| “ | Harry, you are so loved, so loved. Harry, Mama loves you. Dada loves you. Harry, be safe. Be strong. | „ |
| ~ Lily to her infant son before her death. |
| “ | Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything... | „ |
| ~ Lily to Lord Voldermort, refusing to allow him to kill her son. |
Lily J. Potter (née Evans) is one of the overarching protagonists of the Harry Potter series. She was an idealistic, kind, and loving muggle-born witch who was the best and only true friend of Severus Snape, the wife of James Potter, and mother of the protagonist Harry Potter.
Tragically, her life would be cut short when Voldemort broke into their house to kill their newborn son who was prophesied to defeat him. While James was instantly killed, Lily sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort, saving the Wizarding world/ending the First Wizarding War and making her son Harry the legendary "Boy Who Lived", ensuring the prophecy would come to fruition.
What Makes Her Pure Good?[]
Both Versions[]
- She was the best and only true friend of Severus Snape, being the only person who treated him with kindness and compassion in Hogwarts and remaining friends with him even when he was sorted into the notorious Slytherin house. She served as a good influence on Snape against the bigotry of his Death Eater family and friends.
- Despite the fact that her sister Petunia called her a freak repeatedly for being a witch and treated her terribly, she still loved and cared for her sister, defending her from Snape and wished to reconcile with her sister.
- Unlike the rest of Gryffindor, she never held any prejudice towards the Slytherin house, having a friendly relationship with and being one of the favorite students of the Head of the Slytherin House/Potions Master Horace Slughorn and remaining best friends with Snape after he had been sorted into Slytherin.
- She befriended James and the Marauders after influencing them to grow out of their bullying ways and became friends with all of them (including Peter Pettigrew), falling in love with James and marrying him.
- She felt immense remorse after James and her sister’s fiance Vernon got into an argument (even though it wasn’t her fault at all) during their first meeting, bursting into tears when Petunia and Vernon stormed out and motivating James to promise to her that he would make things right with Vernon as soon as possible. She would try to maintain contact with her sister and reconcile (although Petunia refused and didn’t attend Lily’s wedding), sending her an announcement of Harry’s birth to her sister as their last form of correspondence (as Petunia threw the letter in the garbage).
- She joined the Order of the Phoenix to combat Voldemort and the Death Eaters who started the First Wizarding War to conquer the Wizarding World and wipe out muggle-borns like her.
- She was the sole reason why Snape would turn on Voldemort and informed Dumbledore of Voldemort’s plan to kill her, James, and Harry as Voldemort correctly believed Harry to be the prophesied chosen one.
- She trusted Peter Pettigrew to be Potter family’s secret-keeper on the word of Sirius Black despite barely knowing Pettigrew unlike her husband.
- She affectionately called Pettigrew “wormy” and when he came to visit her house, she was sympathetic and felt concerned that he seemed “down”.
- She was close friends with her neighbor, the British witch, and the great aunt of Gellert Grindelwald, Bathilda Bagshot, complimenting Bagshot as an incredibly sweet woman and for her fascinating tales about Dumbledore formerly being friends with Gellert Grindelwald
- She sent a letter to Sirius Black, thanking him for his birthday present for the one-year old Harry as it was Harry’s favorite present, framing a picture for Sirius to see Harry on the toy broomstick Sirius got him and she excitedly told Sirius about her meetings with Pettigrew and Bathilda Bagshot mentioned above.
- She sacrificed herself to defeat Voldemort when he attacked the Potter home, placing a loving sacrifice protection on an infant Harry so that Voldemort tried to kill him, the killing curse rebounded back on him, destroying Voldemort’s body and forcing him into hiding, saving not just Harry but the entire Wizarding world and ending the First Wizarding War. Her sacrifice made Harry the legendary Boy Who Lived and allowed the prophecy to come into fruition, making her responsible for all the events of the series as without her, Voldemort would have won and none of the events of the Harry Potter series would have happened.
- Her memory was the sole reason for Snape’s redemption and him agreeing to play the key role in Dumbledore’s plans to protect Harry and take down Voldemort when he returned decades later.
- She was the first spirit to appear when Harry used the Resurrection stone, reaching out her hand to Harry to comfort him, telling him how brave he has been and when Harry asked why she and the Marauders were here, she revealed to him that they never left and told Harry they would always stay close to him in the last moment of the scene before they disappeared.
- Although she is very serious, she never darkens the story.
Exclusive to Book Version[]
- She repeatedly defended Severus Snape from James and the Marauder's bullying and despite her popularity and the rest of friends telling her not to associate with Snape, she still remained best friends with him and didn’t become narcissistic, defending Snape for years.
- While she accepted the cheers of students when she was accepted into Gryffindor, she was sad that she wasn’t with Snape and turned back to smile at him when he was sad about it as well.
- Although she initially didn’t like James and the Marauders for being arrogant bullies, she still defended them from Snape by pointing out that James saved Snape’s life and told Snape to stop obsessing over them when he tried to use them to deflect from his own Slytherin colleagues unethical actions.
- She called out Snape’s Slytherin “friends” after they attacked a student named Mary Macdonald using black magic and told Snape that it wasn’t just humor but creepy and messed up, while still assuring Snape that they were best friends but that his company was badly influencing him.
- She defended Snape from James Potter and the Marauders after James turned Snape upside down and revealed his underwear, being the only person who didn’t laugh and made James let Snape go and take off Sirius’ curse that rendered Snape rigid and unable to move.
- While she was (understandably) upset after Snape called her a "filthy little mudblood" right after she saved him, she still defended Snape from James, telling James that she didn’t want him to force Snape to apologize when James threatened Snape to and still called James out for bullying Snape and others and for being just as bad.
- She along with her husband defied Voldemort three times during the course of the First Wizarding War which was a part of the prophecy about the Chosen One.
- After Voldemort attacked their home and killed James, she refused to step aside from Harry even though Voldemort offered to spare her life.
- She repeatedly tried to reason with Voldemort and begged him to have mercy on Harry and take her instead before Voldemort ultimately killed her and she made her loving sacrifice.
Exclusive to Film Version[]
- After James pushed her to the ground and dropped her books to the ground to get her attention as young kids, she had no anger towards him.
- She gave Horace Slughorn a present as a token of appreciation, giving him a bowl with a petal that floated and turned into a fish when it sank, which Slughorn named Francis.
- She was known as an “uncommonly kind woman” who saw the best in others even when they couldn’t see it in themselves supported Remus and was there for him at a time when no one else was as Remus told Harry as that was how he recognized him due to his relationship with Lily and seeing her eyes in him.
Trivia[]
- She is one of the two Pure Goods in the Harry Potter franchise along with Newt Scamander.
- She is the only Pure Good from the original Harry Potter, because everyone in the original saga has at least one corruption factor.
External Links[]
- Lily Potter on the Heroes Wiki
