![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ria_oaksNew info from interview with JKR - Spoiler for Deathy Hallows
HOLY FUCK. Best news since the damned seventh book came out, I canNOT believe it! I am in shock and awe, ya'll.
Oh my god oh my god... I probably shouldn't be so excited over this, but I don't care! Holy crap. Not only did she actually give us a queer character, but she made that character one of THE main characters who all the other main characters not to mention most fans look up to in adoration. Quite aside from the obligatory "omg it's canon!!!" aspect of it, it's fucking amazing I think. Would've been more amazing if it was, you know, in the book itself, but even so - Albus Dumbledore, of all characters? Incredible. To tell us that one of the main characters in a hugely popular youth fiction series is gay is just a huge step forward, I think (although still, better if it'd been in the book, since some people consider stuff in interviews to not be canon). Though man oh man, think of the fodder this gives the naysayers, heh. "Harry Potter promotes WITCHCRAFT and HOMOSEXUALITY! We must protect the KIDS!" XD
Okay, and now onto the shallower side of things... holy fuck ya'll, it's CANON. CANON! I'm not like hardcore into Dumbledore/Grindelwald or anything, but still. CANON. Or at least semi-canon, in that Albus was in love with Gellert. Oh. My. God. Think of the dimensions this adds to their relationship, too, and to the inherent tragedy of Albus's life... to think that he had to watch as his best friend and the man he was in love with grew twisted and evil, as he realized just what Gellert was capable of, and then to have to fight and destory him, to send him to prison for the rest of his life... not to mention the death of his sister in between all that, and the knowledge that it could have been him or Gellert or Aberforth that killed her, all of it together... christ, it's a wonder it didn't destory him. It really makes me appreciate his character even more, when I consider what he must have gone through and how he must have pulled himself out from that depression and tragedy and risen above it to become, well, a hero in a lot of ways. But a flawed hero, just a man in the end.
You know, I never realized before Deathly Hallows just how much I loved Albus Dumbledore or how amazing of a character he is, but he truly is an incredible character, perhaps the best she created (alongside Harry and Severus, I'd argue). He's such a flawed and tragic man, and he's so heroic and good in some ways yet also so manipulative and, as JKR put it, Machiavellian in other ways. He loved Gellert Grindlewald, twisted as that man was, and when he realized it he turned against him and did what he had to. He loved Harry like a son, JKR even said so in a recent interview, yet he raised him to be a lamb to the slaughter, knew he'd have to send him to his death in the end. Albus, when even Severus Snape is taking the moral high ground with you and realizes that what you're doing is cruel, then you need to worry a bit. Yet at the same time, it was necessary - there was no other way to kill Voldemort, and Albus did what he had to do.
Anyway, that all said... I also like the fact that Albus actually is shown now to have a sexuality - he was always such an asexual character in the series. He was, after all, the wise old man or grandfather figure, who was untouchable and never ever had sex or anything so prosaic as that. It wasn't even conceivable (except in fanfiction of course, lol). But as far as we knew, he had never married, never had any kids, and never been in love that we knew of. Though of course it made sense that he'd been in love at some point... he's been around, what, 150 years after all. It's fascinating to see him as a real, sexual human, who had at one point in his long life loved someone - and been heartbroken as a result. Makes me intrigued what other relationships he had.. did he ever fall in love after? He must have had other relationships; I can't imagine that the only love he ever had was for one young man when he was 18. But was he like Severus, and had one true love that dictated much of the rest of his life? If so, that makes the whole thing even more tragic...
Aaanyawy... Should go to bed now, because now I'm waxing poetic in my head about how amazing JKR's achievement is with these books, and how incredible it is that she can stir up so much genuine emotion and love in her readers, and if I don't stop now I'll be going on for awhile... on that note, though, I did just think that perhaps one of the reasons we love them so much is because they're not perfect or complete - there's so much room to expand and build upon them, to fill in the blanks. That's what inspires us fans so much, that she's created this incredibly vibrant and real feeling world, but left so much to the imagination. Like, what does this change about Albus Dumbledore? Does it change anything? It does, I think - after all, it changes his dynamic with Grindelwald. And it changes what he went through as he grew up - we know nothing about how homosexuality is treated in the wizarding world, and he grew up in the 1800s. Did he have to hide his sexuality on fear of death, like in the Muggle world? Or is it more accepted in the wizarding world? It fascinates me, and I think I mentioned this in the essay on prejudice in HP that I wrote a couple of years ago, that while prejudice in the real world is mirrored in wizarding prejudice, such as wizard vs Muggle, pureblood vs Muggleborn, wizard vs elf and goblin , etc, there's little or no mention of real world prejudices like black vs white and gay vs straight. Interesting. After all, Hogwarts is interracial according to Muggle terms - how does that translate in the wizarding world, especially for Muggleborns?
