Meanwhile Back in the Rowling Universe

It has been two weeks since the publication of Sunrise on the Reaping and almost all posts here at Hogwarts Professor have been about the second prequel novel of Suzanne Collins, her fifth Hunger Games effort.

What has happened in the world of J. K. Rowling, also known as Robert Galbraith, in that time?

Judging from her twitter feed, not very much — except for victory laps and scalp taking in the Trans Wars, as that conflict winds down. Her Gender Critical views, once considered radioactive and the height of bigotry, are now sweeping the Public Square. There has been little to no news about Harry Potter or Cormoran Strike for weeks but there have been tweet after tweet about the remnant resistance to “Reality Based” medicine, especially on the political left, about abuse of women in Islamic countries (not to include ‘Asian’ grooming gangs in the UK), and even a little support for Ukraine in response to the United States telling Zelensky the free ride is over (TDS? Check).

There is good news in this. The best of that good news is Rowling’s claim on 3 March (above) that her activity on Twixter is a very, very small part of her day’s labors, 90% of which is dedicated to writing her novels.

The almost as good news in her communication this month with her 14 million+ followers is that her battle with Gender Theory Extremists has largely been won, in no small part due to her sacrificial efforts of resistance to the nightmare that was “transgenderism” at its peak. Her tweets on this subject are now bold, brassy, and largely unforgiving with respect to those who rode the wave of popular opinion and scientistic propaganda.

One tweet that touched on friends from the Potter franchise who threw her under the Knight Bus in conformity with the TWAW Herd caused a grand kerfuffle:

You can read more about her Dan, Emma, and Rupert digs at Rowling Offers Olive Branch to Harry Potter Actors and Fandom Leaders? The more interesting part of that tweet, frankly, was how many fans online used it to express their dismay about the possibility that Paapa Essiedu would be cast as Severus Snape in the adaptation of the Potter novels for HBO+ television. Go figure.

Rowling half-pledged to share her thoughts “one day” about the Deathly Hallows symbol, a sort-of commitment she made to a fan testifying in favor of Wisconsin bill AB04:

AB 104 would ban gender-affirming care, including the prescribing of puberty-blocking drugs or gender-affirming surgery, for those under 18. It would also require revocation of a medical provider’s license found to be providing the care. It passed 50-43 with Democrats against and Republicans in favor. 

Beatrice Groves summarized in 2018 what Rowling has said on this subject in her ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald, Kipling, and the Origin of the Deathly Hallows Symbol.’ I dedicated a chapter in my Deathly Hallows Lectures to the symbolic meanings — literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical — reflected in the Harry Potter finale and particularly in the burial of Mad-Eye Moody’s eye. That seeming throw-away scene includes in it the vertical line Tree of Life, the Eye of God, and the mirrored image of the bisected triangle in the cross Harry burns into the tree. I’m interested, of course, in Rowling’s confirmation or denial that this pointed to the greater depths of the symbol’s meaning.

Robert Galbraith has been very quiet on Rowling’s twitter feed, this one comic aside being the guffaw that broke the silence:

And there was this about the real-life model of Sam Barclay:

Nick Jeffery shared his compelling speculation that “the friend in question” is Glaswegian rapper and author Darren McGarvey in the post ‘Will the Real Sam Barclay Please Stand Up?”

Tomorrow I’ll discuss her borderline blasphemous tweet yesterday about exorcism and, in response to a pointed reply, a defense of her ‘Solve et Coagula’ tattoo.

After which I hope we can return to Sunrise on the Reaping discussion!