Stop leaving socks at Dobby’s gravesite, Welsh conservation group begs Harry Potter fans
The National Trust Wales says "socks, trinkets, and paint chips from painted pebbles" left on the beach where Dobby's death was set are harming the environment
Aux News Harry Potter
The Harry Potter fandom is swiftly turning into an environmental concern in Wales, where the fictional house elf Dobby’s death scene in 2010's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 1 was filmed. As more and more people visit Pembrokeshire’s Freshwater West Beach to lay trinkets of their affection, conservationists worry about the preservation of the wider landscape.
Since an initial group of fans erected a memorial for Dobby at the site, even more fans have visited to pay tribute—often, with a sock in hand. Per The New York Times, local conservation group National Trust Wales recently conducted an eight-month review into the effects of the memorial on the beach and surrounding environment.
As part of the review, the National Trust Wales considered tearing down the memorial, fearing continued erosion of the area. Luckily for Dobby’s disciples, however, the gravesite was allowed to say—with a few new parameters.
“The memorial to Dobby will remain at Freshwater West in the immediate term for people to enjoy,” the National Trust Wales, a local conservation group, share in their assessment. “The Trust is asking visitors to only take photos when visiting the memorial to help protect the wider landscape.”
In the books, Dobby escapes a life of indentured servitude to the haughty Lucius Malfoy by tricking Malfoy into gifting him a sock. In receiving a gift from his master, Dobby becomes a free elf and wears the sock until his death.
According to the National Trust Wales, “items like socks, trinkets, and paint chips from painted pebbles could enter the marine environment and food chain and put wildlife at risk.” Beyond socks, some fans have reportedly emblazoned rocks with the phrase “Here lies Dobby, a free elf,” Harry Potter’s tribute to Dobby in the film.
“While we’re delighted that so many want to visit, we have to balance the popularity of the site with impacts on the sensitive nature of the beach and wider environment, and pressure on the facilities and surrounding roads,” Jonathan Hughes, an official with National Trust Wales, adds.
20 Comments
People will eave socks at the grave site of a fictional character but not donate them to homeless people.What a world.
There are a lot of Harry Potter fans out there. If they went whole hog(warts) on a Dobby-themed sock drive they could do a lot of good. I might have to bring this up with the local HP fan society when convention season opens up again.
I was going to say, if people are leaving socks at the grave site, why not give them to poor people?
What are poor people going to do with Harry Potter fans?
Stop being a Harry Potter fan as well.
People who care about Dobby deserve a worse planet.
What this article doesn’t mention is that most of the “fans” leaving clothes for Dobby are, in fact, aliens and/or predators. So while it’s their wardrobe, it’s our world.
People realize that Dobby wasn’t a real living thing, right? I mean, I know we have to deal with flat earthers and anti-vaxxers and all but I just kinda assumed that we hadn’t become stupid enough to think that fictional characters have a physical gravesite…
Yeah, because someone who believes in Dobby is so much stupider than someone who thinks the fucking EARTH is FLAT.
A random balcony in Verona was labeled “Juliet’s balcony” by tourism promoters, and for the past 20 or so years, busloads of tourists have come to photograph this structure where a fictional character never stood, and the author of the most popular version of said story never even personally observed or knew anything about.US visitors to the Belgian city of Bastogne have complained that the town looks very different from what they saw on Band of Brothers.I once heard a tourist in Germany complain that Neuschwanstein “had nothing to do with Cinderella”.So, no, this story doesn’t surprise me.
Reminds me reports of people who were writing letters to Sherlock Holmes at his address at 221B Baker Street asking him to investigate crimes for them. There used to be a bank at the address that employed a secretary to respond to the letters telling them that Sherlock Holmes had retired. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/76722/who-answers-sherlock-holmess-fan-mail
Eh, that sort of shit has always been a thing.EXAMPLE: This plaque, marking the fictitious suicide of a fictional character from a Faulkner novel…https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/quentin-compson-memorial
There’s also a plaque in a San Francisco alleyway marking a prominent murder location from The Maltese Falcon. I will say it’s pretty great looking at a map of the city while reading that book.
i’ve long wanted to take the Dashiell Hammett tour in San Francisco. i have a set of Maltese Falcon glasses from John’s Grill, but somehow haven’t managed the tour yet. i hear it’s fantastic.
Should we even mention the Rocky statue in Philadelphia?
Eh, what else can they put up a statue of? Dennis Reynolds?
The ‘Full House’ House is a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. Same with the ‘Seinfeld diner’ in NYC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%27s_Restaurant)The original Cheers bar is one of the most visited places in Boston, a city with just a bit of actual history to be seen also.Fictional art is meaningful to people, even if not “real.”
Do not free Dobby from his grave! His vengeance will be terrible beyond all reckoning!
I got a John Hughes notification for this?
…and yet no complaints by the locals over the gallons of semen left at the site of Voldemort’s death? Curious…