produces a Patronus at an early age, and survives several confrontations with Voldemort. Harry is able to speak and understand Parseltongue, a language associated with Dark Magic, which, according to Rowling, is because he harbours a piece of Lord Voldemort's soul. After Voldemort destroys that soul fragment in the seventh book's climax, Harry loses the ability to speak Parseltongue. Harry "is very glad" to have lost this gift. Harry is also the only student in his class capable of resisting the Imperius curse.

As captain of his Quidditch
Quidditch

Quidditch is a fictional sport developed by J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter book series. It is described as an extremely rough but very popular semi-contact sport played by wizards and witches around the world....
 team, Harry shows great ability to psyche up his players and psyche out his opponents. According to Rowling, Harry's favourite book is Quidditch Through the Ages
Quidditch Through the Ages

Quidditch Through the Ages is both a fictional book described in the Harry Potter series of novels by the England author J. K. Rowling, and a real book by that author, although her name is only stated in the book as the copyright holder of the "Harry Potter"-name....
, an actual book that Rowling wrote (under the pseudonym Kennilworthy Whisp) for the Comic Relief charity.

Throughout the majority of the books, Harry also has a pet owl named Hedwig, used to deliver and receive messages and packages. Hedwig is killed in the seventh book, about which Rowling says: "The loss of Hedwig represented a loss of innocence and security. She has been almost like a cuddly toy to Harry at times. I know that death upset a lot of people!"

Family

In the novels, Harry is the only child of James and Lily Potter, but orphaned as an infant. Rowling made Harry an orphan from the early drafts of her first book. She felt an orphan would be the most interesting character to write about. However, after her mother's death, Rowling wrote Harry as a child longing to see his dead parents again, incorporating her own anguish into him. Harry's aunt and uncle kept the truth about their deaths from Harry, telling him they died in a car accident. Through his marriage to Ginny Weasley, Harry links the Peverell family and the House of Black.

In popular culture

In 2002, Harry Potter was voted No. 85 among the "100 Best Fictional Characters" by Book magazine and also voted the 35th "Worst Briton" in Channel 4
Channel 4

Channel 4 is a UK Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television broadcaster which began transmissions on 2 November 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the #Channel Four Television...
's "100 Worst Britons
100 Worst Britons

100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate was one in a series of "100 Greatest..." shows shown on British TV.The poll by the British TV station Channel 4 in 2003, was inspired by the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons, although it was less serious in nature....
 We Love to Hate" program. In addition, Harry Potter is spoofed in the Barry Trotter series by American writer Michael Gerber, where a "Barry Trotter" appears as the eponymous anti-hero. On his homepage, Gerber describes Trotter as an unpleasant character who "drinks too much, eats like a pig, sleeps until noon, and owes everybody money." The author stated "[s]ince I really liked Rowling's books […] I felt obligated to try to write a spoof worthy of the originals."

In real life, Harry's iconoclastic appearance has become cult
Cult

This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult . See Cult for more meanings of the term "cult"....
. According to halloweenonline.com, Harry Potter sets were the fifth-best selling Halloween
Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic mythology of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a Secularity celebration, but some Christians and Paganism have expressed strong feelings about its religious overtones....
 costume of 2005. In addition, wizard rock bands like Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters

Harry and the Potters are an indie rock band and pioneers of Harry Potter fandom#Wizard rock formed in Norwood, Massachusetts in 2002 by brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge....
 and others regularly dress up in the style of Harry Potter, sporting painted forehead scars, black wigs and round bottle top glasses. Wizard rock
Harry Potter fandom

The Harry Potter fandom is a large international and informal community drawn together by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The fandom works through the use of many different forms of media, including web sites, fan fiction, podcasts, fan art and songvids, and a distinct genre of music, referred to as #Wizard rock....
 is a musical movement dating from 2002 that consists of at least 200 bands made up of young musicians, playing songs about Harry Potter. The movement started in Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
 with the band Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters

Harry and the Potters are an indie rock band and pioneers of Harry Potter fandom#Wizard rock formed in Norwood, Massachusetts in 2002 by brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge....
, who cosplay
Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performing arts whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character....
 as Harry during live performances

Harry Potter has been parodied in both animated and non-animated media. He appears in the Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken is an Emmy Award-winning United States stop motion list of animated television series created and Executive producer by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich....
 episode "Nutcracker Sweet" voiced by Seth Green
Seth Green

