{{infobox writing system |name	Śāradā |sampleKashmir Sharada MS.jpg |captionKashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) |typeAbugida |languagesKashmiriSanskrit |timec. 800 CE–present (almost extinct) |regionIndia, Pakistan, Central Asia
Fam1	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet[a]
Fam2	Phoenician alphabet[a]
Fam3	Aramaic alphabet[a] |footnotes[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. |fam4Brāhmī |fam5Gupta |sistersNāgarī |childrenGurmukhīTakriLanda |unicodeU+11180–U+111DF |iso15924Shrd }}

The Śāradā, or Sharada, script () is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from around the 8th century. The Gurmukhī script was developed from Śāradā. Originally more widespread, its use became later restricted to Kashmir, and it is now rarely used except by the Kashmiri Pandit community for ceremonial purposes. Śāradā is another name for Saraswati, the goddess of learning.

The Śāradā script was accepted for encoding in the Unicode standard.

Alphabet

Vowels

File:Sharada i.svgFile:Sharada ii.svg

File:Sharada a.svg	24px a अ	24px i इ ||	File:Sharada u.svg>24px u उ	File:Sharada ri.svg>24px ऋ	File:Sharada li.svg>24px ऌ	File:Sharada e.svg>24px e ए	File:Sharada o.svg>24px o ओ
File:Sharada aa.svg	24px ā आ	24px ī ई||	File:Sharada uu.svg>24px ū ऊ	File:Sharada rii.svg>24px ॠ		File:Sharada ai.svg>24px ai ऐ	File:Sharada au.svg>24px au औ

File:Sharada am.svg	24px अं	File:Sharada ah.svg>24px अः

Consonants

File:Sharada kh.svgFile:Sharada ch.svgFile:Sharada tth.svgFile:Sharada th.svgFile:Sharada ph.svgFile:Sharada r.svgFile:Sharada ss.svg

File:Sharada k.svg	24px k क	24px kh ख||	File:Sharada g.svg>24px g ग	File:Sharada gh.svg>24px gh घ	File:Sharada ng.svg>24px ङ
File:Sharada c.svg	24px c च	24px ch छ||	File:Sharada j.svg>24px j ज	File:Sharada jh.svg>24px jh झ	File:Sharada ny.svg>24px ñ ञ
File:Sharada tt.svg	24px ट	24px ठ||	File:Sharada dd.svg>24px ड	File:Sharada ddh.svg>24px ढ	File:Sharada nn.svg>24px ण
File:Sharada t.svg	24px t त	24px th थ||	File:Sharada d.svg>24px d द	File:Sharada dh.svg>24px dh ध	File:Sharada n.svg>24px n न
File:Sharada p.svg	24px p प	24px ph फ||	File:Sharada b.svg>24px b ब	File:Sharada bh.svg>24px bh भ	File:Sharada m.svg>24px m म
File:Sharada y.svg	24px y य	24px r र||	File:Sharada l.svg>24px l ल	File:Sharada v.svg>24px v व
File:Sharada sh.svg	24px ś श	24px ष||	File:Sharada s.svg>24px s स	File:Sharada h.svg>24px h ह

See also

Sharada Peeth in Kashmir

References

External links

ancientscripts.com

Prevalence of the Śāradā Script in Afghanistan

Akṣara List of the Manuscript of Abhidharmadīpa , ca. the 11th Century, Collection of Sanskrit Mss. Formerly Preserved in the China Ethnic Library

Category:Brahmic scripts Category:Sarada script Category:History of Kashmir

br:Śāradā fr:Alphabet sharda hi:शारदा लिपि ml:ശാരദ ലിപി pl:Śarada pt:Sharada ru:Шарада (письмо) sa:शारदा लिपि th:อักษรศารทา zh:夏拉達文

:''The Indian name Mohandas is a patronymic, not a family name; thus, the person should be referred to by her given name, "Mamta"''.

birth date	November 14, 1985
birth place	Manama, Bahrain
yearsactive	2005–present
occupation	Actress, playback singer
religion	Hindu }}

Mamta Mohandas is an Indian film actress and playback singer. She has mainly acted in Malayalam films, besides few Telugu and Tamil productions and one Kannada film. She has won two Filmfare Awards, for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2007 and for Best Actress in Malalayam in 2010.

Background

Mamta was born on 14 November 1985 in Bahrain into a MalayaliEzhava family. She attended the Indian School, Bahrain until 2002. She pursued a Bachelor's degree at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. Being slim and tall at 173 cm, she modeled for print ads for companies such as IBM and Kalyan Kendra and modeled on the ramp for the Mysore Maharajah and Raymonds. Mamta is trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music.

Career

Acting

Mamta débuted in the 2005 Malayalam film ''Mayookham'', directed by Hariharan. Although the film did not do well at the box office, Mamta attracted attention for her sensitive portrayal of Indira.

Subsequently, she acted alongside Mammootty in ''Bus Conductor'', with Suresh Gopi in the films ''Adbutham'' (2006) and ''Lanka'' (2006), and alongside Jayaram in ''Madhuchandralekha'' (2006). She also played the female lead in ''Baba Kalyani'' with Mohanlal. Later that year, she débuted in the Tamil film industry, starring in the Karu Pazhaniappan-directed film ''Sivappathigaram'' opposite Vishal Krishna, which turned out to be an average grosser.

