If I recall correctly, an obscurus is developed under one's prolonged suppression and hatred of one's own magic. Harry never hated his magic and was never ashamed of it, which I think is the distinction saving him from being an obscurial.

Fun fact: toothpick, napkin, 50 p. Those are the things Dursleys gave to Harry. They resamble the Elder wand, The Invisibility Cloak and the Resurrection stone. (Sorry for my bad English.)

Before watching: The reason why Harry wasn’t an obscurial is as simple as “he didn’t know he had magic” since the Dursleys never told him about magic he didn’t know to “suppress” it, he was blamed for the “weirdness” around him but without a proper explanation he could only shrug and sigh at the unfairness of his life After watching: so yes, exactly what you said

He didn't know he had magic to repress in the first place.

If you ask me, Credence's adoptive mother is a Squib who's ticked off at not being able to do magic. That or she had a few ancestors who were involved in the Salem Witch Trials...

I think its more because Harry was never scared of the Dursleys. They would punish him over and over but he never describes Vernon as scary, just as ridiculous(Riddikulus).

He never knew he had magic, so he never hated it. Tried to suppress it, sure, but that was after he discovered the wizarding world, made friends, and found a real home in hogwarts. Before first year, he just thought strange things happened around him. After, he loved magic, because it made him free.

For the same reason all of the other hundreds of muggle born wizards weren't obscurials. They didn't know so they didn't suppress.

Hello there Towel Section! How are you today!?

It kind of explains why Dumbledore never during his childhood spoke to Harry and never tried to gradually introduce him to the wizarding world. It was better for Harry to remain ignorant. Dumbledore understood the risk of an obscures as his sister probably was one.

Honestly, Harry was very stubborn and didn't give up that easily. He didn't really care what the Dursleys thought, anyway. Maybe that's why he wasn't an obscurial.

But would the horcrux in Harry protect its vessel from becoming an obscurus?

Maybe harry did actually develop one but the part of voldemorts soul was like na ah not in my crib i don't want a roommate and killed it

"That was my approach for homework. It doesn't work." Same

Should Dumbledore have thought that maybe there was a chance Harry could become an obscurial growing up with the Durseley’s?

I wonder if Petunia knew what would happen if Harry actively repressed his magic. I mean, it’s very possible that she heard Lily mention obscuri at some point; after all, Fantastic Beasts is one of the first year books, and Petunia was initially very close to Lily. Lily seems very Hermioneish in that she would probably read all the books before school started. So, Petunia made a sincere effort to keep him from knowing about magic at all in an effort to work around that.

really people had this question? I thought it was obvious key word for harry: ignorance harry never supressed his magic because he never knew he just thought they were mean to him just cause they are mean

Here's my thoughts: Harry never really had reason to surpress his powers. All of the instances that were shown in the books of him using his magic were instances in which it was good for him to use magic. He made Dudley's horrible sweater shrink, he turned his teacher's wig blue, he jumped on the roof to escape Dudley and his gang, and he made his hair grow back from it's previous awful state. Not to mention the time he sicced a boa constrictor on Dudley. Every time he used magic, or almost every time, there was something in it for him. He subconsciously wanted to use his magic, even though he didn't know he had it. The wizard in him wanted him to use his magic, and so he did, and he didn't surpress it, so he didn't become an Obscurial.

“Thats a bad day” Me: “Thats a bad life” XD

Voldemort protected him so he wouldn’t have a competing parasite

Ignorance definitely plays a large part. But, knowing Harry, if he'd known that he was being punished for magic ... well, he'd be too rebellious to suppress his magic. He'd just sneak out to use it, lol.

He doesn't repress his magic.(remember that snake scene)

Despite Harry’s punishments for it he was always thankful for his magic too, he wouldn’t have wanted to suppress it even if he knew he had it.

I bet it was because he was a Horcrux. His magic was being controlled by a part of Voldemorts Soul. It was protecting itself... No body, no Horcrux...

Can we all please agree that Hermione was the creator of Dumbledore's Army?

Maybe an Obscruil would not be able to grow in a Hocrox.

Thank you so much for this video! I have been wondering this since I saw Fantastic Beasts.

Harry also was able to use magic when he was a little baby, when his parents were still alive. I cannot remember the exact part but I recall something like Harry (or someone) reading a letter written to Sirius from either Lily and James stating Harry was riding around on the broom Sirius sent for Harry. So maybe that was enough combined with never being tormented for being magical like Credence and Ariana.

