The new Hogwarts Legacy game is due to arrive this Friday and early reviews reveal one surprising detail. There’s a potential trans, non-playable character in the open-world role-playing game.
Sirona Ryan is a witch who owns and runs the Three Broomsticks tavern in Hogsmeade village. When she interacts with players, she gives an insight into her background and recalls an encounter with the goblin, Lodgok.
“We met when I was waiting tables here as a student — well before I bought the place,” Sirona says. “He was cordial enough, but we weren’t friends then. His mistrust of wizardkind ran deep… Hadn’t seen him in years when he came in a few months ago. But, he recognized me instantly. Which is more than I can say for some of my own classmates. Took them a second to realize I was actually a witch, not a wizard.”
Many have taken this line, along with the character’s deep voice, as meaning they are trans.
Warner Bros, which makes the game, has so far not issued any comment.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is arguably now as famous for her criticism of trans rights as her fictional creation. She has been scathing of legislation in Scotland that makes it easier for trans people to self-identify their gender.
In 2020, she said trans activism was “erasing the concept of sex” She wrote a lengthy essay to explain her “deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement”. She also promoted an online store that sells merchandise bearing anti-trans phrases.
Related: ‘Wonder Woman’ Lynda Carter throws shade at JK Rowling
Hogwarts Legacy comes from Warner Bros. Games via its Portkey Games label.
A statement on its website says, “J.K. Rowling is not involved in the creation of the game, but as creator of the wizarding world and one of the world’s greatest storytellers, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World.
“This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling, however we have collaborated closely with her team on all aspects of the game to ensure it remains in line with the magical experiences fans expect.”
Many gamers have said they plan to boycott the Hogwarts Legacy in response to the views expressed by Rowling regarding trans people.
JK Rowling has not issued any comment about Sirona Ryan.
Related: No one can tell if this ‘Harry Potter’ star is shading or supporting transphobe JK Rowling
LumpyPillows
Yeah, always be wary of paraphrased or partial quotes. JK supports trans people. She has issues with the intersection of trans women in traditional women’s spaces. You can disagree with her, but her concerns, shared by many, should be considered. The vitriol used against JK has damaged trans rights. There are real enemies. JK isn’t one of them.
The game? I’m sure she knows and approved it. She’s not anti trans.
I’m sure my troll buddy will do the same out of of context, incomplete quotes and lies to attack me. Bring it. I support trans people. But I don’t give them free reign to do whatever they want whenever they want. Same rules I hold everyone to. Funny that.
DarkZephyr
She does NOT support trans people, Dude. Not one single bit. As for *your* claimed support of trans people…what exactly do you mean when you say “But I don’t give them free reign to do whatever they want, when they want”? I mean, do you *always* add that caveat when you mention supporting a certain group of people? And honestly, whether or not the answer is yes or no, WHY add that caveat? If your support of them is genuine, that seems kind of weirdly random.
Joshua333
She literally calls herself a terf delete your comment.
Diplomat
Right on Lumpy.
It’s interesting how non binary and trans people go directly into the hysteria of: ‘you’re anti Trans or anti NB!’ when we are simply defending our rights to safe spaces and correct pronoun language, keeping reality in check for the good of all instead of the hysterical “one”. It’s as if Godzilla just rose up out if the sea and started his fire breathing dragon routine. They just can’t hear “no” to their radical stances that go a bridge too far for the general public.
I completely support Rowling’s stance. No, Trans women aren’t real women, they are men medically altered to look like women, who sound completely like men, most of them still having their diks, and need to stay out of women’s locker rooms and off women’s sports teams. She isn’t transphobic by telling the truth and keeping sane boundaries intact. She’s a saving grace for sanity from all the Trans insanity.
mastik8
“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,…The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women—i.e., to male violence—‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences—is a nonsense.”
“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”
Doesn’t sound very transphobic at all. Also, Hogwarts Legacy is wildly successful despite the best of efforts of some to boycott it.
Ronbo
Haters like DarkZephyr believe that if you aren’t with their hate 100%, you are anti-trans. Hate should never be the central focus of any group, organization or person. Mastic8 uses logic, reason and actual quotes to define the ACTUAL truth.
