"Lily's Eyes"

[sharana.geo]

No: HPFGUIDX 68888

LA-B wrote:
> discussion about Harry having his mother's eyes, whether eyes just
> like hers or else actually having *her* eyes, and what importance
> this had to the story...if it was soo important, wouldn't that 
> also have been an important detail in the movie??

Nineve responded:
> I now that Daniel Radcliff has blue eyes, they could have given
> him some contacts, it just looks inaccurate. But Lily's eyes ARE 
> important, even if maybe not a major part of the plot (or maybe a
> major, who knows?), but it definitely has some input in Harry's
> personality in my opinion. Check message number 68161 and see what
> you think, then let me know. Cheers, Nineve.

Nineve in post 68161:
> About James being an arrogant school bully, well, Harry is 
> different from James, who was young and care free, and Harry has 
> so many more burdens, also he could be more like his mother in 
> personality, therefore "having her eyes" (windows to the soul?).


Me:

I've seen many posts trying to figure out the importance of "Harry 
having Lily's eyes". There seem to be two general theories which I 
will resume (if I understand them correctly):

1.- Some believe that Lily before dying cast a switching spell and 
exchanged Harry's eyes for hers. So literally Harry HAS Lily's eyes.

2.- Others believe that as the eyes are the "windows to the soul", 
Harry's personality is more like Lily's than like James' (like 
Nineve says).

I personally have always believed in the second one, it's what I 
feel every time I read in the books about someone commenting on 
Harry having Lily's eyes. 

Ever since the first theory appeared, I felt disgusted at the idea 
of it (as many people have also expressed). Besides, why would Lily 
do that? I don't think Lily had X-Ray vision or her eyes threw 
fireballs   :-D  But, yes, I admit that anything is possible, so 
even if I didn't like the idea, I had to accept it as a possibility, 
as I couldn't think of anything that would prove it wrong.

But this morning a candle lit up somewhere in my brain (which means 
I had an idea).

Lily didn't wear glasses, but James did. Harry inherited his 
father's visual problem, If Lily would have switched her eyes with 
Harry, he wouldn't need to wear glasses. 

SS/PS page 208 US ed. (The scene where Harry is seeing his family in 
the Mirror of Erised):
> She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes —
> her eyes are just like mine. Harry thought, edging a little closer
> to the glass. Bright green — exactly the same shape, but then he
> noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time.
> The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm
> around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It
> stuck up at the back. Just as Harrys did.

And at the end of the book, Hagrid gives Harry a photo album with 
pictures of his parents, and he doesn't mention his father not 
having glasses.

Any way, check out James profile: 
<http://www.hp-lexicon.org/james.html>, it says James uses glasses.

I don't think James switched his hair with Harry's either. ;-)

Of course maybe there is another explanation: (sorry if this has 
been mentioned as I haven't followed all the posts concerning this 
issue).

I have green eyes, like my mom and dad and 3 of my grandparents. My 
mother does not need glasses to see, my father does (all his life, 
blind like a bat). I inherited my father's visual problem; just like 
Harry (I used glasses till I decided to undergo eye surgery). But my 
eyes are IDENTICAL to my mother's mom. Every time someone meets my 
grandmother, I hear "Wow! You have your grandmothers' eyes". 
(Really, I get that all the time).

My grandmother (mom's side) has a beautiful black and white photo 
portrait. Between my grandparents's are my mom (when she was 9 years 
old) and my aunt (she was 6). If you see a picture of me when I was 
nine, and a picture of my cousin (my aunt's daughter) when she was 
6, you couldn't tell the difference. My cousin and I look EXACTLY 
like our mother's at the same age, the only clues you have to know 
that it isn't a portrait of me and my cousin is that it is an old 
photo, the hair styles, and that my grandparents look young.

What I'm trying to say is that there is no way I can deny that I am 
my mother's daughter (surely there was no hospital mix-up). Of 
course I have other physical traits that identify me with my father, 
so there would be no way that my father could think that I'm not his 
daughter.

There is no way Harry can believe that James and Lily aren't his 
parents. He has physical traits that clearly identify him with both 
of them. Maybe that's all there is to it, or maybe it will turn out 
to be important later in the books. Those who were close to Harry's 
parents are fondly reminded of the old days when they see Harry. 

I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings, and I'm sorry to crush down 
those enthusiastic people who believe that Lily literally changed 
her eyes with Harry's, it would be an interesting use of the 
Switching Spell but I honestly don't see any use to it. 

Happy n'th OoP reading!!!  

Sharana