In 2007 she acted with Mammootty in the blockbuster film ''Big B''. She eventually stepped into the Telugu film industry as well, when she appeared in a supporting role in the film ''Yamadonga'', directed by SS Rajamouli. The film became one of the biggest hits of the year. She had lent her voice for a couple of songs in this film too. In 2008, she appeared in 7 films, predominantly in Telugu-language films. Her first release was her début Kannada film ''Gooli''. She then starred in the film ''Krishnarjuna'', essaying the lead female role, which did not well at the box office. ''Victory'' was her next assignment as lead actress, but that film also failed at the box office, following which she appeared in a cameo role in her only Tamil release that year, ''Kuselan'', alongside Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. Three more Telugu releases featured Mamta, including ''Homam'', directed by JD Chakravarthy and Srinu Vaitla's ''King (2008 film)'' opposite Nagarjuna. In both these films she also performed as a playback singer in several songs.

In 2009, she starred in the comedy film ''Guru En Aalu'' alongside Madhavan, and the thriller ''Passenger'', sharing screen space with Dileep and Sreenivasan, respectively. While the former had an average run at the box office, the latter was declared a surprise sleeper hit in Malayalam. The movie 'Passenger' in which she played the role of a television reporter 'Anuradha' , became a turning point in mamta's career. In 2010, she worked with Jayaram in the critically acclaimed ''Kadha Thudarunnu'' directed by Sathyan Anthikkad, fo which she won her first Best Actress Award from Filmfare. This movie also won her the 'Vanitha award for best actress - Malayalam', the 'Mathrubhumi award for best actress - Malayalam' and the 'Asianet award for the best actress- Malayalam '. Other projects in 2010 included ''Musafir'' with Rahman, ''Anwar'' with Prithiviraj, and ''Kedi'' with Nagarjuna. Mamta's first film in 2011 was the Malayalam film ''Race'', in which she played the role of Niya, wife of a cardio surgeon Abey (Kunchacko Boban). The film failed to do well at the box office. Mamta also informed through twitter that she is going to do a Tamil Film , the third in her entire career, called Thadaiyara Thaaka dir by Magizh.

Singing

Mamta is as an acclaimed playback singer in Indian films as well. Mamta, who is trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music, first sang playback in the Telugu film ''Rakhi'', singing the title song under Devi Sri Prasad's direction, making her début in the Telugu film industry as a singer before making her acting début in Telugu. She went on to win the 2007 Filmfare Best Telugu Female Playback Singer Award for that song.

Subsequently, she was asked to sing several songs for composer Devi Sri Prasad, including the chartbuster "Akalesthe Annam Pedtha" for the Chiranjeevi-starrer ''Shankardada Zindabad'' (later dubbed as ''Daddy Mummy'' in the Tamil film ''Villu''), "36-24-36" for the film ''Jagadam'', "Mia" for ''Tulasi'', and "Ghanana (Funny)" and the title song for the film ''King''. Other music directors she has worked with include M. M. Keeravani (for her own films ''Yamadonga'' and ''Krishnarjuna'', also ''Chandamama''), R. P. Patnaik (for ''Andamaina Mansulo''), Chakri (for ''Victory''), Nithin Raikwar (for her own movie ''Homam'') and Thaman (for ''Jayeebhava'').

In Tamil, she sang "Kaalai Kaalai" in the film ''Kaalai'', which starred Silambarasan in the lead role. She sang "Idai Vazhi" for the comedy film ''Goa'' under noted composer Yuvan Shankar Raja's direction. Both songs featured her singing alongside Benny Dayal. She was heard for the first time in her mother tongue, Malayalam, in the 2010 film ''Anwar''. She has also recorded a song for her recent film ''Thriller''. In the film 'Mohabath' , she sang a duet with Hariharan.

Personal life

Mamta is a cancer survivor. She battled Hodgkin's lymphoma with positive energy and confidence. She had to cut her hair off for chemotherapy sessions. In some parts of her film ''Anwar'', she managed to conceal the difference with wigs. Not many were aware of this situation until late 2010.

Special Recognitions

Mamta is the brand ambassador of Kochi International Fashion Week [KIWF]which is going to be held from August 4 to 7.

Filmography

Indira ''Bus Conductor (film) Maria Lanka Lakshmi Indulekha Charulatha Madhumitha Ashokan ''Big B (film) Dhanalakshmi ''Gooli (film) Sathya Janaki Mamta Dr. Lakshmi Lavanya Swapna/Pooja ''Guru En Aalu'' Anuradha ''Kedi (2010 film) Vidya Lakshmi Shilpa Ayesha Begum Gaadha ''Race (2011 film) Anu Leela Narayani Susi ''Thadaiyara Thaaka''