Focusing all your hate and anger upon one individual or group may seem reasonable until you discover that YOU are being called out in the same way. Do you think being gay make you a “predator”? Two wrongs do NOT make a right. Be a thinking person, not a reactive Republican-like individual.
LumpyPillows
Dark, yes I say the exact same thing about any group or any person. You do not get to do whatever you want, whenever you want. I don’t, you don’t. You do live in the real world, right?
No, trans women do not get to insert themselves into women’s sports. Yes, trans women should get health care, housing, jobs, and respect. Do you even begin to understand anything about this issue? We all make choices that have ramifications. Reality.
LumpyPillows
Josh, based on the horrible vitriol JK has put up with, she can be a TERF if she wants. You do know what it stands for, right? You do know a lot of women think you are a radical anti-feminist dick?
LumpyPillows
Diplo, to be fair I am anti-non-binary. I think it is a joke.
GlobeTrotter
This vitriol against JK Rowlings is so pathetic, one is forced to conclude that it’s being waged either by dishonest actors or by immature individuals lacking the ability of critical thought.
I’ve not seen a single statement written by JK Rowlings that promotes hatred of trans individuals, not a single one! She is critical of the behavior of some trans activists that she sees as detrimental to the rights of biological women, which is her right as a biological woman. You can be critical of an individual or group while not hating said individual or group. The same tactic is employed by some in the Jewish community, ANY criticism of the Israeli government is loudly met by shrill accusations of antisemitism – NO IT’S NOT! Criticism does NOT equal hatred!!
In pluralistic democratic societies dissenters MUST have the right to contradict or air their disapproval of accepted dogma without being bullied into silence or cancelled as heretics. It is this right to freely criticize that differentiates us from dictatorial and authoritarian regimes, where citizens have no rights but those that their rulers condescend to allow them. The right to freely criticize is responsible for our tremendous wealth and prosperity, it is responsible for our astonishing technological and scientific prowess over unfree societies. By cancelling Rowling and labelling her a “hater”, by dismissing the messenger without an honest examination of her message, we are unknowingly self-curtailing our collective right to freedom of speech and opinion, and it WILL BE to our collective detriment!
UlfRaynor
I would suggest that certain people on this site would benefit from reading LGBTQ columnist and writer EJ Rosetta’s breakdown of this hyperbolic and completely fabricated hysteria about Rowling over at Huffpost.
She, like many other progressives, bought into the fabricated narrative surrounding her supposed anti-transness until she was assigned, by the editors of Huffpost, to do an article about it in 2022.
She even states that she went in fully expecting to find a bevy of vitriolic tripe, but found instead some very genuine concerns interspersed with a plethora of support and positivity toward trans identifying people.
I might also add, that every single one of Rowling’s original concerns are now stated reason issued by the NHS for shutting down the Tavistock clinic in the UK.
I personally found it extremely concerning that transgender therapist joked, via interoffice memos, that at their current rate of success, that in just a few years there would be no more gay people left in Britain.
There are now over a thousand lawsuits filed against the clinic, with many of those being gay and lesbian youths stating, on day one visits, they had trans identities pushed on them.
GlobeTrotter
@UlfRaynor: Thanks for that bit of info, I looked up the article and it was actually a very good read. I especially liked that quote at the end:
“Journalists and content creators have been told we will be guaranteed a byline if we can come up with a good ‘JK Rowling is anti-trans!’ article, but we would do well to remember: We Must Not Tell Lies.”
LumpyPillows
They do not want to read. They do not want to understand what JK has said. They are lazy. They like to repeat what they are told. They are nasty people hurting the trans movement. Notably, most real trans people do not agree.
bachy
@Ulf
Thank you for recommending the excellent EJ Rosetta article.
“Shame on those who have framed her under
the guise of “reporting” when you must know,
deep down, you are just chucking out clickbait
& stirring up hate. Shame on those who followed
that propaganda without critical thought.
You’re burning the wrong witch.
I stand with JK Rowling.” – EJ Rosetta
bachy
The transgender movement is giving me delusional Britney fan vibes. Where anything that isn’t total worship and adoration is seen as “bullying,” or mean and deserving of shaming.