You missed one fact: He was orphaned when he was 1. The first year of a life is crucial, even for muggles. So he have known affection and love in his first 15 months. The guy in the movies is probably orphan since his birth.

The Dursleys also gave Harry THREE special gifts. A thoothpick, a tissue and a coin...Put the three together and u have the Deathly Hallows symbol, COINCIDENCE? I DONT THINK SO!

It's because Harry never had an absence of love. It was literally in his blood from his mom's sacrifice. They form from suppressing magic and a lack of love.

That ending thought makes me wonder if the piece of Voldemort's soul and the obscurus would attack each other, and which would win.

I think it's largely psychological as well. Different people respond differently to outside forces trying to suppress things about them. Some self-hate, suppress and become emotionally unstable and others bear through it find a way to get out and be themselves. Harry was a fighter. He was never going to hate himself just because the Dursleys seemed to hate him.

To be fair, while they definitely were emotionally abusive, they never full out beat or tortured Harry the way Credence was abused.

Thank you for this informative video!

I swear I could watch you guys talk about Harry Potter theories all day, super addictive

so basically harry not an obscurial bc he was too thick to realise he was magic

Good video with a decent idea, but I personally disagree on this one. I think it had much more to do with the fact that Harry went on to grow and develop his abilities while at Hogwarts from a much younger age. If we remember Ariana who died at age 14, we see that it generally takes several years of suppression for a disgruntled witch/wizard to become a true Obscurial. Though I haven't been able to find an exact age of Credence, he certainly looks older than 11-14. In fact, he looks like he could be anywhere from 17 to a baby-faced 20 year old. I think the key difference is that Harry DID go to wizarding school while Credence and Ariana didn't. Harry was moved to an environment where magic was nothing to be ashamed of or feared. If it was down to ignorance, then Harry would have likely developed more Obscurial-esque tendencies and would've had more episode during the summer holidays with his magic-suppressing relatives. But what do I know? That's just my take on it lol

This was something i thought for a while. Thank u for clearing it

it also mentions Harry playing on a toy broom stick in one of Lily's letters to Sirius meaning James and Lily actively encougaged his magic when he was young.

It could have just been that Harry was unaware of magic at the time, and because of that had nothing to surpress. Harry wasn't surpressing his magic (which again he did not know he had), but surpressing being himself.

What about Lily's act of love that protected him from the death curse? It wouldn't be that far fetched to say that if that primal magic is strong enough to tare Voldemort to bits it might be strong enough to at least help prevent the creation of an obscurus. Also, on a deeper level, you could say the love of his mother gave him the inner strength to endure the abuse of the Dursleys. Creedence and Ariana didn't have any primal mojo protecting them from dark magic.

Oh my God this was literally what I've been wondering ever since the Fantastic Beasts film. I'm glad KZfaq recommended this video to me lol.

Personally, the reason I think Harry wasn't an obscurial because firstly, he is not ashamed of his magic and is not trying to suppress his magic and secondly, he himself didn't know he was magical so he couldn't try and repress it

I think it's no co-incidence that wizards and witches start their magical education when they are 11. Old enough that their magic is developed enough for them to practice it, and young enough that they can begin embracing and using their magic safely, under supervision, thus preventing them from becoming obscurials. I mean, kids are required by law not to practice magic outside school (unless they are homeschooled which their parents would likely have to apply to the ministry for a license to do). I think the obscurus needs time to grow before it can become dangerous, and failure to practice magic at all is what causes it rather than brief spells (pun intended) of magical abstinence. Prolonged shame and repression. Hogwarts and Ilvermorney prevent obscurials by nipping the issue in the bud before it can bloom into a problem.

It's entirely possible that because Harry was a Horcrux, the Obscurus couldn't find a purchase on him to develop.

The ad that started playing was The Crimes of Grindlewald, it was so perfect.

You could also say that since he is a horcrux he is internally protected by the piece of Voldemorts soul which protects its user like the golden flames just a theory

The Chosen One The Boy Who Lived Twice Master Of Death Triwizard Tournament Champion Gryffindor Parselmouth Creator of Dumbeldore's Army Horcrux Obscurial Murder at Age 11

I think they once gave Harry a coat hanger

It's a really old video, but here's a few questions: If Harry had become an Obscurial, and his Obscurus had burst free and killed him, would that have destroyed the Horcrux? Would Harry have survived like Credence did by potential properties of being a Horcrux? Would the same magic that saved him from Voldemort protect him from becoming an Obscurial, or stop him from dying to it if he'd developed an Obscurus? I feel like this theory should be revisited in a little more depth; I'd love to hear SuperCarlinBrothers opinions (or other users comments) on the other possibilities.

