A Potterhead’s Thoughts

Originally written on November 30th, 2016

I saw Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and I have a suggestion for the casting of the young Albus Dumbledore for the next movies: Robert Downey Jr!! I think he would be a great choice: he almost has the same age of Johnny Depp (RDJ 51 years old, JD 53 years old); we already saw him in great "super skilled" hero roles, like Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes; many fans of the 2 actors would love to see them in a movie together, sooner or later, so...why not these(?); I know he doesn't have blue eyes, auburn hair, British accent and doesn't seem tall, but Johnny Depp himself doesn't have NATURAL blue eyes, blonde hair and german accent, and Depp is only 4cm (1,5inch) taller than Downey Jr (in the chapter "The Greater Good" of Rita Skeeter's book in the Deathly Hallows, Grindelwald is taller than Albus); Johnny and Robert, together, would be 2 American actors who play non-American roles and Robert already played a British role: in 1992, he made a magnificent interpretation of Charlie Chaplin in "Charlot", in which he also did the famous dance of the bread rolls from the movie "The Gold Rush", thing made, coincidentally, by Johnny Depp, too, in the 1993 (almost at the same time) movie "Benny & Joon". I saw many suggestions from other fans. The top suggestion, the ONLY one I would agree to is Jared Harris, but only because is the son of Richard Harris, the original Albus, and he was Moriarty in the Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes second movie. Jared Harris and Robert Downey Jr are my suggestions, but I would really love to see the second one act an epic magic duel with Depp!!

Originally written on April 12th, 2017 (Jude Law is cast as Dumbledore)

Sincerely, I would have preferred Jared Harris, the son of the original Dumbledore, but I believe he will be better than Robert Downey Jr., even if he is 9 years younger than Johnny Depp. (I asked for Sherlock Holmes or Moriarty, and they got John "not-Emma" Watson). Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell acted as the same character in "Parnassus", to complete the performance of their friend Heath Ledger, who died during the shooting of that movie.

In "Parnassus", people go through a "looking glass", like in Alice 2, in which Johnny Depp is The Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) is The Red Queen!!

Other magic mirrors are in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Beauty and the Beast" (Emma Watson).

I wonder if the new Shrek and Snow White movies will have Emma Watson and Helena Bonham Carter...

Originally written on September 12th, 2017

From 11 days, when Albus Severus Potter took, for the first time, the Hogwarts Express (19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998), and after re-reading the books and re-watching the movies, I wanted to expose some mistakes and talk about a couple of things about the Potter Universe, starting from

CASTING GONE WRONG ON POLYJUICE POTION

I won't talk about minor roles or every single character who had 2 or more actors playing it, or how little the actor matches the book description (see Horace Slughorn), but when books become movies, adaptation comes into play. Though, it's kinda strange to realize that this is Cedric Diggory at 16 (HP3) and 17 (HP4) years old. And these are the incredibly important green eyes of Lily and Harry Potter. Or that, reading about Voldemort's history, he asked about Horcruxes to Slughorn at 16 years old, at the same time of creating the first one, the Diary, in 1942 (we know the date 'cause Nick celebrates his 500th Deathday and the cake writing is "Death 1492"; and Moaning Myrtle is dead from 50 years). This was Voldy at age 16 (HP2 and HP6). Voldy's enemy, Albus Dumbledore, has a brother (Aberforth, first mentioned in "the Goblet of Fire") who appears in HP5 and HP7. But the man himself, Albus Dumbledore, has a strange change. No, I'm not talking about from Richard Harris to Michael Gambon between HP2 and HP3! Harris died and Gambon is a great Dumbledore! I'm talking about the memory of 1937, when Albus talks to Tom Riddle Jr. about Hogwarts and the 5 Fantastic Beasts movies, which take place between 1926 and 1945 (Grindelwald's defeat). And now, a sensitive topic:

