Harry Potter is the titular character of the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. The plot of the seven-book series chronicles seven years in the life of the orphan Harry, who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. He attends Hogwarts, a school of magic, where he receives guidance from the headmaster Al bus Dumbledore and becomes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry learns that during his infancy, the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort murdered his parents but was unable to kill him as well. The plot of the series revolves around Harry's struggle to adapt to the wizarding world and defeat Voldemort.

Harry is regarded as a fictional icon and has been described by many critics, readers, and audiences as one of the greatest literary and film characters of all time. He is portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe in all eight Harry Potter films. Harry also appears in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which has been produced on stage since 2016.

Harry Potter first made an appearance in 1997 in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry is an orphan living with his guardian aunt and uncle and their son, who mistreat him. On his 11th birthday Harry discovers that his parents were a witch and a wizard. A wizard himself, Harry is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He also learns that his parents did not die in a car accident, as his aunt and uncle had told him. Instead, an evil wizard named Voldemort murdered them and tried to kill him.

Harry was the only person to have survived an attack by Voldemort. The encounter left Harry with a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and left Voldemort disembodied. Because of this, the young Harry was already a celebrated figure in the “wizarding” community. At Hogwarts Harry becomes friends with classmates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and finds a rival in Draco Malfoy. The school’s headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, takes Harry under his wing. These relationships persist throughout the series, especially as the young wizards and witches grow older and are called upon to take sides in a growing wizard war.

Although Harry—and much of the wizarding world in general—do not know it, Voldemort is planning a return to power. At first feeble and living as a parasite in a follower’s body, Voldemort makes attempts on Harry’s life throughout the series. Voldemort eventually regains his body and former strength through a magic ritual, and thereafter his army greatly increases in number. Harry and those who side with him are forced on multiple occasions to battle Voldemort and his followers, including the Malfoy family. The epic saga ends with Harry accepting his role as the iconic “boy who lived” and facing almost certain death in the struggle against the evil wizard. With help from those who love him and believe in him, he is able to emerge victorious.

Harry’s story continued in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which premiered in 2016. In the production, which was based on a story cowritten by Rowling, Harry is married to Ginny Weasley. They couple has three children, James Sirius, Albas Severus, and Lily Luna. Although working for the Ministry of Magic, Harry continues to struggle with his past, while Albas must