24

In 2007, Rowling revealed that Albus Dumbledore was gay.

We know that she planned a lot of things about Harry Potter's world well in advance.

Is there any info (from the books or a statement by her) that proves that she always planned for him to be this way; or the reverse, that she only decided on that fact about him in the middle of writing the books?

Official info only, no guesses please.

Hellion
  • 748
  • 7
  • 15
APWD
  • 753
  • 5
  • 12
  • I *think* that at some early point in the books, Harry asked Dumbledore if he once had some kind of love interest or whatever. Dumbledore replied saying yes, that there used to be blonde person or something long ago. As far as I'm concerned, Grindelwald is the only blonde person in Dumbledore's early life. – Saturn Oct 05 '13 at 02:00
  • 2
    I left an answer, but you'll note the source of the answer is the source you are using yourself to note that Dumbledore is gay to begin with. The answer is in your own source. Just an FYI. – Slytherincess Oct 05 '13 at 02:14
  • 11
    I wonder how Rita Skeeter didn't find out earlier. – b_jonas Oct 05 '13 at 11:19
  • 1
    @Omega - this could be a good answer – APWD Oct 05 '13 at 11:41
  • There is a similar but not duplicate question http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/39628/was-the-character-of-dumbledore-in-harry-potter-gay – James Jenkins Oct 05 '13 at 12:00
  • 12
    "She wants credit for being very up-to-date and politically correct -- but she didn't have the guts to put that supposed "fact" into the actual novels, knowing that it might hurt sales. ... When I have a gay character in my fiction, I say so right in the book. I don't wait until after it has had all its initial sales to mention it." —Orson Scott Card – Wildcard Apr 01 '16 at 19:08
  • 5
    If I had nothing else to go by other than her answer, I'd say yes, however she has shown in her own character a willingness to BS and lie about original intent several times now and as such I don't believe for one moment that she always planned him as gay, but rather she didn't think of it one way or the other as most people didn't and don't when they're creating characters. – Durakken Sep 13 '16 at 16:28
  • 1
    Of interest, from Literature SE Beta: Is there any textual evidence to support that Dumbledore was gay? – Wildcard Mar 03 '17 at 21:42
  • 1
    @Wildcard - I'll take an author who thinks gay characters belong in fiction to one who thinks they belong in prison any day. – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 00:51
  • @Adamant did you even read the link you just posted? Start at the top; note the audience and the preface. Also, Orson Scott Card does put gay characters in his fiction— unlike J. K. Rowling; see quote in my comment above. In actual fact, in a large measure I owe my understanding and friendliness toward the gay community directly to Orson Scott Card’s influence when I was young—in particular, Songmaster and the Homecoming novels. To accuse him of bigotry you yourself are either misinformed, uninformed, malicious, or an idiot. Or some combination thereof. Read your own link. – Wildcard Feb 28 '18 at 08:15
  • 1
    @Wildcard - I did. I find his excuses unconvincing. And if you believe that's a minority opinion...maybe it's you who hasn't been paying attention. – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 14:58
  • @Wildcard - Much as I like his writing, the evidence is clear. His essay from the 90s, while it probably does represent an improvement over the policies of the Church, contains some untrue and reprehensible statements, for example, suggesting that laws against homosexuality should be used at all: “Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary[…] cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.” – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 15:04
  • @Wildcard - And to address Card’s more recent arguments: that he’s changed, that now his views are even nicer. As recently as 2009, he said this: “Married people attempting to raise children with the hope that they, in turn, will be reproductively successful, have every reason to oppose the normalization of homosexual unions.” He also wrote an “what-if” story in 2013 in which Barack Obama made himself a life-long dictator with a private police force, which has little to do with LBGT rights but is another small absurdity that reflects poorly on his character. – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 15:08
  • So I dunno. Could he have changed his opinions in the last 5-10 years? Perhaps he now believes that gay marriage is perfectly acceptable. He has the ability to change his opinions as much as anyone else. But I do doubt it. And, if by some fortunate he did…his beliefs previously were still bigotry. – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 15:13
  • Now, you might have a great deal of friendliness toward the gay community (maybe even from Card’s books, who knows). But if you have trouble seeing why many gay people, especially, interpret these statements as evidence of anti-gay sentiment considerably beyond the norm, I’d say there’s definitely some element of understanding that you lack toward the gay community. As a starter: If some people are irritated at politically pro-gay JK Rowling for the issue of not having the courage to have an explicitly gay character, how might they feel about someone who thinks what Card does? – Adamant Feb 28 '18 at 15:24
  • 1
    How many characters were not explicitly identified as heterosexual, yet assumed to be so? – thumbtackthief Mar 08 '18 at 16:13
  • i would guess that its just so she isn't called homophobic and seems "modernized" in her writing – ava Apr 15 '21 at 20:50

1 Answers1

28

Yes, she did.

Q: Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?

JKR: 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 extent? 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!"

J.K. Rowling at Carnegie Hall - 10.20.07 - Via The Leaky Cauldron

Slytherincess
  • 164,854
  • 146
  • 684
  • 899
  • 15
    Hmm. It might be closer to the truth to say something like "She certainly claims that she did" – Valorum Feb 06 '18 at 16:08
  • 5
    This answer does not actually prove that he was considered gay at the time of writing, only that the author retroactively says he was. –  Sep 27 '19 at 09:54