Dumbledore – The Sexless Gay Man (Fantastic Beasts SPOILERS)

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Some media interpretations of older gay men involve the mentioning of their characters orientation but usually never showing any real romantic interests for that character. Albus Dumbledore is one of the more famous of these examples as J.K. Rowling stated that the most powerful wizard in the world of Harry Potter was gay and in love with a dark wizard by the name of Gellert Grindlewald. This love was mentioned outside of the books and after all the original Harry Potter books had been published. The uproar was not as huge as it could have been from many conservatives suddenly interested and upset about this sexless wizard’s love life, but it was still there.

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With the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them being a huge hit and with four more possible sequels being made, we will most definitely have a younger Albus Dumbledore make his appearance. More likely in the next movie. I personally am wanting Ewan McGregor to play the role of younger Albus, but that’s just my opinion. What is better is that Gindlewald has already been shown and is played by Johnny Depp. He was masquerading as Percival Graves who is played by Colin Farrell. The question is however – How much of a gay romantic story will the viewer get? Romance is played down a lot in the Potter films and books, which is something I am grateful. Seeing romance between teen wizards is not a huge driving point for me to be interested in the franchise. However, there are still some elements of romance present and love is the driving force in respect to the story for major plots. When we get to same sex storylines, it is still considered taboo among many people in almost all franchises. This is especially true for family films such as the Potterverse movies. Murder, racism, animal cruelty and destruction of all forms are accepted. But mention that two people of the same sex are romantically involved, and conservatives lose their cool.

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One thing to consider is the timeline as to what is happening at this point in the films. Dumbledore and Grindlewald were together at a younger age and ended their relationship after having a three way duel with Aberforth Dumbledore. The end result was that their sister Ariana Dumbledore was killed. This is thought to be the known reason as to why Dumbledore ended his relationship with Grindlewald. Currently in the timeline with Fantastic Beasts, both are more mature and this event has already occurred. Grindlewald is a dark wizard recruiting for his revolution, while Albus Dumbledore is a professor at Hogwarts. So unless we see flashbacks, chances are we will never see them as a couple.

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Also a small detail has been made clear by Rowling- Dumbledore was in love with Grindlewald but that love may not have been reciprocated. Grindlewald could have been using Dumbledore to further his own agenda. Never has it been stated that Grindlewald himself was gay or in love with Dumbledore. It is possible that Grindlewald could have been a character similar to Daken, Wolverine’s son, who used both male and females to get what he wanted. Fantastic Beasts exemplifies this perfectly with his affection to the powerful Credence Barebone, played by Ezra Miller. The gay subtext is present and very clear to the viewer. Albeit somewhat creepy, but it is visable. Whether or not Credence was gay or just incredibly lonely is not made known, but he did feel rejected when Graves/Grindlewald temporary abandoned him.

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All I want is a romantic relationship between two male wizards, similar to what has been shown so far in the Harry Potter Universe. Nothing extreme, nothing that would go beyond Rated PG. And nothing that we have not already seen between heterosexual characters in the same situations. Flirting, small amounts of touching and a romantic vibe that we have already gotten from all the other couples shown. Maybe a kiss, but even that is not essential. It may never happen on screen. But hopefully we will see something. I would like to think that Dumbledore did not live a life of celibacy after losing Grindlewald.

1 thought on “Dumbledore – The Sexless Gay Man (Fantastic Beasts SPOILERS)

  1. I’m not gonna hold my breath on this one, sadly. When Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay, I was taken aback at first. The more I thought about it, though, the more incidental it sounded. Yeah, it was cool that a major supporting character had been gay all along, but I still felt like it was a cop-out. Maybe it would’ve made zero impact on the story. Yet, I think she could have gone just a little bit further to make the fact clearer.

    As for a young Dumbledore being gay in the movies, I can’t say that I’ll be holding my breath. The way things feel right now, it’ll probably not happen. Especially not now.

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