Harry Potter Cared Too Little About Magic To Be Wizarding World’s Main Character

Summary:

• Adults see many details in Harry Potter they never noticed as kids.
• Harry lacked the desire to learn both about the Wizarding World and about his own past.
• Harry’s life with the Dursleys left him traumatized and indifferent to some things others found exciting.

When you first read the Harry Potter books or watch the movies as a kid, there are way too many things you don’t really pay attention to. You’re in for the charming and mesmerizing Wizarding World, eager to learn more about it as you follow Harry and his friends’ adventures…and it’s only years later that you realize something.

Between you and Harry, you were the only one interested in the Wizarding World.

Considering how Harry was an orphan child raised by Muggles, one could only assume that he, too, would be completely enchanted by the new reality before him. In the beginning, Harry is rather curious; but soon enough, he completely loses interest in anything and everything, and in the eyes of an adult, it’s quite concerning.

Things Harry Ignored: His Own Past

As soon as Harry Potter meets his first wizard, he faces the truth: his parents didn’t die in a car accident. They were killed by a Dark wizard who tried to kill him, too. His scar was not from a crash, it was from a deadly spell. He, too, was a wizard. His entire life up until he met Hagrid was nothing but a lie made up by the Dursleys.

What does Harry do with this information? Nothing.

The Boy Who Lived was told that there numerous books about him, his family, and the events that led to his family’s fall, but he has no intent of reading them. Even in Hogwarts, where there are numerous people who knew Lily and James Potter, Harry doesn’t try to learn more about his parents. It’s almost like he doesn’t want to!

Things Harry Ignored: The Wizarding World

In the Muggle world, thanks to the Dursleys, Harry knew next to nothing beyond the limits of his house and school. His life was miserable and boring, and there was nothing exciting about it apart from those few moments when his magic broke out. When he gets to Hogwarts, it’s an entirely new world for him: the Wizarding World.

How does Harry try to study it? Well, he doesn’t.

Sure, unlike Hermione, Harry was never exactly…academically-inclined. Still, he came from the boring and dull reality into the exciting world he knew literally nothing about. Even apart from reading encyclopedias and studying for exams, there are numerous ways to explore this new world, but Harry virtually lacks interest in it.

Things We Ignored as Kids: Harry’s Mental Health

A child who never knew his own family and past and was traumatized by his terrible relatives for many years, Harry Potter had an entire list of mental issues. Some are pretty obvious, like being unable to trust others, but others admittedly run way deeper and result in various scenes most of us never even paid attention to.

Harry’s lack of interest in his own past and the Wizarding World could even be a sign of depression — and coupled with his, at times painfully strong, willingness to sacrifice his own life, it paints an awful picture. Life with the Dursleys damaged Harry in more ways than one, and the trauma they left him with stayed with him for years.

This is one of those things you just don’t realize as a kid: it’s really just you who are interested in the Wizarding World and Harry’s story. And when you realize it and see where the roots go, you can’t help but feel terribly sorry for Harry, this poor boy.