In the years since Harry Potter's story ended, J.K.
Rowling has revealed a whole lot more about the world she created, occasionally stirring
up a little controversy along the way.
Here are the biggest revelations Rowling has shared with fans since finishing the Harry
Potter books.
It's pretty much a hard rule that any fantasy epic that follows the Hero's Journey has got
to have an old, wise man present to teach the young protagonist how to overcome their
hurdles and challenges.
Of course, Harry Potter is no exception.
Enter Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
who begins the series watching over the orphaned infant Harry from a distance, and eventually
becomes a major parental figure for the character during their shared time at Hogwarts.
Even after Dumbledore dies in Half Blood Prince, his shadow looms large, all the way through
to the final moments of the series.
Now, there's plenty Harry doesn't know about Dumbledore, but one facet of his character
couldn't have been guessed by even the sharpest of readers.
In 2007, Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was gay, and though fans knew he had a close
friendship with the wizard Grindelwald in his younger days, most fans didn't take that
to mean that the two were more than friends.
Though Dumbledore's orientation never needed to be addressed by the story, this was still
quite a surprise for fans, who could now look at the character in an entirely new light.
Rowling even claims to have clued in one of the films' screenwriters to this reveal, nixing
a would-be Dumbledore line about an old female flame.
After dropping the big bombshell about Dumbledore's sexuality, Rowling waited nearly ten years
to push the issue again, ahead of the release of the second film in the Potter spin-off
series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Both Rowling and director David Yates faced serious backlash over comments made by Yates
stating that Dumbledore's sexuality wouldn't be directly addressed in the second Fantastic
Beasts movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald, despite the fact that the antagonist of the film was
famously known as Dumbledore's lover.
On the movie's Blu-ray release, Rowling followed up the controversy by announcing that the
two had indeed engaged in an extremely intense physical relationship.
But this reveal didn't come without its controversy, with Rowling's comments raising some important
questions about representation.
After all, what does it say to LGBTQ fans that Dumbledore fell in love with a murderous
villain and then possibly lived in celibacy for the remainder of his life?
And why is that representation found only on a Blu-ray special feature, rather than
within the story itself?
All in all, this particular reveal sent a more muddled and confusing message than Rowling
likely intended.
One of the most fascinating acts of magic in the entire wizarding world is the Patronus
Charm, a difficult and advanced spell which summons a magical protector that seems to
come from inside a wizard's own spirit.
Harry first discovers his Patronus in Prisoner of Azkaban, where it takes the form of a stag,
in honor of Harry's late father, James, who could transform into that same animal.
After the story officially ended, fans wanted to know about the Patronuses of their favorite
characters, from Hermione's otter to Luna Lovegood's rabbit, but one revelation about
a truly beloved character was particularly tragic.
When asked what Patronus might belong to Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid, Rowling responded
that Hagrid wasn't able to produce the spell at all, likely thanks to his wrongful expulsion
from Hogwarts as a teenager.
This wasn't Rowling's only Patronus revelation, either, the author also noted that Severus
Snape was the only Death Eater who could summon a Patronus, since he was the only member of
the evil group with his soul still intact.
"After all this time?"
"Always."
Harry Potter fans still have plenty of lingering questions about the wizarding world, and,
to her credit, Rowling has answered many of them.
But she has also answered a few questions nobody ever asked.
Despite bathrooms playing a weirdly significant role in the series, fans weren't exactly clamouring
to find out how wizards got along before the days of indoor plumbing.
Even so, Rowling was on hand to clear that one up…so to speak.
In early 2019, a tweet from Harry Potter website Pottermore revealed a pretty unexpected fact
about the wizarding world.
Apparently, before wizards began using Muggle-style plumbing, they basically just went right on
the floor, and then got rid of it using a vanishing spell.
Weirdly enough, this wasn't actually new information, either.
Pottermore had previously revealed this in a 2015 essay on the website, but the 2019
tweet caused far more of a stir, with many fans wondering why it even needed to be said.
Every long-running series needs an iconic villain, and Voldemort's certainly fit the
bill for Harry Potter.
After trying to kill Harry as an infant and nearly perishing himself, Voldemort spends
the rest of his life on a mission to defeat Harry once and for all.
When Harry hears a prophecy about the two in Order of the Phoenix, he realizes that
he can't avoid his fate.
"For neither can live while the other survives."
After destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes and sacrificing himself to defeat the evil wizard,
Harry is finally able to best Voldemort once and for all, taking down one of the most nefarious
and murderous wizards the world had ever seen.
In fact, Voldemort was so nefarious and murderous that most wizards refused to even speak his
name, instead, many of them simply referred to him as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "You-Know-Who."
"Voldemort."
"Voldemort?"
"Shh."
As it turns out, however, even those bold enough to say "Voldemort" have been getting
it all wrong.
In 2015, Rowling revealed she always meant Voldemort to be pronounced in the French fashion
with a silent T, vohl-duh-MORE, since the name itself means "flight of death", referring
to the dark wizard's own fear of death.
Pretty much everyone has actually been pronouncing it incorrectly, from the fans to the films
themselves.
Hermione Granger has served as an inspiration to brilliant and bookish children ever since
her introduction in the first book in the series.
Though she initially comes off as a frustrating know-it-all to Harry and Ron, Hermione quickly
becomes one of the series' most virtuous and likeable characters.