Year !! Title !! Role !! Language !! Notes
rowspan="1"	2005	''Mayookham''	|	Malayalam language>Malayalam
rowspan="6"	2006	Bus Conductor'' ||	Celina	Malayalam
''Adbutham''	|	Malayalam
''Lanka (film)	Lanka''	|	Malayalam
''Madhuchandralekha''	|	Malayalam
''Sivappathigaram''	|	Tamil language>Tamil
''Baba Kalyani (film)	Baba Kalyani''	|	Malayalam
rowspan="2"	2007	Big B'' ||	Rimi	Malayalam
''Yamadonga''	|	Telugu language>Telugu
rowspan="7"	2008	Gooli'' ||	Ramya	Kannada language>Kannada
''Krishnarjuna''	|	Telugu
''Victory (2008 Telugu film)	Victory''	|	Telugu
''Kuselan''	|	Tamil	Cameo appearance
''Homam (film)	Homam''	|	Telugu
''Chintakayala Ravi''	|	Telugu
''King (2008 film)	King''	|	Telugu
rowspan="2"	2009	|	Seema	Tamil
''Passenger (2009 film)	Passenger''	|	Malayalam	Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam
rowspan="6"	2010	Kedi'' ||	Janaki	Telugu
''Kadha Thudarunnu''	|	Malayalam	Winner, Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam Winner, Kerala State Film Award for Second Best ActressWinner, Asianet Film Awards#Most Popular Actress>Asianet Most Popular Actress Award
''Nirakazhcha''	|	Malayalam
''Anwar (2010 film)	Anwar''	|	Malayalam	Winner, Asianet Film Awards#Most Popular Actress>Asianet Most Popular Actress Award
''The Thriller''	|	Malayalam	Special appearance
''Karayilekku Oru Kadal Dooram''	|	Malayalam
rowspan="6"	2011	Race'' ||	Niya	Malayalam
''Musafir (2011 film)	Musafir''	|	Malayalam	Filming
''Leela (film)	Leela''	|	English	Filming
''Nayika (film)	Nayika''	|	Malayalam	Filming
''Mathilukalkappuram''	|	Malayalam	Pre-production
''Singaravelan (2010 film)	Singaravelan''	|	Malayalam	Pre-production
2012	|		Tamil	Filming

References

External links

"My New look Makes me feel Reborn" - Mamta Mohandas

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Indian female singers Category:Indian film actors Category:Malayali actors Category:Malayali people Category:People from Kozhikode Category:People from Manama Category:Tamil film actors Category:Tamil playback singers Category:Telugu playback singers Category:Cancer survivors Category:Malayalam playback singers

ml:മംത മോഹൻ‌ദാസ് te:మమతా మోహన్ దాస్

series	Harry Potter
name	Harry Potter
first	''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''
last	''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''
creator	J. K. Rowling
portrayer	Daniel Radcliffe
lbl1	House
data1	Gryffindor
spouse	Ginny Weasley
children	James Sirius PotterAlbus Severus PotterLily Luna Potter
family	Lily Potter (mother) James Potter (father) Sirius Black (godfather) Vernon Dursley (uncle) Petunia Dursley (aunt) Dudley Dursley (cousin) }}

Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. Thus, he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to practice magic under the guidance of the kindly headmaster Albus Dumbledore and other school professors. Harry also discovers that he is already famous throughout the novel's magical community, and that his fate is tied with that of Lord Voldemort, the nationally feared Dark Wizard and murderer of his mother and father.

Concept and creation

According to Rowling, the idea for both the Harry Potter books and its eponymous protagonist came while waiting for a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990. She as a child always wanted to make up a delusional character. This was her pathway to Harry. She stated that her idea for "this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me". While developing the ideas for her book, she also decided to make Harry an orphan who attended 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 ... Hogwarts has to be a boarding school  — half the important stuff happens at night! 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."

Her own mother's death on 30 December 1990 inspired Rowling to write Harry Potter as a boy longing for his dead parents, his anguish becoming "much deeper, much more real" than in earlier drafts because she related to it herself. In a 2000 interview with ''The Guardian'', Rowling also established that the character of Wart in T. H. White's novel ''The Once and Future King'' is "Harry's spiritual ancestor." Finally, she established Harry's birth date as 31 July, the same as her own. However, she maintained that Harry was not directly based on any real-life person: "he came just out of a part of me".

Rowling has also maintained that Harry is a suitable real-life role model for children. "The advantage of a fictional hero or heroine is that you can know them better than you can know a living hero, many of whom you would never meet [...] if people like Harry and identify with him, I am pleased, because I think he is very likeable."

Appearances

First book

Harry first appears in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (published in the United States as ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'') as the novel's main protagonist. Starting in 1981, when Harry was just one year old, his parents were murdered by the most powerful Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort (frequently called "You-Know-Who" and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" by those too superstitious to use his actual name); although only his soul remained after his body was destroyed.

According to Rowling, fleshing out this back story was a matter of reverse planning: "The basic idea [is that] Harry ... didn't know he was a wizard ... and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was... That's... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry - he tried to curse him.... Harry has to find out, before we find out. And  for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard who has been in hiding ever since".

