What Jo says about...
Harry Potter

Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.

• Harry had to be an orphan so that he would have no fear of letting his parents down [Read the exact quote from the Guardian Unlimited, 1999]
• In book 7, Harry will be 17, which means he will be "of age." He will become a full wizard and be able to use his magic outside school. [Read the exact quote from Barnes & Noble chat #1, 1999]
• Harry will, in the long term, get back at Dudley. [Read the exact quote from Book Links, 1999]
• Character of Harry came into her head "fully formed" and she worked backwards to create the stories. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• "Harry is someone is forced for such a young person to make his own choices. [nice description of how Harry, Hermione and Ron all complement each other]. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• Harry is more alone than most children; he doesn’t have a safety net. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• The fact that Harry has his mother’s eyes is very important to a future book. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• Harry & Hermione are platonic friends, "but I won't answer for anyone else, nudge, nudge, wink, wink." [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• She can’t tell us if she imagines Harry growing up because it will ruin the plot of book 7 for us [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• Harry will not train to be an animagus; his "energies are going to be concentrated elsewhere and he's not going to have time to do that." [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• She won’t tell us what happened to Harry’s grandparents. [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• Harry will never become an animagus. [Read the exact quote from Newsweek, 1999]
• JKR: "Harry has been born to shoulder a certain burden." [Read the exact quote from the Diane Rehm Show interview, 1999]
• When JKR reads aloud from PS/SS the scene in Ollivander's Shop, she slightly emphases the part where Ollivander comments that Harry's holly and phoenix feather wand is an "unusual combination." [Read the exact quote from the Diane Rehm Show interview, 1999]
• JKR: "In my world wizards come of age at 17 - age 17. So in book 7 you'll see Harry come of age, which means he's allowed to use magic outside school, and you'll see the end of that school year." [Read the exact quote from the Diane Rehm Show interview, 1999]
• Harry is particularly talented in Defence against the Dark Arts, the one area (well, besides Quidditch) where he is better than Hermione. [Read the exact quote from the South West News Service interview, 2000]
• JKR: Harry was very well protected until the end of book four, which is the end of an era for him. [Read the exact quote from CBC Hot Type, 2000]
• In GoF, Harry, Ron and Hermione have specific issues they need to work through. "For Harry that's facing up to his fame, really facing up to it for the first time because he's been put into this situation where he will, for the first time, really get the weight of outside interest. So that's scary." […] "Ron has to deal with his jealousy - he's made friends with the most famous boy in his year and that's not easy, it's not easy to be in that situation. And Hermione gets a political conscience." [Read the exact quote from the cBBC Newsround interview, 2000]
• Now, can I ask you: are there any special wizarding powers in your world that depend on the wizard using their eyes to do something? Bit like ...
  Why do you want to know this?
  I just vaguely wondered.
  Why?
  Well because everyone always goes on about how Harry's got Lily Potter's eyes.
  Aren’t you smart? There is something, maybe, coming about that. I’m going to say no more, very clever.
  And I'm going to ask one other question which you'll say isn't clever at all. The significance of the place where Harry and his parents lived, the first name -- Godric Gryffindor.
  Very good, you're a bit good you are, aren't you?
  Thank you.
  I'm impressed. My editor didn't notice, I said to her haven't you noticed any connection between where Harry's parents were born, not born, where they lived, and one of the Hogwarts houses and she's sitting there going erm... I'm not being rude about Emma she's a brilliant editor, the best I've ever [had]. But no she didn't pick that up either. You're a bit good you are. [Read the exact quote from the cBBC Newsround interview, 2000]
• The idea of Harry saving Cedric’s body came from the Hector-Patroclus-Achilles triangle in The Illiad [Read the exact quote from Entertainment Weekly, 2000]
• Voldemort being a relative of Harry’s would be a bit "Star Wars." [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• Harry’s middle name is 'James,' after his Dad. [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• Will Harry Time travel again? JKR: "Not telling!" [Read the exact quote from the AOL chat, 2000]
• Why did Dumbledore have a look of triumph in his eyes at the end of book four?
