There has been a lot of controversy in the Harry Potter world when it comes to the LGBT community. Many fans wanted to see Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald mentioned in the last Fantastic Beasts movie. JK Rowling though she said in 2007 that Dumbledore did have a relationship with the character decided to keep it out of the film and that caused a stir among fans.
She now has said that Dumbledore indeed had a sexual relationship with Grindelwald on a DVD commentary feature called “Distinctly Dumbledore” of the Fantastic Beasts 2 release.
Rowling says:
“It was passionate, and it was a love relationship, But as happens in any relationship, gay or straight or whatever label we want to put on it, one never knows really what the other person is feeling. You can’t know, you can believe you know.
So I’m less interested in the sexual side — though I believe there is a sexual dimension to this relationship — than I am in the sense of the emotions they felt for each other, which ultimately is the most fascinating thing about all human relationships.”
Unfortunately for a lot of fans it is too little too late. The majority of folks believe that the exclusion of Dumbledore’s sexuality was a big dig on fans who were LGBT. Why say that he is gay and had a relationship if you didn’t intend on making it canon in a future project?
The answer to that unfortunately is probably money. If JK keeps it “family friendly” or rather no sexual tension or shows of affection(between the same sex at least) it is much safer and could potentially make more than if she were to make a statement with her work.
This again brings us back to whether or not we should separate the author from their work. While I love Harry Potter the politics of the fans vs. author can be overwhleming. It is hard to love JK when she keeps inserting herself into her work trying to expand on things that don’t need an explanation. Like that time she said wizards shit themselves.
What do you think of all this? Do you think she should just leave Harry Potter be at this point? Do you like her interaction with fans? Tell us in the comments!
