10 Things You Didn't Know About Harry Potter's Scar

It's been established that Harry's scar hurts when Voldemort is nearby (or when he feels a strong emotion), but why? Is it just like a cut or a burn would hurt any of us? What, specifically, is causing that pain?

The answer is... quite horrifying.

The piece of Voldemort's soul that lives within Harry does not want to be there. It wants to be closer to the master soul, and it wants to rejoin the master soul - the piece that remains within Voldemort. So, whenever Harry feels Voldemort's presence (physical or mental) the piece of soul tries to escape his body, using the lightning scar as an exit point. This, in turn, causes the pain in Harry's forehead.

Rowling herself explained this concept in a 2007 interview with The Leaky Cauldron:

"Well, of course the pain he feels [in his scar] whenever Voldemort's particularly active is this piece of soul seeking to rejoin the master soul. When his scar is hurting him so much, that's not scar tissue hurting him. That's this piece of soul really wanting to get back out the way it entered. It really wants to... it entered this boy's body through a wound, and it wants to rejoin the master. So when Voldemort's near him, when he's particularly active, this connection, it was always there. That's what I always imagined this pain was."

So there you go. Whenever Harry screams in pain, he's essentially giving birth to a portion of Voldemort's soul, through a small cut on his forehead. Try and get that image out of your mind...

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