The casting of JK Rowling as trans enemy #1 is really extreme and irrational, to say nothing of embarrassing to the larger gay community. These people can’t seem to grasp that there’s a whole universe of opinion between mindless adoration and actual hate/bullying. It’s called the real world.
thisisnotreal
“Where anything that isn’t total worship and adoration is seen as “bullying,” or mean and deserving of shaming.” so just to clarify, are we talking about the trans community or the gay community? because that statement is interchangeable for both.
still_onthemark
‘Where anything that isn’t total worship and adoration is seen as “bullying,” or mean and deserving of shaming.’
Unfortunately, it’s a little worse than that. Anything that isn’t total worship and adoration is seen as “You’re causing trans people to kill themselves, you f*cking monster!!!” That’s a heavy burden to lay on gay people who are supportive of trans rights – for adults.
LumpyPillows
The root of the delusion is their nonsense dogma that they repeat ad nauseum: trans women are women. They aren’t. If they were they would not need to take drugs and have multiple surgeries. All broken logic starts at the first lie.
AuntieXhrist
George Santos ethics and lies now mainstream in RW gaydom.
Ronbo
JK has never objected to trans people – that hateful meme is just a false and misdirected personal attack. Haters don’t listen to JK’s words, they often just use her as an icon to represent all the negatives that they have ever heard or experienced. They can’t even find a single quote!
JK has repeatedly said that she objects to trans people culturally appropriating female culture and hijacking female issues – when they are TRANS-females. Yes, trans females have to suffer with a penis… you know that everlasting gobstopper of fun – oh the misery! Whereas females get menses. a joy-less and recurrent physical drama each and every month. Trans women don’t get a bleeding vagina, not cramps, not most autoimmune diseases (XX vs. XY), not pregnancy (and related pains and aches and symptoms), not menopause, not gynecological conditions, such as uterine fibroids and pelvic floor issues, etc…, not Turner syndrome, not Rett syndrome, and not ovarian and cervical cancers. Trans women have many different and valid issues.
To all the boys here who rightfully support trans individuals, know that there are HUGE differences between women and trans woman. Each is not without problems. But don’t tell thinking people, people who KNOW what it’s like to be a woman – that woman’s issues are to be defined and regulated by men (with or without a penis). A woman is much, Much, MUCH more than a man with or without a penis.
It’s as bad as having a white spokesman trying to tell the world about bigotry, black suffering and explaining how they experience the same horrors of reverse racism.
LumpyPillows
Reality check completed.
Bromancer7
FFS you stupid idiots, Rowling has literally, multiple times, made blatantly anti-trans statements. WTF is wrong with you people? You don’t need to scroll more than a few inches down her Twitter feed to see it.
Trans women are women. Period. If you say otherwise, you’re anti-trans. It’s that simple. And yes, that means they get to wear women’s clothes, be addressed as she/her, get reassignment surgery if they wish, change official documents, and use women’s rest and locker rooms. Because they are WOMEN, not men. This isn’t f*cking difficult. That this needs to be repeated over and over and over again to gay men is simply grotesque.
Absolutely vile how many gay men support Rowling and her anti-trans bullshit. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves. Unfortunately, right wing narcissists and sociopaths have no shame or remorse.
mastik8
Where to begin? Yeah, no. Sorry, not sorry. In fact there’s some unacknowledged internalized transphobia within the trans community on their instance that trans men are men and trans women are women. It implies that there’s something wrong with being trans. Why does the trans community continually insist that being a transman or a transwoman is not enough? It is a valid and legitimate category all its own and should be celebrated, have full access and equal protection. I’m sure that the trans community doesn’t mean it to look like they are punching down on everyone who disagrees even in the slightest, but the net effect is beginning to appear the same. The trans community is mansplaining to women, that these terms are inclusion rather than erasure the same way men have done to women for most of recorded human history. Do better trans community. Do better.
still_onthemark
“With no sorting hat handy to tell me where I belonged, I started with my friends, mainly LGBTQ people with emphasis on T, who all made the same claim: Rowling is transphobic. I asked for proof. The excuses I was given in lieu of actual evidence were ridiculous and hilarious in equal measure. I poured back over JK’s tweets, essays, books and interviews, scouring for every scrap I could find. I reached out to trans people, begging them to educate me about JK’s perceived crimes. But in the end, I had to admit defeat. To claim Rowling is transphobic because her time and focus are so often spent on women’s rights is like telling off a teapot for not giving you coffee. She is being judged by the book-cover someone else has put on her, and that sin has been committed largely by LGBTQ media, of which I am part.” – EJ Rosetta in The Scotsman
Ronbo
Odd that Bromancer7 can’t quote a single anti-trans statement – claiming otherwise; but, unable to bring facts.