  JKR: "Good question … excellent, in fact, and like all the best questions I get asked, I can’t answer it! Because it would give too much away. However, well-spotted. Have fun guessing … someone’s bound to get it right!" [Read the exact quote from the AOL chat, 2000]
• Rowling has described Wart from T.H. White's The Sword In The Stone as "Harry's spiritual ancestor." [Read the exact quote from Guardian Unlimited biography of JKR, 2000]
• Did Harry ever use magic on Dudley in the real world? JKR: "Not so far (hint)" [Read the exact quote from the Barnes & Noble chat, 2001]
• On the theme of tolerance in the books: "One way to learn tolerance is to take the time to really understand other people's motives. Yes, you're right. Harry is often given an erroneous first impression of someone and he has to learn to look beneath the surface. When you look beneath the surface he has sometimes found that he is being fooled by people. And on other occasions he has found very nice surprises." [Read the exact quote from CBC This Morning, 2000]
• JKR sees Dudley as just as abused as Harry, though perhaps not in such an obvious way. [Read the exact quote from Fandom.com, 2000]
• Harry's glasses are "the clue to his vulnerability." [Read the exact quote from Reader's Digest, 2000]
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is one of Harry’s school books. [Read the exact quote from the Raincoast Books interview, 2001]
• Harry might get a different pet "at some point." [Read the exact quote from the Raincoast Books interview, 2001]
• Harry has never used the internet because he gets beaten up if he goes to close to Dudley’s keyboard. But wizards don’t need the internet; they have something more fun to find out what goes on in the outside world. [Read the exact quote from the Raincoast Books interview, 2001]
• About the scar: "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. I gave him a scar and in a prominent place so other people would recognize him. It is almost like being the chosen one, or the cursed one, in a sense. Someone tried to kill him; that's how he got it. I chose the lightning bolt because it was the most plausible shape for a distinctive scar. As you know, the scar has certain powers, and it gives Harry warnings. I can't say more than that, but there is more to say." [Read the whole quote from the Houston Chronicle, 2001]
• Ron Weasley is "always there when you need him." Implies that -- like Jo's friend Sean -- Ron represents freedom to Harry. [Read the exact quote from "Harry Potter and Me," 2001]
• "I don't want to give too much away, but Dumbledore is a very wise man who firstly knows Harry is going to have to learn a few hard lessons to prepare him for what maybe coming in his life, so he allows Harry to do a lot of things he wouldn't normally allow another pupil to do and he also unwillingly permits Harry to confront a lot of things he'd rather protect him from but as people who have finished Order of the Phoenix will know, Dumbledore has had to step back a little bit from Harry in an effort to teach him some of life's harder lessons." [Read the exact quote from Royal Albert Hall, 2003]
• Harry is not a good enough wizard, yet, to even attempt to take on Voldemort as Wizard to Wizard. [referring to book 5] [Read the exact quote from Royal Albert Hall, 2003]
• Harry and Cho were "never going to be happy...." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Harry is really progressing as a wizard, so his powers are becoming greater. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• JKR doesn't think Harry will become Headmaster of Hogwarts because an academic career just isn't right for him ("He's seen too much action"). [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• The "crucial and central question" of the series is why both Harry and Voldemort survived the killing curse. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Harry got the Marauders’ Map back in GoF by "nipping into Moody’s empty office" and pinching it when he wasn’t there. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Will the two way mirror Sirius gave Harry ever show up again? JKR: Ooooo, good question. There’s your answer. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• The shape is not the most significant thing about Harry’s scar. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Harry will have some time for romance in book 6. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• JKR: "In book six, the wizarding world is really at war again and [Harry] has to master his own feelings to make himself useful." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• In book 6, Harry will have "the shortest stay in Privet Drive so far. " [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• JKR "never said never said that he [Harry] would have a 'more permanent injury'" in a future book.[Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Is Harry related to Godric Gryffindor? JKR: "People are always wondering who Harry might be related to. Maybe he is ;)" [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Are you going to write books about Harry after school? JKR: "Probably not, but I'll never say never because every time I do I immediately break the vow!" [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• JKR won't tell us if Harry will see Sirius again. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Harry's grandparents are dead and "not particularly important to the story..." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• "The HBP is neither Harry nor Voldemort." [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• "If Dumbledore had been Harry's grandfather, why on Earth would he have been sent to live with the Dursleys?" [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• "James is DEFINITELY Harry's father," and Voldemort is the last surviving descendent of Salazar Slytherin — which means Harry is not a descendent of Slytherin. