Guilderoy Lockhart - JK Rowlings portrait of an author?

[Stephen]

I was wondering how much of the character of Lockhart came from Ms. Rowlings experience with promoting her first book. I've seen some authors at book signings who were a bit insufferable. I was wondering if some real life events went into her less than flattering portrait of a self-aggrandizing author.

[♥ Alexia -Team Malec ♥]

I never thought of it like that. i never liked Gildroy, anyway.

[Amanda]

That's an interesting way of looking at it. I'm sure there must be some real life encounters that went into it as she took a lot of things from her own experiences and people she knew. I love Lockhart! Kenneth Branagh played him fantastically in the movie as well.



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[Amanda]

Alexia wrote: "I never thought of it like that. i never liked Gildroy, anyway."

Do you mean you don't like him in the way that we as readers are meant to dislike his character, or do you just think he isn't a good character?


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[Stephen]

Personally I didn't dis-like him (and I think Kenneth Branagh was great in the role) I just thought that the character was self centered, vain, and eminently disagreeable in an understandable way.

He was much easier to take than Delores Umbridge in later books. In some ways she was the most senselessly cruel character in the entire saga.

[Ciara]

J.K. herself has admitted Gildroy is based on a person she knows, but she refused to say who they are. On announcing this, she added something like "he's probably going around saying he is the inspiration for Albus Dumbledore."

[Amanda]

Ciara wrote: "J.K. herself has admitted Gildroy is based on a person she knows, but she refused to say who they are. On announcing this, she added something like "he's probably going around saying he is the insp..."

Ha that's good!



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[♥ Alexia -Team Malec ♥]

Amanda wrote: "Alexia wrote: "I never thought of it like that. i never liked Gildroy, anyway."

Do you mean you don't like him in the way that we as readers are meant to dislike his character, or do you just thi..."

I have no idea what i am talking about, i'm kinda out-of-it, today.

[Atlantic Gem]

Gilderoy was just plain annoying.

[Kim Ray]

I would reward him with many howlers :D

[Ciara]

Amanda wrote: "Ciara wrote: "J.K. herself has admitted Gildroy is based on a person she knows, but she refused to say who they are. On announcing this, she added something like "he's probably going around saying ..."

Thanks! Yeah it was quite funny when she said that. :P

[Stephen]

Just wonder if anything further ever came of this.... Has anyone any idea who her inspiration for Lockhart was?

[Anna]

Lockhart may have been just a satirical portrayal of celebrities and authors. He was extrememely self-centered, and to top it off, his books were plagiarism! He always annoyed me to no end, even though he was amusing.

[Dan]

It is documented that J.K. Rowling used somebody that she knows personally as the inspiration for Lockhart, but I don't know if her experiences from promoting her first book went into the character, simply because not long after she finished the first book, she sat down and planned out the second, which was followed shortly by the rest of the series. She knew relatively early on who her characters were and what storylines she planned on following.


Now, could she have went back and added some embellishments to Lockhart's character? Quite possibly, but I think she knew going in how she wanted him to behave and come across, so I think it was more of a preconceived character, not something that she pulled from her experiences with the first book. I may be wrong, but that's just my opinion based off of the timeline.

[Lily]

he was very naive and thought everyone loved him. and all the girls did

[Robert]

I wonder if J K Rowling met the same theatrical director I once worked with. When I first read the character I almost blurted out his name. He started out as a bit player in the summer stock circuit and when I met him was working as a director of horrendous little plays. The movie got his guy perfectly. He was British and deigned to enlighten us people from the colonies with his wit. I heard he had written a book on his exploits in the theater and was looking for a publisher at the time. Since I have not seen the book I have to assume he never found the publisher.

[Vera]

Dan wrote: "It is documented that J.K. Rowling used somebody that she knows personally as the inspiration for Lockhart, but I don't know if her experiences from promoting her first book went into the character..."
I think he's a satire character on how she might have felt about other characters, or maybe he was her own personal comparison for what that person could have done in her shoes. I think she mentioned she had bits and pieces from the entire series planned out long before she wanted to put them into a book, for the sake of her own musings.