Seems maybe the “stupid idiots” are the haters who can’t understand that both genetics and gender are very, VERY real. Extremists on both the left and right demand we ignore actual scientific truths. If you can’t understand both concepts, get thee to a university! Denial is not a river in Egypt; education in the river of knowledge in which you should dip your toes.
Your hateful screed reflects a hateful person; try to reflect an educated, compassionate and accepting person. Both genetics and gender are real – ignore either at your own peril.
LumpyPillows
Bro, please quote these anti-trans comments in context.
Trans women are not women. They are trans women. There are meaningful and important differences. Saying a trans woman is not a woman is not anti-trans – it’s reality.
No one called you an idiot. Why did you think it appropriate to call us idiots?
Go read UlfRaynor’s post. You need some educating
UlfRaynor
The fact we are starting to reject our oppression obviously offends you…good!
I don’t need to belabor the fallaciousness of your dogmatic litany, when all I really need to say to you is PROVE IT!
The sun is not the moon, the moon is not the sun and the universe does not revolve around your delusion.
A simple blood test is all it takes to completely shatter the illusion of integrity to your fallacious supposition; especially since the only tools of measurement you have are pithy comments and and an endless supply of ad hominem attacks.
Grow up. You are not helping them by pandering to the narcissism. You are enabling a lifetime of dependency on external mechanisms and manipulations to augment the farce. All of which only truly lines the pockets of greedy corporate doctors and crystal waving, bone throwing voodoo shamans who dare call themselves therapist.
You can believe whatever you want to believe, but your faith in your belief is NOT proof. The reality is and always shall be, you can’t change your sex. It’s in every single cell of yours, mine and their body’s.
Trans women are trans women and trans men are trans men, I have no problem supporting that, in the exact same way I accept someone telling me they are a Christian, Muslim or Jew.
All are faith based beliefs not grounded in reality, but actually may help those individuals interact and live within a secular society and hopefully coexist in peace. Until they don’t, and that’s where we are at with gender cultist right now, at war with their ideological jihadism.
I refuse to be assimilated and erased by the gender collective, not without going down fighting tooth and nail against tyrannical, fascist cultist like yourself.
bachy
@Ulf: your thoughtful comments shine a light on the resurgence of tyranny, fascism and cults in contemporary discourse. It behooves us all – men, women, gays, straights, liberals, conservatives – to examine our own thinking to resist succumbing to and promoting authoritarianism and other insidious strategies of thought control.
Diplomat
Hey mister, your emotional violence towards women is reprehensible. If we are all such idiots maybe the T really never should have trashed the LGB like most of us thought, cuz that’s what’s happened with your nasty hair brain sexualy illiterate schemes. Maybe you should pander to get your T off our LGB and make is all happy.
So man, keep your fake tits and fake hair, your deep voice and your man dik off women’s sports teams and out of their private spaces. The women that had to stand for William (Lia) Thomas naked in their locker room were appalled scared and disgusted. Never should have happened! The guys a spitting image is a man ffs!
Any legislation that can strip your incessant insanity from affecting women negatively is a sold deal in my book.
This isn’t just Republicans stopping your psycho agenda against women, it’s most of America. Now about removing that T…
sfhairy
Started playing the game last night and LOVE IT. So immersive in the world of HP. Thank you JK for bringing us this beautiful, fully textured world.
LumpyPillows
I bought it. Don’t think I can play it yet. I love the Harry Potter world.
sfhairy
You can if you bought the Deluxe edition or higher for Xbox X or PS 5.
LumpyPillows
Cool, i think I did. Will check tonight.
LumpyPillows
I did play it last night. It is a new style for games, at least for me. Good fun.
Yooper
Rowling will be pissed? She’s getting royalties from the games and merchandise, very much doubt she’s pissed.
Hayden
You’d think instead of theorizing if a character that is not confirmed would be with less than celebrating an actual lgbt character in game. Nora Treadwell specifically says she has a wife. But gay and lesbian isn’t as sexy a topic nowadays when trans is involved.