WALES OFFICIALS ASK HARRY POTTER FANS TO PLEASE KEEP THEIR SOCKS ON AT DOBBY MEMORIAL
Some fictional characters live on and on, despite never really being alive at all. And Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter series is proving to be just that. Dobby, if you recall from the books or movies (or both!) was the house elf character and friend to Harry Potter who died at the end of Deathly Hallows Part One. His death scene was at Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales. In the UK, of course. Dobby’s death was the fulcrum tragedy that propelled the story into its final act. It hurt, because it was supposed to hurt. And make us hurt right along with the surviving characters. But it hurt so much that officials in Wales are begging Harry Potter fans to keep their socks on at the Dobby Memorial. Yes, he has a memorial. Sort of.
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SOCKS SYMBOLIZE DOBBY’S FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY, AND UNDYING FRIENDSHIP WITH HARRY POTTER
So ok, that may sound a little weird if you don’t know much about the Harry Potter story. It was a sneaky sock from Harry Potter that freed Dobby the House Elf from his magical slavery to the nasty Malfoy family. So socks are the ultimate symbol of freedom and friendship in the Harry Potter Universe. And despite never being real, just months after Dobby’s first-viewed death in the movie, fans erected a memorial at the filming location to honor his, ahem, memory. That was 12 years ago! And many, many fans have visited the site since, leaving socks on the memorial. And, well, we’re talking a LOT of socks over the years. Enough to pose a threat to the local environment!
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FANS HAVE LEFT SO MANY SOCKS AT DOBBY MEMORIAL, THEY’RE A THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Environmental officials from the National Trust Wales have monitored the site closely for the last 8 months. And they found that a lot of people still visit the Dobby Memorial, which is good. But people have left so many Freedom Socks there that it could harm the local environment. Sure, teenager socks tend to stink to high heaven. Who knows what’s in that sweat? And chemicals in the socks, and dyes, various plastic fibers, etc. But really, this is about volume. As in, a LOT of socks. So the National Trust Wales is asking fans to please keep their socks on!
Otherwise, they may have to wave their bureaucratic wand and make the Dobby Memorial disappear forever.
