When J.K. Rowling announced in 2007, after all the Harry Potter books had come out, that Albus Dumbledore had just always been gay, fans were torn.
On the one hand, confirmation that a character beloved by millennials everywhere was queer!
On the other hand…does it really count as LGBTQ representation if it was just a non-canonical afterthought mention?
But Rowling didn’t stop there. Over the years, she’s added so many details to the world of Harry Potter that, again, are in no way canonical since they weren’t in the books or films, that it’s essentially become a meme format.
With the Fantastic Beasts HP-spin-off franchise in progress right now, many fans were hoping that this would be an opportunity for to show Dumbledore and his BFF Gellert Grindelwald in an actual relationship…or like, hinting at one…or even just kissing…literally anything.
The latest film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, included nothing to suggest there was any sort of romance between the two.
But of course, Rowling did her thing again, stating on the blu-ray:
“Their relationship was incredibly intense. 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.”
tl;dr — Rowling confirms Dumbledore and Grindelwald fucked, wants us to know that their emotional relationship was more important, but also…none of that was shown in canon.
Both tired and unsurprised, the internet is completely roasting Rowling for her comments, making a mockery of how she continues to add commentary about things that aren’t canon, as well as expressing frustration with the continued lack of LGBTQ representation in the Harry Potter universe.
As amazing and horrifying as all the clever tweets are, some folks are also taking the time to point out the actual issues with the things she said in this particular instance.
Will we ever get any explicit queer rep in the Potterverse? Will J.K. Rowling ever realize that “explicit representation” doesn’t mean we need to see two dudes actually banging on screen?Will these “revelations” ever stop???
No one knows, but please, please keep the memes alive.
