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Harry Potter (character)
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Harry James Potter |
| Occupation: | wizard, student |
| Relationships: | James Potter (father) Lily Evans (mother) Ginny Weasley (wife) James Sirius Potter (son) Albus Severus Potter (son) Lily Luna Potter (daughter) Petunia Dursley (aunt) Vernon Dursley (uncle) Dudley Dursley (cousin) Weasley clan (in-laws and various nieces/nephews) |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| Other: | born 31 July 1980 Portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe  The Chosen One by VarshaVijayan. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Harry Potter is the main character of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. He is a popular character in fanworks, and is frequently shipped in both het and slash relationships with other characters.
Canon
Harry Potter is the main character of the seven-book series Harry Potter and the film series adaptation of the same name. He is a half-blood wizard and the son of James Potter and Lily Evans, who are killed by Lord Voldemort prior to the series beginning. At the beginning of the series, he lives with his Muggle aunt Petunia Dursley, her husband, and her son, who treat him poorly, being made to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, and knowing nothing about magic before his eleventh birthday.
Harry attends Hogwarts from ages eleven to seventeen, where he makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He was sorted into Gryffindor house, the same as his parents. The series follows Harry through his seven years at Hogwarts; each year (and corresponding book) he is faced with some struggle, usually to do with Voldemort. It is later revealed that Harry is the Chosen One and is the only one capable of defeating Voldemort.
Harry succeeds and Voldemort is defeated in the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In the epilogue, Harry is shown to have married Ginny Weasley and together they have three children: James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter, and Lily Luna Potter.
Harry also makes an appearance in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Fandom
Harry is a popular character among the series' transformative fandom: of the approximately 550,000 works in the fandom on Archive of Our Own, over half tag Harry as a character (as of December 2024)[1]; however, some have noted that he is not as popular as others as fans' favourite character. In 2018, fanartist upthehillart surveyed a group of over 10,000 fans about their favourite characters; Harry was ranked only sixth.[2][Note 1]
Fanon
- Harry being oblivious/bad with names to explain inconsistencies in the canon (popularized by Maya)
- Harry having (uncanonical) psychological consequences of being raised in a cupboard (related: "Kathy/B. Bennett Therapy Theory" / Chain-smoking Harry[3])
- One step up from the above is Sexually Abused!Harry, who is sexually abused by the Dursleys, and frequently rescued by Snape
- Dark!Harry. This ranges from Harry using some dark magic to Harry teaming up with or replacing Voldemort, becoming Dark Lord Potter.
- Powerful!Harry (sometimes "Super Harry" or "BAMF Harry" on AO3[4]), Azkaban!Harry, Slytherin!Harry
- Raising Harry is a genre of adoption fics in which Harry is found or adopted by someone other than the Dursleys, often in a crossover with another fandom. This isn't unique to this fandom, but it is seen far more often than in other fandoms.
- While a secondary canon source suggests the shape of Harry's scar is based on the movements for Avada Kedavra, it became a trend in fanart to draw Harry's scar looking like a real lightning bolt after a piece by burdge on Tumblr in 2014 (see the Gallery section).[5]
- Interpreting Harry as biracial, often as Indian, Pakistani or black on his dad's side, was popularised on Tumblr in the mid-10s. This is often used to give extra context to the Dursleys' treatment of him and opinion on his father, or to why it's so noticeable that he has "his mother's eyes".[6][7][8]
- Bisexual!Harry is a common interpretation, due to the fact that the canon narrative is from Harry's perspective and describes several male characters as very handsome (including Tom Riddle, Sirius Black, and Cedric Diggory). This became especially popular on Tumblr around the mid-10s.[9] The phrase "The Bi Who Lived" was coined by an anon interacting with a Tumblr blog centered around this headcanon in 2015.[10] Fanart examples include: bi harry: the awakening by sadfishkid (2016), Quidditch Jocks and Sexual Awakening by upthehillart (2018), and untitled art by winteamelon (2020).
Shipping
The most popular ship (and most popular slash ship) on AO3 is Harry/Draco, with over 76,000 works. The second most popular ship involving Harry is Harry/Snape, with less than a third of the number of works.[11] Other common slash ships include Harry/Ron and Harry/Voldemort.