HERMIONE IS NEITHER BLACK NOR WHITE, SHE’S GRAY

The controversy about Hermione being White in the movies and Black (or Afro-British) in the stage play for "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" was apparently shut down when J. K. Rowling wrote a tweet saying that Hermione was never specifically imagined or wrote as a white person. As a fan of the Harry Potter books as well as the movies, I disagree when I read details like “she turned slightly pink”, she gets shadows of tiredness under her eyes, her mother is “pale” or the many times Hermione’s face is described as “pale” or “white”. And usually she points out when a person is “black” in the books, like Angelina Johnson (3rd book), or Kingsley Shacklebolt, or the African Wizards in the Quidditch Cup match. Of course, all of this is debatable as well as the big announcement that Albus Dumbledore was Gay all along (there was never a single indication of romantic relationships in his life and his friendship with Grindelwald was described exactly like the ones between Harry-Ron and James-Sirius). That said, on the real life, human, adaptation level, I don’t care if Dumbledore was straight, homo or bisex (he would actually be a good example against the stereotypical, exaggerated representation of homosexuality) as well as I don’t care about Hermione being Afro-British or Euro-British (or even Asian-British) as long as she’s represented by a great actress. This controversy is actually good: it makes open-minded people realize that book characters can be different for every reader and that we have to use our subjective imagination to visualize the stories put on paper. The majority of the Potter fans read the books after seeing the movies, visualizing Hermione Granger as Emma Watson, who could be considered as a miscasting herself: “lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth”. Talking about Fantastic Beasts, J. K. Rowling said it's a spin-off (a parallel series barely connected) of Harry Potter. I'm sorry to say this, but it's in the past, there is Grindelwald, there will be Leta Lestrange and Albus Dumbledore: it's a prequel!!!!!

BELLATRIX AND LETA LESTRANGE ARE NOT RELATIVES!

When Leta Lestrange was mentioned in the first Fantastic Beasts movie, many superficial fans of the Potter Universe thought: she’s a Bellatrix’s ancestress! Nothing more WRONG! Bellatrix Lestrange was Bellatrix Black before marrying Rodolphus Lestrange. It’s also worth noting that Leta Lestrange had this name at school, before an eventual wedding, in which she would easily lose it. Rodolphus could at most be a descendant of a brother or a cousin of Leta.

FORGOTTEN RELATIVES (SPOILERS)

Don’t be discouraged about Bellatrix’s relatives, because a couple of quick sentences from Sirius Black in the fifth book, reveal that Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks are SISTERS! That means that Draco Malfoy, Ninfadora Tonks and Delphi Riddle (Bellatrix and Voldemort’s daughter, Cursed Child) are direct COUSINS! And when it comes to the Weasleys, the branches of their tree intertwine everywhere! Sirius said Molly is his acquired cousin and Arthur is his second cousin! And, for their children, Ron marries Hermione, Ginny marries Harry and Bill marries Fleur, making Albus Severus Potter, Rose Granger-Weasley (Scorpius Malfoy’s, son of Draco, love interest) and Victoire Weasley (Teddy Lupin’s, son of Ninfadora, girlfriend) COUSINS!

Update on November 16th, 2018

SPOILERS: Leta Lestrange died without any children. And she was about to become Leta Scamander.

Update on August 28th, 2025

Oh, boy! It’s been a while… Things happened… I’m writing here again to give my thoughts on 2 topics:

J. K. ROWLING BECAME TRANSPHOBIC

Or, as she would probably put it, “Anti-Fake-Women” and “Pro-Real-Women”. I’d like to premise that I tried, multiple times, to read her blog post about her views, but it was so boring and uninteresting that I fell asleep a few times. But seriously, though, in a couple of points she seems to be rational and informed, but the overall conclusion… She has her reasons, and her opinions, but they’re just that: PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE OPINIONS! I disagree with her opinion, I’m pro-trans, I’m an open-minded person, and (don’t tell this to anybody, I still need to make the official announcement) I’m Pangender/Trans Non-Binary.

First, there is no need to insult or send death threats to someone who has a different opinion than you (it’s fine to defend your values, but who would be so unhinged?). This goes for BOTH sides!

