Hey everyone! Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’ll
be addressing the question: What happened to Harry Potter’s grandparents? Who were
they? How did they die?
James and Lily Potter were murdered by Voldemort at the very young age of 21. The films sort
of paint a different picture in that the actors portraying them are seemingly much older than
this. I think that when most people find out just how young James & Lily actually were,
they’re usually a bit surprised.
So if James & Lily were only 21, it should be very safe to assume that some of Harry’s
grandparents would still be alive. JK Rowling has stated, and we’ve seen, that witches
and wizards can live for a very long time - much longer than a normal human. So it always
seems unusual that Harry wouldn’t have a single grandparent- after all, he should have
4!
Let’s start with Lily’s parents, the Evans’. The books have stated that both of Lily’s
parents died “normal muggle deaths” - without going in to any detail. We know that they
both died sometime between 1971 and 1981, because in 1971 they saw Lily off to Hogwarts
at platform nine and three quarters, and in 1981 Lily was murdered (we know them to be
dead at this point). It’s unusual that they would have died in this timeframe, and I’m
really not sure what constitutes a ‘normal muggle death’. It definitely isn’t old
age, because they would have been far too young. So, if it wasn’t old age-what’s
a normal death? Cancer? Heart attack? It’s really hard to say. Provided that all of the
information we have on their deaths groups them together, and that they were so young,
I suspect some foul play. Lily and James Potter were both very outgoing witches and wizards,
joining the Order of the Pheonix and actively participating in the fight against evil. This
meant that they were very much on the radar of the deatheaters. In the Harry Potter films,
we’ve seen many instances of deatheaters tyrannizing muggle london and attacking muggles,
so why would Lily’s parents be an exception? My theory is that because Lily was so prominent
in the fight against evil, having defied Voldemort 3 times, she made her family a target. Because
her parents were both muggles, they would have had no means of defending themselves-
and the death eaters could have visited them and ended their lives instantly.
In a deleted scene from harry potter and the deathly hallows, Harry approaches Petunia
and says the following in reference to the deatheaters:
“They’ll torture you, if they think for a moment that you know where I’m going,
they’ll stop at nothing” To which she responds;
“You think I don’t know what they’re capable of?”
To me this implies that Petunia knows more about the wizarding world than previously
implied. She’s initially painted as a little bit ignorant towards everything going on,
but really I think that she knows exactly what’s happening, because she’s experienced
it before with not only Lily, but her parents as well. This would also explain her adamant
hatred of everything magical.
So that’s my theory, this of course contradicts what JK Rowling has said, so take from it
what you will, but I just found myself unhappy with her original answer. What do you guys
think?
Ok, moving on to James’s parents. James’s parents were Fleamont and Euphemia Potter.
They were both pure blood witches and wizards that came from affluence. Fleamont was the
ancestor of Linfred of Stinchcombe who invented an extensive number of potions. Fleamont himself
was also an avid potion maker, and created the Sleekeazy’s hair potion which quadrupled
the family’s gold. Unlike Lily’s mother, Euphemia became pregnant with James much later
in her life- and gave birth to him in March 1960. While their deaths were not particularly
interesting either, there is a little more information that has been provided. In my
last video, I discussed all of the wizarding diseases, epidemics and ailments. One in particular,
dragon pox, was the cause of both of their deaths. Dragon Pox is a contagious disease
occurring in wizards and witches that can be fatal. It is similar in nature to the muggle
chicken pox. It leaves little pock marks on the skin, and can result in a lasting greenish
tinge. In some cases, it can result in a green-and-purple rash between the toes and sparks that come
out of the nostrils when the patient sneezes. It sort of makes sense that they both would
have died from this, because they were vulnerable and old, and the disease i very contagious.
Perhaps because of their age, they weren’t able to properly fight the disease - similar
to the way that the chicken pox virus intensifies and develops as shingles in adults. I don’t
have a theory for how they died, because I am somewhat satisified with it. However, I
would have loved to have seen/heard more about these characters in the books and films.
And that concludes the video! I hope you guys enjoyed it. What do think of my first theory?
Makes sense, or out of line for questioning what Rowling has stated. Let me know in the
comment section down below.
Until next time
There is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher- what not to do, how not to be