Popular het ships including Harry are Harry/Ginny and Harry/Hermione. During the series' publishing, these two ships caused some discussion and wank among fans over which of these two pairings would become canon[12]. Some people also wrote lengthy shipping essays on the topic[13].
Additionally, the threesome ship Harry/Ron/Hermione is popular. Other threesomes or moresomes are also common (eg Harry/Snape/Voldemort, Harry/Draco/Snape), as are Harry/"Harem" stories in some fannish circles (FanFiction.net?).
In crossovers Harry is often paired with other characters, usually of roughly the same age but sometimes much older; in Buffy crossovers usually Harry/Dawn Summers, in comics crossovers typical examples include Harry/Supergirl, Harry/Rogue, Harry/Poison Ivy, and so forth. Slash ships seem to be much rarer in crossovers.
Example Fanworks
Doujinshi
- Little Polarstar (2001)
- London Choutokkyuu (2002)
Front cover of the doujinshi Aggressive DNA by Black Tea
Front cover of the doujinshi Inazuma 1 (イナズマ①) by Kurosusutou
Front cover of the doujinshi Magical World by Sara Choco's - Although Harry has green eyes in canon, this art gives him blue eyes, perhaps influenced by Harry's appearance in the films (Daniel Radcliffe has blue eyes).
Fanfiction
- Eternal Return by Silver Pard. For the Greater Good. Harry understands this. Dark!Harry
- The Tao of Job by Mad_Maudlin. Every rule has its exception, and there are forces in the universe to which even Percy Weasley has to yield Harry/Percy
- Whispers in Corners by esama. A solitary Harry uses the Gaunt ring to act as a psychic. Novel-length crossover with Sherlock; Harry/Mycroft (2011)
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. A controversial AU epic, in which Harry's stepfather is a biochemist and Harry is a precocious scientist/logician (2010–2015)
- Blood Magic by houseofhebrideanblacks and Thestralsofspinnersend. Postwar Drarry as Harry and Draco recover from trauma and addiction (2020)
- The Boy In My Dreams by howtomakelovestay (2022)
Fanart
- Tired, Potter? by saff (2017)
Slytherin!Harry by Maria-Hideki (2017)
I open at the close by GoldSeven (Jenny Dolfen) - An illustration of a scene from Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter by writcraft
Harry with Hedwig by Ahmed Abdel Al
Harry talking to a snake by JattGoi
Fanvids
- A Very Potter Musical Series by StarKid Productions. A three-play, parody series based on the Harry Potter books. It mixes events from multiple books in each play and follows Harry on a more comedic telling of the story. It found huge success on Youtube, where it remains posted to view for free.
Fansites
Communities & Archives
Archives
- Potter Slash Archive (website) - for Harry slash pairings
- Kiss The Boy (Wayback) - for Harry slash pairings except for Harry/Snape
- Harry fanworks at the Archive of Our Own
Communities on LiveJournal
- boy_who_shipped - Harry-centric fic and art; no gen or original characters
- harry_slash - Harry-centric slash; no crossover pairings
- harryslash - Harry-centric slash; no crossover pairings
Challenges
See Also
- Just Harry by jwynn at idol_reflection
Notes
- ^ See also, for example, this 2021 Reddit post, Archived version which asks "Is anybody’s favourite character Harry?".
References
- ^ "Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling – Works, Archived version". Archive of Our Own. (Accessed 25 Dec 2024)
- ^ Upthehill [@upthethillart]. "Harry Potter Survey:Results, Archived version". Tumblr, 3 Apr 2018. (Accessed 24 Dec 2024)
- ^ The Sugar Quill. Sugar Quill Glossary: KBTT.
- ^ archiveofourown
- ^ burdge
- ^ tenderpotter
- ^ jkrowlingaintshit
- ^ Can you explain why many people think Harry Potter is desi? Not hating just curious! That's so lovely!! by hpmetacollection via Tumblr, published September 10, 2017 (Accessed June 5, 2020). Archived version
- ^ bisexualharrypotter
- ^ bisexualharrypotter
- ^ Canonical Relationship Tags Matching 'Harry Potter', AO3
- ^ Fandom Wank Wiki on Harry/Hermione related wank.
- ^ Symbolic Flight: Part #1, by ginny_weasley, who criticizes a number of arguments made by Harry/Hermione shippers.