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Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

Why is Harry's scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

This is not a mistake.

If you had noticed the scene properly, as soon as Professor Lupin takes care of the Boggart, the camera pans into the mirror of the wardrobe. The whole perspective at that time is then based on the reflection in the mirror, and therefore, the scar is on the left side.

Who told the public about Harry Potter’s scar on his forehead? He was moved away from the magical world after the attack.

This is an interesting question. Let us have a look at the possible candidates.

  • Dumbledore: Nah, he is very reserved. I can’t picture him going around the media talking about the lightning scar. Besides, for every practical reason, he would have wanted to hide this information from the public.
  • Mcgonagall: Well, anything that Dumbledore would not do, Mcgonagall would not do it either. So, she is out of the equation as well.
  • Snape: Well, I don’t think he would care much about the boy. But, well, he might have told it to Lucius. We see from the books that Draco was pretty annoyed with the scar, from his statement about how Harry was famous for his stupid scar. This suggests that he grew up with constant talks about this scar. So, it is a likely candidate.
  • Hagrid: Ah, he is the most likely candidate to give this information away. He’s well known for his loose lips, especially when you provide him with drinks. I could picture Rita Skeeter inviting him over to a date at the Leaky Cauldron. Jokes apart, it is extremely likely that he gave this information away in some pubs.
  • Miss Figg: She was told to keep tabs on Harry. Harry used to visit her, too. She was an older woman living all alone. She had nobody to talk to. This fits well with someone who would love to talk with anyone who gives her even the slightest attention. However, this argument has some problems since Miss Figg is dead serious about Dumbledore’s orders.

Harry Potter: “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a Squib, Mrs Figg? All those times I came round your house — why didn’t you say anything?”

Mrs Figg: “Dumbledore’s orders. I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, and you were too young. I’m sorry I gave you such a miserable time, Harry, but the Dursleys would never have let you come if they’d thought you enjoyed it. It wasn’t easy, you know…”

  • Sirius Black saw him. But I think he needed more time to tell anyone. But did he say it during some of his dreams (like the one in which he says that he is at Hogwarts)? Well, only JKR knows!
  • Other wizards knew Harry, too. For example, Dedalus Diggle was one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, and he once met him during his early childhood in a shop and bowed to him. Any of them could set the information loose.
  • It’s also possible that the ministry did a formal investigation. The death of Voldemort was a very important issue. The ministry would not let such a topic slide by just because Dumbledore said so.

And people love to gossip.

Once even a single person knows about this, something as important as this would spread like wildfire. It would be a matter of gossip around the pubs all over the wizarding world.

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

How did people know Harry had a scar?

Suppose only three people actually saw the Boy Who Lived before he was delivered to Vernon and Petunia Dursley at Privet Drive. How did the rest of the wizarding community know about the scar on Harry Potter’s head?

My money’s on Rubeus Hagrid as Hogsmeade’s and Diagon Alley’s unofficial town crier. We know Rubeus was not the most socially adept of wizards, easily tricked into disclosing pertinent and secret information.

Hagrid was always just a tad too open and honest for his good, on top of how much he also enjoyed a good tankard of mead or two whenever he visited the Hogs Head Inn or the Leaky Cauldron.

Rubeus likely loosened his tongue to a great number of people in the celebration following the immediate aftermath of the First Wizarding War and the first destruction of Lord Voldemort.

“This is it,” said Hagrid… “the Leaky Cauldron. It’s a famous place.”…

…Everyone seemed to know Hagrid… …the bartender reached for a glass, saying, “The usual, Hagrid?”

“Can’t, Tom, I’m on Hogwarts business,” said Hagrid…

“Good Lord,” said the bartender, peering at Harry, “is this – can this be – ?”

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Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

“Bless my soul,” whispered the old bartender, “Harry Potter… what an honor.”…

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling

It’s not like Hagrid committed some great sin in breaking a wizard’s code of silence; it was only a suspicion on Albus Dumbledore’s part that Voldemort was only be temporarily defeated and the wizarding community was in such good spirits following the Dark Lord’s downfall, there wasn’t any reason to keep the events at Godric’s Hollow a secret.

Witches and wizards were bound to wonder about the destruction of the Potter home and the disappearance of James and Lily Potter, so their demise was going to be a public record at some point.

Heck, Hagrid probably did more clarifying and correcting than outright tale-telling when rumors began to spread, and outlandish accounts and anecdotes started wafting through the magical community about who knew what or was where when the Potter tragedy unfolded.

I mean, can’t you hear Hagrid overhearing someone like Mundungus Fletcher spouting off some nonsense at the Three Broomsticks about the Potters and Harry, to which Rubeus might respond with something along the lines of, “Tha’s a load of codswallop, that is! Don’t listen to ‘nother word fro’ that dunderhead! If yer going to ‘ear an account, it might as well be the right one…”

And it probably ended with something like, “… an’ now Harry carries a scar right ‘bou’ ‘ere (Hagrid pointing to his forehead), and it’s just the shape of a bolt o’ lightning…”

What shape is the scar on Harry Potter’s forehead?

