In this video, we’re going to be discussing an iconic symbol in Harry Potter,
and that is Harry’s scar. We all know how he got it, and what it looks like,
but I don’t think that it’s signature lightning bolt shape has ever been properly explained. Why
does it look the way that it does? Is this lightning bolt shape significant?
On the 31st of October, 1981, Lord Voldemort entered the home of Lily, James, and Harry Potter
and attempted to murder them all. Voldemort was successful in killing Harry’s parents, Lily &
James, but wasn’t able to kill Harry as a result of his mother’s sacrificial protection. When
Voldemort cast the killing curse, avada kedavra, on Harry, he inadvertently turned Harry Into a
Horcrux, embedding a piece of his own soul inside of Harry and forging a connection between the two.
When Harry was old enough to attend Hogwarts he was introduced to the Wizarding World where he
was met with praise and fame having survived an attack from the dark lord himself. For years,
Harry’s scar caused him pain, particularly when Lord Voldemort was closeby. J.K Rowling herself
has stated that the pain emanating from his scar is actually caused by the piece of Voldemort’s
soul attempting to leave Harry’s body so that it can rejoin it’s masters soul.The connection
between the two of them was strong, and it wasn’t until Voldemort died that Harry’s pain stopped.
So with that brief backstory established, we can confirm a few things:
Harry has a lightning bolt SHAPED scar
Voldemort attempted to kill him with Avada Kedavra Harry’s mother used sacrificial protection
So, all of this information considered, the question remains,
WHY on earth is the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt? Lightning bolts are cool and all,
but we haven’t seen lightning bolts mentioned anywhere - so what’s the significance?
One theory is that the signature
‘lighting bolt’ shape is actually the shape of the wand movement when casting Avada Kedavra.
Here we can see the wand movement for Avada Kedavra, looks familiar, doesn’t it? Despite
the perhaps slightly more jagged edges of Harry’s scar, they look pretty identical.
This explanation is unfortunately less exciting than preposterous alternatives like:
-Harry’s lightning scar gives him the powers of thor
-Harry has super speed like the flash
However, what’s a little unusual about this theory is that in the movies and books neither voldemort
nor the death eaters appear to cast avada kedavra in this fashion. For the most part, they just
point their wand in a straight line and state the incantation. I think that the original source of
this ‘wand movement’ comes from the games- and I’m not convinced that they are canonically
consistent. Perhaps this means that there is a stronger connection between avada kedavra
and the scar than we might have originally thought. There are two theories for how avada
kedavra kills people, the first claiming that the victims internal organs cease to function
after being struck, and the second claiming that the soul of the victim
is magically ripped from their body. I feel like this second theory bears some merit.
IF Lily Potter used sacrificial protection on Harry, this would have severely interfered with
the traditional process of Avada Kedavra, which perhaps could have caused the spell
to be stunted. I think that something like this happened: Due to the sheer force of avada
kedavra and lord Voldemorts power, the spell initially made successful contact with Harry.
However, as Harry’s soul was ripped from his body, the sacrificial protection provided by Lily
stopped the spell in it’s tracks, inflicting a physical mark on Harry through the clashing of
powerful magic. Simultaneously, Voldemort’s spell caused Harry to become a Horcrux,
and a piece of his soul entered in to Harry’s body through the same point of contact,
reinforcing the injury that harry had already sustained.
The signature lightning bolt ‘shape’ was the result of Voldemort’s spell changing direction-
creating three ‘points’. The first point was created when the killing curse first hit Harry,
the second point created when Lily’s sacrificial protection kicked in and clashed with it,
and the third point being when the killing curse rebounded back toward voldemort. I know that
traditionally the killing curse doesn’t leave a mark- but these are extenuating circumstances.
What do you guys think? Do you think that Harry’s scar is related to the wand movement of avada
kedavra, or something else altogether? How about the three point theory? Leave a comment down below
Until next time
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live