How About That Dumbledore Anyway?

Well. Goodness.

So Albus Dumbledore was gay! Who knew? Guess all my suspicions about him and Minerva McGonigal and their late night meetings in dressing gowns was wrong. Well, he was a bit of a dandy. I mean that purple velvet suit!!! Well.

I’m speechless.

Actually this is quite wonderful for the simple reason that it shows to the reading public something that fiction writers have always known. 1.) Characters often do as they damn please regardless of your opinion, and 2.) there is a LOT about characters that the author may know that just never becomes part of the story. It’s that unstated stuff that makes characters come alive on the page and makes readers become enthralled by them.

J.K. Rowling has given the world a great many gifts --- not just her 7 magical books with their fascinating characters. Because her books have achieved such celebrated status and there is so much fascination about how they were written and how she did what she did the reading world has gotten to see into the life of a writer and what goes on in that world. I’ve watched a couple documentaries and interviews with her and I love to hear what she has to say. In one she talked about how she drew --- floorplans, sketches of creatures, maps, all sorts of things to enhance her visual awareness when she writes. This is a thing I relate to because I have spent hours doing the same thing --- drawing the layout of Maggie’s abbey or a street map of Clair’s world because if I can’t see it as I write, how will the reader see it as they read?

So finding out that Rowling always “thought of Dumbledore as being gay” is quite a delicious insight into her process from my perspective. And I am glad that she told us about it. That’s one of those delicate balance things --- how much to reveal about a character. Given the age of her target audience it was smart that she didn’t reveal that in the books. In fact I sort of wonder how it will impact readers who may just be beginning the Harry Potter books. Will knowing that as they begin to read change their perception? Will some parents refuse to allow their books to read them because of that? I know the books have suffered heavy criticism because of the magical element from some fundamentalist sects. Well, having sold over 100 million books, I’m sure Rawling isn’t losing sleep over that.

It’s funny what readers bring to stories too. A woman who had just finished The Old Mermaid’s Tale was telling me how sexy and delicious she found Baptiste. “I’ve always been really turned on by men with long hair and beards,” she confided. Uhhhhhhhh --- Baptiste doesn’t have a beard, I said. She was indignant. Yes, he does! No, I said. In the book Pio has a beard but not Baptiste. “You’re wrong,” she said. “You must have forgotten now that you’re working on a new book.”

Maybe, I conceded. It’s always a mistake to argue with someone’s fantasy.

Reading is a magical process. Someone recently told me that not reading is no different from not being able to read and I thought there was much to that (other than labels in the grocery store). I have two great leisure time passions --- knitting and books. And since the popularity of audible books I often get to both at the same time. There is nothing on earth I love more than falling under the spell of story. And when there is an enchanting character who enflames my imagination so much the better. When I was enthralled by the Harry Potter books those characters were so alive in my imagination that if one of them had turned up on my doorstep I would have been thrilled and invited them in for tea (I’m frequently out of pumpkin juice). And that is a credit to Rowling and her ability to create characters that jump off the page.

So, Dumbledore, well. Why not! Maybe that’s what the world needs --- a much loved character who is part of a maligned minority. Thanks, J.K. You’ve done us all a favor.

Thanks for reading.