Dumbledore gay? J.K. Rowling announced during a book reading at Carnegie Hall that she “always thought Dumbledore was gay” and that he was in love with Gellert Grindelwald!
Here’s exactly what Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling said:
The question was “Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?”
Rowling started to say “I always saw Dumbledore as gay” and a hush fell on the audience, followed by an excited buzz sweeping through the crowd.
J.K. Rowling: Dumbledore Gay
My truthful answer to you… I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. [ovation.] … Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was.
To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extend, but he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.
Yeah, that’s how I always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair… [laughter].
I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, “Dumbledore’s gay!” [laughter]
“If I’d known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!”
That love, she said to raucous applause, was Dumbledore’s “great tragedy.”
The brilliant wizard was briefly blinded as a young man by the charm and skill of Gellert Grindelwald, his teenage crush turned arch-nemesis who turned out to be more interested in the Dark Arts than in loving Dumbledore.
After Dumbledore was “horribly, terribly let down,” Rowling explained, he went on to destroy Grindelwald in what is considered in the wizarding world to have been the ultimate wand-toting battle between good and evil.
Dumbledore’s sexuality has apparently been of great interest to bloggers and chat room denizens for years, with his history—and intimate affinities—becoming the subject of much debate and original short stories.
“Just imagine the fan fiction now,” Rowling joked.
Other signs Dumbledore is gay:
His hat is more than a bit gay…
This Harry Potter book quote hints Dumbledore was gay: “As [the door] swung closed behind them, Harry heard Phineas Nigellus’ voice. “You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts … but you cannot deny he’s got style….”
And that he did! Here’s an Albus Dumbledore tribute video:
And that’s all the news on J.K. Rowling and is Albus Dumbledore gay.
October 20th, 2007 at 11:30 am
[...] hitsusa wrote a fantastic post today on “Dumbledore Gay”Here’s ONLY a quick extract [...]
October 20th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
[...] hitsusa wrote an interesting post today on Dumbledore GayHere’s a quick excerpt… on many counts … but you cannot deny he’s got style….” And that he did! Here’s an Albus Dumbledore tribute video:. And that’s all the news on JK Rowling and is Albus Dumbledore gay. Tags: News, Video, Celebrities, Web Site Traffic. [...]
October 20th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today on Dumbledore GayHere’s a quick excerptRowling also said she had read through Steve Kloves’ script for the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling … [...]
October 20th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Dumbeldore is gay? I just thought he was the typical English borading school headmaster…lol!
October 20th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Whoops! Meant Dumbledore is gay, not Dumbeldore!
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
How wonderful that the audience cheered! Though it would have been nice if she’d made it a bit more clear in the books. Personally I was rooting for Remus and Sirius.
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
SPOILER (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows):
I am very angry about the revelation. Dumbledore in the first 6 books was also the one everyone looked up to (especially Harry!) He was the wise, smart, nice, compassionate, old man in charge and always knew what to do. We were given the impression that Dumbledore was a near perfect man (not speaking of his childhood). Then, in the seventh book, JK Rowling showed that even Dumbledore made mistakes and bad choices in his life and that he did not have the easiest childhood. This was a big part of the book. Harry kept feeling like he didn’t want to believe the things in Reeta Skeeter’s book (and some things probably were not true). Then, at the end, after looking the pensieve (and seeing Dumbledore telling Snape that Harry must die at the hand of Voldemort), Harry felt betrayed and angry at Dumbledore. Finally, at the end, we see Dumbledore in the limbo between life and death. Harry talks to him and Dumbledore tells him that he guessed that Harry could go back and a bunch of other stuff. This made Harry feel better about Dumbledore (and me!!)
But wasn’t this enough picking on Dumbledore? Turning him from the wise, wonderful man (who was my favorite character) to a normal but still wonderful man (after the seventh book – he was still one of my favorite characters). And now she turns him into a gay old man. (Michael Gambon does seem to fit this new part better than Richard Harris. . .sarcasm. . .I always liked Richard Harris much better as Dumbledore).
I am very angered by this new revelation. It didn’t make it into the books, I’m glad, but, unliess she takes back her revelation and it doesn’t make it into the encyclopedia, it still ruined my view of Dumbledore, my used to be favorite character, forever.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 am
If J.K. Rowling wanted Dumbledore to be gay, either she needed to make it more apparent via more info in the story line (building it into his characterization) or, she should have shown the world how great of a writer she is…that is theatre of the mind. What separates a great writer from the rest is leading the your audience into believing what you want without straight-up telling them; make them believe it was their own revelation. This is not to say that Dumbledore would not have been allowed to be gay, however, it is hard to see what she is saying. The few potential links to the alleged sexual preference are weak at best, a mere grasping at straws if you will.
In Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis uses the character of Aslan as a portrayal of the Christians Savior, Jesus Christ. Lewis did not go on tour and at the end say, “Oh by the way, Aslan is Jesus and he will take you to eternal joy!” Whether Rowling wants Dumbledore or not, it was up to her to have portrayed this to the reader throughout the whole series, or even as a bomb-shell in the books, but the time for this has passed. If in another millennia archeologist unearthed her books, would they know for certain, or at all, this new life style of Dumbledore. For Rowling to make this claim now would be about as hard as saying Harry Potter is a female. The evidence is not there to support this claim, plus, validity for Rowling has been lost on the single grounds that she had to inform the world to this new claim.
The sub-theme is not valid, as is not present in the books, and it sure as hell is not valid just because she “always saw Dumbledore as gay.” (Rowling, 2007. Interview) We had to see him as gay as well for it to be true literary quality.
Please, all of you crazed Harry Potter fans, do not attempt to kill me for my condemning words for J.K. Rowling. I do understand your views as I am one of you. I still love and adore this series and do still hold Rowling in the deepest respect as a writer. I see her as pure genius in the writing of Harry Potter and thank her for sharing this world of excitement and magical adventure with us all.
Thanks to everyone who has posted in a clean and professional manner; to you I write.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:01 pm
[...] know, recently J. K. Rowling, author of the incredibly popular “Harry Potter” books, outed her character, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as gay. [...]
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:50 am
lol
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 am
I’m glad that it was not made clear that he was gay it would have ruined the movie for me…A tall strong wizard acting a bit feminine…or coming out saying he’s gay…or acting on it would have ruined the entire series…He is a very important character…Just weird and for kids too..just inappropriate
July 15th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Dumbledore can play with my wand anytime he wants to… :}
And btw to Jasmine, I’m 12 and I don’t think gayness is Inappropriate for kids…. I mean, everyone knows at least one gay person, it’s not really a big deal.
July 15th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Dumbledore can play with my wand anytime he wants to… :}
And btw to Jasmine, I’m 12 and I don’t think gayness is Inappropriate for kids…. I mean, everyone knows at least one gay person, it’s not really a big deal.
August 17th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Prettyy interesting stuff here. Pretty cool if I dont say so myself.