"Mental, that one.
I'm telling you."
Heralded as the brightest witch of her age, Hermione's love of learning and quick thinking
set her apart from other students, even earning her a valuable and powerful Time-Turner in
her third year at Hogwarts.
Hermione's ingenuity serves the trio particularly well in Deathly Hallows, when she secretly
packs all of their most valuable belongings into a tiny beaded evening bag, which she
has bewitched to hold an enormous amount of objects.
Though this magical object proves crucial in the final push to defeat Voldemort, it
turns out that Hermione actually broke wizarding law by putting an extension charm on the bag,
although she was never taken to task for it.
Probably because people had bigger things on their mind.
Even after the Harry Potter series ended, the concept of sorting has played a big role
in a post-Potter world, with pretty much every Potter fan out there sorting themselves into
one of Hogwarts' four personality-based houses.
Whether you're a brave Gryffindor, a hardworking Hufflepuff, a brilliant Ravenclaw, or a cunning
Slytherin, most fans know which house they identify with the most.
And when Pottermore debuted in 2011, it featured the first ever definitive sorting quiz, written
by Rowling herself.
For most people, sorting is fairly straightforward.
Still, Rowling used Pottermore to reveal the concept of a "Hatstall," which happens when
a person who shares traits that fit into multiple houses causes the Sorting Hat to get stuck
on where to place them, sometimes for more than five minutes.
Even though the hat struggled with Harry, Harry isn't considered a Hatstall.
Hermione nearly was, as the hat struggled to choose between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
His classmate Neville Longbottom's long sorting process, meanwhile, came down to a fight between
Neville and the hat over whether or not he was brave enough for Gryffindor.
Spoiler alert: he was.
As it turned out, however, Harry actually did know two Hatstalls, his Transfiguration
professor Minerva McGonagall and his parents' own personal Judas, Peter Pettigrew.
Both ended up in Gryffindor, after nearly ending up in Ravenclaw and Slytherin, respectively.
Fans have asked plenty of questions about Hogwarts itself over the years, but one particular
issue seems to have weighed heavy on their minds.
What do students actually do before they enroll at the school?
Since students don't start at Hogwarts until they hit 11 years of age, many fans wondered
what young magical children did before their seven-year schooling career began.
In an interview with Time after the book series came to a close, Rowling answered several
remaining questions about the books, and one revelation cleared up this exact question.
During the interview, Rowling confirmed that young wizarding children are homeschooled,
since many younger witches and wizards have trouble controlling their magic, and must
be kept at home so they don't reveal themselves to Muggles by mistake.
Before Harry learns that he's a wizard and starts attending Hogwarts, he spends 11 miserable
years living with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, as well as their son Dudley.
The Dursleys all despise Harry and treat him terribly, even forcing the orphan to sleep
in a spider-ridden cupboard under the stairs.
It is later revealed that Petunia was jealous of her sister's magical ability, despite frequently
calling Lily a "freak."
Her detestable husband Vernon is equally incensed by the magical world, with the two of them
swearing that they'll never let Harry be a wizard...until Hogwarts eventually intervenes.
"You're a wizard, Harry."
Even with the specter of magic hanging over them, it's still a bit baffling that Vernon
and Petunia would be so angry and resentful to a small child.
Rowling eventually revealed that issues between the Dursleys and Harry's parents went all
the way back to a double date gone wrong, during which James antagonized the Dursleys
to the point of no return.
As he grows up, Harry's growing resemblance to his father infuriates the Dursleys, and
Uncle Vernon in particular.
One of the strangest figures that lives within Hogwarts' walls has got to be Moaning Myrtle,
the ghost of a young girl killed by the basilisk that resides inside the Chamber of Secrets.
Clearly, Myrtle has had some trouble letting go, since she haunts the very bathroom where
she died, and she spends her time wreaking havoc, haunting students and generally being
kinda annoying.
Thanks to this, Myrtle is generally considered one of the school's least-liked ghosts.
At one point, Rowling decided to reveal Myrtle's full name, which was previously unknown to
readers.
Taking to Twitter, the author announced that Myrtle's name is actually Myrtle Elizabeth
Warren, though she was quick to disavow any relation between Hogwarts' weirdest ghost
and the accomplished American senator.
While the books were still being written, diehard fans engaged in constant arguments
about Hermione's love life, hotly debating whether she should end up with Harry or Ron.
By the time the later books in the series came around, however, it had become relatively
clear in which direction Rowling was leaning.
"Hermione's got nice skin, wouldn't you say, as skin goes, I mean."
"I've never really thought about it, but I suppose, yeah.
I think I'll be going to sleep now."
"Right, yeah."
In the end, she paired Hermione with Ron, capitalizing on their years of tension and
many differences.
Harry, meanwhile, ended up with Ginny, Ron's feisty and talented younger sister.
However, Rowling has since changed course, saying she wished Hermione had ended up with
Harry after all.
She claimed that the relationship between Ron and Hermione was simply a form of "wish
fulfillment" for her, vindicating some fans while infuriating others.
For fans who loved the fiery, intense relationship between Ron and Hermione, however, this felt
like a total betrayal by Rowling.
To date, this incident is counted as one of the most famous examples of Rowling making
an unnecessary reveal, one that many fans wished she had kept to herself.
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