Harry Potter is a book series widely beloved all around the world. Since 1987, the series has sold over 500 million copies of the series in 80 different languages. It is safe to say there is a reason for that. The author of the series, J.K. Rowling, spent years crafting a world rich with a story that left readers hooked and wanting more.
However, Rowling is not just known for the love people feel for the series. The Harry Potter series was initially something minorities could see themselves in, but over the years more and more people have been left hurt by something they once loved. Recently, higher numbers of people have become outspoken on the rampant bigotry imbued into her stories, left a sour taste in the mouths of those who read them. On top of content in the books, Rowling has, in recent years, been very outspokenly transphobic, ruining the series for trans readers globally.
Remus Lupin is one of my favorite characters in the entirety of Harry Potter. Remus is a werewolf, meaning he has lycanthropy. Rowling stated herself that the idea of him being a werewolf was an allegory for HIV and thus queerness. This, in my opinion, is something that could be powerful. Instead, Rowling takes an intriguing concept and completely blows it. In the story, Remus is “turned into a werewolf” after being attacked by one. Translated for the allegory, someone with HIV assaulted him at a young age, “turned” him queer, and gave him an illness. In relation to queerness, this storyline tells the audience that a queer man forcing himself upon children made them gay, feeding into the baseless accusations of grooming the LGBTQ community faces. On top of that, Remus’ lycanthrope makes him a violent monster, insinuating that illnesses like HIV or AIDS make someone less than human.
However, when we look at who Remus is as a character away from that piece of information, he is a great queer allegory. He has something that is a part of him that he is ashamed about, as well as having everyone else judge him for it, so he keeps it hidden but is open to expressing himself around the people he holds closest to him. Through them, he is taught that what he is dealing with is not something he should be ashamed of and that he can be loved with it, not despite it. In fact, his friends adapt for him.
There are personal struggles that come along with being a werewolf that Remus’ friends see, and instead of leaving him on his own, they find ways they can help and thereby discover they are more alike than they think. Because Remus is a werewolf, people have many preconceived notions about him but truthfully, he is a person just like everyone else though he is different. Werewolves are shown as violent creatures, but we find that Remus is one of the kindest, non-violent characters in the series who cares for everyone, maybe sometimes too much for his own good.
Remus Lupin is not the only character given a queer label by fans of the series. “All The Young Dudes” is 527,000 word fanfiction written by MsKingBean89 on the popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own. With over 13 million hits, or reads, it is easily the most popular Harry Potter fanfiction to exist. The story is set in the “Marauders Era”, a time before the canon of Harry Potter involving Harry’s father and his friends who called themselves the Marauders. It follows their years as Hogwarts students and dives deep into characters in its 188 chapters. Namely, it focuses on the relationship between Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, two characters the fandom frequently sees as queer and in love. The series, as established, is wildly beloved by fans and for many accepted as canon. There are “fan casts,” actors who the fandom assigned to the characters, fanfiction based off of the fanfiction, animations, cosplays, printed books, and much more. Even better, it is often doted as being better than the book series it is based off of.
Plastered right on the front of the fanfiction reads, “DISCLAIMER: I do not support J.K. Rowling’s disgusting transphobic views.”
The two biggest cosplayers for Remus and Sirius are p4perback and whataboutpadfoot. P4perback, real name Ethan, is a trans gender man (he/him). Whataboutpadfoot, named Andy, is non-binary (they/them). “The Rise of The Order” is a fan-made video series dedicated to telling the story of the Marauders. The main four marauders are all transgender.
In summary, there has been a complete reclamation of Harry Potter by the queer community, taking the story that J.K. Rowling ruined and turning it into something beautiful. The queer community has taken bigotry in stride, weaponizing the hatred of the author to amplify queer and trans voices, basically doing the very thing she hates. There’s something beautiful in the fan-led redemption of Harry Potter, something that reminds queer folks that there are always going to be communities for them, even when they are told otherwise.
