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I recently got this meme:

Panel 1: Close up on Harry's face, text at the bottom: "Look at me". Panel 2: View over Harry's shoulder as he looks at Snape on the ground holding his bloody neck. Text at the bottom: How are you the only student with glasses in the entire fuckin' film series?
Click image to enlarge.

Since, I keep wondering if Harry Potter is really the only wizard student with glasses or if there are others? Specially since, according to this answer, wizards cannot fix bad eyesight. I've started to watch some clips on YouTube to try find students with glasses and looked at pictures of the start-of-term feast but have so far not been able to identify another student with glasses.

Sources from the book or the films are accepted.

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    Presumably McGonagall did when she was at school, because we know (from Pottermore) that she became an animagus as a student and her cat form has spectacle markings. And Moaning Myrtle did too. Not the most recent though — I'll keep thinking. Jan 15, 2021 at 10:18
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    The answer you quote already lists out every character who wears glasses (books and movies). Doesn't that kind of answer this question?
    – Shreedhar
    Jan 15, 2021 at 10:20
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    We know of several other students that wore glasses (James Potter, Moaning Myrtle), then there's adults who wear glasses but may or may not have done at school. However, I can't think of any named students who wore glasses while Harry was at school.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Jan 15, 2021 at 10:24
  • @shreedhar yes, it does indeed... didn't even think about this... thx!
    – Shade
    Jan 15, 2021 at 10:24
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    Percy Weasley! Although he doesn't in the films. It isn't impossible that some of the Muggle-born students wear contact lenses (witches and wizards might as well, but we never see a wizard opticians so I don't know, but somebody must fit the glasses). Perhaps not though — they'd be much more practical for Quidditch but nobody ever suggests Harry tries them. Jan 15, 2021 at 10:29

3 Answers 3

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Students with glasses:

  • Percy Weasley

“I — don’t — want —” said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

  • Myrtle

I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses.

  • James Potter

Harry recognized his father, his untidy black hair stuck up at the back like Harry’s, and he too wore glasses.

Other wizards with glasses:

  • Arthur Weasley

Mr. Weasley was slumped in a kitchen chair with his glasses off and his eyes closed.

  • Albus Dumbledore

“Exactly,” said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses.

  • Minerva McGonagall

He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes.

  • Rita Skeeter

Unemployment did not suit Rita.... there were a couple of false jewels missing from her winged glasses

  • Sybill Trelawney

Professor Trelawney moved into the firelight, and they saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size

  • Ernie Prang

Ernie Prang, an elderly wizard wearing very thick glasses, nodded to Harry

  • Rufus Scrimgeour

“Well, it is clear to me that he has done a very good job on you,” said Scrimgeour, his eyes cold and hard behind his wire-rimmed glasses

  • Aberforth Dumbledore

The firelight made the grimy lenses of Aberforth’s glasses momentarily opaque

  • Mafalda Hopkirk

As she removed Mafalda’s spectacles and put them on, Harry checked his watch.

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    Although each of these characters might once have been a student, do you have any evidence that they wore glasses while they were students? It's much more common to need glasses as an adult than as a child, so most adults with glasses were never a child with glasses.
    – IMSoP
    Jan 15, 2021 at 20:52
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    @IMSoP I'm pretty sure that the scene with James Potter is during his fifth year in Hogwarts. It's probably the Snape's Worst Memory chapter from OotP. Myrtle, of course, died before graduating. Most of Percy's scenes are pre-graduation.
    – J. Mini
    Jan 15, 2021 at 22:35
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    @IMSoP Hence the headline "Other wizards with glasses". To be fair, that's easy to overlook though. I've submitted some formatting to fix that.
    – Egor Hans
    Jan 16, 2021 at 10:56
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    -1 As the question is about the "entire f***ing film series" and these quotes seem to mistake the books of the same name with the film series in question. Jan 16, 2021 at 12:20
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    @DavidMulder The question says «Sources from the book or the films are accepted.».
    – wizzwizz4
    Jan 16, 2021 at 14:39
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Focusing purely on the films, there are a considerable number of background extras other pupils attending Hogwarts with Harry who wear glasses


Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Prefect helping First Years to de-train
enter image description here

First Year in Great Hall
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Random Hufflepuff in Great Hall
enter image description here

Different random Hufflepuff in Great Hall
enter image description here

Random Ravenclaw at flying lesson.
enter image description here

Random Gryffindor and Random Slytherin crossing quad.
enter image description here

Random Ravenclaw girl crossing quad.
enter image description here

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Ravenclaw girl in transfiguration class
enter image description here

Gryffindor boy in hallway
enter image description here

Gryffindor girl at duel
enter image description here

Gryffindor girl at duel
enter image description here

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Gryffindor girl in DADA class.
enter image description here

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Random boys at Yule Ball
enter image description here

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Luna Lovegood periodically wears Spectrespecs
enter image description here

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II

Two Gryffindor boys in Great Hall
enter image description here

Ravenclaw girl in Great Hall
enter image description here

Ravenclaw boy in hallway
enter image description here

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    "Random Slytherin girl at Quidditch match" looks to me to be the same as "First Year in Great Hall". Jan 18, 2021 at 1:35
  • @FelixDombek - I think you're probably right.
    – Valorum
    Jan 18, 2021 at 8:27
  • I can't seem to be able to see the glasses on "First Year in boat behind Harry" (second picture). Is it the boy on the left or half cut on the right?
    – Clockwork
    Jan 18, 2021 at 18:06
  • @Valorum I'm just gonna take you on faith for that x) Unless I should rewatch that movie after 20 years into adulthood. Hmm...
    – Clockwork
    Jan 18, 2021 at 19:51
  • @Clockwork - I think you might be right. I can't get a very good view of him on the video and I'm going to try and find a set photo. For now he's coming down off the list.
    – Valorum
    Jan 18, 2021 at 19:59
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In the films I've spotted at least one other student wearing glasses in Harry's year. We can see her over Harry's shoulder in the Sorting Hat scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Close up on the first year students' faces, a girl with glasses is seen over Harry's shoulder

We also know of other students who wore glasses, just that they weren't students at the same time as Harry.

James Potter

The Marauders in their final years at Hogwarts
Click image to enlarge.

Moaning Myrtle

Close up of Moaning Myrtle
Click image to enlarge.

We of course also know of various teachers at Hogwarts who wore glasses who may or may not have worn them as children: McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Trelawney, etc.

Lastly, in the mobile game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, we know of 3 students, at least, that wore glasses:

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    Meh, film-based answer. The very first part of this could be down to "a random extra needed glasses IRL" more than "they wanted to show another character with glasses". James Potter I think did wear glasses in canon though?
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jan 15, 2021 at 11:48
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    @Randal'Thor TBF the meme is film-based, so answers from the films would be more accurate to the meme/inspiration for the question. That said the only film one here that is not true to the books as well would be the random extra and that's only because there's likely nothing to support that in the books as it's just an extra. I could have done a full list, like the book answer, but I didn't really feel that was needed, just enough to prove the answer.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Jan 15, 2021 at 11:52
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    Granted. Your answer is valid and I haven't downvoted it, I just feel it's a bit meh and the other one is better and more canonical.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jan 15, 2021 at 12:09
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    Aside from the Rowan image, it seems that the choice of frames in Harry Potters world is rather limited. OT, but thinking about glasses in general: optometry is a science based technology from the muggle world. So why/how does the magic world even use it? :D
    – Peter M
    Jan 15, 2021 at 14:17
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    I'd guess that the girl in the first image behind Harry is maybe the same person as Elora Dunn. Obviously it's cartoonified, but they've got the same facial structure and approximate hairstyle. Jan 15, 2021 at 18:41

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