The author says one of the reasons she did not feature zombies in the book is because 'to me, a zombie will always mean Michael Jackson in a bright red bomber jacket.'
- Dec 22, 2014
AceShowbiz - J.K. Rowling has shared a new entry on Pottermore. For the 10th day installment, the "Harry Potter" author talked about Inferi, animated corpses which Voldemort used to guard his Horcrux. The author shared why she created Inferi and the exclusion of zombie in the books, unexpectedly mentioning Michael Jackson in the process.
"I had several good reasons for not wishing to call the guardians of the locket Horcrux 'zombies,' " she explained. "Firstly, zombies are not part of British folklore, but associated with the myths of Haiti and parts of Africa. While students of Hogwarts would learn about them, they would not expect to meet them walking down the streets of Hogsmeade."
"Secondly, while the zombies of Vodou tradition can be nothing more than reanimated corpses, a second but related tradition has it that the sorcerer uses their souls, or part of their souls, to sustain himself. This conflicted with my Horcrux story, and I did not wish to suggest that Voldemort had any more use for his Inferi than as guards of his Horcrux," she added.
"Lastly, zombies have been represented and reinterpreted on film so often in the last fifty years that they have a whole raft of associations that were of no use to me. I'm part of the 'Thriller' generation; to me, a zombie will always mean Michael Jackson in a bright red bomber jacket," she continued.
J.K. Rowling has been sharing some of her thoughts behind characters or creatures in "Harry Potter". Last week, she mentioned vampire and denied that Snape was one of them despite his pale complexion.
