Dumbledores gay
Rowling Lets Dumbledore Out of the Closet
Oct. 20, 2007 — -- Well, it's official. Albus Dumbledore, a hero of the phenomenally popular Harry Potter series and headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts, is gay.
That's right, Harry's mentor and father-figure would opt for a nice wizard to a hot witch any day.
In a surprising new Potter twist, composer J.K. Rowling outed Dumbledore at New York's Carnegie Hall in front of 2,000 Potter fans during a question and address session Friday night.
After reading an excerpt from the seventh installment of her series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," one young fan asked if Dumbledore had ever loved anyone.
"Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling.
She was initially met with a surprised silence but ultimately the audience erupted in cheers for several minutes prompting Rowling to add, "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."
Rowling went on to explain that Dumbledore fell for Gellert Grindelwald, his childhood confidant with similarly brilliant wizarding skills, who eventually went over to the shadowy side and became the predecessor to the i
Dumbledore's Gay: Does Anyone Care?
Oct. 23, 2007 — -- Harry Potter fans' favorite magical, wand-wielding headmaster is gay, says the series' author, and as it turns out, many bookworms don't love him any less because of it.
Parents around the country told ABCNEWS.com that when their children heard the news that professor Albus Dumbledore — who was also Potter's mentor — was gay, most of them shrugged it off.
Robin Moyher, who writes for the Chicago Mom's Blog, said that her son was not at all upset about the wizard's sexuality.
"So what? It's a evidence of life," Moyher's 9-year-old son said upon hearing the news.
Dumbledore was outed by Potter creator J.K. Rowling at an Oct. 19 question and retort session at New York City's Carnegie Hall, where a young fan inquired as to whether the headmaster had ever been in love.
"Dumbledore is lgbtq+, actually," replied Rowling, who went on to interpret that he had once loved Gellert Grindelwand, a fellow wizard, but was then let down when he went to the "dark side."
Grindelwand's downfall, Rowling said, was Dumbledore's "great tragedy."
A decade after J.K. Rowling revealed that she “always thought of [Hogwarts Headmaster Albus] Dumbledore as gay,” LGBTQ fans of Harry Potter and their allies are still waiting to see themselves truly reflected in the Potter franchise’s stories.
The latest motion picture set in the Potter universe, “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” will feature a young Dumbledore (played by Jude Law) leading the charge against dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). As teens, Dumbledore and Grindelwald connected passionately. They were inseparable as they plotted their rise to power, and Rowling has intimated that their connection was more than a platonic friendship.
However, according to director David Yates, the new film will “not explicitly” acknowledge Dumbledore’s sexual orientation. Why? Perhaps because Yates has an eye on international ticket sales in less LGBTQ-friendly countries. Perhaps because queer leads still tip films into a niche too small to justify their $200-million-plus budgets. Or, perhaps, simply because this production takes place after Dumbledore’s teen years and during a war, in which romance is far from everyone’s mind. With three more Potter prequels on the horizon, there may
Michael Gambon plays Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films |
She made her revelation to a packed house in Fresh York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour.
She took audience questions and was asked if Dumbledore found "true love".
"Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago.
The audience gasped, then applauded. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy," she said.
"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she added, saying Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "great tragedy".
"Oh, my god," Rowling, 42, concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction".
Rowling said her books are a "prolonged argument for tolerance" |
Fan sites have long speculated on Dumbledore's sexuality as he was known for having a mysterious, troubled past.
Rowling told the audience that while productive on the planned sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Bloo
.