Right. Bed. Sorry. XD Got carried away again. Interesting to consider, anyway...
HOLY FUCK. Best news since the damned seventh book came out, I canNOT believe it! I am in shock and awe, ya'll.
Oh my god oh my god... I probably shouldn't be so excited over this, but I don't care! Holy crap. Not only did she actually give us a queer character, but she made that character one of THE main characters who all the other main characters not to mention most fans look up to in adoration. Quite aside from the obligatory "omg it's canon!!!" aspect of it, it's fucking amazing I think. Would've been more amazing if it was, you know, in the book itself, but even so - Albus Dumbledore, of all characters? Incredible. To tell us that one of the main characters in a hugely popular youth fiction series is gay is just a huge step forward, I think (although still, better if it'd been in the book, since some people consider stuff in interviews to not be canon). Though man oh man, think of the fodder this gives the naysayers, heh. "Harry Potter promotes WITCHCRAFT and HOMOSEXUALITY! We must protect the KIDS!" XD
Okay, and now onto the shallower side of things... holy fuck ya'll, it's CANON. CANON! I'm not like hardcore into Dumbledore/Grindelwald or anything, but still. CANON. Or at least semi-canon, in that Albus was in love with Gellert. Oh. My. God. Think of the dimensions this adds to their relationship, too, and to the inherent tragedy of Albus's life... to think that he had to watch as his best friend and the man he was in love with grew twisted and evil, as he realized just what Gellert was capable of, and then to have to fight and destory him, to send him to prison for the rest of his life... not to mention the death of his sister in between all that, and the knowledge that it could have been him or Gellert or Aberforth that killed her, all of it together... christ, it's a wonder it didn't destory him. It really makes me appreciate his character even more, when I consider what he must have gone through and how he must have pulled himself out from that depression and tragedy and risen above it to become, well, a hero in a lot of ways. But a flawed hero, just a man in the end.
You know, I never realized before Deathly Hallows just how much I loved Albus Dumbledore or how amazing of a character he is, but he truly is an incredible character, perhaps the best she created (alongside Harry and Severus, I'd argue). He's such a flawed and tragic man, and he's so heroic and good in some ways yet also so manipulative and, as JKR put it, Machiavellian in other ways. He loved Gellert Grindlewald, twisted as that man was, and when he realized it he turned against him and did what he had to. He loved Harry like a son, JKR even said so in a recent interview, yet he raised him to be a lamb to the slaughter, knew he'd have to send him to his death in the end. Albus, when even Severus Snape is taking the moral high ground with you and realizes that what you're doing is cruel, then you need to worry a bit. Yet at the same time, it was necessary - there was no other way to kill Voldemort, and Albus did what he had to do.
Anyway, that all said... I also like the fact that Albus actually is shown now to have a sexuality - he was always such an asexual character in the series. He was, after all, the wise old man or grandfather figure, who was untouchable and never ever had sex or anything so prosaic as that. It wasn't even conceivable (except in fanfiction of course, lol). But as far as we knew, he had never married, never had any kids, and never been in love that we knew of. Though of course it made sense that he'd been in love at some point... he's been around, what, 150 years after all. It's fascinating to see him as a real, sexual human, who had at one point in his long life loved someone - and been heartbroken as a result. Makes me intrigued what other relationships he had.. did he ever fall in love after? He must have had other relationships; I can't imagine that the only love he ever had was for one young man when he was 18. But was he like Severus, and had one true love that dictated much of the rest of his life? If so, that makes the whole thing even more tragic...
Aaanyawy... Should go to bed now, because now I'm waxing poetic in my head about how amazing JKR's achievement is with these books, and how incredible it is that she can stir up so much genuine emotion and love in her readers, and if I don't stop now I'll be going on for awhile... on that note, though, I did just think that perhaps one of the reasons we love them so much is because they're not perfect or complete - there's so much room to expand and build upon them, to fill in the blanks. That's what inspires us fans so much, that she's created this incredibly vibrant and real feeling world, but left so much to the imagination. Like, what does this change about Albus Dumbledore? Does it change anything? It does, I think - after all, it changes his dynamic with Grindelwald. And it changes what he went through as he grew up - we know nothing about how homosexuality is treated in the wizarding world, and he grew up in the 1800s. Did he have to hide his sexuality on fear of death, like in the Muggle world? Or is it more accepted in the wizarding world? It fascinates me, and I think I mentioned this in the essay on prejudice in HP that I wrote a couple of years ago, that while prejudice in the real world is mirrored in wizarding prejudice, such as wizard vs Muggle, pureblood vs Muggleborn, wizard vs elf and goblin , etc, there's little or no mention of real world prejudices like black vs white and gay vs straight. Interesting. After all, Hogwarts is interracial according to Muggle terms - how does that translate in the wizarding world, especially for Muggleborns?
Right. Bed. Sorry. XD Got carried away again. Interesting to consider, anyway...
