Despite J.K. Rowling’s attempt at turning Draco Malfoy into this sneering Slytherin bully, Tom Felton’s charm turned the character into a dreamy heartthrob, following the release of the films. Surprisingly, Rowling openly blamed the actor for turning the character into a desirable bad boy, while she boldly stressed his ruthless and jerk side in the novels.
Well, it all started after a random fan purchased a “Draco Malfoy Is My Boyfriend” t-shirt in 2015, and Tom Felton responded to that tweet claiming that Draco wouldn’t be great boyfriend material. Considering Rowling’s clarification on Pottermore about the true nature of Draco, Felton was also spotted subtly apologizing to the author. Seemingly, Rowling playfully blamed Felton for turning Draco into a charming character.
J.K. Rowling Blamed Tom Felton for Turning Draco Malfoy into a Heartthrob
Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin bad boy portrayed by Tom Felton in all eight installments of Harry Potter, still has plenty of fans out there fantasizing him for his glamor of an anti-hero. But the problem is that they have been romanticizing the imagery of the character brought to the screen by Felton. At least that’s what the actor and J.K. Rowling believes.
Despite clearly depicting Draco Malfoy as a bully and a jerk in the books as well as the films, the subject of fantasizing came up when a fan sent actor Tom Felton a photo of a T-shirt reading “Draco Malfoy Is My Boyfriend”, on X. Once again shocked to see how Draco’s whole tortured-bad-boy persona made girls want to “fix” his stone-cold heart, Felton responded with some deflection.
Taking to the tweet, Tom Felton initially reminded people that Draco Malfoy is kind of a jerk and certainly not worthy of being boyfriend material. Instead, Felton promoted Rupert Grint‘s character Ron as a good backup choice for being someone’s boyfriend, considering some of his actions in the movies. Followed by his opinion and options, Felton later apologized to J.K. Rowling for his character’s popularity.
Realizing how his real-life charm has turned Draco Malfoy into a desirable figure alongside being the wizarding world version of a leather jacket-wearing, cigarette-smoking bad boy, – Tom Felton felt compelled to apologize to the author. Rowling, quite obviously responded to his tweet and it sounded like she really wished he weren’t so darn attractive. The author appeared to be playfully blaming Felton for making girls dream about Malfoy and his dark mark.
J.K. Rowling Revealed the Truth Behind Draco Malfoy’s Character
Meanwhile, prior to the fan tweet and Tom Felton’s ardent apology, J.K. Rowling had already published a response on Wizarding World about how “unnerved” she was over “the number of girls who fell for this particular fictional character”. Highlighting the difference between Felton, who is a handsome young man, and his onscreen character Malfoy, who’s a Slytherin snob and bully, Rowling tried to pour some “cold common sense on ardent readers’ daydreams”.
Draco has all the glamour of the anti-hero; girls are very apt to romanticize such people. All of this left me in the unenviable position of pouring cold common sense on ardent readers’ daydreams as I told them, rather severely, that Draco was not concealing a heart of gold under all that sneering and prejudice and that no, he and Harry were not destined to end up best friends.
Well, this wasn’t her only attempt at trying to stop people from fantasizing about Draco Malfoy. In 2015, on the character’s 35th birthday, J.K. Rowling dissed her own creation by telling girls they are “misguided to fancy him”. Further, she called out her young female fans as “delusional” for “swearing undying devotion to this really imperfect character”. Speaking with The Leaky Cauldron, Rowling expressed her concerns for those women who harbored unhealthy romantic ideas towards Draco.
I’m trying to clearly distinguish between Tom Felton, who is a good-looking young boy, and Draco, who, whatever he looks like, is not a nice man. It’s a romantic, but unhealthy, and unfortunately all too common delusion [of girls] that they are going to change someone.
And that persists through many women’s lives, till their death bed, and it is uncomfortable and unhealthy and it actually worried me a little bit, to see young girls swearing undying devotion to this really imperfect character, because there must be an element in there, that “I’d be the one who [changes him].”
But whatever, despite J.K. Rowling’s vivid explanation, Tom Felton can’t take back his sexy eye rolls, brooding stares, and the apple-munching thirst traps, he brought to the screen as Draco Malfoy. What’s done is done! Everyone can continue with their day and keep on crushing hard on Malfoy.
Harry Potter films are available on Max.