Second, if she has these opinions on Trans Women, I wonder what’ll happen when she’ll discover other concepts like Lesbian, Bisexual, Pansexual, Trans Men, Non-Binary, Pangender, Polyamory, Fictosexual, Xenogender, Intersex, Salmacian…

Third, I grew up with the Harry Potter franchise: I was ten years old when I saw the first movie and read the first 4 books (in 2 months, mind you); the child actors of the original movies were around my same age and they accompanied my growth from the last year of Elementary School to the first year of University; as you can say, I’m a huge Potterhead and, needless to say, I’m a Ravenclaw (and an Horned Serpent for Ilvermorny). I have no intention of abandoning that franchise because of the author’s personal opinions. I still intend to enjoy the Wizarding World (and make a series of videos about it on my YouTube channel), even if I have to counteract the money I give to her (with Trans+ charities donations). I’ll go as far as to say: J.K., we disagree on the Trans topic, but I’d be honored to collaborate with you in Wizarding World projects. I even bet that there are a lot of you who still like and follow the works of a controversial celebrity ‘cause their talent and skill are still exceptional, despite some things they say or do!

Fourth, I know many of you are already saying I have no backbone. Maybe you’re going as far as saying that I’m so Non-Binary that I don’t even choose sides. I chose a side. The third side. The one of that niche of people proudly defending Trans Rights, and are able to separate the art from the artist and still enjoy the creation, despite its creator’s opinion. But I’m sure there are even more sides, like the one of people who agree with her and yet never liked her books. Yes, because you know what: Humanity is such a mix of so many different spectrums that I’m 100% sure that, if you think of any combination of physical characteristics, beliefs, opinions, anything you want, that person is sure to exist (making a few isolated cases for whom J.K. is right)!

Fifth, I also have my Crazy conviction that J.K. became transphobic for a publicity stunt! The timing and the start of everything seems to indicate that: at first, it was just an accidental like on Twitter for research purposes, and started to double down after the flop of the 3rd Fantastic Beasts movie (for which a falsely accused was fired and an actual controversial actor had his big emotional arc, by the way), and she keeps doubling down every time no one talks about her franchise. The picture she published on Twitter in mid-April 2025 was even staged: she literally looks like a Bond villain!

Sixth, I also have the argument that she’s trans herself, but not in the gender way: she was born in England, she has a British birth certificate, she grew up and was educated in England, she TRANSferred in Scotland and she self-identifies as Scottish! She is literally Trans Scottish!

Seventh, her main problem seems to be with the use of public bathrooms and men pretending to be women to assault other women. I have a few superficial points to counter-argue:

1 - It would be a real waste of time (and many other things) for a man to go through the coming out, discrimination, maybe even hormone replacement therapy and surgeries, experience what it means to appear and feel like a woman, to just one day go to a public restroom and going “PSYCHE! I was just pretending to assault one of you!”.

2 - Transness and Non-Binarism are real things. Trans and Non-Binary people have real feelings of being different or more than their biological sex. Biological Sex and Gender Identity are two separate things: while biological sex seems to be binary, which is not even true, ‘cause it’s actually more complicated than that, gender identity encompasses feelings, experiences and an internal journey of self-discovery.

3 - If they would ask me “if you were to crossdress for fun or professionally, which bathroom would you use while you’re crossdressing?” I would just answer something that nobody seems to think it’s even an option in the debate: “MY OWN PRIVATE BATHROOM”!!

4 - Public bathrooms are differentiated only by the signs we put on the door: my first year of University, one of my colleagues had to go to the restroom, and she was going to the men’s (the women’s were all occupied and the men’s were empty). I told her: “But… it’s the men’s bathroom…” and she just replied: “It’s the same!”. Guess what? She went it, I patiently waited outside, nobody went in for the other stalls, and she got out without anything happening to her! Amazing! And then, a few years later, I was in between lessons, I needed to go number 1, there was no one in the entire floor I was in, and I went to the nearest bathroom. I didn’t see a sign on the door, no one was in, I admired how bigger and cleaner it was compared to the other bathrooms, peed, and later discovered it was the women’s. I even swore to myself to always use it in the future, if no one was around, but I never needed to ever again.

