Did James wear glasses? (Re: Did DD Know that Harry Would Need Glasses?)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 129435

sophierom:
> As for Harry's vision, didn't James Potter wear glasses?  While
> Rowling has indicated that glasses and eyes are both important to
> understanding Harry's vulnerabilities and powers, perhaps his bad
> eyesight is due to genetics?

Jen: It's really not clear in canon if James wears glassses or not. 
Harry sees him in the Mirror of Erised wearing glasses, but that's 
also Harry's fantasy of his parents before he sees actual pictures 
of them. Someone else made the point that Harry might conjure up two 
people he could immediately identify with in that scene, thus he 
sees a father with untidy hair and glasses.

The reason the Mirror of Erised scene might not be completely 
accurate is because there's no other canon mention of James wearing 
glasses, even though we see him again several times. First there's a 
mention of James in a photgraph with Lily in POA, then we see the 
smoky image of James during Priori Incantatem, and again in the OOTP 
Pensieve scene. And even though each scene describes James' physical 
characteristics, none mention glasses. Weird, huh?

Someone please tell me if I'm forgetting a scene, because I find it 
odd that out of four physical descriptions, only one mentions James 
wearing glasses and *that* one is conjured by Harry before he sees 
pictures of his parents at the end of PS/SS. 

Maybe it's just as oversight by Rowling, but three different times?

I do think it's important Harry wears glasses, and really wonder 
about it if there's no clear genetic reason. On one hand, we know 
that he has Lily's eyes, yet Lily didn't wear glasses. Lily's eyes 
were *not* her most vulnerable area apparently, so there's something 
different about Harry's eyes. It seems that somehow Harry's eyesight 
was compromised and if it was just from the failed curse, then why 
hasn't he (and why haven't we) been told? It wouldn't be a big 
mystery to anyone since the scar is so close to his eyes. There must 
be some other mystery to the glasses and his eyes.

sophierom:
> Sight does seem to be an important theme in the book.  There's
> Trelawney with her occasionally accurate sight (despite her 
fraudulent
> ways and big, huge glasses).  There's also the basilisk in CoS, 
whose
> sight is key to his powers. And I'm sure there are many more
> references to sight and blindness (and many posts dealing with the
> subject). Hmm, it will be interesting to find out how Harry's sight
> plays into this!

Jen: That's a great observation. There's Moody's eye too, and 
Rowling makes a point of describing many of the character's eyes 
including people like Luna and Ollivander, who share protuberant, 
misty, silvery eyes (I found the connection between those two odd, 
too).

This is one of the great mysteries I can't wait to learn about. It 
probably won't be until Book 7 though, since Rowling said we would 
learn significant things about Lily in two parts, first in Book 5 
and then in Book 7. Darn it!

Jen, always fascinated by the Eyes.