Character Analysis
You know the drill: he's the young wizard with the iconic scar, John Lennon glasses, and Gryffindor pride. He's Harry Potter—humble, anxious, brave little Harry.
The HP movies are pretty action-packed, so there's often less emphasis on the psychological lives of their characters. This film is no exception, but we definitely get some glimpses into the internal developments and struggles that these characters have to cope with.
And no one has more coping to do than poor Harry, whose life only seems to be getting scarier and more difficult as the franchise goes on. And it's looking to get a lot worse before it gets better.
On His Own
Harry's always felt kind of alone. First off, he was an orphan—that's some serious loneliness to deal with right off the bat. Then, he grew up with the Dursleys, who treated him like a freak and stuffed him into a closet under the stairs.
Then, even when he found a kind of home and some great friends and teachers/mentors at Hogwarts, he was still set apart from others by being the "Boy Who Lived" and the "Chosen One." As he's become increasingly aware, his fate is bound up with Voldemort's, and he is ultimately going to be responsible for wiping that monster off the planet.
Or not.
Really, it all depends on whether he can find all those Horcruxes that are protecting pieces of Voldemort's soul, destroy them, and then find a way to beat Voldemort himself. Harry can get help with the Horcrux part, but the whole "beating Voldemort" thing will be all up to him.
No pressure, right?
To make matters loads worse, Dumbledore, the man who started him on this whole Horcrux hunt, is now dead. And Harry doesn't really know where he's supposed to be looking for the rest of the Horcruxes or have a ton of insight into Dumbledore's overall plan for where to look, how to overpower Voldemort, etc.
Harry is actually reeling in the early part of the film from just how little Dumbledore shared with him before departing this earth. In one big example: Dumbledore never told him that they were both from the same town (Godric's Hollow). He finds that out when Ron's Auntie Muriel is discussing Rita Skeeter's upcoming exposé on Dumbledore and his family:
AUNTIE MURIEL: Oh, I'm sure Rita Skeeter thought it well worth a trip to Godric's Hollow to take a peek into that old bird's rattled cage.
HARRY: Godric's Hollow? Bathilda Bagshot lives at Godric's Hollow?
AUNTIE MURIEL: Well, that's where she first met Dumbledore.
HARRY: You don't mean to say he lived there too?
AUNTIE MURIEL: The family moved there after his father killed those three Muggles. Oh, it was quite the scandal. Honestly, my boy, are you sure you knew him at all?
That's kind of a big thing to have in common and never mention. When Harry finds that out, he really seems to start doubting the closeness of his relationship with Dumbledore.
And even setting that aside, he's really unsure about whether Dumbledore managed to leave him with all the tools and information he would need to succeed on this whole Horcrux mission.
What if everything he thought he knew is wrong? Or just not enough to get the job done?
Friendships Tested Like Never Before
We have two layers of frustration happening here—a kind of frustration domino effect. Because Dumbledore kept his plans and thoughts pretty close to the vest, Harry is left bewildered and alone.
And because of this, Ron becomes annoyed with Harry for appearing to think of this quest to find Horcruxes/kill Voldemort as "Harry against the world." Sure, Harry has a starring role, but this whole good vs. evil battle is so much bigger than one kid—even if that kid is Harry.
Ron basically says as much when he catches Harry trying to storm off from the Burrow after Hedwig and Mad-Eye lose their lives trying to get Harry to safety:
RON: Going somewhere?
HARRY: Nobody else is going to die. Not for me.
RON: For you? You think Mad-Eye died for you? You think George took that curse for you? You may be the chosen one, mate, but this is a whole lot bigger than that. It's always been bigger than that.
HARRY: Come with me.
RON: And leave Hermione? Are you mad? We wouldn't last two days without her. Don't tell her I said that.
So, yeah, the fight against Voldemort is a team effort, but Harry sometimes seems to forget that. Sure, there are some really good motivations behind that attitude—he wants to take lots of responsibility so other people don't get hurt—but it totally ignores how invested everyone else is in what's happening.
And we imagine that can be pretty frustrating to everyone who isn't Harry.
Ron also gets pretty cranky with Harry for not sharing his plans for how to get all the Horcruxes. Now, the reason for that is that Harry doesn't have a clear plan—or, really, any concrete ideas for the best place to start—but Ron doesn't know that, and seems to think Harry might be holding out on him.
RON: I just thought, after all this time, we would've actually achieved something. I thought you knew what you were doing. I thought Dumbledore would have told you something worthwhile. I thought you had a plan.
HARRY: I told you everything Dumbledore told me! And in case you haven't noticed, we have found a Horcrux already.
RON: Yeah, and we're about as close to getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them, aren't we?
Sure, it's a little crazy on Ron's part, but these are crazy times. The bottom line, though, is that Harry is now kind of doing a Dumbledore on Ron and Hermione: carting them along on the ride without giving them any real control over what's happening or insight into what the next steps might be.
Of course, Harry isn't trying to be secretive. But, like Dumbledore, he's not necessarily super sensitive to how information about his plans (or lack thereof) is affecting others. And it causes big problems with Ron in this film.
Learning to Lead…Harry's Way
Things get so bad with Ron that our favorite ginger actually leaves the group after an epic tantrum. That decision is mostly on Ron himself—and we'll deal with that when we get to his character summary—but some good actually comes of it as far as Harry's concerned.
Once everything is all patched up and Ron returns, Harry seems to have realized that he really does need to delegate some parts of this quest to others.
Case in point: Ron returns to the group when he finds Harry in the woods trying to retrieve the sword of Gryffindor from an icy pond. Harry is struggling with that task because the Horcrux he's been wearing around his neck (for safekeeping) is trying to strangle him.
Ron dives in and retrieves Harry and the sword—and afterwards, Harry doesn't even try to take responsibility for destroying the Horcrux. In his mind, Ron is "the chosen one" for this job.
HARRY: Okay, Ron. Do it.
Seems that Harry has realized that people other than him might have their own destiny in this whole drama, no? And that's a big change. Up to this point, he seemed to be feeling like the only one burdened by fate.
We're glad to see the change, since we're pretty sure Harry is going to need all the help he can get to find the rest of the Horcruxes and take Voldemort down once and for all.
Harry Potter's Timeline