Harry Potter and the Facial Hair

Although it’s not really the sort of thing I write about, it’s kind of too good not to share! The cover of the unauthorized Uzbek Half-Blood Prince depicted Harry Potter with what looks like a mustache which surprised and delighted collectors. (Particularly because the artwork was clearly meant to depict Deathly Hallows!) Myself, I wondered whether it reflected something important about masculinity in the Uzbek culture. Turns out I was ascribing more depth to it than it warranted.

@coleccionistaharrypotter stumbled across the original source of the cover on posterspy.com. It was a poster done in 2011 in advance of the second Deathly Hallows film done by and American artist, Courtney Autumn Martin. I dropped her a note to let her know that her art was published on a book cover on the other side of the world—she said that she did intend for Harry to appear scruffy and unshaven but the intent wasn’t for him to be mustached. And, indeed, in the original work (below) it is much cleared that he just hasn’t shaved in a while.