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Sat 20 Oct, 2007 01:46 pm
From CNN.com:
Dumbledore is gay, 'Harry Potter' author reveals
NEW YORK (AP) -- Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.
J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.
She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."
"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."
"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."
Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.
Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.
Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."
Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.
Maybe it's because I am a Brit, with that "respect nothing" sense of humour, but I suggest that the first letter of Dumbledore's name should now be replaced with one from rather nearer the beginning of the alphabet.
Yay! Im glad JKR announced this!
However, it depresses me to think that Dumbledore never had a partner to love, especially when he valued it so much. Im proud of him because he never gave up on the power of love, even though Grindewald did not feel the same way towards him. And even worse, Dumbledore had to defeat Grindewald later in life after they parted ways.
The fact that Dumbledore is gay does not worsen my view of him in any way. In fact, I respect him even more now.
It saddens me that so many people pay so much attention to a set of badly written kids books.
It saddens me that there's someone who can't see why so many people adore a set of wonderful and magical books.
it saddens me to think we live in a world where a person's opinion would change either way, just because they learned a fictional character loves men instead of women, or women instead of men.
personally, i love j.k. rowling, and i would be honored to have her, but i think someone else has the pleasure. either way, she's a marvelous writer, but that's my opinion and personal taste- what do i know?
i'm sure if i spent a few years getting a phd in literature i'd hate the drivel she writes. i'd prefer something by some dead person, who wrote back when people were literate. you know, like the russians.
then again, i was a fan of dostoyevesky before i'd ever heard of rowling, but that isn't because i know anything- i just read fiction for amusement, not as part of a doctorate course.
tinygiraffe wrote:it saddens me to think we live in a world where a person's opinion would change either way, just because they learned a fictional character loves men instead of women, or women instead of men.
personally, i love j.k. rowling, and i would be honored to have her, but i think someone else has the pleasure. either way, she's a marvelous writer, but that's my opinion and personal taste- what do i know?
i'm sure if i spent a few years getting a phd in literature i'd hate the drivel she writes. i'd prefer something by some dead person, who wrote back when people were literate. you know, like the russians.
then again, i was a fan of dostoyevesky before i'd ever heard of rowling, but that isn't because i know anything- i just read fiction for amusement, not as part of a doctorate course.
"i'm sure if i spent a few years getting a phd in literature i'd hate the drivel she writes"
Oh crap, I spent years studying Eng. Lit., and I can enjoy good crap with the best of 'em.
it's just awful, isn't it? like finding out jesus christ was gay.
tinygiraffe wrote:
it's just awful, isn't it? like finding out jesus christ was gay.
No! No!!!
She's being satirical. She's making Dumbledore quote Princess Di's comment about one of her lovers, who leaked their affair, and gave info to a bad novelist about it, who wrote an awful book. It's a quote from the infamous Panorama interview.
Rowling is having the time of her life being funny.
Viva, Dumbledore! Viva, Rowlings!
Noddy24 wrote:Viva, Dumbledore! Viva, Rowlings!
See what I mean? Half her fans can't even spell her name right.
a fictional character denied fictional love and fictional sex with another fictional character.
I don't know whether to be fictionally crushed or not give a real ****.
contrex wrote:See what I mean? Half her fans can't even spell her name right.
from such an illustrious literary critic, i would expect better grammar...
tinygiraffe wrote:contrex wrote:See what I mean? Half her fans can't even spell her name right.
from such an illustrious literary critic, i would expect better grammar...
The tone was somewhat casual, conversational, even, but I don't think there was very much ungrammatical about what I wrote.
contrex wrote:tinygiraffe wrote:contrex wrote:See what I mean? Half her fans can't even spell her name right.
from such an illustrious literary critic, i would expect better grammar...
The tone was somewhat casual, conversational, even, but I don't think there was very much ungrammatical about what I wrote.
Ya'll sound like a couple queers.
Gargamel wrote:contrex wrote:tinygiraffe wrote:contrex wrote:See what I mean? Half her fans can't even spell her name right.
from such an illustrious literary critic, i would expect better grammar...
The tone was somewhat casual, conversational, even, but I don't think there was very much ungrammatical about what I wrote.
Ya'll sound like a couple queers.
YOU sound like someone talking underwater.
Stumble It!
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