# Does anyone else wonder why Harry Potter doesn't have serious brain damage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838 "2010-12-03T18:06:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/21 "2010-12-04T14:14:40Z")
I have been hit on the head or banged my head many times during my life and I’m alright except for the voices. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/22 "2010-12-04T14:52:33Z")
> [@J\_Cubed](#): > > To be fair, his head was able to withstand a killing curse when he was one year old. After that, bludgers just bounce right off. > > If you want to see some reality applied to the Potterverse, read [this](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality). I think that there is a fanwank that the reason Harry is so different in that universe is that his mental development was held back by being raised by the Dursleys in the mainstream universe. So he has brain damage of a sort. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/23 "2010-12-04T17:54:12Z")
There are multiple mentions in the books of wizards unwittingly using small amounts of magic for their own self-preservation or in self-defense, even as infants and small children. I rationalize away the slapstick injuries based on this. When Neville is dropped out the window by the Great-Uncle, his grandmother is happier about the fact that he was able to use magic when faced with serious injury, than she is that he wasn’t harmed. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/24 "2010-12-04T18:44:09Z")
> [@Chimi](#): > > Aaaand the last five hours of my life just went to getting me up to chapter 20. I hate you so much. You have until about February to finish Ch. 64 (IIRC. it could be early spring). The writer is taking a hiatus. BTW, has anyone ever met anyone with the surname “Snape?” How is that a Muggle name? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/25 "2010-12-04T18:50:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > BTW, has anyone ever met anyone with the surname “Snape?” How is that a Muggle name? A quick whitepages search turned up 100+ results for this surname. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/26 "2010-12-04T19:47:57Z")
Huh. Gonna have to get a phone book, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/27 "2010-12-04T19:48:29Z")
That would be a [whitepages.com](http://whitepages.com) search. I haven’t had a phone book in this house since at least 2004. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/28 "2010-12-04T20:44:57Z")
On the issue of resilience, clearly: Muggle : wizard :: regular coyote : cartoon coyote. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/29 "2010-12-04T23:42:19Z")
To the OP: I’m thinking that the scar gives extra levels of protection to his head. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/30 "2010-12-05T00:00:53Z")
He does have serious brain damage. He’s not really a Wizard. He’s the stupid, careless kid down the block who has hit his head too many times and only THINKS he’s a wizard. Glamming on poor Mr. Dumbledore, feeling threatened by the odd looking Mr. Riddle down the block, in love with the little Weasley girl, and inventing this world in his head where he gets to be special. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/31 "2010-12-05T05:21:35Z")
Harry potter is still young, he’s just probably more likely to have earlier onset dementia later in life. We only see him at the end when he’s probably in his 30s or 40s. Just wait until he hits 50, and he starts to stutter, and forgets when he keeps his wand and all. That’s why it’s best not to focus on the later career of Harry Potter… ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/32 "2010-12-05T11:24:24Z")
Slightly OT, but still somehow pertinent to the subject at hand: I once read an [almost serious research paper](http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/171/12/1433) by a Canadian physician (and his two sons, five and seven years old) where he concludes that Tintin suffers from “Acquired growth hormone deficiency and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism”, caused by multiple severe blows to the head, explaining why he never once grew in 70 years or had a girlfriend. Highly interesting read, even for those without medical aspirations. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/33 "2010-12-05T19:32:01Z")
Harry Potter can join the 90% of fictional characters out there in the My-Head-Is-Made-Of-Steel Club. At least Harry has the fanwankable excuse of magic. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/34 "2010-12-05T21:11:10Z")
They live for centuries, they heal perfectly. Obviously they’re in the same universe as the _Dresden Files_. That Potter story mentioned above is really interesting. I started reading it late last night and _bloody hell_ it’s 3AM, how did that happen? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838/35 "2010-12-05T22:50:29Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > You have until about February to finish Ch. 64 (IIRC. it could be early spring). The writer is taking a hiatus. > > BTW, has anyone ever met anyone with the surname “Snape?” How is that a Muggle name? Yikes. Looks like I don’t recall even close to correctly. The fic returns nlt 12/28. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-wonder-why-harry-potter-doesnt-have-serious-brain-damage/562838.md?page=1)