Harry Potter (character)

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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
The Chosen One by VarshaVijayan.
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Harry Potter is the main character of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Canon

Harry Potter is the main character of the seven-book series Harry Potter. He a halfblood wizard, son of James Potter and Lily Evans, who lives with his aunt Petunia Dursley, her husband, and her son after his parents were killed by Lord Voldemort. Growing up he is treated poorly by his Muggle relatives, Harry was made to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs and knows nothing about magic before his eleventh birthday.

Harry attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 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 of Deathly Hallows, 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

Archives

Communities on LiveJournal

Challenges

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[1])
  • 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[2]), 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).[3]
  • 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".[4][5][6]
  • 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.[7] The phrase "The Bi Who Lived" was coined by an anon interacting with a Tumblr blog centered around this headcanon in 2015.[8] 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

Popular het ships including Harry are Harry/Ginny and Harry/Hermione, which caused some discussion and wank among fans over which of these two pairings would become canon[9]. Some people also wrote lengthy shipping essays on the topic[10].

Popular slash ships include Harry/Snape and Harry/Draco. Other common slash ships include Harry/Ron and Harry/Voldemort.

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

Fanfiction

Fanart

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

See Also

References

  1. ^ The Sugar Quill. Sugar Quill Glossary: KBTT.
  2. ^ archiveofourown
  3. ^ burdge
  4. ^ tenderpotter
  5. ^ jkrowlingaintshit
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ bisexualharrypotter
  8. ^ bisexualharrypotter
  9. ^ Fandom Wank Wiki on Harry/Hermione related wank.
  10. ^ Symbolic Flight: Part #1, by ginny_weasley, who criticizes a number of arguments made by Harry/Hermione shippers.
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