There will never be a time that we’re not fascinated by the pure IRL magic that went into the masterminding of the Harry Potter series. Over the years we’ve found out that so much reasoning went into the creation of each spell, potion and personality. And the character of Remus Lupin is no exception.
If you don’t remember, Remus Lupin – who happens to be one of JK Rowling’s self-confessed ‘favourite characters in the entire Potter series’ - is one of the many people to take up the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, and it’s later uncovered that he’s actually part werewolf.
In one of JK Rowling’s new e-books* Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Harship and Dangerous Hobbies*, she explains that there was an important reason behind Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy (the proper word for the transformation of a person into a wolf).
She wrote: ‘Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS.
‘All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.’
Importantly, she doesn’t skirt around the complications of living with lycanthropy in her writing. Lupin really struggled with his condition and was frequently rejected by the wizarding world because of it. But even though we know how his story sadly ends far too soon at the Battle of Hogwarts, Rowling definitely makes clear that, despite all the difficulties that came along, he lived a pretty phenomenal life (here’s looking at you Tonks and baby Teddy). Which, if you ask me, is at the core of so much of the series. Harry Potter movie marathon anyone?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.