Dumbledore is gay!

Faith · 20-10-2007 10:12am #1

In an interview last week at Carnegie Hall, JK Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was gay and in love with Grindelwald! She also revealed lots more, with I'll leave you to read yourself here.

Caution though, there are some spoilers if you haven't read book 7!

Stargal · 20-10-2007 1:42pm

Wow. Just read it on the BBC site a minute ago. It all sounds so tragic.

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said, and added Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "great tragedy".

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 20-10-2007 1:44pm

omg, how controversial

EKRIUQ · 20-10-2007 2:31pm

You beat me too it:mad:

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

She made her revelation to a packed house in New 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," 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".

Him and Snape at it, up in the office playing with their wands I guess

qwertplaywert · 20-10-2007 4:49pm

Big who cares from me.........its a sad world when this is the entertainment story of the day.How about posting news about people who've been revealed as straight, em?

Conor108 · 20-10-2007 4:53pm

Now if Hermione was gay, that would be another story

Talliesin · 20-10-2007 11:50pm

"Oh, my god," Rowling, 42, concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction".

Lollers.

qwertplaywert wrote: »

How about posting news about people who've been revealed as straight, em?

Michael from "Tales of the City" was secretly straight, but had to pretend to be gay to stop being kicked out of the book.

copacetic · 21-10-2007 12:00am

will, from will and grace is secretly straight in real life. eek and so forth.

I clicked in here cos I thought it was some kind of weird trolling. you learn
something new everyday. Surely wizards don't go around wasting there vital
juices would it not leak out their power or something?

Talliesin · 21-10-2007 12:12am

copacetic wrote: »

Surely wizards don't go around wasting there vital
juices would it not leak out their power or something?

Depends on the type of magic. Some forms of tantric magic do focus upon retaining semen, but there's plenty of techniques where the power released when you ejaculate is then used; for example Crowley's claim to sacrifice a "male child of perfect intelligence" was actually a reference to masturbating via clever referencing of descriptions of sperm from St. Augustine (this was in a time when you could get away with writing about killing people and not about **** - Mussolini's publishing laws were weird).

Don't remember either technique being used by anyone in Rowling's books though

Araniell · 21-10-2007 3:13am

*Makes obligatory headmaster joke* (Because I'm a child)

This is the best thing to come out of a JKR interview ever. My love for Rowling is complete.

Cannot wait to see how the usual suspects like Laura Mallory react to this.

Faith · 21-10-2007 10:46am

Talliesin wrote: »

Depends on the type of magic. Some forms of tantric magic do focus upon retaining semen, but there's plenty of techniques where the power released when you ejaculate is then used; for example Crowley's claim to sacrifice a "male child of perfect intelligence" was actually a reference to masturbating via clever referencing of descriptions of sperm from St. Augustine (this was in a time when you could get away with writing about killing people and not about **** - Mussolini's publishing laws were weird).

Don't remember either technique being used by anyone in Rowling's books though

We are still in the Harry Potter forum, not S&S!

Rhiannon14 · 21-10-2007 10:49am

Enough with the shock and awe please JK. You aren't as clever as your fans have led you to believe.

funky penguin · 21-10-2007 1:06pm

Conor108 wrote: »

Now if Hermione was gay, that would be another story

Probably not too far from the truth. I imagine Ron would have that effect on women.

The Bollox · 22-10-2007 7:48pm

makes you wonder about his... relationship with Harry, doesn't it?

Faith · 22-10-2007 9:45pm

No, no it doesn't. He sees Harry as a son. It's discussed many times throughout the book.

marie_85 · 23-10-2007 12:42pm

Exactly. DD's relationship with Harry is very much that of mentor and student. Why do some people automatically jump to the worst conclusions?

I'm delighted that she's outed Dumbledore. I would have seen him though as more asexual than anything else, and I suppose for the later part of his life, he was. I did think that the letter he wrote to Grindelwald when he was a teenager was oddly phrased, but I put it down to bad writing on JK Rowlings part. It makes sense now!

Undergod · 23-10-2007 7:48pm

marie_85 wrote: »

Why do some people automatically jump to the worst conclusions?

Because all queers fancy children, apparently.