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• "Seventeen is much to young to enter politics." (In response to a rumour that Harry will be asked to be Minister of Magic.). [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• To people like Lucius Malfoy, a Muggle-born is as bad as a Muggle, so Harry is considered Half-Blood because of his mother's parents. In effect, a Muggle Grandparent "pollutes" the blood. (Read the rest of JK's response here to see how this relates to the Nazi's attitude to Jews.) [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• There is no trace of the HBP storyline left in CoS, rather the link between the two books relates to a discovery Harry made in CoS that foreshadows something he finds out in HBP. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• The mirror that Harry got from Sirius might not have helped as much as you think but, on the other hand, will help more than you think. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Does the prophecy mean that both Harry and Voldemort need to die? JKR: "Both Madam Trelawney and I worded the prophecy extremely carefully"[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Why couldn't Harry see Thestrels before book 5? JKR: It is only after he sees Cedric die that Harry "really feels what death means." [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• How did Harry get the Marauder's Map back after the end of GoF? JKR: "He simply took it back from the fake Moody’s office"[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Does Hermione love Ron or Harry? JKR: "I can't believe that some of you haven't worked this one out yet"[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Harry does not have a Godmother. Harry's christening was very hurried and quiet, just the family and James' best friend Sirius. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Harry will survive "to book seven," but JKR still won’t say whether he grows any older than that. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• What Harry (and all the characters) will be going through will be quite "tough." [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• We should be asking "Why didn't Voldemort die?" Not, "Why did Harry live?" but, "Why didn't Voldemort die?" The killing curse rebounded, so he should have died. Why didn't he? At the end of Goblet of Fire he says that one or more of the steps that he took enabled him to survive. You should be wondering what he did to make sure that he did not die — I will put it that way. I don't think that it is guessable. It may be — someone could guess it — but you should be asking yourself that question, particularly now that you know about the prophesy. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• The second question we should be asking is "why Dumbledore did not kill or try to kill Voldemort in the scene in the ministry." Dumbledore did not give the real reason. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Harry did not see his parents die because he was in his cot [crib]. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Harry is more vulnerable to dementors because "he's faced more." [Read the exact quote from the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD, 2004]
• Sirius' redeeming quality is the affection that he is capable of feeling. He loved James like a brother, and has attached that affection to Harry. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• In the GoF scene where Ron finds out about Leprechaun gold disappearing, JK says that it would not have been as poignant if Harry had noticed it disappear at the World Cup. Ron is poor, so cannot imagine what it must feel like not to notice a pocketful of gold disappearing. She wanted to show, through Ron, how hard it is not to have any money when other people do.[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Harry was not based on any real person; he is an entirely ficticious character. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• In Book 6, Harry will not stand trial again; he will leave the Dursley’s for a much pleasanter reason. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Dumbledore is not Ron or Harry "from the future;" no book character has returned from the future. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• The last part of the prophecy does not mean that Neville and Harry must kill each other. [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• In choosing which child to kill (Neville or Harry) Voldemort was "choosing which boy to anoint as the Chosen One." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Harry's scar gives him a "magical window into Voldemort's mind." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Harry's parents were "able" and "prepared to die for their son." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Harry's survival through his ordeals "has not depended wholly or even mainly upon his scar." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• The prophecy did not mystically intertwine Neville's fate with Harry's. [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Arthur Levine says: Harry is "definitely growing up in all areas of his life." [Read the source for Arthur Levine quote from report on BookExpo America, 2005]
• "Harry-Snape is now as personal, if not more so, than Harry-Voldemort." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• "I see Sirius as someone who was a case of arrested development. I think you see that from his relationship with Harry in 'Phoenix.' He kind of wants a mate from Harry, and what Harry craves is a father."
