Dumbledore's gay and my ship is canon!
Oct. 19th, 2007 11:54 pm"Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience errupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book.
Article here.
Grindelwald/Dumbledore is pretty much the only HP ship that I really have, but I've had it ever since reading the seventh book. It's one that I adore, because it hits so many of my personal happy places, and it's also one that I never thought would become canon. I mean, Dumbledore's a role model! Grindelwald's on the bad guy side!
Part of what makes this so fantastic for me is that Rowling says that Dumbledore had a crush on Grindelwald, not the other way around. This isn't a case of Grindelwald being made to look even more 'different' because he's gay; this is the role model character and mentor figure being in love with someone he shouldn't. It's a much more positive interpretation than if she'd made the villain gay.
As for why I ship Grindelwald/Dumbledore when nobody else in HP interested me enough to ship them? Well, let's start with Grindelwald. He's gorgeous, he's cocky, he's mischievous and charismatic. He laughs, he's wild, and he's an orphan. A ruthless, sociopathic sort of character who, at the same time, is still loyal enough to Dumbledore to not reveal the hiding place of the Elder Wand even when Voldemort demands it of him.
He also honestly believes that he's working for the good of wizardkind where the enslavement of Muggles is concerned, and he manages to convince Dumbledore of the same.
Basically, Gellert is just the sort of character that I love, and the idea of him being a leader, raising an army and having to fight against his best friend, whose sister he may have accidentally killed? Love. It's conflict, it's a struggle of loyalties, it's betrayal and it's complex.
Throw in Albert Dumbledore canonically having been in love with Gellert and then you have another explanation for why it took him so long to face Gellert in the final fight. Imagine having to fight against someone you once loved -- someone you once loved who killed your sister who was the responsibility that you'd hated!
LOVE. Lots and lots of love.
Someone in a less fangirly-mode than I am can probably put together an excellent essay pointing out how JKR never had Dumbledore actually mentioned as gay in the text or with a partner, and what that means as far as 'invisible gays' in the media go/if he's meant to be someone people can sympathize and how this means that theoretically, fandon isn't wrong when they have chars be gay when no clear sexual preference is stated in canon.
I know I can't do it right now; I'm squeeing because MY SHIP IS CANON.
Article here.
Grindelwald/Dumbledore is pretty much the only HP ship that I really have, but I've had it ever since reading the seventh book. It's one that I adore, because it hits so many of my personal happy places, and it's also one that I never thought would become canon. I mean, Dumbledore's a role model! Grindelwald's on the bad guy side!
Part of what makes this so fantastic for me is that Rowling says that Dumbledore had a crush on Grindelwald, not the other way around. This isn't a case of Grindelwald being made to look even more 'different' because he's gay; this is the role model character and mentor figure being in love with someone he shouldn't. It's a much more positive interpretation than if she'd made the villain gay.
As for why I ship Grindelwald/Dumbledore when nobody else in HP interested me enough to ship them? Well, let's start with Grindelwald. He's gorgeous, he's cocky, he's mischievous and charismatic. He laughs, he's wild, and he's an orphan. A ruthless, sociopathic sort of character who, at the same time, is still loyal enough to Dumbledore to not reveal the hiding place of the Elder Wand even when Voldemort demands it of him.
He also honestly believes that he's working for the good of wizardkind where the enslavement of Muggles is concerned, and he manages to convince Dumbledore of the same.
Basically, Gellert is just the sort of character that I love, and the idea of him being a leader, raising an army and having to fight against his best friend, whose sister he may have accidentally killed? Love. It's conflict, it's a struggle of loyalties, it's betrayal and it's complex.
Throw in Albert Dumbledore canonically having been in love with Gellert and then you have another explanation for why it took him so long to face Gellert in the final fight. Imagine having to fight against someone you once loved -- someone you once loved who killed your sister who was the responsibility that you'd hated!
LOVE. Lots and lots of love.
Someone in a less fangirly-mode than I am can probably put together an excellent essay pointing out how JKR never had Dumbledore actually mentioned as gay in the text or with a partner, and what that means as far as 'invisible gays' in the media go/if he's meant to be someone people can sympathize and how this means that theoretically, fandon isn't wrong when they have chars be gay when no clear sexual preference is stated in canon.
I know I can't do it right now; I'm squeeing because MY SHIP IS CANON.