5 - Would you let a Trans Woman or a Trans Man who fully transitioned and became a beautiful woman and a strong, bearded man to use the men’s and women’s bathroom, respectively? Or what about those stories of non-conventionally beautiful or trans law-abiding people harassed for using the RIGHT bathroom?

6 - It seems that sending the men to the men’s and the women to the women’s will solve everything and cause no problems! It’s as if men can’t be attracted to other men and women can’t be attracted to other women…

Hey! I kinda answered a non-expert blog post with a non-expert blog post! Fight water with water…

THE RACE-SWAPPING TV REBOOT

The TV Reboot is coming on HBO Max, and the casting is in ongoing announcements. Besides the fact that people said Nick Frost looks like he’s doing a cosplay of Hagrid and not Hagrid himself… He’s the actor I’m looking forward to the most to see how he’ll perform the character, so much that a few nights before his first picture as Hagrid was published on Instagram, I had a dream with him in that exact costume talking with and taking advice from Robbie Coltrane (dressed as Hagrid himself)!

The real issues people are having from the casting are… sigh… Hermione Granger and Severus Snape.

I LITERALLY already wrote my thoughts about the Hermione race-swap when it first happened! IN 2017! EXACTLY 8 YEARS AGO! The first Afro-British Hermione (Noma Dumezweni) even won an Award for her performance since then! Now, the actual race of Arabella Stanton is not even defined, so I’ll copy and paste what I wrote 8 years ago: “on the real life, human, adaptation level, I don’t care if Dumbledore was straight, homo or bisex (he would actually be a good example against the stereotypical, exaggerated representation of homosexuality) as well as I don’t care about Hermione being Afro-British or Euro-British (or even Asian-British) as long as she’s represented by a great actress. This controversy is actually good: it makes open-minded people realize that book characters can be different for every reader and that we have to use our subjective imagination to visualize the stories put on paper. The majority of the Potter fans read the books after seeing the movies, visualizing Hermione Granger as Emma Watson, who could be considered as a miscasting herself”.

The same is valid for Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.

On one hand, it is a little jarring to see a slimy, cold and mean character like that as a race that doesn’t seem to fit him (from Wikipedia: <<Snape is described as a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and yellow, uneven teeth. He has shoulder-length, greasy black hair which frames his face, and cold, black eyes. He wears black, flowing robes which give him the appearance of "an overgrown bat". The youthful Snape had a "stringy, pallid look", being "round-shouldered yet angular", having a "twitchy" walk "that recalled a spider" and "long oily hair that jumped about his face">>). Not to count that James, Sirius, Lupin & Peter’s bullying would literally be considered racist discrimination (unless one or two of them get the race-swap as well)!

On the other hand, it seems really hypocritical and ironic that the main argument of those who still enjoy the Wizarding World but are against the new casting is “it’s racist to make him of another race”!! Plus, (spoilers) when they’ll reveal his touching story near the end of the last season (probably by the year 2034), his friendship with Lily would be a ‘60s progressive interracial relationship! And let’s not forget that he’s literally the Half-Blood Prince.

And the argument that “Harry’s suspicions on Snape since the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone would be racist” is totally null and void: if someone would trigger voices and a headache in my magical scar (Harry’s perspective), always treat me like I’m a snobbish, ignorant piece of garbage, and seemingly tries to kill me, I would probably despise them no matter the race or gender (I didn’t use the word “hate” because it’s a strong word and they probably have their reasons)! The actual person comes before all those things.

Anyway, this is just an adaptation of a fictional story. People don’t need to waste their time and brain power to complain about little things like these (like me). Next thing you know, when the episodes of the series, which will be more faithful to the original novels, will come out, “fans” are gonna complain that they are different from the original movies, which they had to cut or even change lots of things from the novels, especially Hermione’s Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare in the Goblet of Fire, Tom Riddle’s past in the Half-Blood Prince and the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows (when and why Ron & Hermione kiss each other).