Why The Destruction of ‘Wolfstar’ Diminished J.K. Rowling’s Character Development Skills
/J.K. Rowling single-handedly eradicated one of her best character relationship developments in the Harry Potter series, and here’s how she did it.
By now, the Harry Potter fandom knows not to expect much from the author. But throughout the making of her world-renowned book series, she threw more bludgers at the fans than even Victor Krum could dodge. With this said, it’s no surprise that she did it with one of her readers’ most anticipated ships, Wolfstar.
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Remus Lupin, a professor at Hogwarts during Harry’s third year, suffers from lycanthropy, which Rowling herself reveals is an allegory for AIDS. Based on the story timeline, Remus and the Marauders (Peter Pettigrew, James Potter and Sirius Black) were in their early twenties when there was an AIDS outbreak in the gay men community. With this kind of correlation, it’s hard to think that Rowling was implying that Remus was completely straight. Bisexuality, while not commonly accepted in the LGBT+ community, suits Remus the best, especially considering that by the end of the series, he was married and had a child with Nymphadora Tonks. However, their relationship had no structure. There was no build-up or connection until their marriage was announced in the seventh book, the entire series’s final book.
Rushed relationships are the bane of my entire existence, especially when Remus had a perfect potential partner since the third book of the series. Sirius Black, a pure-blood wizard, was disowned after defying his once-notable family’s beliefs and acting differently from the rest of his bigotted family. With that said, claiming that he’s gay solely because of this is a bit of a reach; however, that isn’t all there is to back up this claim. There is implied attraction in the third book when they reunite after Sirius is wrongly imprisoned for twelve years and finally escapes. Up until the fifth book, both Remus and Sirius are practically dancing around each other like two teenagers who can’t sort out their feelings. Many fans have theorized that the fourth book is when their relationship from their high school and young adult lives is rekindled. This is when Dumbledore orders Sirius to lay low at Remus’. Rowling wrote their interactions in a way that expressly implied that they were two socially inept men that had no idea how to express their feelings. So they simply stared at each other, constantly.
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Even without the awkward staring, their relationship with one another is one of the most bonded and in sync I’ve ever seen. Of course, that can be explained, downplayed, as a pair of best friends. Still, anyone can see that their relationship can’t merely be platonic for how Rowling initially wrote them. Especially with Sirius devoting a whole year to becoming an Animagus to support Remus during the full moon transformations he goes through due to his lycanthropy.
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But all good things must come to an end. So when the most painful death in the whole book series happens, Rowling entirely destroys the series’ strongest character relationship developments she’s been working on for three books. By killing off Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, not only does she take away one of the last connections Harry has to his parents, but she takes away Remus’ true love. I know for a fact that Sirius’ death is the only reason Remus ends up with Tonks at the end of the series. Which other fans of the series can also agree with. She doesn’t stop there either. Even when Remus gets this ‘happy’ ending with Tonks and their child, in the final Battle of Hogwarts, Rowling kills both of them, leaving their child an orphan like Harry. So not only did Remus not end up with who he was supposed to, but he suffered the same fate as the Potters, which he never wanted to do.
She obliterated both Sirius and Remus from building as characters both separately and together, practically throwing away any development she had been working towards. Sirius’ final scene was both heartbreaking and soul-crushing, while Remus’ was utterly abysmal. They didn’t get what they deserved, both of their deaths felt like a scapegoat Rowling used to avoid conclusions she no longer wanted for the series. It was an ill-conceived solution to something that didn’t need to be solved. This is why I believe J.K. Rowling eradicated one of her best character relationship developments in the Harry Potter series.
Dez
Bienvenidos! My name is Desirea, aka Dez. I am a 20-year-old Professional Writing student who has the heart and likes of a 10-year-old. As a Disney and Pixar fanatic, along with any kids movie that's not mediocre, my childish heart often fixates on animated characters. I frequently latch onto relationships that have not and never will be confirmed canon due to homophobic production studios and TERF writers. But alas, I let myself suffer anyways; this is precisely why I will be dragging said production studios and TERF writers in my articles.
