Thoughts on Remus from his fans and his creator, JK Rowling.
Barnes & Noble chat transcript, 8 September 1999:
Q. What is your favorite Harry book so far?J.K. Rowling interview transcript: The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October 1999:
A. The first book will always have a special place in my heart, because it was the first book I ever published. However, I prefer the plot of CHAMBER OF SECRETS. And just to confuse the issue, I was looking forward to writing the third book from the start of the first because that's when Professor Lupin appears, and he is one of my favorite characters in all seven books.
Chelsea: I wanted to know if Professor Lupin is going to turn up in any of the other stories?Scholastic.com online chat transcript, 3 February 2000:
JKR: Professor Lupin OK yeah. Now for people who maybe haven't got that far, or - erm - haven't read the books at all, Professor Lupin is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in book three. Now he is one of my favourite characters in the whole series and - erm - yes, he will be coming - he will - you will see him again. Quite a few of the characters that crop up in - in the books do - do come back, because, I mean, you know, they're friends of Harry's now even if they're not actually living at Hogwarts. You will see Professor Lupin again in book five, not in book four. Also Dobby, the House Elf, who you see in the second book, he also crops up again - er - so - so you've got to keep your eye on these characters, because they do come back.
Lydon: Chelsea, I wondered why you asked about Professor Lupin?
Chelsea: Because I like him a lot
JKR: Oh good! I'm glad, because do you know what? I'm - from - from the moment I started writing book one I've been looking forward to writing book three because of Professor Lupin, because I knew that's when he made his first appearance and he is - he is one of my favourite characters.
Q. If you had to choose one teacher from your books to teach your child, who would it be and why?Scholastic.com online chat transcript, 3 February 2000:
A. It would be Professor Lupin, because he is kind, clever, and gives very interesting lessons.
Q. Who is your favorite character?JK Rowling talks about Book Four: cBBC Newsround, 8 July 2000:
A. I love, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Professor Lupin.
Lizo Mzimba: Now the future. Lupin's going to come back in book five isn't he?About the Books: transcript of J.K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com, 16 October 2000:
JKR: You'll see Lupin again in five yeah, yeah - do you like Lupin?
Lizo Mzimba: Oh yes, he's my favourite.
JKR: Yeah and me. I always looked forward to writing book three because of Professor Lupin, I love him. You see a lot of old characters in book five. I'm not even going to try and tell you what happens in book five, I'm just recovering from the stress of book four.
Question: Can you explain how Lupin turns into a werewolf, since he didn't turn in the Shrieking Shack in Prisoner of Azkaban, but instead he turned only when the full moonlight hit him outside the tunnel? If he only turned into a wolf in the moonlight, why didn't he just stay inside? Did it have to do with the potion? Or was the moon not up yet?Harry Potter - Harry and me: The Scotsman, November 2002:
J.K. Rowling responds: The moon wasn't up when he entered the Shrieking Shack.
Professor Lupin, who appears in the third book, is one of my favourite characters. He's a damaged person, literally and metaphorically. I think it's important for children to know that adults, too, have their problems, that they struggle. His being a werewolf is a metaphor for people's reactions to illness and disability.J.K. Rowling at the Royal Albert Hall, 26 June 2003:
I was also playing with that [intolerance] when I created Professor Lupin having a contagious disease so people are frightened of him. I really liked him as a character but he also has his failing though he's a nice man and a wonderful teacher – in fact he's the one time I've written a teacher... the kind of teacher I'd have loved to have had. McGonagall is a good teacher but scary at times. Lupin's failing is he likes to be liked. That's where he slips up – he's been disliked so often he's always pleased to have friends so cuts them an awful lot of slack.JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, 4 March 2004:
kylie: What does the "J" in Remus J Lupin stand for?JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, 4 March 2004:
JK Rowling replies -> 'John'. Boring but true!
Sirius Riddle: What houses were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter and Remus Lupin[sic] in? Everyone tells me they were all Gryffindor, but I won't believe it unless I hear it from Ms. Rowling herself!JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, 4 March 2004:
JK Rowling says: This is JK herself saying that they were indeed in Gryffindor!
Siriusstar: Is Remus a pureblood?JK Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, 15 August 2004:
JK Rowling replies -> Half blood.
Q. Who is your favourite character in the books?The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview JK Rowling: Part Two, 16 July 2005:
A. I have loads of favourite characters. I really like Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Dumbledore. I love writing Snape—even though he is not always the nicest person, he is really fun to write. I love writing Dudley. If I could meet anyone, I might choose Lupin. I really like him. My favourite new character is Luna—I am very fond of her.
JKR: Oh, how did you feel about Lupin/Tonks?The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview JK Rowling: Part Three, 16 July 2005:
ES: That was -
MA: I was surprised!
ES: I was surprised, but not shocked.
JKR: Right.
MA: I think I was a little shocked.