I was always like most casual fans who only saw the movies and read only a few of the books (1-4) , but ever since i subscribed to this channel I learned soooooo much more than i thought i already knew lol. Plus the "Heeey Brother!" Is now forever burnt into my skull lol.

Harry wasn't an obscurus originally because like you said, he didn't know what to suppress aka "blissful ignorance". Why it never developed when he came home for the summer holidays and the Dursleys told him not to do magic was because while he did repress it, he still wanted to use it. An obsucial is someone who is not willing to use magic and Harry is more than willing to use magic in the right circumstances

My theory is that the sacrificial magic Lily left on Harry protected him from becoming an obscurial.

My question is what about magic students who get expelled and have to go back to the "muggle" world?

I love your channel, always thoughtful. Also, never lose the facial hair.

Hey supercarlinbrothers. This just happened, but are you going to do a sort of tribute to carrie fisher? I think that would be awesome

Harry didn't know he was magical, so he couldn't have mad an effort to suppress said magic. Nuff said.

I think because Harry is always happy about magic is another thing, like he himself isn't trying to repress or punish himself, I feel like an obscures comes from an internal struggle not just their environment or family

Could be that the negative energy just fed the part of Voldermort's soul living in Harry, so the obscurus never developed.

they should make a hp prequel that leaves off right on top of the opening of the sorcerer's stone

My theory was that Harry's body was constantly using magic to fight off the power of the horcrux

Harry didn’t become an obscurial because he actually let out his magic in small ways, like magically growing his hair, shirking Dudley’s sweater and ending up on his school’s roof. The magic was not repressed or contained, it still managed to escape in small ways.

Nice choice of words. The boy who lived twice. Reminds me of a certain Saidin... from a really long outstandingly amazing novel... called Wheel of Time ( and my dear band Blind guardian ) "Twice I'll be marked and, Twice I shall live. [...] Twice I'll be marked and, Twice I shall die."

For one obscurials are rare. Two, yes, Harry is ignorant of his magical power so had no frame of reference to begin suppressing it. Three, Harry was a bit of a rebel. He would buck authority if he didn't respect it. So even if he could figure out how to suppress his magic he likely wouldn't do so since he had no respect for the people that were punishing him for reasons they never really specified for the first part of his childhood. Harry is just not the kind of guy to develop an obscurial despite his situation.

Maybe Harry just doesn't care about Dursley's advices, magic is his only "firend". Credance love his adoptive mom and he openly calls her "mom", so he respects what she asks for and tries to repress the "strange power" he has. Harry isn't an obscural because is loves those magical moments.

You can also ask the same questions about Tom Riddle. He knew he was different and lashed out on the other orphans and also repressed it to avoid the consequences

That is so brilliant I never even thought about that

I completely agree. Harry didn't know he had something to repress, or really how to repress it. He did know that there was something different about him, but he didn't know that he had magic.

I was thinking even more simplistic, it has to do with time. Since age 11-12 is the typical age for starting magical school, then it is safe to assume that there is no danger to wait until that time. Also, let's not forget the restrictions on underage magic. So that again means that there's no danger of repressing magic over a few months. I do believe that aside from time one would need to actively and thoroughly repress their magic. Harry never does that, he never hates his magical nature or tries to kill it, he just hides it...which is not the same thing at all.

5:30 At this specific moment, I had a burning question: If a Horcrux is contained in an Obscurial, then when the Obscurial dies, does the Horcrux die as well?

I feel like that’s a good idea but also it could be the time dreams because Creedence is much older than Harry, so it could also be that his Obscurus didn’t have enough time to manifest.

that kind of proves why dumbledore didnt tell harry he was a wizard before he went to hogswart

Guys why isn't Elsa one. *Beat drop*

I always thought Harry wasn't an obscurial because he wasn't actively suppressing his powers they just kinda grew with him and Harry used them without meaning too because he needed them he just let his powers exist without knowing they were there

I've always been curious if Voldemorts mother suppressing her magic after house father left could have been causing an obscurial in her while she was pregnant thus being part of the reason he turned out as powerful and dark as he was

I pretty much agree with you, since Harry didn't know about magic until Hagrid shows up he couldn't suppress his magic. However, even though he does suppress his magic when he's home from school, I personally don't think it makes that much of a difference because he wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school anyway because he still had the trace on him.

