Hey everyone! Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
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