Our favorite Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood, believes herself to be a true Gryffindor in real life. The actress, Evanna Lynch, is an animal activist and she is currently fighting for owls that are being used as lab rats at John Hopkins University. PETA thought she would be a good fit to advocate for the owls considering her background in the Harry Potter films. Owls are used in the films as a delivery service, but in reality the people at John Hopkins are using them for ADHD research. Lynch wrote a letter to the president of the University to persuade him to stop the research but she has yet to hear back.
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According to Lynch, she is a lot more fiery in reality than she is on screen as Luna. To this day, she still receives letters from fans that are on the autism spectrum expressing how they connect and identify with her character. Lynch states that she doesn’t understand autism completely but she does understand what it’s like to be misunderstood. She isn’t quite sure if Luna would be an activist, since she has a go with the flow attitude, but when Lynch reads something that upsets her, she believes her Gryffindor instincts kick in.
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Lynch is also one of the stars that has spoken out on JK Rowling’s tweets about the trans community. She disagrees with Rowling’s statements and believes that voices in the trans community need to be amplified. Lynch also discussed Dumbledore’s sexual orientation and how she thought it was such an important part of his character, despite the fact that it was never mentioned in the books or films. Rowling did tell the stars of the franchise long before Dumbledore’s sexual orientation status was public knowledge. Lynch even asked if she could be with someone like Dumbledore, and even though her thought was shot down, Lynch hopes that if Rowling writes another story in the Wizarding World, it would include more LGBTQ characters.
After all Hogwarts is the island of misfit toys.