Does anyone else dance to their theme song or is it just me? 😂

Yes I agree to one hundred percent! Also even if he knew that he was a wizard chanses are that he just would run away and/or the ministry or Dumbledor would step in.

I wondered why he didn't become a obscurial too, then it hit me it had probably just been thought up

Isn't that kinda obvious? I thought of that immediately.

technically Hermione is the creator of the DA.

He might have been an obscurial yet he was lucky and didn’t develop it at the normal age as he didn’t know he was magic from the start. Then when Voldemort ‘killed’ him it might have killed off the horcrux and the obscurial.

4.49 “maybe if they ignore it, it will go away” that was my approach to me being gay lol

I think it's also because Harry actually enjoyed getting back at the Dursleys and didn't want to repress whatever he was doing

Harry was unaware, when he was aware he used it to fight back against the Dursleys, he was sent to Hogwarts as soon as his magical abilities manifested. Credence is past the age of 20, has known he is magical for years, gets openly punished for his magic and is forced to suppress it. The key word here is 'suppress', an obscurial doesn't just appear because you aren't using your magic, it appears after years and years of you bottling that magic inside of you. Credence and Dumbledores sister both actively forced their magic to stay inside and never appear. This bottled up magic turns into something dark and evil. Harry just magical removes glass and was sent to Hogwarts to use his magic openly and every summer would simply use magic to annoy the Dursleys and fight a dementor. The fact that people can question how Harry is not an Obscurial kinda shows how terrible people are at both reading and understanding what they've actually read.

My thoughts are basically the fact that harry never seemed to shy away from punishment so HAD he known he was a wizard its my firm belief that he wouldn't have suppressed his powers and in fact used them more often. Credence however only wanted love and affection and magic was in the way of that (so he thought) so he actively tried to suppress it. Or theres the whole lily protection charm thing that could also explain it

2:51 A note about the subtitles; the subtitles say 'toothpicks can't be pretty useful', but what is said is 'toothpicks can be pretty useful'. 2:35 I think Harry *did* develop an obscurous, but it never was able to grow to the point of causing mass damage.

How could harry even repress his magic when for the first 10 years he didnt know he was a wizard when he did find out he wanted to be a part of it

well i kinda think if an obscurous developed i think the horcrux might have interfered with it. we know the soulshards within a horcrux are sentient and atleast carry the knowledge of the creator to the time where they were created and have some weird abilities. however voldemort and by that the horcrux within harry knows how to control magic so voldemort actually might have saved Harry from going apeshit berserk in privet drive. And the obscurial as i understand it is like it works like a contained explosion. you have your container and the pressure build up. after a time it will be to much to handle and BOOM. though an obscurial seems to be capable of exploding sevewral times and the explosion is in fact a transformation into a man slaying monster but you get the point. how do you defuse a thing like that? you put a safety vent on it. a vent that snaps open when the pressure gets high enough to damage the container and lets out pressure. fast cooking pots or whatever they´re called in english are a perfect example of that. Harry lets his power out several times. be it apparating on the school roof, making a window disappear or regrowing his hair. that all are controlled outlets. harry might not know about this outlet, but voldemort and the horcrux sure do. means the horcrux might act as an outlet (it is an extremely powerful dark magical force with its own devastating powers after all) stopping Harry from building up "magic pressure" just my theory

Lets be reasonable. Harry wasnt a obscurial because they were invented for the fbawtft movies...

I'm glad someone else thought of this

I wonder if JK Roweling has ever watched these Harry Potter series 🤔

Am I the only one who sings to the theme song and yells "HEY BROTHER!"

4:51 Ben: "It doesn't work" Me: looks down at hw I should be doing Also Me: If you don't succeed at first, try try again! Also Also Me: Fails class

*Video starts* Dude:Heey brother!!! Me: There’s an endless road to rediscover.

It all comes to Lily, I believe the power Lily left in Harry also protected him from becoming that.

The feeling when you stop binge-watching Potter videos from this channel, open your sub box... and there's a new one

That’s the exact same thing I thought. I totally agree with everything. I also thought that throughout his life Harry actually has used magic he just either didn’t realize it was his doing or he never noticed at all, that’s why he was never really suspicious.

That is precisely why, Harry didn't become an obscurial. He had no idea that he was a wizard in the first place.