Harry Potter (character)
Harry James Potter is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. The plot of the seven-book series chronicles seven years in the life of the orphan Harry, who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. He attends Hogwarts, a school of magic, where he receives guidance from the headmaster Albus Dumbledore and becomes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry learns that during his infancy, the dark wizard Lord Voldemort murdered his parents but was unable to kill him as well. The plot of the series revolves around Harry's struggle to adapt to the wizarding world and defeat Voldemort.
Harry is regarded as a fictional icon and has been described by critics and publications as one of the greatest characters of all time. He is portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe in all eight Harry Potter films, and will be played by Dominic McLaughlin in the upcoming television series. Harry also appears in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which has been produced on stage since 2016.
Concept and creation
According to Rowling, the idea for Harry Potter and the novel series came to her while she was waiting for a train in 1990. She first conceived of Harry as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy" who is unaware that he is a wizard. While developing ideas for the first book, she decided to make Harry an orphan who attends a boarding school called Hogwarts. She explained in a 1999 interview with The Guardian: "Harry had to be an orphan—so that he's a free agent, with no fear of letting down his parents, disappointing them ... 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."The death of Rowling's mother in December 1990 inspired her to write Harry as a boy longing for his dead parents. She explained that his anguish became deeper and "much more real" than in earlier drafts because she related to it herself. In a 2000 interview, Rowling said that the character Wart in T. H. White's novel The Once and Future King is Harry's "spiritual ancestor". Although Rowling gave Harry her own birth date of 31 July, she maintains that he is not directly based on any real-life person. She says that he came "out of a part of ".
Appearances
Novels
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''
Harry is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as an orphan living with his abusive aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying son, Dudley. On his eleventh birthday, Harry discovers he is a wizard when Rubeus Hagrid brings him an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents, James and Lily Potter, were murdered by a powerful Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, who also tried to kill Harry. However, Voldemort's killing curse bounced back and apparently destroyed him, leaving Harry with a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Due to his miraculous survival, Harry became famous among wizards.Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies. Harry buys a wand, and the proprietor tells him that his wand and Voldemort's wand contain feathers from the same phoenix. At the end of the summer, Harry boards the Hogwarts Express, where he befriends Ron Weasley and meets Hermione Granger. When he arrives at Hogwarts, he is assigned to Gryffindor House by the Sorting Hat. During the school year, he receives guidance from the Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall and the headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He develops animosity towards a fellow first-year named Draco Malfoy, and becomes increasingly wary of the Potions professor, Severus Snape. Harry and Ron become friends with Hermione after they save her from a troll, and Harry becomes the youngest Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team in a century.
During Christmas holidays, Harry receives an anonymous gift – his father's invisibility cloak. Aided by the cloak, he is able to explore the school freely. He, Ron and Hermione decide to enter a trapdoor they discovered one night, which is guarded by an enormous three-headed dog. They believe a valuable magical object, the Philosopher's Stone, lies beyond the door. After they navigate a series of obstacles, Harry faces Professor Quirrell, whose body has been possessed by Voldemort. When Harry obtains the Stone, Quirrell tries to kill him. However, Quirrell's flesh burns upon contact with Harry's skin, and Harry passes out.
Harry awakens in the Hogwarts infirmary, where Dumbledore explains that Harry was protected by his mother's love, which also killed Quirrell. Voldemort survived, and the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed. During the school's end-of-year feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup thanks to the many points Harry and his friends obtained from their adventure.