As a result, Harry is written as an orphan living with his only remaining family, the Dursleys. On his eleventh birthday, Harry learns he is a wizard when Rubeus Hagrid arrives to tell him that he is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he learns about the wizarding world, his parents, and his connection to the Dark Lord. When he is sorted into Gryffindor House, he becomes fast friends with classmates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and foils Voldemort's attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He also forms a rivalry with characters Draco Malfoy, a classmate from an elitist wizarding family, and the cold, condescending Potions master, Severus Snape, Draco's mentor and the head of Slytherin House. Both feuds continue throughout the series. In a 1999 interview, Rowling stated that Draco is based on several prototypical schoolyard bullies she encountered and Snape on a sadistic teacher of hers who abused his power.

Rowling has stated that the ''Mirror of Erised'' chapter in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is her favourite; the mirror reflects Harry's deepest desire, namely to see his dead parents. Her favourite funny scene is when Harry inadvertently sets a boa constrictor free from the zoo in the horrified Dursleys' presence.

Second to fourth books

In the second book, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', Rowling pits Harry against Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort's "memory" within a secret diary which has possessed Ron's younger sister Ginny Weasley. When Muggle-born students are suddenly being petrified, many suspect that Harry may be behind the attacks, further alienating him from his peers. Furthermore, Harry began to doubt his worthiness for House of Gryffindor, particularly considering he discovers he shares Lord Voldemort's ability to communicate with snakes via Parseltongue. In the climax, Ginny disappears. To rescue her, Harry battles Riddle and the monster he controls that is hidden in the Chamber of Secrets. To defeat the monster, Harry summons the Sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat supplied by Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. In doing so, Dumbledore later restores Harry's self-esteem by explaining that feat is clear proof of his worthiness of his present house. In the third book, ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', Rowling uses a time travel premise. Harry learns that his parents were betrayed to Voldemort by their friend Peter Pettigrew, who framed Harry's godfather Sirius Black for the crimes, condemning him to Azkaban, the wizard prison. When Sirius escapes to seek revenge, Harry and Hermione use a Time Turner to save him and a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Yet Pettigrew escapes, and an innocent Sirius remains a hunted fugitive. Harry learns how to create a Patronus which takes the form of a stag.

In the previous books, Harry is written as a child, but Rowling states that in the fourth novel, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', "Harry's horizons are literally and metaphorically widening as he grows older." Harry's developing maturity becomes apparent when he becomes romantically interested in Cho Chang, a student in Ravenclaw house. Tension mounts, however, when Harry is mysteriously chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament, even though another Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, has already been selected.

It is actually Voldemort's elaborate scheme to lure Harry into a deadly trap. During the Tournament's final challenge, Harry and Cedric are transported to a graveyard, using a portkey, where Cedric is killed by Peter Pettigrew, and Voldemort, aided by Pettigrew, uses Harry's blood in a gruesome ritual to resurrect his body. When Harry duels Voldemort, their wands' magical streams connect, forcing the spirit echoes of Voldemort's victims, including Cedric and James and Lily Potter, to be expelled from his wand. The spirits briefly protect Harry as he escapes to Hogwarts with Cedric's body. For Rowling, this scene is important because it shows Harry's bravery, and by retrieving Cedric's corpse, he demonstrates selflessness and compassion. Says Rowling, "He wants to save Cedric's parents additional pain.” She added that preventing Cedric's body from falling into Voldemort's hands is based on the classic scene in the ''Iliad'' where Achilles retrieves the body of his best friend Patroclus from the hands of Hector. Rowling also mentioned that book four rounds off an era in Harry's life, and the remaining three books are another, "He's no longer protected. He's been very protected until now. But he's very young to have that experience. Most of us don't get that until a bit later in life. He's only just coming up to 15 and that's it now."

Fifth and sixth books

In the fifth book, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', the Ministry of Magic has been waging a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore, disputing their claims that Voldemort has returned. Harry is made to look like an attention seeking liar, and Dumbledore a trouble-maker. A new character is introduced when the Ministry of Magic appoints Dolores Umbridge as the latest Hogwarts' Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor (and Ministry spy). Because the paranoid Ministry suspects that Dumbledore is building a wizard army to overthrow them, Umbridge refuses to teach students real defensive magic. She gradually gains more power, eventually ousting Dumbledore and seizing control of the school. As a result, Harry's increasingly angry and erratic behaviour nearly estranges him from Ron and Hermione.

Rowling says she put Harry through extreme emotional stress to show his emotional vulnerability and humanity—a contrast to his nemesis, Voldemort. "[Harry is] a very ''human'' hero, and this is, obviously, a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately ''de''humanised himself. And Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down, and say he ''didn't'' want to play anymore, he ''didn't'' want to be the hero anymore  – and he’d lost too much. And he didn’t want to lose anything else. So that  – ''Phoenix'' was the point at which I decided he would have his breakdown."

At Hermione's urging, Harry forms a secret student organisation called Dumbledore's Army to teach more meaningful defence against the dark arts as Professor Umbridge is making them read off a textbook. Their plan is thwarted, however, when a Dumbledore's Army member, Marietta Edgecombe, betrays them and informs Umbridge about the D.A., causing Dumbledore to be ousted as Headmaster. Harry suffers another emotional blow, when his beloved godfather, Sirius, is killed during a duel with Sirius' cousin, the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, at the Department of Mysteries, but Harry ultimately defeats Voldemort's plan to steal an important prophecy. Rowling stated: "And now he [Harry] will rise from the ashes strengthened." A side plot of ''Order of the Phoenix'' involves Harry's romance with Cho Chang, but the relationship quickly unravels. Says Rowling: "They were never going to be happy, it was better that it ended early!"

