2-we need to let go of Harry Potter
With Epic Games releasing Hogwarts Legacy for free during the Game Awards, I had a moment to think about what I've seen during my time with a close friend last Friday (12 December 2025).
We were visiting a very bespoke stationery shop - the kind that carries Hobonichi planners and inks in bottles that look like potions & fine wines - just for fun, and I noticed the shop carries Ferris Wheel Press inks. Ferris Wheel Press inks! I thought that was stuff I could only dream of getting via online, and needing to pay the soul of my theoretical firstborn to cover shipping costs. Naturally I was excited especially seeing the inks were MYR110 for a sizeable bottle (it's a lot of money but I can feasibly save up for it).
Then I frowned a little when I saw a few bottles on display clearly marked with the signature Harry Potter trademark.
I need to follow this up with this fact: I'm a closeted trans man, living in a country where being visibly trans will land you a maximum of 20 years in jail and several canings. If that wasn't already bad enough - especially if you're a Muslim - you may lose your support system entirely, you risk losing your job, and unfortunately you could be killed here by ultra-conservative people. This sadly isn't exactly a surprise to anyone who has experienced how violent transphobia can get, of course, especially when it's codified in our laws and postcolonial social norms.
Which is why it's deeply evil that a book beloved by so many people who grew up in the early 2000s has since turned into a symbol of hatred towards trans people - trans women, specifically, as I want to emphasize. I need not spell out why JK Rowling decided to use her riches to steer the UK into a viper's pit of transphobia and persecution of trans women, but I will say it's actively concerning how many cis women share her view. I've seen Malaysian women online (who likely don't even know what TERF means!) say that they support Harry Potter because they like that JK Rowling is protecting women in the UK from predators. This is the state we're forced to live in. The fact that this is all stemming from a desire to protect women, which ends up protecting no women at all, and putting trans women in grave danger above that some more. I'll also point out that this same transphobia that Rowling funds also hurts trans men, but many of these people target trans women first most of all - and I feel like that's something all of us need to acknowledge.
This honestly frustrates me specifically more than I can feasibly express, because when you live in a country where transphobia IS the default, how do you even begin to articulate how much it hurts to see this thing continuing to be celebrated publicly? Nostalgia sells - as surely as old anime series such as Doraemon, Dragon Ball etc still rakes in millions, so does Harry Potter. But I've never heard of Akira Toriyama using the funds from Dragon Ball or Dr Slump to fund the persecution of marginalized groups in Japan, and neither did Hiroshi Fujimoto or Motoo Abiko. Harry Potter is "easy pickings" because it's incredibly visible what Rowling is doing with its success. Think back on how I said Malaysia is fundamentally transphobic - you can't really write an open letter in the New Straits Times about this unless you're prepared to run the risk of being doxxed somehow. Maybe a braver queer person can do it, but for the rest of us, writing like this remains a freer way to express our queerness and the sorrow that comes with witnessing deep transphobia that rolls back decades of civil rights that had kept our fellow trans friends in the United Kingdom safe all these years.
It is in this capacity of freedom that I'm writing to those who still have the privilege to do something about it now. Nostalgia is a very difficult demon to exorcise, I get it. It's difficult to let go of something that has such a profound effect on you, especially if has helped you get through or escape difficult, painful times. But when you know that which has healed you before is now being used to cause harm, would you still hold on to it? We've long past the point of passively "recognizing" or "acknowledging" the extent of Rowling's damage - continuous milking of this franchise from collaborative themed merchandise being sold at Miniso & Ferris Wheel Press to free distribution of Hogwarts Legacy in the EGS is millions of dollars poured into her pockets, which in turn is used to fund anti-trans legislation in the UK. The time to rip off the bandaid was yesterday - any dollar you spend, any attention you give it, is another dollar to the JKRWF.
Stop going "but I'm purchasing from independent artists". Stop going "but I'm pirating this game". Enough. Get off the broomstick. Kill the Hogwarts fantasy in your head right now. Burn the witches and wizards in your head that makes you think it's still fine to keep supporting a franchise that's directly funding transphobia. Let that shit go and look into direct, more meaningful ways to support trans people today (you could do worse than directly supporting independent transfem authors, for example).