Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/James Potter
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| James Potter | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Hazel |
| Related Family | Lily Potter, Harry Potter |
| Loyalty | Lily Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
James Potter is the father of Harry Potter, the hero of the series. James' death at the hands of Lord Voldemort offstage, just before the opening chapter of the first book, sets up the conflict in the entire series.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
Though introduced as Harry's dead father, James Potter plays no direct role in this book. His image appears in the Mirror of Erised when Harry finds it the first time at Christmas, and a large number of pictures of him are in the photo album given to Harry by Rubeus Hagrid just before Harry leaves the school for the summer. Hagrid has mentioned also that James Potter was head boy in his seventh year at Hogwarts. James apparently owned an Invisibility Cloak that was given to Harry at Christmas, and then mysteriously returned to him in May when he had misplaced it. This Cloak becomes an important tool for Harry, Ron, and Hermione in exploring the school.
[edit] Prisoner of Azkaban
The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year is Remus Lupin, who was one of James' best friends; at a number of points in the story, there is discussion between Harry and Professor Lupin about James. Additionally, the scenes in the Shrieking Shack involve Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, all James' close friends, and include a number of details about their mutual school days. One major revelation is that James was an unregistered Animagus.
When Harry, Hermione, and Sirius Black are being attacked by the Dementors, someone casts a Patronus charm; Harry initially believes it to be James.
It was also revealed at the end of this book that the form James took as an Animagus was that of a stag. This had earlier caused some disquiet to Lupin; Harry's Patronus charm took the shape of a stag, and Lupin seems to have recognized it.
[edit] Goblet of Fire
In the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while Harry is battling Lord Voldemort in the graveyard, the Priori Incantatem effect causes shadows of the people Voldemort has killed to begin appearing. among others, Harry's father and mother appear and speak with him. They then gather around Voldemort, hindering his attack on Harry after the connection between the wands is broken, for just long enough that Harry is able to escape.
In earlier editions of the books, there was the famous mistake of the wand order. The shadows appear from Voldemort's wand starting with the most recent and proceeding towards the oldest, but in early editions of the book, James appears before Lily, implying that he died after her. This was corrected by the author in later editions.
[edit] Order of the Phoenix
Late in the book, Harry views a story of James Potter during his schooling days with his best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, as revealed through Professor Snape’s memories made accessible via Dumbledore's Pensieve.
“It was as though he was looking at himself but with deliberate mistakes. James’s eyes were hazel, his nose was longer than Harry’s, and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows. James’s hair stuck up at the back exactly as Harry’s did, his hands could have been Harry’s and Harry could tell that when James stood up they would be within an inch of each other’s heights.” (Rowling, OotP, 641 USA)
In that memory, Harry sees his father, apparently unprovoked, tormenting Snape. The current-day Snape catches him and hauls him bodily out of that memory. Harry is deeply disturbed, as his perception of his father has been so rapidly changed. He remembers Snape's earlier statement that James had almost managed to get him killed, and wonders where the truth lies; he himself would not have acted the way his father did, and yet everyone is saying his father was such a good person.
Harry broods for a long time over this revelation, eventually breaking in to Professor Umbridge's office so that he can talk to Sirius Black via the Floo network. There, speaking with Sirius and Lupin, Harry learns that the memory did happen, but that James had gotten to be less of a bully as he matured. This does not console Harry, though, as he is now the same age that James was in the memory, and he is not beating up people in his class.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
Harry mentions, after Dumbledore's funeral, that he has to visit Godric's Hollow, as that is where everything began. He feels, among other things, that he must visit his parents' graves.
[edit] Deathly Hallows
Harry learns that Albus Dumbledore had lived in Godric's Hollow, just as his parents had, and also that Bathilda Bagshot did as well. Bathilda, old as she is, may remember something of Harry's parents and of Dumbledore, both of whom he is very interested in finding out more about. Harry has already decided to visit Godric's Hollow, as mentioned above; circumstances, however, prevent his doing so until Christmas. In the meanwhile, he finds a letter from his mother to Sirius in which Lily says that Dumbledore had borrowed James' invisibility cloak.
He and Hermione arrive at Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve. Crossing the village square, Harry sees that the war memorial, to a Wizard's eye, contains a statue of his parents and himself. In the churchyard, he finds his parents' gravestone; Hermione creates a wreath of roses to lay upon it. Leaving the village, Harry finds the cottage where his parents had lived; it has been made into something of a memorial for them, with the wall still showing the effects of the magical blast that had resulted from Voldemort's attempt to kill him.
As they escape from Godric's Hollow, Harry sees, through the link between his mind and Voldemort's, Voldemort's memories of the night his parents had died. James, caught unawares by Voldemort, had tried to face him down without even a wand, and had fallen almost immediately.
It is not much later than this when Harry, Hermione, and Ron visit Xenophilius Lovegood. It is there that Harry learns that the Invisibility Cloak that his father had left him was one of the three Deathly Hallows. It was because it was such a unique artifact that Dumbledore had borrowed it from James: he had wanted to study it. We will find out over the course of the book that Dumbledore, as a young man, had been fascinated by the Hallows, and so the chance to study the second of the three was absolutely impossible to pass up, as was the chance to study the third one later.
Harry eventually learns that his fate is inextricably entwined with Voldemort's, that he must face, and be killed by, Voldemort in order that Voldemort might die. His fear at this is too great to allow him to pass the Dementors guarding the edge of the Forbidden Forest, so making use of the Resurrection Stone, Harry summons the shades of his father and mother, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black to give him courage. As he reaches the clearing where Voldemort awaits, he deliberately drops the stone, releasing the four shades.
[edit] Strengths
[edit] Weaknesses
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
James is married to Lily Potter (Evans).
During his time as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James (with Sirius Black) often tormented Severus Snape resulting in Severus and James hating one another.