In the sixth book, ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' Harry enters a tumultuous puberty that, Rowling says, is based on her and her younger sister's own difficult teenage years. Rowling also made an intimate statement about Harry's personal life: "Because of the demands of the adventure that Harry is following, he has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had." This inexperience with romance was a factor in Harry's failed relationship with Cho. Now his thoughts concern Ginny, and a vital plot point in the last chapter includes Harry ending their budding romance to protect her from Voldemort.

A new character appears when former Hogwarts Potions master Horace Slughorn replaces Snape, who assumes the Defence Against the Dark Arts post. Harry suddenly excels in Potions, using an old textbook once belonging to a talented student known only as "The Half-Blood Prince." The book contains many handwritten notes, revisions, and new spells; Hermione, however, believes Harry's use of it is cheating. Through private meetings with Dumbledore, Harry learns about Voldemort's orphaned youth, his rise to power, and how he splintered his soul into Horcruxes to achieve immortality. Two Horcruxes have been destroyed—the diary and a ring; and Harry and Dumbledore locate another, although it is a fake. When Death Eaters invade Hogwarts, Snape kills Dumbledore. As Snape escapes, he proclaims that he is the Half-Blood Prince. It now falls upon Harry to find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes and to avenge Dumbledore's death. In a 2005 interview, Rowling stated that [after the events in the sixth book] Harry has, "taken the view that they are now at war. He does become more battle-hardened. He’s now ready to go out fighting. And he’s after revenge [against Voldemort and Snape]."

This book also focuses on the mysterious activities of Harry's rival Draco Malfoy. Voldemort has coerced a frightened Malfoy into attempting to kill Dumbledore. During a duel in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Harry uses the Half-Blood Prince's spell, ''Sectumsempra,'' on Malfoy, who suffers near-fatal injuries as a result. Harry is horrified by what he has done and also comes to feel sympathy for Draco, after learning he was forced to do Voldemort's bidding under the threat of his and his parents' deaths.

Final book

In ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts to complete Dumbledore's task: to search for and destroy Voldemort's remaining four Horcruxes, then find and kill the Dark Lord. The three pit themselves against Voldemort's newly formed totalitarian police state, an action that tests Harry's courage and moral character. Voldemort's seizure of the Ministry of Magic leads to discriminatory and genocidal policies against Muggle-borns, fueled by propaganda and fear. According to J. K. Rowling, telling scenes are when Harry uses ''Cruciatus Curse'' and ''Imperius Curse'', unforgivable curses for torture and mind-control, on Voldemort's servants, and also when he casts ''Sectumsempra'' on Draco Malfoy during the bathroom fight in the sixth book. Each time shows a "flawed and mortal" side to Harry. However, she explains, "He is also in an extreme situation and attempting to defend somebody very good against a violent and murderous opponent."

Harry experiences occasional disturbing visions of Draco being forced to perform the Death Eaters' bidding and feels "...sickened...by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort," again showing his compassion for an enemy.

Each Horcrux Harry must defeat cannot be destroyed easily. They must be destroyed with basilisk venom, Godric Gryffindor's sword, or some other destructive substance. In Book Two, Harry destroys the first horcrux, Tom Riddle's diary, with a basilisk fang, and in Book Six Dumbledore destroys the ring with Gryffindor's sword. Ron destroys Slytherin's locket with the sword, Hermione destroys Hufflepuff's cup with a basilisk fang, and Crabbe destroys Ravenclaw's diadem with Fiendfyre (cursed flame). Neville kills the snake Nagini with the sword, and Voldemort destroys the final accidental Horcrux: a fragment of soul embedded in Harry's scar.

Harry comes to recognise that his own single-mindedness makes him predictable to his enemies and often clouds his perceptions. When Voldemort kills Snape later in the story, Harry realises that Snape was not the traitorous murderer he believed him to be, but a tragic antihero who was loyal to Dumbledore. In Chapter 33 ("The Prince's Tale") Snape's memories reveal that he loved Harry's mother, Lily Evans, but their friendship ended over his association with future Death Eaters and his "blood purity" beliefs. When Voldemort murdered the Potters, a grieving Snape vowed to protect Lily's child, although he loathed young Harry for being James Potter's son. The memories also reveal that Snape did not murder Dumbledore, but carried out Dumbledore's prearranged plan. Dumbledore, dying from a slow-spreading curse, wanted to protect Snape's position within the Death Eaters and to spare Draco from completing Voldemort's task of murdering him.

