There are major IPs and then there's the Wizarding World. What started with J.K. Rowling's novels became a book to screen adaptation (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription), as well as a stage play, theme parks, video games, and more. But it all started with the books, and the acclaimed author recently confirmed an urban legend about her graffitiing a hotel room after she finished writing The Death Hallows. Let's break it all down.
The Harry Potter movies are a big reason why the franchise has remained so popular over the years, but they wouldn't have been popular without the source material from the novels. The books were sensations after the first few entires, so the pressure was on for Rowling to deliver with the final chapter The Deathly Hallows. A fan on Twitter posted about her putting her own graffiti in a hotel room at the time, and she took to social media to confirm this story. As she put it:
It's true, I did. And they called my PA, who laughed and turned to me and said 'you won't believe this. It's someone pretending to be from the Balmoral, saying you graffitied a bust.' And I had to say, 'oh yeah, I did do that, actually.'
There it is. While her assistant originally thought this was a tall tale, Rowling did in fact mark up her hotel room after writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This story has made its rounds online in the years since, but Rowling did apparently admit to the graffiti at the time. And yes, that hotel room has become more popular a result of this viral story.
J.K. Rowling went on to share more about this story in the responses section of her tweet. One fan asked if the hotel was mad about her marking up the place, and she offered even more context by saying:
No, they were pleased, really. The staff were lovely when I was working there and ordering endless coffee (we were having work done on our house and the noise drove me out). They were just checking it was definitely written by me.
Rather than getting in trouble, it sounds like the hotel was happy to be part of Harry Potter history as a result of Rowling marking up her hotel room. It's a unique way way that she blew off steam after finally finishing the seventh and final book in the Potter series.
The author spoke about the fallout to her graffiti later in the responses on Twitter. She revealed that while the hotel immortalized this viral moment, but that she's gotten some backlash from parents who were unhappy with her messaging. In her words:
They put the bust in a glass case and there's now an owl door knocker on the suite I was working in, but I still got angry letters after I admitted to doing it in an interview, saying I shouldn't be encouraging children to graffiti.
Points were made. And as The Wizarding World is passed down from generation to generation, there are parents who take umbrage with Rowling's decision to graffiti her hotel room back in the day.
Rowling's magical world is once again meet a new audience with the upcoming Harry Potter TV show, which is headed to HBO. Longtime fans are excited to see a more accurate adaptation of the novels, as they won't have to cut it down to fit into a movie. We'll just have to see if the show results in more people visiting the author's graffiti.
The Harry Potter franchise is streaming in its entirety over on HBO Max. The TV show isn't expected to be released as part of the 2026 TV schedule, but hopefully we get some information/footage sooner rather than later.
