J. K. Rowling Fails to Find Heroic Ancestor

Aug 08, 2011 21:15

Snitchseeker has a scan of an article about
JKR on the Show "Who Do You Think You Are"?
I don't have time to transcribe it right now, but she thought one of her ancestors named Louis Volant had won the Legion of Honor in France, but she was mistaken. Her great-grandfather on her mother's side had the same name, but wrong birthday, wrong injuries, and different handwriting. And her grandpere didn't win any medals either.

Unfortunately, when JKR herself won the Legion d'Honneur, she said: "I like to believe that Louis would be happy to know there's a second Legion d'honneur in the family."  Oopsy!

Now of course, this could happen to anyone doing their genealogy, but just the fact that our dear author believed all her life that she was descended from a war hero could explain why it is so important to the HP books that someone be "brave" above every other trait.

Quote from the magazine writer:
"If there's one thing regular viewers ... know well - even if the celebrities taking part in the show seem oblivious to it - family truths passed from one generation to the next often prove to be cast not in iron but fool's gold."

That struck me as humorous since JKR once envisioned a Death Eater named "Pyrites" sitting outside Godric's Hollow (where truly brave people dwell, LOL). Fool's Gold indeed.

Instead of a decorated war hero, Rowling's great-grandfather turned out to be . . . (wait for it) . . . a wine waiter! 
  And the precious family Legion medal with "etoile d'honneur" (star of honor) stamped on it turned out to be a cheap award from a trade union .

So she's much more Spinner's End than she would like to admit.

And why does this remind of Tom Riddle's search for his Pureblood father . . . 
  All that searching through the trophy room, poor kid, only to find a regular old Muggle.

And there's this: Director Leo Burley recalls from behind the camera, "She became very concerned -- this was a story that had been told not just by her mother, but by everyone. She found it embarrassing and wondered how it was going to turn out."  

image Click to view

war, wine, hero, courage, irony, genealogy, tom riddle, severus snape, muggles, bravest man, rowling

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