To defeat Harry, Voldemort steals the most powerful wand ever created, the Elder Wand, from Dumbledore's tomb and twice casts the Killing Curse on Harry with it. The first attempt merely stuns Harry into a death-like state; the murder attempt fails because Voldemort used Harry's blood in his resurrection during book four. The protection that his mother gave Harry with her sacrifice tethers Harry to life, as long as his blood and her sacrifice run in the veins of Voldemort. In the chapter "King's Cross," Dumbledore's spirit talks to Harry whilst in this death-like state. Dumbledore informs Harry that when Voldemort disembodied himself during his failed attempt to kill Harry as a baby, Harry became an unintentional Horcrux; Harry could not kill Voldemort while the Dark Lord's soul shard remained within Harry's body. The piece of Voldemort's soul within Harry was destroyed through Voldemort's first killing curse with the Elder Wand because Harry willingly faced death.

In the book's climax, Voldemort's second Killing Curse hurled at Harry also fails and rebounds upon Voldemort, finally killing him. The spell fails because Harry, not Voldemort, had become the Elder Wand's true master and the wand could not harm its own master. Harry has each of the Hallows (the Invisibility Cloak, the Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand) at some point in the story but never unites them. However, J. K. Rowling said the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry willingly accepts mortality, making him stronger than his nemesis. "The real master of Death accepts that he must die, and that there are much worse things in the world of the living." At the very end, Harry decides to leave the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's tomb and the Resurrection Stone hidden in the forest, but he keeps the Invisibility Cloak because it had belonged to his father.

Epilogue

According to Rowling, after Voldemort's defeat, Harry joins the "reshuffled" Auror Department under Kingsley Shacklebolt's mentoring, and ends up eventually rising to become Head of said department in 2007. Rowling said that his old rival Draco has a grudging gratitude towards Harry for saving his life in the final battle, but the two are not friends. , In the epilogue of ''Deathly Hallows,'' which is set 19 years after Voldemort's death, Harry and Ginny are married and have three children: James Sirius Potter, who has already been at Hogwarts for at least one year, Albus Severus Potter, who is starting his first year there, and Lily Luna Potter, who is two years away from her first year at the school.

Film appearances

In the eight ''Harry Potter'' films screened from 2001–2011, Harry Potter has been portrayed by British actor Daniel Radcliffe. Radcliffe was asked to audition for the role of Harry in 2000 by producer David Heyman, while in attendance at a play titled ''Stones in His Pockets'' in London. The role has been highly lucrative for Radcliffe; as of 2007, he had an estimated wealth of £17 million.

In a 2007 interview with MTV, Radcliffe stated that, for him, Harry is a classic coming of age character: "That's what the films are about for me: a loss of innocence, going from being a young kid in awe of the world around him, to someone who is more battle-hardened by the end of it." He also said that for him, important factors in Harry's psyche are his survivor's guilt in regard to his dead parents and his lingering loneliness. Because of this, Radcliffe talked to a bereavement counsellor to help him prepare for the role. Radcliffe was quoted as saying that he wished for Harry to die in the books, but he clarified that he "can't imagine any other way they can be concluded." After reading the last book, where Harry and his friends do indeed survive and have children, Radcliffe stated he was glad about the ending and lauded Rowling for the conclusion of the story. Radcliffe stated that the most repeated question he has been asked is how ''Harry Potter'' has influenced his own life, to which he regularly answers it has been "fine," and that he did not feel pigeonholed by the role, but rather sees it as a huge privilege to portray Harry.

Radcliffe's Harry was named the 36th greatest movie character of all time by ''Empire.''

Characterisation

In the books, Harry is categorised as a "half-blood" wizard in the series, because although both his parents were magical, his mother, Lily Evans, was "Muggle-born". Meanwhile his father, James Potter, was a pure-blood descended from one of the most ancient pure-blood families, the Peverells, who lived before the founding of Hogwarts. According to Rowling, to characters for whom wizarding blood purity matters, Lily would be considered "as 'bad' as a Muggle," and derogatively referred to as a "Mudblood".

According to Rowling, Harry is strongly guided by his own conscience, and has a keen feeling of what is right and what is wrong. Having "very limited access to truly caring adults", Rowling said, Harry "is forced to make his own decisions from an early age on." He "does make mistakes", she conceded, but in the end, he does what his conscience tells him to do. According to Rowling, one of Harry's pivotal scenes came in the fourth book when he protects his dead schoolmate Cedric Diggory's body from Voldemort, because it shows he is brave and selfless.

Rowling also said that Harry's two worst character flaws are "anger and occasional arrogance", but that Harry is also innately honourable. "He's not a cruel boy. He's competitive, and he's a fighter. He doesn't just lie down and take abuse. But he does have native integrity, which makes him a hero to me. He's a normal boy but with those qualities most of us really admire." For the most part, Harry shows humility, often downplaying his achievements; though he uses a litany of his adventures as examples of his maturity early in the fifth book, these very same adventures are later employed to explain why he should lead Dumbledore's Army, at which point he denies that they make him worthy of authority. After the seventh book, Rowling commented that Harry has the ultimate character strength, which not even Voldemort possesses: the acceptance of the inevitability of death.

Physical appearance

Throughout the series, 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. He is further described as "small and skinny for his age" with "a thin face" and "knobbly knees", and he wears round eyeglasses. In the first book, his scar is described as "the only thing Harry liked about his own appearance". When asked about the meaning behind Harry's lightning bolt scar, Rowling said, "I wanted him to be physically marked by what he has been through. It was an outward expression of what he has been through inside... It is almost like being the chosen one or the cursed one, in a sense." Rowling has also stated that Harry inherited his parents' good looks. In the later part of the series Harry grows taller, and by the seventh book is said to be 'almost' the height of his father, and 'tall' by other characters.

