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[MetalSlimeHunt]

Dumbledore being gay wasn't a retcon at all, it was people not paying attention (and living in the 2000s, in all fairness). How he describes his obsession with Grindelwald is a confession of love in everything but the word itself. He even writes the "A" in "Albus" using Grindelwald's Deathly Hallows symbol.

[Lord Shonus]

I agree with all that.  There's a huge difference between being gay and being a campy gay stereotype.  Being openly gay is also different from being secretly gay, but Dumbledore's sexuality never came up.  like, reasonably.   So I never like, disagreed with Rowling for declaring that he was gay.

I did question her motivations for stating it.  Why point out *his* sexuality in particular?  It reads like an attempt to get woke points by retroactively declaring something which had no effect on the story.

It's also interesting in the context of the Harry Potter fanfic scene, which often explored... non-straight couplings.  She was... not a fan.  So that's the context of her making a grand pronouncement that one *specific* character was gay.

There were plenty of other reasons to be leery of Rowling, one of which she helpfully made explicit.
So it's really just an unsurprising epilogue that the stories of young Dumbledore and his close male acquaintance don't touch on his sexuality whatsoever.

The original context of "Dumbledore's gay" was vetoing an attempt by the film director to give him a past female love interest. Unlike her later guff, it wasn't a random statement.

[Iduno]

As I say, never trust the Disc Horse.

Besides, the complaint about Dumbledore not being openly gay had more to do with JKR basically retconning it in, with no indication. (Not too long before the "wizards pooped on the ground" incident)

And she announced it as part of announcing the book he died in, which is always a good look.

[Doomblade187]

I didn't know his signature was like that, MSH. And the pushing back against the director makes sense, Shonus.

Also wait what. If forgot that was the timing.

[pikachu17]

Wasn't the "wizards pooped on the ground" incident from a parody account, and people confused it for the real deal?

[Doomblade187]

Wasn't the "wizards pooped on the ground" incident from a parody account, and people confused it for the real deal?

I sincerely hope so.

[Akura]

I was under the impression that wizards simply shat their pants, then used magic to erase it. Not sure how that'd work, since most wizard kids don't start expressing their powers until around 5 to 10, and even without them being forbidden from using magic outside of school until they're 17(only enforced on Muggle-born wizards anyway) they wouldn't have the ability to use that spell for some time. Long after diapers would be appropriate. Then again, maybe that's why Squibs(opposite of Muggle-born wizards; wizard-born Muggle) are considered so shameful.


To be fair, I'm hoping it's false too, because it is stupid.

[Reelya]

Wasn't the "wizards pooped on the ground" incident from a parody account, and people confused it for the real deal?

I sincerely hope so.

Source provided. The date of the article say 1/04 unfortunately that's not April 1st but January 4th.

https://news.avclub.com/j-k-rowling-reveals-that-wizards-used-to-just-shit-on-1831501641

https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/chamber-of-secrets

However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence)

Yeah, it's official.

[Eric Blank]

Just magic it directly out of your colon. Nobody ever needs to know.

Anyway, in work related fuckery, a random old woman wandered in through the back door outside our kitchen today and started calling out "hello?" Repeatedly. I thought I was hearing things, because looking out both doors I at first didn't see anyone. The housekeeping staff found her, and questioned her, and apparently she got lost looking for an auto parts store. I had to walk her around to the front door and let her out there because the back door uses a code I don't know. I have no idea how she could have gotten in, since that door is obviously locked from the outside too. This woman came by car, too. She was driving.

Is this the true power of stupidity? Will this woman find her way into the alien containment area at Area 51, past all the guards and security? Is the Pentagon even safe? Will she ever find that part her husband wrote down on her piece of paper? Tune in next week on "People that Wander into Assisted Living Facilities and Probably shouldn't have been let Out!"

[pisskop]

Maybe the woman is Mr. Magoo

[Dunamisdeos]

Yeah to me the whole Gay Dumbledore thing was like an "oh, ok, it doesn't necessarily ADD anything to the story, but that's cool" sort of thing. Way to deepen the backstory of the character. I mean they'd added some sort of love interest backstory to almost every other character at that point, so it made sense to at least cover the subject.

Like at some point they went back and described Professor McGonagall's whole love deal. I felt that it was just fleshing out a character in both cases.

[Reelya]

Yeah to me the whole Gay Dumbledore thing was like an "oh, ok, it doesn't necessarily ADD anything to the story, but that's cool" sort of thing. Way to deepen the backstory of the character. I mean they'd added some sort of love interest backstory to almost every other character at that point, so it made sense to at least cover the subject.

Like at some point they went back and described Professor McGonagall's whole love deal. I felt that it was just fleshing out a character in both cases.

It goes back to the 'presumed straight' thing.

For example, if there was no hint of Dumbledore's being gay in any novel and the author could just come out with it as a 'btw' then that really proves there was no hint of them being *straight* in any of the novels: otherwise it would have lead to a contradiction.

As for Professor McGonagall, I'm guessing nobody out there went "omg I thought she was a raving lesbian the whole time, what's with this backstory?" I'm wondering whether if McGonagall had been revealed as a lesbian would there have been an equivalent backlash? Perhaps not.

[Mathel]

I was under the impression that wizards simply shat their pants, then used magic to erase it. Not sure how that'd work, since most wizard kids don't start expressing their powers until around 5 to 10, and even without them being forbidden from using magic outside of school until they're 17(only enforced on Muggle-born wizards anyway) they wouldn't have the ability to use that spell for some time. Long after diapers would be appropriate. Then again, maybe that's why Squibs(opposite of Muggle-born wizards; wizard-born Muggle) are considered so shameful.


To be fair, I'm hoping it's false too, because it is stupid.

Whether on the ground or in the pants, it would be stupid. Toilets existed before proper plumbing. They just had to be emptied manualy after some time.
What should have happened before plumbing is toilets that were either enchanted to vanish the excrements, or had them vanished by castle staff.

[wierd]

Chamber pots were a thing yes.

The ancient romans had flush toilets over 2000 years ago.


Now, I am totally down with the notion that wizards would be slow to adopt technological innovation, because necessity is the mother of invention, and they have all their needs met with magic.  It totally explains why they would be woefully ignorant to the point of whimsy about how technology you know-- works.  The converse would also be true; Muggles would be woefully ignorant of how magic, you know-- works.

The ideal would be to synergize the two, and create magitech. (like the real thing.)

[King Zultan]

Or wizards could be the OG hipsters only using muggle technology ironically.