Microblog Memes

People say that because goblins in the HP universe are commonly depicted as working for a bank, and because they have large pointy noses similar to how Jewish people get caricatured, HP is anti-Semitic.

I see what they mean, but in fairness there's a lot more nuance than angry commenters let on.

Goblins have been depicted as being short and pointy-nosed for centuries, or possibly even longer. It's not really a Harry Potter thing. That's just what goblins are usually depicted like.

Similarly, goblins have been depicted for a long time - similar to dwarves in folklore - as expert miners, fond of jewels and precious metals that they dig up, and also as expert craftsmen.

I'm not really sure where the "goblins are traders" thing came from, the earliest reference I can find to that is Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market poem from the 1860s, and writers seem to have run with it from there.

It does follow that creatures who mine for precious things and are expert craftsmen would be proficient in trade. So to me it makes complete sense why a writer would say "ok, I want to put goblins into my modern setting fantasy novel, where should they be? Oh! They can work in a magical bank, that makes sense! Oh, and let's make it so that the Goblins were the ones who originally crafted the sword of Griffindor, that makes sense too!"

So I'm going to go against the grain a bit and say that I find it plausible goblins were written with no intent to compare them to Jews. I think JKR wrote goblins the way almost everyone else did.

She is undeniably hateful of trans people, though. Yes, Hogwarts Legacy does have trans characters, but that's something JKR was unhappy about. She's said she doesn't care about the game at all and that she doesn't think of it as hers. There's been speculation that she got paid a lump sum up front rather than ongoing royalties, but I'm not sure it's confirmed.