What Did JK Rowling Have to Gain by "Outing" her Character?

Question

Honestly, what did she have to gain? I think that she should have left well enough alone, but apparently she couldn't, but what was the point?

Yes, well whats the point...fiction novels are all about the imagination....shouldnt she have just left it up to individual interpretation??

Answer 1

THANK YOU for this question. You said exactly my point. I have nothing against gays, but Dumbledore's sexuality influenced the story in no way, shape or form. So why bother? I know she likes to stir the pot and challenge her readers (and her critics!) but everything else fit together so nicely...this is like an extra puzzle piece leftover. You're like, "What do I do with this?"

Answer 2

Well, she didn't have anything to gain as such. But she has created back stories on every character of hers, and what's seen through books 1-7 is less than 20% of what material she has created.

She will be working on an encyclopedia about all these characters - based on her notes. That Dumbledore is gay would get out then in any case - so what's the harm if she lets us know a bit sooner. The reason it didn't explicitly appear in the books is because Dumbledore's sexuality had no plot-advancing consequences; however, it came out when a fan asked her and scriptwriters of Half Blood Prince the movie tried to incorporate Dumbledore's female lover. That just wouldm't make sense if she's always created him as gay.

Answer 3

Honestly, she had nothing to gain or loose. She was stating a fact about the story she created.

She didn't do it for publicity, she was answering a direct question posed by one of her readers. She also stated that it first came out when the director of Half-blood Prince wanted to put something in the movie about Dumbledore's ex-girlfriend, she had to set him straight (so to speak).

Honestly, she has made so much money off of these books that she couldn't spend it all in two lifetimes. Does anyone really think that it was for the money, or attention? An argument for that might be possible after the 7th movie is made, but she is going to be firmly in the spotlight for quite a long time to come.

She has been answering peoples questions, and filling in the gaps of the story since the 7th book came out. No one blinked when she laid out the career paths and married lives of all the survivors. This is just another question that she answered honestly.

Answer 4

I don't think that JKR has an agenda, or is seeking more publicity. According to the story I read, she had told the writer of the screenplay for HBP that Dumbledore was gay because there was mention of a female love interest in the screenplay and she had to set them right. Having done that, she might as well have made it public, since it would have eventually come out anyway--she could control when and how it was done. and in any case, this story came out because she was directly asked if Dumbledore loved anyone.

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 Grindelwald 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

Answer 5

she's already one of the richest people in her country (if not the world) and she has never struck me in any of her interviews (HUGE hp fan here) as the money grabbing type. I think that she was asked a question about one of her characters that had nothing to do with the plot and answered it truthfully, nothing more nothing less. It is a possibility for money but I don't think she just pulled it out of a hat. She'd been writing these books for over 10 years I think she would have thought about Dumbledores sexuality long long before now.


(edit)
She was asked a question, did dumbledore ever find love? the answer is yes he happened to fall in love with a male, Grindelwald...it was a question asked! What did you want her to do? lie? completley beat around the bush? ignore the question?

Answer 6

I got the impression that she was responding to questions, not actively making a statement.

She perhaps didn't want to verify rumors while the series was active in case it ruined things for the homophobes (more likely homophobic parents).

Personally, I never would have guessed. Just the fact that he's an old unmarried man doesn't mean anything. I don't have super sensitive gaydar, but I never caught a whiff. Not that I care one way or the other; I mostly find myself puzzled about these clues that people supposedly picked up on.

Answer 7

I still think it was some sort of joke. Dry British (Scottish) "humour." Remember a couple of months ago when it was going around that someone had seen her in a cafe writing a detective novel? That was a joke started by Ian Rankin's wife. I think we'll all stew over this for a little while, then she'll reveal the joke.

Answer 8

i think jk was trying to say that even though her world is magical and fantastic, life, reality, and odds will catch up with us eventually. she was trying to tell people that the magical world is not just a "perfect fairy" world, realistic to ours. plus, outing characters will complicate the story, making it more interesting (NOT THAT I ENJOYED THE DYING!!!)

Answer 9

I think it's to promote tolerance. There is so much hate in this world towards people that by outing a character in her marvellous books that the world so loves perhaps people will be more accepting.
I don't think she did it for the money. It was a grand finale. JK has loads of money. She did it to send the world a message. Stop hating and be more accepting of others. I think her choice was a briliant one.

Answer 10

Because millions of people have read these books and have already developed a liking for Dumbledore. And now it is revealed that he is gay, so people who are homophobic will hopefully accept the fictional character. And maybe she hoped that this would carry into real life and there would be more tolerance.