Harry Potter (character) - Wikipedia

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.[2] 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."[3]

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 of the first book because she related to it herself.[2] 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".[4] 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 [her]".[5]

In the novels, Harry is described as having his father's perpetually untidy black hair, his mother's bright green eyes, and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. At the beginning of the series, he is short and skinny for his age, but in later novels he grows enough that other characters describe him as tall.[6] Harry has a thin face and "knobbly" knees, and he wears Windsor glasses, which Rowling said point to his vulnerability.[7] When asked about the meaning behind Harry's scar, Rowling said she wanted him to be "physically marked by what he has been through". She said the scar is "an outward expression of what he has been through inside".[8]

Rowling has described Harry as honourable.[9][10] She says that he is strongly guided by his own conscience, and has a keen feeling of what is right and wrong. In her eyes, he is competitive but not cruel, and he is a fighter who refuses to take abuse. She calls him a normal boy who has qualities most people admire, which makes him a hero in her view, and very likeable.[11] She has claimed that Harry is a suitable role model for real-world children.[12]

Rowling admits that Harry sometimes makes mistakes, and she says his character flaws include anger and impulsiveness.[9][10] She said that because he has limited access to caring adults, he is forced to make his own choices at a younger age than most people.[13] According to Rowling, a pivotal moment in Harry's life occurs in the fourth novel, when he protects the body of Cedric Diggory from Voldemort, because it shows he is brave and selfless.[14]