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Last week J.K. Rowling stated to an audience in New York’s Carnegie Hall that, “I always saw Dumbledore as gay.” This information was given in response to a question from an audience member and has sparked a flurry of discussion among Harry Potter fans. Rowling has also revealed that she crossed out a section of the screenplay for the film “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” where Dumbledore speaks about his love life and wrote a note simply stating that Dumbledore is gay.

In response to criticism, Rowling said, “He is my character. He is what he is and I have the right to say what I say about him.”

The problem is that Dumbledore is no longer Rowling’s character. With the publication of the 7 Harry Potter novels, Rowling has given Dumbledore–along with all of the other wizards, witches, and muggles who inhabit their pages–to anyone who chooses to take the time and energy to read them from the page and into their imaginations. This means that Dumbledore belongs to all of us. And he is whatever any of us choose to make him.

The difference between a fictional character and an actual person, is that the character only exists as the imagination paints him. An author or filmmaker can give us an outline–sometimes a very detailed outline–but there is always room for us to fill in characteristics of our own.

Perhaps few people are as enthusiastic about this literary licence as I am. For instance, as a child I had an extreme admiration for the Star Wars character Han Solo. Among other things, I imagined that Han Solo was a talented pianist who turned to music whenever he was deeply troubled. As a young adult I read several novels written about the early life of Han Solo. Before reading them, I knew I would reject everything in these novels that did not fit in with the character’s history that I had stored in my memory for so many years. Today, I remember little of the novels I read. But I cannot forget the story I built in my own mind.

Now, Rowling may claim ownership of her characters in so far as she has legal rights to protect her intellectual property. She also has the right to say whatever she wants about them. And she can say what she thought about as she was writing about them. But she can no longer dictate what, or who, Dumbledore is. Her words are written and published. And as they are read, Dumbledore is turned into millions of Dumbledores based on the finite amount of words written about him.

Some may have always seen the character in the same light as Rowling. Some may choose to alter their picture of this character based on the Rowling’s opinions. Some, like the screenwriter of her movies, may be contractually obligated to change their view. And to many others, it will simply not matter. But for me, I disagree with Rowling. I choose to paint this character for myself and in my mind he is untainted by the brush strokes of others.

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