Wednesday 18 January 2017

RECOLLECTIONS | When Most of Us Missed Dumbledore's Sexual Preferences

"...And then, Charlie didn't have children or marriage," a thoughtful Rowling tells the interviewer, before meeting his eyes with an enigmatic look on her face.

"Is he gay?" the interviewer asks. 

"Tsk... Dumbledore's gay," the authoress clarifies, her face impassive, the sheerest hint of a smile playing around the corners of her lips. 

She pauses for a couple of seconds before recalling, "I told a reader that once, and I thought she was gonna slap me."

And then turning her head to the paper on the table, she adds, "But I always saw Dumbledore as gay."


WATCH the dialogue here:



Such was the manner of conversation during which J.K. Rowling openly revealed Dumbledore to be gay. The conversation is a part of a 2007 documentary titled "J.K. Rowling: An Year In The Life", first aired in the United Kingdom on channel ITV on 30 December 2007. And to this date, the claim is considered to be the biggest bombshell that the acclaimed creator of the Harry Potter books has dropped upon the franchise's fandom prior to the completion of the fantasy series that spanned seven books and eight films.

Apart from the reactions that followed Rowling's statement regarding Albus Dumbledore, which ranged from indifference to sheer outrage to happy surprise, not to forget the literary outrage that condemned Rowling for disappointing the imagination of devoted readers, who had formed their own full fledged profile of the Hogwarts headmaster, what interests one is how most of us (though, it would bot be an overstatement to say "all of us") missed the subtle hints that Rowling dropped about Dumbledore's sexual orientation through the course of the story she wrote. Or did she?

Well, that is a question that remains unanswered, but coming to the assumed clues that seem to be pointing out Dumbledore's homosexuality, did we really miss the hints? Was the headmaster's peculiar dressing sense meant to be a sign of his homosexuality? With his 'purple cloak and high-heeled boots,' a 'flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet,' a flowered bonnet at Christmas or his fascination with knitting patterns some sort of signals that went unheeded by even the most die- hard Potterheads?

Moreover, did the detailed account of Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald bear instances from the lives of the two men that seemed to be directed towards Dumbledore's sexual preferences? The headmaster does say this about Gellert Grindelwald in Deathly Hallows, Chapter 35:

“Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution."
“Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes. If the plans we were making came to fruition, all my dreams would come true."

But, does this signify his love for Grindelwald, or is it directed towards his love for the power he so wished to have at that time?

The existence and the meaning of such clues and hints remains a matter of debate. What stands out clear though, is the fact that Rowling, in her books, embedded a myriad of the woes of today's world: whether it was the discrimination between the "pure- bloods" and the "mudbloods", or the non- acceptance of the giants, and the werewolves, or the mistreatment of the house- elves, Rowling, through her works targeted the issues of racism, caste-ism, and slavery, all the while telling her readers to break free of these abstract walls that do more harm than good, and to choose to channel the wonders of love- the power of which a gay headmaster revealed before one of his students- a young, bespectacled wizard boy, who, with his flair for adventure, still lives within most of us in our imperfect muggle world.

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