Summary

• Albus Dumbledore's sexuality was confirmed by J.K. Rowling in 2007, revealing that he had a romantic relationship with Gellert Grindelwald.
• The Fantastic Beasts movies did not explicitly confirm Dumbledore's gay identity, disappointing some fans who were hoping for more representation.
• The Harry Potter TV series on Max may have an opportunity to properly portray Dumbledore as openly gay, without the need for ambiguity or censorship.

Harry Potter's Wizarding World is full of secrets, of which many have been revealed and confirmed by J.K. Rowling over the years, including Albus Dumbledore's sexual orientation — so, is Dumbledore gay, and what is his relationship with Gellert Grindelwald? Back in 1997, Rowling introduced readers to the Wizarding World through her debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Even though the Harry Potter series came to an end in 2007 (and 2012 in the case of the movie saga), the Wizarding World continued its expansion thanks to other works.

Fantastic Beasts created a series of prequel movies to the Harry Potter saga covering the events that led to the Global Wizarding War. Although Fantastic Beasts had Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as the lead, the subsequent movies shifted their focus to Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp and Mads Mikkelsen), and these two have history. Throughout the Harry Potter saga, most of Dumbledore’s backstory was a mystery, and only a couple of details were revealed. However, outside the movies, Rowling confirmed that Dumbledore is gay, and confirmed that he had a romantic relationship with Gellert Grindelwald.

When Albus Dumbledore Was Confirmed To Be Gay

J.K. Rowling Confirmed Dumbledore's Sexuality In 2007

Given the secrecy over Dumbledore’s backstory in the Harry Potter saga and his close relationship with some male characters, fans of the books and movies started to speculate about Dumbledore's sexuality. Those suspicions were confirmed in 2007 during a reading of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at Carnegie Hall, where Rowling was asked if Dumbledore ever fell in love, and she replied that she “always thought of Dumbledore as gay,” even revealing that Dumbledore had been in love with Gellert Grindelwald.

This romance added to the tragedy of Dumbledore, as the person he was in love with turned out to be a dangerous man with horrible plans for wizards and muggles, and he was “terribly let down by him.” Rowling even shared that a line in the early script for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had Dumbledore saying he “knew a girl once,” and she had to add a note on the margin letting them know that Dumbledore is gay.

Why Dumbledore Wasn't Confirmed As Gay In Harry Potter Movies Or Books

Rowling Insisted She’s Trying To Avoid Getting Uncomfortably Explicit

Rowling's confirmation that Dumbledore is gay was divisive. While some praised that a such a significant character in the children’s book series was a member of the LGBTQI+ community, others questioned Rowling’s decision to confirm Dumbledore's sexuality after he'd died in the books, meaning it couldn't be explored further. When a young Albus Dumbledore was confirmed to appear in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, fans hoped to see that part of Dumbledore’s story on the big screen (thus actually making it canon). Unfortunately, the Fantastic Beasts movies were seemingly shelved before Dumbledore and Grindelwald's romance could be shown on screen.

Rowling created hope of Dumbledore’s sexuality being explored in the Fantastic Beasts series in 2016 by telling fans to “watch this space.” However, Fantastic Beasts never explicitly made it clear Dumbledore is gay. In 2019, Rowling’s comments on the Fantastic Beasts 2 DVD/Blu-ray continued to insist on Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship being real even though it wasn’t represented in the movies. She emphasized their relationship was “incredibly intense” ionate love. Rowling insisted she’s trying to avoid getting “uncomfortably explicit” with Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship, but that has translated into a complete lack of representation.

Albus Dumbledore Was In Love With Gellert Grindelwald

Albus Fell In Love With Grindelwald After A Traumatic Childhood

Albus had a complicated life, as his youngest sister, Ariana, was attacked by a group of Muggles who saw her performing magic. This left Ariana emotionally scarred, deeply affecting her powers, which would manifest themselves on rare occasions in random or destructive ways. His father, Percival, was sent to Azkaban after avenging Ariana, and so Albus, his mother Kendra, his brother Aberforth, and Ariana moved to Godric’s Hollow. After graduating from Hogwarts, Kendra was killed by one of Ariana’s outbursts of uncontrollable magic, and so Albus became the head of the family.

At this point, Albus felt bitter, resented, and trapped, until Grindelwald arrived. Grindelwald moved in with his great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot, a friend and neighbor of the Dumbledores, and Albus was excited to see that Grindelwald was as brilliant as him. Albus was fascinated by Grindelwald’s research on the Deathly Hallows and ideas of wizarding domination, and their friendship soon turned into a romantic relationship, in which Albus fell in love with Grindelwald.

