gellert grindelwald

HARRY Potter author JK Rowling today revealed that Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

The Edinburgh writer made the admission during a question and answer session with fans at New York's Carnegie Hall.

She was asked by one young fan if Dumbledore finds "true love".

"Dumbledore is gay," Rowling replied to gasps and applause.

She said he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards.

Ms Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, she spotted a script reference to a girl the wizard once cared for. A note was passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about him.
It was the secret he took to the grave: Albus Dumbledore, the benign and beloved headmaster of Hogwarts school of wizardry, was gay.

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J K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has revealed that the boy wizard's mentor and substitute father had a grand passion for another man in his youth.

advertisementThe outing of the elderly Dumbledore, who is Potter's confidant and moral compass, must count as the most unlikely in literary history.

Within minutes of Rowling's announcement in front of a group of young fans in New York on Friday the internet with awash with the news.

Rowling, 42, made her revelation after a 19-year-old fan asked her if the Dumbledore, the most important adult in Potter's life, had ever enjoyed a real passion in his life.

She replied: "My truthful answer to you is that I have always thought of Dumbledore as gay."

The author revealed that the object of Dumbledore's affections was Gellert Grindelwald, a fellow wizard who is briefly mentioned in the books.

In the last novel, Dumbledore's embittered brother Aberforth reveals how the young Dumbledore was drawn to the charismatic and mysterious Grindelwald. Dumbledore is convinced he has finally found his intellectual equal and the pair plot to set up a benign dictatorship for the benefit of muggles.

However, Dumbledore ends up killing the object of his affection when he realises he has been a secret practitioner of the dark arts.

Rowling said: "Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and 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… he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him."

Rowling said she recently had to share the secret of Dumbledore's sexuality with scriptwriters working on the sixth Harry Potter film. "I was in a script read-through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying 'I knew a girl once, whose hair…' I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter: 'Dumbledore's gay!'?"

Rowling told her cheering audience of fans: "If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago."

Some fans, however, have attacked the decision on religious grounds and have posted passages from scripture on Potter fan internet sites.

Melissa Anelli, the webmaster of the Leaky Cauldron, one of the most respected sites, said: "I would say about 70 per cent of the people contacting us are delighted. I think it is great that she has just presented it as a matter of fact. She is not saying it's a reason to level judgment against him. It's just something else about the character, like the fact that he is a teacher."

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, welcomed the "outing" as a victory for "tolerance and understanding". He said: "My only disappointment is that the author didn't make Dumbledore's homosexuality more explicit in the books. It would have been a much more powerful message."

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, who has read all the books, disagreed. She said: "I find it unsurprising. I always had my suspicions. I am also glad that she didn't write his sexuality into the stories. Dumbledore's sexuality has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is a headmaster at Hogwarts." If you thought the twists and turns of the Harry Potter ended with the closing of the final book, think again. JK Rowling has outed one of the main characters from the best-selling boy wizard series. After reading briefly from the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the author told an audience in New York that the wizard Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts school, is gay.

Speaking at Carnegie Hall, Rowling confirmed what some fans had always suspected - that she 'always thought Dumbledore was gay'.

Rowling said Dumbledore fell in love with the charming wizard Gellert Grindelwald but when Grindelwald turned out to be more interested in the dark arts than good, Dumbledore was 'terribly let down' and went on to destroy his rival.

That love was Dumbledore's 'great tragedy', she said.

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said. The audience reportedly fell silent after the revelation before erupting into applause.

Rowling, 42, said if she had known that would be the response, she would have revealed her thoughts on Dumbledore earlier.

Fans posting on the popular Potter fan site 'TheLeakyCauldron' had varying reactions to the news. Some predicted Rowling would backtrack on the announcement, others said it was unnecessary, and some welcoming the extra information on Dumbledore.

Rowling said she had read through a script for the movie adaptation of the sixth book in the series, 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling 'Dumbledore is gay' over it. reuters
you thought the twists and turns of the Harry Potter ended with the closing of the final book, think again. JK Rowling has outed one of the main characters from the best-selling boy wizard series. After reading briefly from the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the author told an audience in New York that the wizard Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts school, is gay.

Speaking at Carnegie Hall, Rowling confirmed what some fans had always suspected - that she 'always thought Dumbledore was gay'.

Rowling said Dumbledore fell in love with the charming wizard Gellert Grindelwald but when Grindelwald turned out to be more interested in the dark arts than good, Dumbledore was 'terribly let down' and went on to destroy his rival.

That love was Dumbledore's 'great tragedy', she said.

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said. The audience reportedly fell silent after the revelation before erupting into applause.

Rowling, 42, said if she had known that would be the response, she would have revealed her thoughts on Dumbledore earlier.

Fans posting on the popular Potter fan site 'TheLeakyCauldron' had varying reactions to the news. Some predicted Rowling would backtrack on the announcement, others said it was unnecessary, and some welcoming the extra information on Dumbledore.
Scientology -- funnyman Jerry Seinfeld -- says that the kooky "religion" actually helped give his career a boost.

He tells Parade magazine that he "last really studied" Scientology 30 years ago, and was introduced by his Auto Mechanics teacher in high school. "I took a couple courses. One of them was in communication, and I learned some things about communication that really got my act going," says the Sein-entologist. He hints that it all has something to do with vocal volume.

We're still waiting for the punchline here.