Is Harry Potter a Nerd or a Jock? The Internet is Freaking Out

Well, the Harry Potter fandom is at it again. This time they’re arguing about whether everyone’s favorite wizard is, in fact, a nerd or a total jock type. It’s pretty easy to always picture the titular hero as some awkward kid who, on top of wearing nothing but broken glasses and clothes that don’t fit at the beginning of the series, doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere either. But, as a few savvy Redditors in the r/ShowerThoughts sub point out, there may be more to him than you think.

“Harry Potter isn’t a nerd, he’s a jock. He didn’t try very hard in school, cheated on homework constantly, was a sports star, and ended up joining the police/military,” a Reddit user wrote.

They were off to the races after that. Another person pointed out that Potter had all the telltale privileges of a super rich kid who ultimately won’t be held accountable for much of anything. Many noted how Potter was always getting out of trouble because Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts, was regularly getting him out of trouble. That’s all without mentioning that Potter and his friends have done nothing but break every rule under the sun since they first showed up at Hogwarts.

What’s funny is that the books never really shied away from pointing this out about Harry, but it’s rather that our perception of him as the same disheveled loner we meet at the start of the series sticks long after it doesn’t apply anymore. For example, as Harry competes in the Tri-Wizard tournament during The Goblet of Fire, he’s perpetually relying on the know-how of people who are far more intelligent than him, and they point this out right at the end of the book! Harry would have been dead at least three times over without that help, all because he lacks the perception and book knowledge to do any of it alone. He could study and become a more capable wizard, but why do that when people are lining up to give you the answers to damn near every one of your life’s riddles?

Need we even bring up the fact that it becomes evident at a certain point that Harry’s dad, who he idolizes, was kind of a jock type too? In fact, exactly the kind of jock-hole that people are arguing Harry is. But, as one poster pointed out, if you’re upset or shocked that Harry isn’t a nerd, you’re likely missing the whole point of his arc and the meaningful ways that he changes throughout the series. One poster argued that he stopped being a nerd in the first book.

“It’s actually the whole purpose to show him basically being the weird kid in the muggle world, but basically a hero in the ‘real world,’” they wrote. “It is indeed a weird shower thought as the whole intent there is to show that there opened up a world where he isn’t the weird nerdy guy.”