In Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin says "That suggests that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise...." when he finds out that Harry's boggart would be dementors. [Chapter : Flight of the Fat Lady. Page : 117] But dementors are supposed to suck out happiness, so doesn't that mean Harry simply feared sadness/depression?
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2I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that forms of boggarts were not permanent for an individual - that it was what they were most afraid of at that time. Given Harry's recent encounter with Dementors, that's likely what he was mostly afraid of right then.– phantom42Commented Feb 19, 2015 at 18:24
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@phantom42 is right. Further evidence: Neville is terrified of Snape because Snape is his teacher and he's intimidating, but he obviously didn't fear Snape at all until coming to Hogwarts a few years eariler, and likely wouldn't fear him for the rest of his life. He's just the scariest thing in Neville's life at that moment.– NerrolkenCommented Feb 19, 2015 at 18:32
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Even if Harry's greatest fear at that time was dementors how does that explain that what he feared was "fear itself"? Harry's boggart form had nothing to do with "fear itself" it was simply what Harry feared greatest. Won't everyone be fearing fear itself then?– Amith KKCommented Feb 19, 2015 at 18:46
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Spiders. Definitely spiders.– BroklyniteCommented May 5, 2016 at 11:53
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3 Answers
It is true that Dementors suck the happiness out of a person, and make them feel as if no happiness could ever come again.
But they do this best by creating dread in the person - by making them fear that these feelings will never return. And they do it best with those who already dreadfully fear this - like Sirius Black.
It may be open to a generous interpretation by Lupin, but it's fair to say that while Voldemort represents a great number of things, and Snape represents a very scary teacher, Dementors individually represent negative emotions, and fear is chief among them*.
*In Potterverse interpretation. Say what you will about it philsophically or otherwise.
Harry's biggest fear at that time, as you clearly point out in your comment, is fear itself.
‘I did think of Voldemort first,’ said Harry honestly. ‘But then I – I remembered those Dementors.’
‘I see,’ said Lupin thoughtfully. ‘Well, well ... I’m impressed.’ He smiled slightly at the look of surprise on Harry’s face. ‘That suggests that what you fear most of all is – fear. Very wise, Harry.’
Prisoner of Azkaban - page 117 - chapter eight, Flight of the Fat Lady - Bloomsbury
No, not everyone's greatest fear would be fear itself. For example, Voldemort's greatest fear is death (J.K. Rowling has said in an interview that Voldemort's Boggart would have been his own corpse.).
answered Feb 19, 2015 at 18:48
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See scifi.stackexchange.com/a/12570/4918 for a citation on the interview about the Dark Lord's greatest fear.– b_jonasCommented Sep 10, 2015 at 10:13
I think this part of the book is sometimes misunderstood and often overlooked in its importance.
Most people have on thing that they fear, and that one thing can scare them more than anything else - look at Ron; he'll walk into the Chamber of Secrets with little complaint but when faced with spiders, all he wants to do is get away. If you ask Ron what he's afraid of, he wouldn't need to think. He'd say immediately that it's spiders.
When Harry is asked what he's afraid of, he can think of a number of things that make him afraid, but none of them stand out above the rest (even though really, Voldemort is obviously the most dangerous). Lupin suggests that what he's afraid of, then, isn't the things he mentions - Snape, Voldemort, Dementors - but the actual feeling of being afraid. The way that fear makes you panic, makes you want to run, takes over your actions - that is what Harry fears most. He hates being afraid of things.
Lupin thinks this is wise because it suggests that Harry knows that being scary doesn't make something dangerous by itself; it's how you react that can lead to trouble. Harry knows from experience that it's harder to fight when you're being controlled by fear, and we see in the later books that the Ministry's fear of Voldemort drives them to do some nasty things. Fear is a dangerous thing, and Lupin believes that Harry realises this on some level. When you look at it that way, that is rather wise, and in an out-of-universe perspective, JKR is subtly hinting that fear - the use of fear as a tactic, people's reactions to it, and how it controls people - will play a large part in things to come.