Although commonly described as a “lightning bolt,” there is another possibility:

That is the Sowilo rune, which symbolizes the sun, life, and protection.

And that is Sowilo inverted; an inverted rune has the opposite meaning, so instead of protection, it’s destruction; instead of life, it’s death. And guess what? An inverted Sowilo is also the wand movement associated with the Killing Curse.

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

Why is Harry's scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?
Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

Why did Harry’s scar hurt at the beginning of GOF?

Harry is connected to Voldemort through a special bond forged by the killing curse rebounding and causing part of Voldemort’s Soul to reside in him.

Due to this, Harry can feel extreme emotions toward Voldemort and can even see them in his dreams; hence, his scar hurts (because it is the unknown reaction caused by the incident and makes a deep connection with Harry’s memories and his Soul).

During the beginning of GOF, Harry sees that Voldemort kills the security guard of the Riddle house, so obviously, Voldemort is feeling the pleasure of killing ecstasy, which he is actively transmitting to Harry through their telepathic connection.

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Why was Harry Potter’s scar in the shape of a lightning bolt?

The previous answers (and probably Rowling herself) have stated that the lightning bolt is the wand movement of the killing curse, but I don’t think that makes any sense.

If different spells have different movements, Harry shouldn’t have been able to use any spells if he hadn’t learned the movement beforehand. Yet he was able to use the curses he found in the Half-Blood Prince’s book. He was even able to use the cruciatus curse against Carrow – and I seriously doubt he had looked up the movement for that one.

I prefer another theory: what if Harry’s scar had the shape of an actual lightning bolt and not a Z?

This looks so much more like a serious injury than the Z in the movie. According to this theory, his head was split open when the curse rebounded. The curse didn’t leave a scar immediately. In fact, the mark on baby Harry’s face is described as a cut and not a scar in the book.

EDIT 1: Joyce Yang pointed out that the class was told to “swish and flick” when they practiced the Levitation Charm in their first year. According to this theory, however, the “swish and flick” movement applies to all charms – not only Wingardium Leviosa.

That explains why the class spent so much time learning how to “swish and flick” in the beginning (before they even began learning any charms) and then never mentioned wand movement again.

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

EDIT 2: Do not judge a book by its cover. Yes, Harry’s scar is shaped like a Z on most of the cover art, but those pictures also differ from the books in other ways. Harry is, for example, drawn with flat hair on the original cover of The Philosopher’s Stone, even though it’s clearly described as messy.

You don’t have to accept this theory if you don’t want to, but it’s way more believable than the wand movement theory – it contains way too many plot holes.

If wand movement were important, the teachers wouldn’t have expected the students to be able to use new spells without explaining the wand movement beforehand – but that’s exactly what happens, time and time again.

Why does Harry’s scar hurt when Snape looks at him?

It wasn’t so much that Professor Snape looked at him but that Professor Quirrell was sat opposite Professor Snape, exposing the back of his turbaned head where the parasitic entity of Lord Voldemort resided. Lord Voldemort is the cause of Harry’s pain. 

Being in the vicinity of Lord Voldemort provoked pain, such as Harry’s experiences in Professor Quirrell’s classroom.

Does Harry Potter have a scar in real life?

This question confused me for a second, but now I get it. If you mean the actor who played Harry in the films, Daniel Radcliffe, then no, he does not.

Why didn’t Dumbledore heal Harry Potter’s scar?

Because the scar was the result of a powerful curse as well as being part of the connection to Voldemort.

The scar could not be healed so long as the piece of Voldemort was inside Harry, and the only way to remove it was to kill him. Dumbledore did not want to kill Harry, so he didn’t bother trying to do something that couldn’t be done.

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?

Where is Harry Potter’s scar originally on his head?

Harry’s scar is off-center on his forehead, above his right eye, as shown in the movies. The placement was done at J. K. Rowling’s insistence because many American fans were led to believe that the scar was in the middle of his forehead. After all, this is where illustrations in the American books showed it.

The British illustrations show it off-center, but the scar’s location should be specifically mentioned in the text. It is hinted to be on the right side of his forehead (in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it says Harry received pain above his right eye). It was also noted that his hair easily covered the scar.

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Did Professor Trelawney ever predict that Harry Potter would have “the scar” on his forehead?

Professor Trelawney’s prophesy said nothing about a scar. What it did say was: “The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.

And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies”.

Why didn’t Harry feel his scar burning when a Horcrux was near him?

Harry’s scar was the connection between him and Lord Voldemort that enabled him to feel things Voldemort felt(mostly strong negative emotions) and get a glimpse of the Dark Lord’s thought process.

His scar used to burn only when Voldemort was near him. The pain was because the Horcrux (accidentally) would try to get out of Harry’s body and rejoin Voldemort. Therefore​, Harry could only hear the Horcruxes and not feel them.

They (Horcruxes) definitely do not have strong negative emotions or would cause Horcrux in Harry to join them. Only because Harry was one of the Horcruxes he felt connected to them and could hear them.

Why is Harry’s scar on the left of his forehead in this sequence?