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Umbridge, played by actress Imelda Staunton in the film
adaptations of the hugely popular fantasy series, is the
seemingly sweet but innately vicious teacher at Hogwarts who
bans young Harry from playing Quidditch and forces him to write
the words "I must not tell lies" on the back of his hand.
In an essay posted on Friday on her Pottermore.com website,
Rowling says that the character of Umbridge was based on a
person "whom I disliked intensely on sight".
"The woman in question returned my antipathy with interest. Why
we took against each other so instantly, heartily and (on my
side, at least) irrationally, I honestly cannot say," she
writes.
Like Umbridge, the person had a "pronounced taste for twee
accessories...(including) a tiny little plastic bow slide, pale
lemon in color".
Elsewhere, without revealing the person's name, she describes
her as someone who had been her teacher "long ago...in a certain
skill or subject".
"Dolores...is one of the characters for whom I feel the purest
dislike," Rowling writes in the essay's conclusion.
"Her desire to control, to punish, and to inflict pain, all in
the name of law and order, are, I think, every bit as
reprehensible as Lord Voldemort’s unvarnished espousal of evil,”
she adds, referring to Harry Potter's arch enemy.
Rowling posted the essay and other new writing on Pottermore at
Halloween in conjunction with the launch of "Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix", the fifth novel in the series, on the
website.
(Reporting by Michael Roddy; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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