Faith · 24-10-2007 8:53am

Rightio, that's quite enough of that line of discussion!

norrie rugger · 25-10-2007 11:11am

Faith wrote: »

Rightio, that's quite enough of that line of discussion!

It should never even make it to the idea stage, never mind discussion

The Plum Suit also makes sense now

TelePaul · 25-10-2007 11:20am

Apparently in the UK, some factory worker was so into Harry Potter he spent a year getting a massive and wonderfully crafted Dumbledore tattoo on his back. Now he's getting nothing but abuse.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22640695-5013016,00.html?from=mostpop

Personally, I think it's a pretty poor last minute PR stunt by Rowling. It was never really suspected, I don't imagine that anobody reading the book would have even considered it. It has no impact on the plot or central themes - Harry will always be the outsider, irrespective of Dumbledores sexual leanings.

I think Rowling is trying to elevate her works to the level of those that are worthy of social critique, or somehow modernise them for the sake of modernising. I also wonder how it would affect younger fans....how do you explain the concept of a homosexual to young readers?

Pigman II · 25-10-2007 11:24am

Faith wrote: »

No, no it doesn't. He sees Harry as a son.

Yes, a sexy son.

*Page* · 25-10-2007 11:33am

i see why your name is pig man...

I dont think is sexual pref. should have anything to do with the book...

it was never brought up in it at any other point why bring it in now?

Malteaser! · 25-10-2007 11:45am

*Page* wrote: »

I dont think is sexual pref. should have anything to do with the book...

it was never brought up in it at any other point why bring it in now?

exactly, it doesn't really make a difference like!!

marie_85 · 25-10-2007 12:50pm

TelePaul wrote: »

....how do you explain the concept of a homosexual to young readers?

Eh... very easily???

Aberforth fiddling around with goats would be a lot more difficult to explain.

norrie rugger · 25-10-2007 3:45pm

Why does JKR always feel the need to drum up attention?
HP is already a huge marketing tool, does it really need all the "after the fact" additions that she makes?

If she wants to, let her write a book detailing the back story of Dumbledore.
Here she could write how his love for Grindelwald blinds him to the other's failings/ambitions. it could also be explained how this love (and subsequent shame of loving someone like Grindelwald) was the reason that it took DD so long to take action against him.

I fail to see how this "news" adds anything to the Potterverse, other than than tabloid shock taticts.
Personally, I hope that this will pose more questions than answers and increase calls for a DD themed prequel

Lockstep · 10-11-2007 12:14am

Personally, i never considered anyone's sexuality in the books.

It just doesn't occur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYjUWSfj7fE

doonothing · 14-11-2007 5:52am

TelePaul wrote: »

Apparently in the UK, some factory worker was so into Harry Potter he spent a year getting a massive and wonderfully crafted Dumbledore tattoo on his back. Now he's getting nothing but abuse.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22640695-5013016,00.html?from=mostpop

Personally, I think it's a pretty poor last minute PR stunt by Rowling. It was never really suspected, I don't imagine that anobody reading the book would have even considered it. It has no impact on the plot or central themes - Harry will always be the outsider, irrespective of Dumbledores sexual leanings.

I think Rowling is trying to elevate her works to the level of those that are worthy of social critique, or somehow modernise them for the sake of modernising. I also wonder how it would affect younger fans....how do you explain the concept of a homosexual to young readers?

pr stunt? for harry potter? are you serious?
i'm not sure it matters so much that dumbledore was gay... he just was, that's how she envisioned the character! im willing to bet there would have been much more (and worse!) pr if it had been more alluded to in the books!

it wasnt even implied directly in the books, it doesnt affect them, why does it matter at all that she said it now?!

i dont think dumbledore being gay is going to "affect" younger fans. i would explain the concept of homosexuality to younger readers by saying "sometimes people fall in love with people of their own gender" and then by answering their questions on the topic.

eVeNtInE · 17-11-2008 10:48pm

This post has been deleted.

08-01-2009 6:11pm

The Bollox wrote: »

makes you wonder about his... relationship with Harry, doesn't it?

That's completely unwarranted, even as a joke.

08-01-2009 6:16pm

Sorry Faith,
Didn't see the other posts in this prior to posting (my bad)!

+1 to the publicity stunt stuff though! :pac:

Dumbledore is gay!

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