people keep saying that this bit of info is so irrelevant but i think it shows why dumbledore was so vunerable to Grindelwald and why he was unwilling to face him for years before they finally did or why he didn't kill him after the famous duel. Personally i really don't care if Dumbledore is gay, he is still one hell of a great wizard.
What do you think?
2007-10-22 09:33:10 · 8 answers · asked by Elvendork 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
I know that he is a fictional character but you have ht eright analyze characters. Thats what we do in our English class. So what if he is fictional, Harry Potter books have been part of my life for more than half my life and its up to me if want to analyze the characters that love and care about even though they are not real...
so saying that he is just a fictional character and is not important to discuss is stupid. The main objective in English class to analyze and understand the characters the author writes about.
2007-10-22 09:52:32 · update #1
I definitely think that fictional characters like these become very real and are important enough for us to discuss.
Yes, Dumbledore's sexual orientation may not directly add to the story. But it's in keeping with the tolerant and accepting tone of the books. It's as relevant as Lupin's being a werewolf is or Hagrid's being half-giant is. In the wizarding world, these conditions are viewed with great prejudice, no matter how wonderful these people are. Sexual preference is a prejudice of our (muggle) world - a person being gay does not in any way make him better or worse. I think Dumbledore being gay is absolutely brilliant.
2007-10-24 03:21:12 · answer #1 · answered by web_researcher 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree. I also think it adds to the idea presented in the 7th book regarding harry and Dumbledore. The Daily Prophet runs articles inferring that Dumbledore had ulterior motives of a possible pedophilic nature for Harry. If the Wizarding world was to assume that Dumbledore was gay, then it would make much more sense to have the Prophet use that as more motivation for that idea.
2007-10-22 09:40:00 · answer #2 · answered by alaisin13 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think that this is relevant to the story.
Throughout the series, we know Dumbledore as a tireless and seemingly single-minded fighter against Dark Wizards (at least from Harry's perspective; we do have to remember that Albus is also a great teacher, an alchemist, and important theoretical Wizard--remember the tools and instruments he made himself). But how did Albus become that way?
We learn much about this in DH, with Arianna's story, Aberforth's story and the story of the friendship between Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. In reading DH, it was clear that Grndelwald seduced Dumbledore on a number of levels; intellectually, ideologically, and, by JKR's new revelation, emotionally. We don't know if that seduction was sexual as well, and I'm not sure it is important for us to know.
The revelation completes the picture for us of a man who felt betrayed, injured by one he loved, ashamed at how far he went from rational thought and behavior, how far he really was from what he thought he was.
The up shot is that we now know more completely Dumbledore's motivations for fighting Dark Wizards--his shame at his own tangential contribution to Grindelwald's career, his reluctance to fight him, and, when Voldemort rose, his determination to not to repeat his prior mistake of inaction and to fight Voldemort from the start.
So in summery, It was part of the way JKR viewed Dumbledore and understood him. I don't think it was something that would have come out voluntarily--more likely something that would have made a scholarly article 50 or 60 years from now after she was gone and literary scholar had access to her full notes (assuming she left them to be investigated).
BTW, there is some inkling of this in DH, where Rita Skeeter talks about devoting a chapter in her book about Dumbledore to the Dumbledore/Harry relationship. This is not to say that there was anything improper--but that JKR did put out a hint.
wl
2007-10-22 12:33:01 · answer #3 · answered by WolverLini 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It's not relevant to the story at all.
That's why it was so irrelevant for J. K. Rowling to out Dumbledore.
She is an attention-seeking media person and a hypocrite to boot.
The gay community should be outraged instead of happy about Dumbledore's revelation. She had disrespected them the most.
Why? Because she waited until she had made millions before she opened her mouth about Dumbledore being gay.
Of course she knew that the books never would have read as well had she outed him throughout the books.
So she kept her mouth shut until after the series ended and is trying to re-write the story lines now. What a git!
2007-10-22 09:51:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 5⤋
I think all of these characters are fictional in a series of books dealing with fantasy for young adults. I doubt if the author ever gave anyone of her characters sexualities a second thought. Now give it a rest.
2007-10-22 09:43:23 · answer #5 · answered by curious connie 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
I think JKR pulled the gay Dumbledore out of her a$$. She had no great plan with these books. She just wrote and wrote and wrote and made things up as she went. The low quality of the writing is evidence of this. Because Dumbledore's sexuality is not explored IN the books, it isn't relevant.
2007-10-22 09:41:03 · answer #6 · answered by God_Lives_Underwater 5 · 2⤊ 6⤋
i think you make a good point but if it was truly relavant then why didn't she write it into on of the books? i think it is a way to get atension
2007-10-22 14:54:53 · answer #7 · answered by Kira 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it was necessary.
I just thought he didn't want to kill him because they were good friends.
2007-10-22 09:37:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