Here’s some non-problematic Harry Potter news for once: the grave site where Dobby died will remain open to Muggles.
The house-elf’s death scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (featuring very good acting from Daniel Radcliffe considering he was basically cradling and crying over E.T. in the river) was filmed at Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which has become a tourist spot for Harry Potter fans.
The difference between people visiting the dead Dobby beach and Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station, however, is that “environmental officials became concerned that the site’s popularity with tourists was having a negative effect on the beach and considered tearing the memorial down as part of an eight-month review,” according to the New York Times.
But a peaceful resolution has been reached.
Last week, Dobby’s grave site won a reprieve, when officials announced that it could stay, as long as visitors stopped leaving behind tributes to Dobby — or, from a different perspective, environmentally ruinous litter.
“The memorial to Dobby will remain at Freshwater West in the immediate term for people to enjoy,” the National Trust Wales wrote in an assessment. “The Trust is asking visitors to only take photos when visiting the memorial to help protect the wider landscape.”
In other words, don’t bring your nasty socks as a tribute. Thank you.
(Via the New York Times)