The newly elected president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro is a sign that things are going horribly wrong in Brazil — according to many Brazilians. And many of them are looking to their hero to help them understand and persevere through tumultuous times. That hero is Harry Potter, together with his creator JK Rowling. Rowling has been an unwavering advocate for free speech and equal rights from her Twitter account for years, and her true fans seem to need her more with every news cycle and every presidential tweet barrage.
Rowling and her great creation Harry Potter are symbols of fairness and meritocracy around the globe, having reached as many people as most major religions. With Bolsonaro’s ascendancy, Brazilians — like Britons before them during Brexit — are reaching out to Rowling for inspiration and courage as they compare Bolsonaro to Rowling’s Grindewald, “considered to be one of the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizards of all time.” Others say Bolsonaro is analogous to the Potter villain Voldemort. As Rowling knows, with great power comes great responsibility. Here are some of the tweets.
@jk_rowling So Brazil just elected Grindewald as the new president. We are afraid but let’s hope we have the strenght to keep fighting as the good witches and wizards did.
— Bruna Rabelo (@bruh_rabelo) October 28, 2018
@jk_rowling you’re the heroine of my childhood and adolescence, so trust me when I say I have no one else to turn to. Brazil has Voldemort as its new president, and I just can’t stop crying
— Filha do Tio do Pavê (@malu_elesbao) October 28, 2018
@jk_rowling My country, Brazil, is going through a dark phase. However, among other things, because of Harry Potter, I still have hope that everything will be fine. Thank you for writing about love and for showing us we can overcome evil.
— miranda (@msdmiranda) October 27, 2018