Seth Benjamin Gesshel Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is best known for his role as Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer , as well as Doctor Evil's son Scott Evil in the Austin Powers series series of comedy films and List of recurring characters of That '70s Show in That '70s Show....
. He is shown to have Firebolt in a delicate place on himself. Quinton Flynn
Quinton Flynn

Quinton Joseph Flynn , is an United States voice actor, actor and writer.He is most notable for providing the English language voices of video game characters such as Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Croix in La Pucelle: Tactics, Organization XIII#VIII....
 voices Harry Potter in the episode "Password: Swordfish." When the threat of the puberty creature Pubertis is known, Harry sees Dumbledore about this and receives a stone that might help him fight Pubertis. Upon confrontation with Pubertis, he rubs the stone two times, which summons ghosts to punch it. When it comes to the third time, (the stone starts "chafing") Dumbledore appears and tells Harry that the stone can only be warmed up three times (four if you take a week off) and that Pubertis cannot be destroyed since it lives in everyone. In an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is an American animated television series, and spin-off of the Academy Award nominated computer animation Film, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ....
, Potter is referenced thrice, once when Jimmy is watching a reel of movies rapidly (Where Hagrid
Rubeus Hagrid

Rubeus Hagrid is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. The character is usually addressed only by his surname....
 says "You're a Wizard, Harry") and later in the filming for Jimmy's movie, as Jimmy plays a parody of Harry, called "Perry Bladder". Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place

'Wizards of Waverly Place' is a live-action Disney Channel Original Series which premiered on October 12, 2007 on Disney Channel. The show stars Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, David Henrie as Justin Russo, Jake T....
 once referenced Harry, as Justin was wearing a robe and glasses like Harry, to which Alex comments on with trying to guess who he looks like ("Barry something", "Jerry something", etc.) Episodes of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy has spoofed Harry as Nigel Planter. Unlike Harry, Nigel has an L-shaped scar on his forehead. In an unexpected twist, the episode "Nigel Planter and the Order of the Peanuts" reveals that Nigel is not the child of wizards, but the heir to a major peanut company
Planters

Planters is an United States snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed Nut s and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them....
. Nigel, spoofing Harry's ability to speak Parsial Tongue, speaks "Partial Tongue", and rather than talk to Snakes, talks to Snacks.

In Epic Movie
Epic Movie

Epic Movie is a 2007 in film cinema of the United States film film director and screenwriter by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. It was film producer by Paul Schiff....
, a 2007 parody film, he is played by Canadian comedian Kevin McDonald
Kevin McDonald

Kevin Hamilton McDonald is a Canada comedian and actor, known as a member of the Canadian sketch comedy group Kids in the Hall....
, whereas Harry is portrayed as being somewhat of a pervert as seen when Harry tries to touch Susan Pevensie
Susan Pevensie

Susan Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series. Susan is the elder sister and the second eldest Pevensie child....
's breasts. In the 2008 American comedy film Yes Man
Yes Man (film)

Yes Man is a Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and starring Jim Carrey. The film is based on the true story and 2005 book The Yes Man by British people humourist Danny Wallace ....
, Carl (portrayed by Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey

James Eugene Carrey , best known as Jim Carrey, is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning Canadian-American actor and stand-up comedian. He is probably best known for his manic and slapstick performances in comedy films such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask , Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty....
) attends a Harry Potter-themed party disguised as Harry himself. A series of sketches on All That
All That

All That was an United States live-action, sketch comedy-variety show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable television television network featuring short comedic sketches and weekly musical guests....
 spoofed Harry Potter with Harry Bladder. Instead of flying on a broom, Harry rode a leaf-blower. A sketch on MADtv
MADtv

MADtv is an United States sketch comedy television series. It licenses the name and logo of Mad , but otherwise has no connection with the humor magazine outside of animated Spy vs....
 saw professional wrestler Triple H
Triple H

Paul Michael Levesque is an American Professional wrestling and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of his former ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley....
 perform a spoof of Harry called 'Triple H Potter' in which the character is invited to be on MADtv in a scene only vaguely similar to the scene in which Hagrid retrieves Harry from the shack on the island in the first book, and has to deal with both an impersonator of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Stephanie Weir, whom both runs herself into a wall and who is then slammed into the doorframe of the barn where "Potter" has been staying when she asked Triple H to make her 'fly' out of the barn.

External links

  • Harry Potter images from The Movie
  • Dan Radcliffe as Harry Potter