JKR: Someone out there, and I don't know if it was on either of your sites — I nearly fell off my chair. Someone, this is when I do my trawls — I mean, I sound like I spend my life on the Internet and that's why I don't get my novels finished more quickly. I swear that's not true, and I'd like to make that clear for all the recording devices on the table. Because I've now got my site, I go looking for the FAQs and for fan sites that I like to put up, so that's how I find out comments and things. And someone out there, I could not believe it, had said it. Had said, 'Oh no, Tonks can't marry so-and-so, (God knows who it was) because Tonks is going to end up with Lupin, and they're going to have lots of little multicolored werewolf cubs together,' or something.
JKR: Lupin was very fond of Lily, we'll put it like that, but I wouldn't want anyone to run around thinking that he competed with James for her. She was a popular girl, and that is relevant. But I think you've seen that already. She was a bit of a catch.Jones, Owen. One-on-one interview with JK Rowling, 17 July 2005:
OJ: Now that Peter Pettigrew has a silver hand, is he in a position to kill Lupin?JK Rowling's Official Site:
JKR: I was very interested in this, because when you won the competition to interview me, that was the one you mentioned, so I had warning about that one. And I'm assuming you thought of that because of the silver -
OJ: Silver and the werewolf.
JKR: Which is very, very good, because there's this myth, which you obviously know, that you need to use a silver bullet to kill a werewolf. I'm going to say no, that Pettigrew does not kill Lupin, but I thought that showed ... good knowledge and a good imagination to think of that.
FAQ: Who is your favourite character?JK Rowling's Official Site:
JKR: I love: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Ginny, Fred, George and Lupin. I love writing (though would not necessarily want to meet) Snape. My favourite new character is Luna Lovegood.
FAQ: Did James and Lupin switch bodies before James was killed?JK Rowling's Official Site:
JKR: An ingenious theory, but no; James would never have saved himself and left his wife and son to die.
Rumour: Lupin will come back as DADA teacherJK Rowling's Official Site:
JKR: Alas, no. Lupin's exposure as a werewolf did irreparable damage to his prospects for a career in teaching, and with the likes of Fenrir Greyback out there, werewolves are unlikely to receive a good press any time soon.
Rumour: Professor Lupin has a twinHarry Potter: The final chapter, 29 July 2007:
JKR: No, but this obviously sprang from the fact that Lupin's Christian name (Remus) comes from one of the mythical founders of Rome who had a twin called 'Romulus'. (They were raised by wolves, incidentally).
Meredith Vieira: So what happened there? Why did he get the reprieve?Harry Potter: The final chapter, 29 July 2007:
J.K. Rowling: Well, I swapped him for someone else, and I don't want to say who for the people who haven't-- read. But I-- I made a decision as I went into writing Phoenix that I was going to reprieve Mr. Weasley and I was going to kill someone else. And if you finish the book, I-- I expect you probably know and someone else who is a father. And I wanted there to be an echo of-- of Harry's loss of parents. And you probably know who I'm talking about if you've finished the book. But-- so there are two characters who are killed in (book) Seven. So Mr. Weasley did get attacked, as you know, in Five. But he would have died if I'd have stuck to the original plan. But he survived. I had to keep him alive partly-- partly because I couldn't bear to kill him.
Meredith Vieira: But there were two that weren't supposed to die that did end up dying.
J.K. Rowling: Yeah, yeah. I swapped them for Mr. Weasley. But they didn't then die until Seven.
J.K. Rowling: I wanted there to be an echo of what happened to Harry just to show the absolute evil of what Voldemort's doing. The fact that you leave orphans and you leave children who then have to make their way in the world uncared for and unprotected. And-- so that's why I killed the two that, you know, you know about in this book. Which I hated, hated doing because I love them both as characters.Harry Potter: The final chapter, 29 July 2007:
J.K. Rowling: To hear that Teddy Lupin -- Lupin's son is obviously okay. That he has an ongoing relationship with Harry and that he's-- he must be quite happy and he's got a very good-looking girlfriend because I think he's kissing in the epilogue his-- Bill and Fleur's eldest daughter.Bloomsbury.com online chat transcript, 30 July 2007:
Meredith Vieira: And why is that important?
J.K. Rowling: Because he's been orphaned. And I want-- I want to show that he's okay. And I want to show that because the world is a better place, he's having a happier-- and then I started to cry. So obviously Teddy Lupin's very important to me. I just-- yeah. I-- having killed both his parents, I really wanted him to be okay.
Tineke: Did teddy grow up living with his grandmother?Bloomsbury.com online chat transcript, 30 July 2007:
J.K. Rowling: Yes, Teddy was raised by Andromeda.
J.K. Rowling: However, unlike Neville, who was also raised by his grandmother
J.K. Rowling: Teddy had his godfather, Harry, and all his father's friends in the Order, to visit and stay with.
Casey Kunze: Who killed remus and tonks I think if I knew this, I would get some closure over the very sad, but understandable, death of two of my favorite charactersBloomsbury.com online chat transcript, 30 July 2007:
J.K. Rowling: I'm so sorry! I met a couple on launch night who had come dressed as Lupin and Tonks, and I felt dreadfully guilty as I signed their books!
J.K. Rowling: Remus was killed by Dolohov and Tonks by Bellatrix.
Vio91: Is teddy lupin a werewolfSOURCE: Accio Quote!
J.K. Rowling: No, he's a Metamorphmagus like his mother