Rowling explained that Harry's image came to her when she first thought up Harry Potter, seeing him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy". She also mentioned that she thinks Harry's glasses are the clue to his vulnerability.

Abilities and interests

Throughout the series, Rowling wrote Harry Potter as a gifted wizard apprentice. She stated in a 2000 interview with ''South West News Service'' that Harry Potter is "particularly talented" in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and also good at Quidditch. Rowling said in the same interview that while his friend Hermione Granger—written as the smartest student in Harry's year—would have beaten Harry in a magical duel at the beginning of the story, from about halfway through the third book, Harry had become too talented in the Defence Against the Dark Arts and would have mastered her in such a duel.

His power is evident from the beginning of the series; specifically, Harry shows immediate command of a broomstick, produces a Patronus at an early age, and survives several confrontations with Voldemort. Harry is able to speak and understand "Parseltongue", a language associated with Dark Magic, which, according to Rowling, is because he harbours a piece of Lord Voldemort's soul. After Voldemort destroys that soul fragment in the seventh book's climax, Harry loses the ability to speak Parseltongue. Harry "is very glad" to have lost this gift. According to Rowling, Harry's favourite book is ''Quidditch Through the Ages'', an actual book that Rowling wrote (under the pseudonym Kennilworthy Whisp) for the ''Comic Relief'' charity.

Possessions

Harry's parents left behind a somewhat large pile of wizard's gold, used as currency in the world of magic, in a vault in the wizarding bank, Gringotts. After Sirius' death later in the series, all of his remaining possessions are also passed along to Harry, including Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Rowling noted that "Harry’s money never really is that important in the books, except that he can afford his books and uniforms and so on.” It is also used as a contrast with Ron and his family, who must be careful with their limited gold.

Harry also inherits indirectly two of his father's prized possessions. One is the Marauder's Map, given to him by interim owners Fred and George Weasley, which endows Harry with comprehensive knowledge of Hogwarts' facilities, grounds, and occupants. The other is his father's Invisibility Cloak, given to him by Dumbledore, which eventually proves Harry's descent from the Peverell family. Harry uses these tools both to aid in excursions at school and to protect those he cares about; the Invisibility Cloak, in particular, can hide two full-grown people. If three fully-grown people hide under the cloak their feet will be visible. When Harry reaches his age of maturity at seventeen, Mrs. Weasley gives him a pocket watch which had once belonged to her brother Fabian Prewett, as it is traditional to give a boy a watch when he turns seventeen.

Throughout the majority of the books, Harry also has a pet owl named Hedwig, used to deliver and receive messages and packages. Hedwig is killed in the seventh book, about which Rowling says: "The loss of Hedwig represented a loss of innocence and security. She has been almost like a cuddly toy to Harry at times. I know that death upset a lot of people!" As a Quidditch player, Harry has owned two high-quality brooms. The first, a Nimbus Two Thousand, was procured for him by Professor McGonagall when Harry was added to Gryffindor's Quidditch team despite being a first-year student. This broom was destroyed by the Whomping Willow during a match in Harry's third year. It was replaced by a Firebolt, an even faster (and more expensive) broom, purchased for Harry by Sirius; however, as Black was believed to be trying to murder Harry at the time, the broom was subjected to stringent security inspections before Harry was allowed to ride it. Harry used it throughout his Hogwarts career until it, along with Hedwig, was lost during the July escape from Privet Drive in the final book.

Harry also owns a mokeskin pouch, of small 'bag' that is used for storing items, which no one but the owner can get out. He receives this from Hagrid as a 17th birthday present. Harry uses the pouch throughout the course of Deathly Hallows to keep several sentimental (yet, as he himself admits, otherwise worthless) objects such as the Marauder's Map, a shard of the magical mirror given to him by his god-father Sirius Black, the fake Horcrux locket that had belonged to R.A.B (Regulus Arcturus Black), the Snitch bequeathed to him by Dumbledore, containing Marvolo Gaunt's ring (and Harry later discovers the stone set into the ring is actually the second Hallow, the Resurrection Stone), a letter from his mother to Sirius with part of a photo (of him and his father, James), and eventually, his own broken wand (which Harry later repairs with the Elder Wand).

Family

In the novels, Harry is the only child of James and Lily Potter, orphaned as an infant. Rowling made Harry an orphan from the early drafts of her first book. She felt an orphan would be the most interesting character to write about. However, after her mother's death, Rowling wrote Harry as a child longing to see his dead parents again, incorporating her own anguish into him.

Harry's aunt and uncle kept the truth about his parents' deaths from Harry, telling him that they had died in a car crash. James Potter is a descendant of Ignotus Peverell, the third of the three original owners of the Deathly Hallows, and thus so is Harry, a realisation he makes during the course of the final book. Through his marriage to Ginny Weasley (a pure-blood), Harry links to the House of Black and they have three children. The eldest is James Sirius Potter, followed by Albus Severus Potter and Lily Luna Potter and Harry's children continue the lineage of Ignotus Peverell. Also, due to Hermione marrying Ron, they are now brother and sister in-law.

