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"He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose."
Harry Potter's wearing of glasses[src]

Spectacles (also called eyeglasses or glasses) are composed of two lenses set inside of a frame. They are worn in front of the eyes in order to correct vision disorders.

Glasses in the wizarding world[]

Albus Dumbledore HBP

Albus Dumbledore, who wore half-moon spectacles

Apart from using spellotape, the charm Oculus Reparo (a variation of the Mending Charm) could be used to fix broken spectacles.[1]

Harry Potter Half-Blood Prince Profile

Harry Potter wore round spectacles, like his father, James

Animagi who wore glasses might have distinctive markings in the same shape as the glasses they wore in human form. The physical location of these markings seemed to depend on the type of animal one's Animagus form took: Minerva McGonagall, a cat Animagus, had markings around the eyes,[2] and Rita Skeeter, a beetle Animagus, had markings around the antennae.[3]

Wearing glasses would not protect a person from the fatal effect of the Basilisk's stare, because glasses still allowed one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes, unlike looking in a mirror or through a camera.[4]

Spectrespecs were a magical type of spectacles that allowed the wearer to see wrackspurts.[5]

Goblins at Gringotts Wizarding Bank examined precious stones through glasses.[6]

Known wearers[]

"Harry, your eyesight really is awful."
Hermione Granger commenting on Harry Potter's use of glasses[src]
Mcgonagall

Minerva McGonagall wearing glasses

RSkeeter

Rita Skeeter wearing glasses

Behind the scenes[]

  • Harry Potter's glasses in the films were designed specially by William Luff, who has designed eyewear for many major British films and television properties.[46]
  • Harry's glasses on screen had black rims and lenses had been removed by production to make sure the light would not reverberate. Those round spectacles were made specifically for the film and were only painted black if necessary. Most glasses would remain in their aluminium colours as they did not make it in the final cut of the film.
  • Hermione Granger fixes Harry Potter's damaged glasses with the spell Oculus Reparo in the film adaptations of both Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, though in the books she only does so in Philosopher's Stone, as it was Arthur Weasley who cast the spell in Chamber of Secrets.
  • J. K. Rowling stated in an interview that the reason she gave Harry glasses was that she wore them herself as a child and was fed up with reading books in which the bespectacled character was the "brainy one". She said she wished to read about a hero who wore glasses.[4]
  • In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Peter Pettigrew uses Harry's glasses instead of his blood to revive Voldemort. Once revived, Voldemort humorously returns the glasses to Harry.
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Amos Diggory wears glasses, though, in the book, he doesn’t appear to be described as wearing glasses.
  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, during Harry's disciplinary hearing, Cornelius Fudge wore what seemed to be reading glasses, despite not wearing glasses at all in the books.
  • Many wizards and witches wear glasses, so it seems that magic is unable to cure myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), or astigmatism in the same way that Muggle laser surgery can. However, Pottermore confirms that healing of non-magical illnesses is simple, suggesting that many wizards simply choose not to have their eyesight corrected. A lost eye can be replaced with a magical prosthesis like that of "Mad-Eye" Moody, which not only restored vision, but had advantages over a normal eye.
  • In the films, the use of glasses on characters is heavily toned down.
    • Michael Gambon's Dumbledore is the most obvious one in this case. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he doesn’t always wear his spectacles; In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he only wears them during the Start-of-Term Feast; in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, he only wears them during the Start-of-Term Feast and in two brief shots in his office before his first private lesson with Harry; In both Deathly Hallows movies, he doesn't wear them, including when he is in Limbo.
    • McGonagall is wearing her spectacles in the first and second films only, despite them being a part of the markings when she is in her Animagus form.
    • Other characters described as bespectacled in the books such as Arthur Weasley, Percy Weasley, Aberforth Dumbledore, Rufus Scrimgeour, Mafalda Hopkirk, or James Potter as a first-year in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 flashbacks are not wearing any in the films.

Appearances[]

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Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 4 (At Flourish and Blotts)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 1 (The Boy Who Lived)
  3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 37 (The Beginning)
  4. 4.0 4.1 16 July, 2005 press conference at Accio Quote!
  5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 7 (The Slug Club)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley)
  7. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 5, Chapter 3 (Detention Before Extension) - History of Magic Lesson "Medieval Assembly of European Wizards"
  8. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "Flying Off the Shelves"
  9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 26 (Gringotts)
  10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 8 (The Hearing)
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Welcome to Hogsmeade"
  12. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 29 (Mind of a Diva)
  13. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Flying Class"
  14. Hogwarts Legacy, Relationship Quest "A Basis for Blackmail"
  15. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Prisoner of Love"
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
  17. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 7, Chapter 42 (A Study in Green)
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Hogwarts Legacy
  19. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
  20. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "Venomous Valour"
  21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 12 (Magic is Might)
  22. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 1, Chapter 1 (Your Journey Begins)
  23. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "Minding Your Own Business"
  24. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "The Tale of Rowland Oakes"
  25. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt)
  26. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "The Path to Hogwarts"
  27. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "Cache in the Castle"
  28. Writing by J. K. Rowling: "The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA)" at Wizarding World
  29. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 2 (The Vanishing Glass)
  30. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12 (The Mirror of Erised)
  31. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 3 (The Knight Bus)
  32. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Secrets of the Restricted Section"
  33. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 1 (The Other Minister)
  34. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Astronomy Class"
  35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 18 (The Weighing of the Wands)
  36. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 31 (O.W.L.s)
  37. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Trials of Merlin"
  38. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 6 (Talons and Tea Leaves)
  39. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, Side Quest "Polyjuice Potion"
  40. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 8 (The Deathday Party)
  41. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3 (The Burrow)
  42. Hogwarts Legacy, Main Quest "Welcome to Hogwarts"
  43. Hogwarts Legacy, Side Quest "Flight Test"
  44. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 15 (The Unbreakable Vow)
  45. Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World - Case 5: Trouble Brewing, Act 1
  46. My Glasses and Me - "Who is the Guy Behind Harry Potter's Glasses?"

See also[]

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