j.k. rowling

Chris Knight's avatar

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. ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

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 ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

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,

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Chris Knight's avatar

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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Chris Knight's avatar

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

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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