Reception

In 2002, Harry Potter was voted No. 85 among the "100 Best Fictional Characters" by ''Book'' magazine and also voted the 35th "Worst Briton" in Channel 4's "100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate" programme. ''Entertainment Weekly'' ranked Harry Potter number two on its 2010 "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years" list, saying "Long after we've turned the last page and watched the last end credit, Harry still feels like someone we know. And that's the most magical thing about him." UGO Networks listed Harry as one of their best heroes of all time, who said that "Harry is a hero to the often oppressed and downtrodden young fan boys and girls out there, who finally have an icon that is respected and revered by those who might otherwise look down on robe-wearing and wand waving as dork fodder". Harry Potter was also ranked number thirty-six on ''Empire'''s 2008 list of "100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time". IGN said that Harry Potter was their favourite ''Harry Potter'' character, calling him a "sympathetic figure" and saying in response to his fights against Voldemort that "everybody loves an underdog story of good vs. evil".

In popular culture

According to halloweenonline.com, ''Harry Potter'' sets were the fifth-best selling Halloween costume of 2005. In addition, wizard rock bands like Harry and the Potters and others regularly dress up in the style of Harry Potter, sporting painted forehead scars, black wigs, and round bottle top glasses. Wizard rock is a musical movement dating from 2002 that consists of at least 200 bands made up of young musicians, playing songs about ''Harry Potter''. The movement started in Massachusetts with the band Harry and the Potters, who cosplay as Harry during live performances.

Parodies

In April 2009, a group of University of Michigan students (Team StarKid: Darren Criss, Joey Richter.) performed "Harry Potter: The Musical", a two act musical parody that featured major elements from all seven books and an original score. They posted the entire musical on their YouTube channel but removed it in late June, to edit some more mature elements from the videos. The musical, re-titled "A Very Potter Musical", was reposted on 5 July 2009, starring Darren Criss as Harry Potter. A sequel was premiered at the 2010 HPEF Harry Potter Conference Infinitus, and released on YouTube on July 22 at 8pm EST. The sequel was called "A Very Potter Sequel" and featured the Death Eaters using the Time-Turner to go back in time to Harry's first year in Hogwarts.

Harry Potter is spoofed in the ''Barry Trotter'' series by American writer Michael Gerber, where a "Barry Trotter" appears as the eponymous antihero. On his homepage, Gerber describes Trotter as an unpleasant character who "drinks too much, eats like a pig, sleeps until noon, and owes everybody money." The author stated "[s]ince I really liked Rowling's books […] I felt obligated to try to write a spoof worthy of the originals".

References

External links

Harry Potter: Quick facts from the Harry Potter lexicon

Harry Potter quotes from Mugglenet

Harry Potter Bibliography: Research and Criticism

Harry Potter biography at The Harry Potter Encyclopedia

Harry Potter images from The Movie on Leaky.

Dan Radcliffe as Harry Potter Images on Leaky.

Category:Harry Potter characters Category:Child characters in film Category:Child characters in literature Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1997 Category:Fictional generals Category:Fictional orphans

ar:هاري بوتر (شخصية) bn:হ্যারি পটার (চরিত্র) zh-min-nan:Há-lih Phá-thò (jîn-bu̍t) be-x-old:Гары Потэр bs:Harry Potter (lik) bg:Хари Потър (персонаж) ca:Harry Potter (personatge) cs:Harry Potter (postava) da:Harry Potter (person) de:Figuren der Harry-Potter-Romane#Harry Potter et:Harry Potter el:Χάρι Πότερ (χαρακτήρας) es:Harry James Potter eu:Harry Potter (pertsonaia) fa:هری پاتر (شخصیت) fr:Harry Potter (personnage) ga:Harry Potter (carachtar) gl:Harry Potter (personaxe) ko:해리 포터 (등장인물) hr:Harry Potter (lik) id:Harry Potter (karakter) it:Harry Potter (personaggio) he:הארי פוטר (דמות) ka:ჰარი პოტერი (პერსონაჟი) mrj:Гарри Поттер la:Harrius Potter (persona) lv:Harijs Poters (tēls) lt:Haris Poteris (personažas) hu:Harry Potter (szereplő) mk:Хари Потер (лик) mr:हॅरी पॉटर (पात्र) ms:Harry James Potter nah:Harry Potter nl:Harry Potter (personage) ja:ハリー・ポッター (架空の人物) no:Harry Potter (figur) nn:Figuren Harry Potter uz:Harry Potter pl:Harry Potter (postać) pt:Harry James Potter ro:Harry Potter (personaj) ru:Гарри Поттер simple:Harry Potter (character) sk:Harry Potter (postava) sl:Harry Potter (oseba) sr:Хари Потер (лик) fi:Harry Potter (hahmo) sv:Harry Potter (figur) th:แฮร์รี่ พอตเตอร์ (ตัวละคร) tr:Harry Potter (karakter) uk:Гаррі Поттер vi:Harry Potter (nhân vật) bat-smg:Haris Puoteris (personažos) zh:哈利·波特 (小說角色)