On March 19 a new meme was circulating around the internet and it spawned off of a J.K. Rowling interview. This

interview also sparked lots of backlash towards the Harry Potter author. Many people were angry at what Rowling has said in this interview, but I don’t see why there’s a reason to be.

What was said

Following the DVD/BluRay release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Crimes of Grindelwald there was a feature included. This feature included an interview with Rowling in which she comments on the relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald in the new movies.

“Their relationship was incredibly intense. It was passionate, and it was a love relationship. But as it happens in any relationship, gay or straight or whatever label society wants 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 relationship,” is what she said.

In the movie (from my memory) Dumbledore confirms that he and Grindelwald were more than friends, this already raised some eyebrows in the community. Then the introduction of the blood pact they had made it very clear to the audience that they were involved in some other way instead of just friends.

My opinion

First off, people have to remember that these are fictional characters. Yes, I love the characters as much as you do and the Wizarding World holds a special place in my heart. But, honestly, thinking about it, this was coming sooner or later. When I was younger I remember reading the books already realizing that maybe Dumbledore and Grindelwald weren’t just friends. I mean, he didn’t want to kill Grindelwald right away, character-wise, Dumbledore wouldn’t kill anyone close to him. There had to have been a factor in this.

Also, the Fantastic Beasts movies are all prequels to the Harry Potter movies/books. This can explain why Dumbledore is the way he is. Why he didn’t want to really fight Grindelwald and why he eventually was merciless with fighting Grindelwald.

Authors adding  LGBT characters just for the sake of getting LGBT readers interested is called “queerbaiting”. I think that people on the internet claiming that Rowling is “queerbaiting” by doing this is wrong. Rowling isn’t necessarily doing this.

Rowling is merely adding to the plot seeing as this movie is a prequel. This is another storyline to add to the current one. If Rowling changed Dumbledore’s sexuality mid-way throughout the Harry Potter series than that would be queerbaiting. But she doesn’t do that. Rowling didn’t need to clarify his sexuality in the Harry Potter series because it wasn’t necessary to the plot. But in this prequel, his sexuality plays a big part. Dumbledore has feelings for Grindelwald and he has a blood pact, this will affect the battle that is soon to come.

Final Thoughts

All I have to say is that these are her characters, this is her world. You can’t crucify her for adding things to her characters. Will his sexuality hurt anyone? No, if anything it’s expanding the Wizarding World, even more, having more diversity than ever. Especially including an LGBT character, this shows that the Wizarding World can have anybody and everybody. I think this is a great thing and Rowling shouldn’t be crucified by it.

Now if she ends up changing the plot back and “teasing” the idea that they were gay for each other then that would be wrong in my eyes. But she hasn’t yet, let’s just enjoy the content she’s giving us now.