Dumbledore's Love For Grindelwald Explains His Backstory

Albus Was On His Way To Darkness Before Breaking With Grindelwald

Dumbledore’s backstory was a mystery throughout the Harry Potter books and movies, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows revealed his former alliance with Grindelwald. Harry learned that Dumbledore was once a wizarding supremacist and was about to start a revolution with Grindelwald, and when he met Aberforth, he also learned about the biggest tragedy in the Dumbledore family. Albus’ alliance with Grindelwald led him to neglect his duties as Ariana’s caretaker, and his mission would have dragged Aberforth and Ariana with him, so Aberforth confronted him.

This made Albus realize what he had been doing and what he was getting involved in, which angered Grindelwald, leading him to use the unforgivable Cruciatus Curse on Aberforth. A duel then erupted between Albus, Aberforth, and Grindelwald, in which Ariana was hit by a stray curse, killing her. Being a wizarding supremacist doesn’t fit at all with the Albus Dumbledore that readers, viewers, Harry, and many other characters in the history of the Wizarding World knew, but the reveal of him having been in love with Grindelwald explains that part of his backstory and makes his whole story even more tragic.

Did Grindelwald Love Dumbledore Too?

Grindelwald Never Loved Dumbledore Back

To add yet another layer to the tragedy of Albus Dumbledore’s life, it’s likely his love wasn’t reciprocated. Gellert Grindelwald was a brilliant wizard who excelled in various fields of magic and, as a Durmstrang Institute student, he absorbed much of its Dark Magic-oriented culture. He was a natural-born Seer and had a vision of himself rising to dominance over the Wizarding World, which led to his research of the Deathly Hallows and his plans of domination.

Grindelwald was obsessed with his plans and ideas, and he saw an ally in Dumbledore, but his mission of world domination always came first, and he was more in love with the idea of power and mastering death than with Dumbledore.

Why Fantastic Beasts Doesn't Explicitly Confirm That Dumbledore Is Gay

Warner Bros. Had Several Considerations

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore finally addresses Dumbledore's sexuality, a measure that the affected community and the Potter fandom have requested for quite some time. However, it never explicitly states that Albus is gay. Rather, the message is somewhat coded when Dumbledore simply says that he "loves" Gellert Grindelwald. This was disappointing for some, who expected the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald to be overt, or at the very least for Dumbledore to be open about his sexuality.

One possible reason for the coded reference is that Warner Bros. could have been hoping for a smooth worldwide release. If Dumbledore had defined his sexuality in a clear-cut way, the film risked being banned various territories around the globe. After the less-than-stellar success of the last two films, Warner Bros. probably wanted a more successful worldwide release, meaning that Dumbledore's sexuality would have to be downplayed to hit those markets.

However, it's an unfortunate state of affairs that studios deem this approach necessary for making sure that films are an international success. Another reason could be J.K. Rowling's involvement. In the past, Rowling has itted that she never addressed Dumbledore's sexuality because it wasn't an integral part of the storyline. While this may have been truer for Harry Potter, it should be at the forefront of Fantastic Beasts.

Though Steve Cloves returned to assist in writing Fantastic Beasts 3, Rowling still had ultimate control over what information was revealed and what was brushed over. While some acknowledgment being made about Dumbledore's sexuality is a step in the right direction, there's still a lot of work to be done concerning how the Fantastic Beasts franchise handles LGBTQ+ representation, and Rowling may have played a role in this in the Harry Potter series.

The Harry Potter TV Series Can Portray Dumbledore As Openly Gay

Harry Potter Is Coming To Max As A 10-Season Series

The rebooting of the Harry Potter franchise on Max is a TV series that already promises to be more faithful to the source material, meaning an opportunity to portray Dumbledore's sexuality properly for the first time. It looks as if the Fantastic Beasts series has ended without a conclusion and Warner Bros. will move on to re-telling the Harry Potter story once again. While this might seem unnecessary since the original movies were so highly regarded and only ended a little over a decade ago, this could be a good thing and deliver something that the original movies never could.

While the original movies were critically acclaimed, they only clocked in between two and three hours each. However, the new Harry Potter series will last 10 seasons to tell the full story from the seven books. This gives the Max series a lot more time to tell stories that the original movies might've had to skip over. This could also allow them time to delve into Dumbledore's sexuality questions. Since the show is airing on Max, it can be geared toward an older crowd, unlike the movies which started as young adult releases.

This could also allow it to portray Dumbledore as openly gay from the start and not have to hide his sexuality to cater to a more family-friendly presentation, as the Fantastic Beasts movies did. This is not to say that the new presentation has to be explicit or intense, as Rowling called it, but it can show that Dumbledore is gay without any need for ambiguity. Several TV shows in recent years have proven that LGBTQ+ representation can be achieved respectfully and this implies the Max series could do Dumbledore's character justice in this regard. This could easily be dealt with in the new Harry Potter series, finally laying this question to rest.