Dumbledore comes out of wizard closet
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/...harry_potter_2

Well...at least that question has been answered.... :P

Well... 'prolonged arguement for tolerance' indeed. I have zero problem with this... What does worry me is the psycho moms who are already being INtolerant about the books.






...Oh, and the fanficcers. They scare me most of all.



Anyhow, good for JK. She rules.

...well, that explains a bit... :lol:

I don't really care about this but I'm glad that the religious nutjobs will have another reason to hate the books.

i agree with Barkworm

Or Gandalf. Sir Ian McKellen played him, that can't be a coincidence.

Thanks, now I have images of Gandalf/Dumbledore crossover fanfiction in my head.

Well with Radcliffe jacking Horses nude, I suppose the franchise's non-existant innocense doesnt need sheilding...

Err, OK. Kind of weird to 'out' a character after the series is finished, especially since his sexuality never had any bearing on the story, but whatever.

How long will take for morons to start claiming the business was a hate crime?

Well... Actually, it was a question already with many fans. So, she just answered their questions.

Wow, I never even wondered about Dumbledore's sexuality. Still, it's really really cool that Rowling would ignore the prejudices of people and put a gay character in her book.

To me it just seems like shes trying to keep the fans interested.

And in the words of JK "Oh God! The fanfiction!"

And lets not forget the fan art.

I have to agree that this just seems like an extemporaneous addition to the mythos that has no real bearing on the character. I mean, come on, what does it matter is Dumbledore is straight or gay?

I think the sudden implication that Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald is incredibly contrived, actually. Eh, I just hope this doesn't mean future movies will have 'subtle' hints regarding Dumbledore's sexuality (And no, not because I am 'anti-gayz' or whatever).

Hell, I'm not even sure if Rowling was entirely serious with that statement. Of course, she can't very well retract it now. :lol:

Cause then she'd be anti-gayz!

Oh man, I love JKR so much right now "Oh my god, the fanfiction"

Love!

But I am glad she left it out of the last book, not because I don't want Dubledore to be gay, but because it would have distracted from the story. I think this is just one of a lot of things she's revealed after the last book, though I would wager the most controversial.

Man, I really hope she wasn't joking. It really didn't seem like it in the article when she defended Dumbledore's taste in men "Falling in love can blind us to an extent"

She didnt put it in the story because it had nothing to DO with the story. But it was his character. She is the author, he is her character. Anyone who writes fiction knows that their characters have certain traits that aren't important to the story; but we know them anyway.

I found it good for her that she had such rounded out characters and, hey... Now we know even more about the world she created!

I found that incredibly poignant. And something for us to take from it, as adults and humans in general.

And it's not to 'keep people interested'. Good Lord, HP is nowhere NEAR needing people to be reminded of it, hahahaha.

I was not surprised when I heard this news yesterday. It was not as obvious in the books as it has been in the movies...especially after Richard Harris and even with Michael Gambon. And it really doesn't matter to me. Other than his bit with Grindelwald (which actually adds some depth to the relationship), it has little bearing on the story or how I think about the character.

Anyone else wonder if this is a PC attempt to add diversity to a series that has been occationally panned for it's lack there of?

No. Not in the least, because 10 years from now when kids start reading Harry Potter, there won't be any mention of Dumbledore's sexuality at all.

Anyone who thinks that JK was saying this for any other reason than to just answer the question is kidding themselves. She wasn't trying to garner more interested in the series, she CLEARLY wasn't trying to make the characters in the book more diverse, she wasn't doing anything besides answering the question truthfully.

I guess my question is "why?"

I mean, if it wasn't significant enough to put in the actual book, why bother?

I think Peanut's got the right answer. She was just answering the question truthfully. Why wasn't it mentioned in the book? Because it wasn't relevant to the story. Can a character only be gay if it's part of the story? I would say not.

I can agree with that, but you thinkl there'd be some, even very small refrences to it. But then again, I haven't read all of the books, so who am I to say there weren't.

Good thing we have this "news" report of a fictional character's supposed oreintation that wasn't even implied. Really isn't significant at all in the least.

This isn't the news section, it's the "books" section and we have many HP fans around. That's significant enough.

Technically, 'Dumbledore is gay' isn't a direct answer to the question, but whatever. Either way, it doesn't matter.

Dumbledore is just a very happy wizard.

One reason why I didn't go that route. :P

I think that Dumbledore's intense friendship with Grindelwald was plenty reference. I couldn't help but note when I read the book that it seemed almost obsessive. They were inseparable, the two of them. Now, him being gay never crossed my mind but in context, with this knowledge, I think that *is* the reference. Again, not that it's truly important after the fact, but it does add another piece to her richly detailed universe and serves to make the friendship and breaking of, even more poignant.

But it makes me wonder if Grindelwald was the same...seeing as how he made reference to Hitler. :P

Yeah, I've heard about this, but it doesn't bother me. It doesn't change my perspective of Dumbledore in the least. To me, he'll always be the wise wizard who was Harry's mentor and friend. Some people are speculating that Dumbledore's relationship with Harry was more than just a sort of fatherly relationship, but I disagree.

Yeah, the Bible thumpers are gonna have a field day with this one.

Hmmm, well thats interesting...and I agree, I believe she was just truthfully answering questions, nothing else (and definately not trying to garner more interest in the series- I mean really, is that even possible at this point? Theres a freaking theme park being built!).

This got me thinking though, can anyone think of any other prominent gay character in children's literature? Cause I can't.

I wasn't surprised, and if she wants to come out and add even more in depth details about the characters that is great.
We really didn't know much about Dumbledore till book seven anyway, now after the fact there are just even more facts being given.
JK could always write something else, maybe she is doing research getting fan reactions...
I know I am digging deep but I really just can't accept that its over...lol

Oh, I'm sure she isn't going to just leave her writing like that. I think she's done with Harry Potter and is probably going to try her hand at something else...heck, it could be just as epic as HP, or even greater. You never know.

Random Fact: Yesterday, everyone at school was talking about this and different kinds of slash pairings with Dumbledore. I found that very funny... :lol: He's still the same great character in my eyes, no matter if he went to gay rights parades or not.

She has already considered writing an encyclopedia of sorts, probably not unlike her other additions, that would encompass her vast imaginary world. I could see an entry on Dumbledore having presented this information.:)

... the fact that the news media is treating it as a news story I mean. not the web board.

It truly does not affect the plot in any way. He is my favorite character- and I was not concerned in one way or the other.

Agreed.

Indeed, with the proceeds going to charity. I think it'd be brilliant. Though I'm sure it'll be longer than any of her other books, haha. I'd love to see it.

She already is; a crime drama. I'm highly anticipating it. But with her level of detail, I'm sure it'll be a heck of a plot; twists and all!

Yes, I've heard about both the encyclopedia and the crime drama. I can't wait to read both of these. And JK knows that fan fiction writers are going to have a field day with this story.