Martin Miggs The Mad Muggle and other burning questions

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 150507

kchuplis:
>   >Dean Thomas' background seems like it would be a fascinating
story. His dad probably died heroically and here his wife thinks he
deserted them.  Did she know he was a wizard? Well, because of Dean,
eventually, I suppose, but when they got married? 
>   
> Peg:
>   I have the impression from what JKR has said that Dean and his
mother still believe his father was a muggle who deserted them.  I'd
think, if Dean knew the truth about his father, it would have come up
during the discussions/arguments about Harry in the boys' dorm in
OOTP, but all we hear is that his mother is a muggle and he doesn't
tell her about what's happening in the WW.  Still, it does seem
strange that no one at Hogwarts has talked to Dean about his father...


Carol responds:
I think that's how it would have played out if JKR had decided to keep
the backstory, but as far as canon is concerned, Dean is the
Muggleborn he thinks he is. I see no indication to the contrary in the
books themselves. ("Me folks are Muggles, mate.") JKR at one point
intended for Hermione to have a little sister and for Ron to have a
Slytherin cousin, Mafalda (she ended up giving the name Mafalda to a
Ministry of Magic employee, I suppose because she didn't want to waste
a good name). But as far as I'm concerned, these are abandoned story
notes that went the way of having Mr. Granger discover the ruins of
Godric's Hollow. So neither the sister nor the cousin exists and Dean
is a Muggleborn until canon shows otherwise. (On a sidenote, writers
abandon plots and subplots all the time. Look at all of Tolkien's
revisions. He was always going back to find out "what really
happened." Gollum's ring as a "birthday present" is probably the
best-known example.)

But, yes, I'd love to see backstories on the characters, at least the
important ones, related to incidents that do actually occur in the
books--Snape's memories and the fate of Neville's parents would be
particularly interesting from my perspective.

Carol, who finds JKR's website entertaining and occasionally
informative (especially the demolished rumors) but does not regard it
as canonical