''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Muggle-born students are being Petrified in the Hogwarts castle. Some students suspect that Harry is behind the attacks, which alienates him from his peers. Harry learns that he shares Voldemort's ability to communicate with snakes, and he begins to question whether he is worthy of Gryffindor House. After Ron's sister Ginny disappears, Harry enters the Chamber of Secrets to rescue her. He battles Tom Riddle, a version of Voldemort that lives in a diary which had possessed Ginny. In addition to Riddle, Harry encounters the basilisk which has been attacking students. To defeat it, Harry summons the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat. After Harry triumphs over the basilisk and saves Ginny, Dumbledore reassures him that he is worthy of Gryffindor.''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''
Near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban '','' Harry becomes angry after his Aunt Marge disparages his parents. He accidentally inflates her with magic, then runs away from home. As he re-enters the wizarding community, he learns about Sirius Black, a notorious killer who escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban. On the train to Hogwarts, Harry is assaulted by Dementors, which cause him to relive his worst memories. During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid, Draco is injured after provoking a hippogriff named Buckbeak. As a result, the Ministry of Magic sentences Buckbeak to death. After Harry has more encounters with Dementors, he asks the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin, to help him ward them off. Lupin teaches Harry the Patronus charm, which Harry struggles to master.While in the village of Hogsmeade, Harry learns that his parents were betrayed by Sirius, their friend and Harry's godfather, and that Sirius also killed Peter Pettigrew. After Ron is taken to the Shrieking Shack by a wild dog, Harry and Hermione give chase and realize the dog is Sirius in Animagus form. Lupin arrives, and he and Sirius explain that Sirius did not kill Pettigrew. They also reveal that Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, is Pettigrew. Lupin then transforms into a werewolf and injures Sirius, and Pettigrew escapes amid the chaos. A swarm of Dementors appear, but they are driven off by a Patronus cast by a mysterious figure.
Awakening in the school infirmary, Harry and Hermione learn that Sirius is being held captive in Hogwarts and is awaiting the Dementor's Kiss. At Dumbledore's advice, they use a Time-Turner to travel back in time to the moment before Buckbeak's execution. After they save the hippogriff, Harry notices the past versions of himself, Hermione, and Sirius being attacked by Dementors. He conjures a strong Patronus to fight them off, then realizes that he was the mysterious figure who appeared earlier. Harry and Hermione free Sirius, who flies away on Buckbeak, still a wanted fugitive. Harry and Hermione then return to their original timeline.
''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry is mysteriously chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament, even though another Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, has already been selected. During the Tournament's final challenge, Harry and Cedric are transported to a graveyard, where Cedric is killed by Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort, aided by Pettigrew, uses Harry's blood to resurrect his body. Harry then duels Voldemort, and their wands connect. Spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Harry's parents, emerge from his wand. The spirits protect Harry as he escapes to Hogwarts with Cedric's body.Rowling said it was necessary to depict violence and death in this novel because it allows Harry's bravery and compassion to show. She said that Harry's effort to prevent Cedric's body from falling into Voldemort's hands was based on the scene in Homer's Iliad where Achilles retrieves the corpse of his friend Patroclus from his enemy Hector. She stated that Goblet of Fire marks a turning point in Harry's life—he has been "very protected until now" but now he is no longer protected.
''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic wages a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, disputing their claims that Voldemort has returned. The Ministry appoints Dolores Umbridge as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Because the Ministry suspects that Dumbledore is building a student army, Umbridge refuses to teach students practical defensive magic. Harry, Hermione and Ron subsequently form a secret group called Dumbledore's Army to teach students defensive spells. The group is disbanded, however, when one student informs Umbridge about it. To shield his students from punishment, Dumbledore falsely claims that Dumbledore's Army was his idea. As a result, he is ousted from his position as headmaster and replaced with Umbridge.During this time, Harry's increasingly angry and erratic behaviour nearly estranges him from Ron and Hermione. He suffers another emotional blow when his godfather Sirius is killed by the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange during a battle at the Department of Mysteries. Also present is Voldemort, who tries to possess Harry so Dumbledore will kill him. This ruse fails, and Harry and Dumbledore thwart Voldemort's plan to steal an important prophecy. Later, Dumbledore explains to Harry that Voldemort chose Harry as his equal, and that either he or Voldemort must eventually kill the other. A subplot of the novel involves Harry's romance with Cho Chang, which quickly unravels.
Rowling said she put Harry through extreme emotional stress in Order of the Phoenix to show his emotional vulnerability and humanity, which contrast with Voldemort's inhumanity.