• Harry is too emotionally honest to be a good Occlumens. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Harry’s Evans grandparents died natural deaths. There is “nothing sinister” about their deaths. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• James was born to parents who were elderly, even by wizarding standards, and died from a wizarding illness. There is “nothing sinister” about their deaths. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK implies that Harry is not the Heir of Gryffindor. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore’s line “the prophecy is significant only because you and Voldemort choose to make it so” is a key point in the novel. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Harry does not have a godmother. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Harry and Ron will never read Hogwarts, a History. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Harry is a good role model, but not saintly. He is struggling to do the right thing. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Sirius' death was not arbitrary. Plot-wise, Harry needs to "go on alone and to give him too much support makes his job too easy." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• The magical protection Harry receives from staying at the Dursleys will not hold once he turns 17 and becomes a man. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• JK "always planned for [Harry] to want to be an auror." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• JK loves writing dialogue, especially between Harry, Ron and Hermione. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Harry has glasses because JK "wanted to read about a hero wearing glasses." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• When asked if Harry's eyes are important, Jo agrees that they are mentioned again and again, but won't say any more. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• She gave Harry a fortune as she was poor at the time and wanted him to have a lot. It was wishful thinking. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Harry's money came from his "inheritance from his father." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Harry "has had less sexual experience than boys of his age might have had" because his life has been so eventful. [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• Magic does not make Harry's world significantly better. The relationships he has in the magical world make his world better. "Magic in many ways complicates his life." [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• "In Book 6 "Harry finds out a lot of Voldemort's history. Though he was never that nice a guy." [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• After Book 6 "you're left with a very clear idea of what Harry's going to do next." [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• In Book 6 Harry is "ready to go out fighting. And he’s after revenge." [Read the whole quote from Dateline NBC, 2005]
• Harry is not a Metamorphagus; he is just a boy who was "clearly magical from birth." Incidents like him growing his hair back were due to his untrained, uncontrolled magical powers bursting out when he was angry or frightened. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Voldemort "is not, in a biological sense, related to [Harry] at all." [Read the whole quote from BBC-Radio4, 2005]
• Harry had to have the near "breakdown" in book 5 to underline his humanness; however "he will rise from the ashes strengthened." [Read the whole quote from BBC-Radio4, 2005]
• Jo "drew a lot" on her sister's "grumpy" adolescence when she was writing scenes for Harry. [Read the whole quote from R&J, 2006]
• JKR: "I've never been tempted to kill [Harry] off before the end of book 7. [...] But I can completely understand the mentality of an author who thinks "well I am going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels as they call them, so it will end with me and after I am dead and gone." [Read the whole quote from R&J, 2006]
• Jo can understand why an author would want to kill off their character 'from a point of view of not allowing others to continue writing after the original author is dead '. [Read the whole quote from Radio City-pressconf, 2006]
• Hermione would see the trio “alive and unscathed and Voldemort finished” in the Mirror of Erised. She may also see herself in a romantic embrace. [Read the whole quote from Radio City1, 2006]
• When asked about Aunt Petunia being oddly flushed when she heard that Harry would only be returning to Privet Drive once more, and whether this meant Aunt Petunia harbours some hidden fondness for Harry and the connection he provides to the wizarding world, Jo said that as with all the best and penetrating questions it is difficult to answer. She would say that “There is a little more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye and you will find out what that is in book seven” [Read the whole quote from Radio City2, 2006]
• JKR: "Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?" is an important question that no one has asked her ("NAQ"). [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]