J.K. Rowling testifies in court against Harry Potter Lexicon webmaster

I've been so busy with other things, I didn't catch at all that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is suing the webmaster of a popular website based on her books. For the past several years Steven Vander Ark has run The Harry Potter Lexicon, an "online encyclopedia" of sorts devoted to the Harry Potter novels. Which otherwise wouldn't be a problem: for fans to pay homage to such an acclaimed property is something the Internet has long been used to.

Except that Vander Ark has been set to publish - as in "printed volumes" - his website as a hard-copy edition to sell for personal profit.

Big no-no there, Steve. And you and your publishing company should have known better.

So now Rowling is suing Vander Ark and RDR Books for copyright infringement. I don't blame her. Vader Ark's website is a nice, succinct resource for Harry Potter facts. But it's almost entirely stuff that's lifted verbatim from Rowling's books, without further elaboration or speculation. And Rowling has already planned to write her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia: one that will further "flesh out" the Harry Potter saga and the sales of which Rowling has stated will be donated to charity.

Here's the link to the story again. Worth checking out if you're a Potter fan and want to chuckle at some of the courtroom wit inspired by the books.

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J.K. Rowling says: Albus Dumbledore is a homosexual!

Okay, this one blows my mind bigtime (and it takes a hella lot to blow this mind)...

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has "outed" Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School and Harry's principle mentor (yeah I know how weird it looks to read that).

Not only was Dumbledore a gay man, but he had an unrequieted love for Gellert Grindelwald: his one-time accomplice in an ill-spirited bid for conquest of the wizard world, before Dumbledore came to his senses and later defeated Grindelwald during World War II.

I honestly don't know what to make of this. It doesn't really take away from the enjoyment of the books themselves, because this was nothing that was ever, ever a part of the story. It could be like Ridley Scott insisting years later that Deckard was himself a Replicant in the movie Blade Runner, when there was nothing indicating that to be the case either. And looking back on the Harry Potter books, even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'm still not seeing any sexual undertones about Dumbledore at all.

Yet Rowling insists that Dumbledore is a homosexual...

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

The article also brings this up...

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

Let's just hope that Rowling doesn't answer any questions about what Albus's brother Aberforth is doing with all those goats...

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J.K. Rowling opens up bigtime on Christian inspiration for Harry Potter

Perhaps more so than she has ever done since the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling has started talking about the deeper theological meaning of her runaway bestselling books... and especially the profound Christian underpinnings that only really came into focus with the final novel of the Harry Potter series. Here's the story at MTV.com.

Among the highlights...

But if she was worried about tipping her hand narratively in the earlier books, she clearly wasn't by the time Harry visits his parents' graves in Chapter 16 of "Deathly Hallows," titled "Godric's Hollow." On his parents' tombstone he reads the quote "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," while on another tombstone (that of Dumbledore's mother and sister) he reads, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

While Rowling said that "Hogwarts is a multifaith school," these quotes, of course, are distinctly Christian. The second is a direct quote of Jesus from Matthew 6:19, the first from 1 Corinthians 15:26. As Hermione tells Harry shortly after he sees the graves, his parents' message means "living beyond death. Living after death." It is one of the central foundations of resurrection theology.

Which makes it a perfect fit for Harry, said Rowling, who was talking about those quotes for the very first time.

"They're very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones," Rowling explained. "[But] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up — they almost epitomize the whole series."

Rowling also addresses the numerous religious detractors - who have all too often claimed the same Christian faith that she holds to - who have condemned the Harry Potter books over the years...

That, by the author's own acknowledgement, "Harry Potter" deals extensively with Christian themes may be somewhat ironic, considering that many Christian leaders have denounced the series for glamorizing witchcraft. When he was known simply as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope himself condemned the books, writing that their "subtle seductions, which act unnoticed ... deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly."

For her part, Rowling said she's proud to be on numerous banned-book lists. As for the protests of some believers? Well, she doesn't take them as gospel.

"I go to church myself," she declared. "I don't take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion."

And there's plenty more at the link above. Thanks to Roxanne L. Martin for this great find! :-)

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Rowling reveals TONS of post-DEATHLY HALLOWS info during online chat

A few days ago J.K. Rowling did an extensive online chat via Bloomsbury Publishing's website ... and she unloaded a whole heap of answers to questions about the Harry Potter saga in the aftermath of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There is substantially more information that she gives here than she did in her interview with NBC last week. Absolutely must-reading for anyone who's been reading and enjoying these books.

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J.K. Rowling reveals what happens after THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!

WARNING: Do NOT click on the below link until AFTER you have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You have been warned! :-)

In an interview for NBC, J.K. Rowling has revealed a LOT about what happens to many of the characters after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Some of the details are wonderful, others are heartbreaking. I'm not going to post what she said here, you're going to have to click the link to find out.

Thanks to Phillip Arthur for the heads-up!

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