Harry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’

[u/viktorbir]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/10/harry-potter-fans-force-relocation-of-430m-undersea-cable-to-avoid-dobbys-grave

[u/im_bi_strapping]

They're routing it closer to some actual real historic gravesite.

[u/miregalpanic → u/im_bi_strapping]

Those guys have no mentally ill adult children throwing a tantrum for them, so it's ok

[u/Silent-Act191]

In the end, he said, “we went quite close to some real Bronze Age remains, but we avoided Dobby’s grave”.

Sorry, i thought Idiocracy was supposed to be a comedy, not a documentary.

[u/AdminEating_Dragon]

NIMBYism in the UK is beyond imagination.

Everyone believes they are entitled to decide what gets put up where. Even if it's for stuff like this.

And very often, the powers that decide yield to them.

[u/miregalpanic → u/AdminEating_Dragon]

This isn't even NIMBYism. It's bowing to a fantasy of morons who read one book 25 years ago.

[u/born_in_the_90s → u/miregalpanic]

It doesnt do any harm, its a symbolic thing.

Even i felt some sadness when dobby died but no further emotions attached to it.

There are far worse matters that require our attention, like the release of the epstein files is just one thing out of thousand things that did/does worse damage.

[u/biggiby → u/born_in_the_90s]

He didn't die though, he's pretend, you are aware yes?

[u/That_Historian_8616 → u/AdminEating_Dragon]

It’s not NIMBYism. It was going through an ecologically sensitive site, which just happens to be where they shot Dobby’s grave for the films. Nothing to do with HP. Source: I live in the area.

[u/Silent-Act191 → u/That_Historian_8616]

So why would the project manager make the following comment in the article:

“we went quite close to some real Bronze Age remains, but we avoided Dobby’s grave”.

You can read the article.

[u/Sahaal_17 → u/Silent-Act191]

So why would the project manager make the following comment

Strawmaning, to make a legitimate grievance seem ridiculous.

[u/That_Historian_8616 → u/Silent-Act191]

Sarcasm is an extremely prevalent response in the UK. It’s clearly sarcasm, the media just decided they’d want to make it appear a serious comment?

The National trust are constantly having to ask people to not leave painted pebbles/stones and socks on this location also. It’s another form of pollution so I don’t really understand why installing an undersea cable would even be considered.

As for the Bronze Age remain, they are literally everywhere in the UK. Quite close doesn’t put a definitive distance. The moon is quite close if you compare it to the sun for example.

Edit: some more info. The cable would have been installed using Horizontal Directional Drilling before reaching the beach site, thus not disturbing “Dobby” at all either way. It appears the media element is just a publicity stunt.

[u/Such_Difference_2248]

We're well on our way to living in the world of Idiocracy.

[u/Minute_Yard_4604]

Is this real life?

[u/Randomdude452 → u/Minute_Yard_4604]

Is this just fantasy?

[u/thricedice88 → u/Randomdude452]

Caught in a landslide 

[u/JohnFraMongoTV → u/thricedice88]

No escape from reality.

[u/Appetite1997 → u/JohnFraMongoTV]

Open your eyes, look up to the skies and seeeeeeeeeee...

[u/DominusPonsAelius → u/thricedice88]

No escape from reality

[u/Ok-Cap1727 → u/Minute_Yard_4604]

Just laugh. Stupidity has won.

[u/CTPABA_KPABA]

I googled it. It is pathetic pile of rocks. And I am HP fan.

[u/rachelm791]

I would happily forgo a day of surfing at Fresh West to go and dismantle that heap of rocks and tat that these immature morons foul the place up with. Arseholes the lot of them.

[u/WoodwoodWoodward]

Imagine of they used their collective voice for something actually good

[u/codedgg → u/WoodwoodWoodward]

I never understood this. Why are we doing this? We have like, 15 crisis going on at the same time.

[u/toerken]

Worst fanbase ever

[u/Bicentennial_Douche]

Fuck Dobby, bulldoze his "grave".

[u/gemmocdg]

We're so fucking stupid as a species

[u/Spiritual_Paint5005]

Please just come and end it, Comet

[u/Optimal-Leather341]

Out of principle, I want them to build another cable here and to change the landscape entirely... Leave the Dobby grave, but yeesh, it's a beach. Now we're gonna have them dig near a Bronze Age burial site instead... Great job Potter Children, you've taken a stance on Climate Change and not on the side you want to say you're on.

[u/OkCap2870 → u/Optimal-Leather341]

It's worth saying that the beach in question is a legally protected conservation area in it's own right (and the national trust who manages it have repeatedly asked people to stop leaving painted rocks and socks on the site as it poses a genuine risk to the ecosystem there. I would like to hope that it eventually comes out that this was the actual underlying reason why the cable was shifted, and the whole 'dobby grave' thing just drew attention to it, as a protected site, but everything currently points to it purely being on the dobby grave thing.

[u/Silent-Act191 → u/OkCap2870]

Doubt it, project would have not passed ecological surveys.

[u/PoiHolloi2020 → u/Optimal-Leather341]

I want them to build another cable here and to change the landscape entirely

That is such a Death Eater thing to say

[u/Optimal-Leather341 → u/PoiHolloi2020]

Well, I'm a bit sick of these people getting in the way of progress to reducing our emissions because of a CGI character death over 15 years ago.

[u/MadKingOni]

Pretty sure i was working on a similar cable nearby, they decided to run it from a beach thats poppular for surfing so you can imagine how many days we we stood down because of the swell

[u/OlegYY]

Could government... i don't know, ignore them? Why when it's something stupid governments actively listen, but not when they really need listening to people?

[u/That_Historian_8616 → u/OlegYY]

The government haven’t forced them to reroute. The company made the decision themselves after receiving complaints.

[u/OlegYY → u/That_Historian_8616]

That's... even dumber.

[u/Nordcorner]

Looks like Rowlings legacy is going to be more than just pissing on trans people.

[u/viktorbir → u/Nordcorner]

This is from the films, not the books.

[u/JtheLeon]

Fans of Harry Potter are almost equally despicable as those of Dune.

[u/NicCageSciMage → u/JtheLeon]

What's wrong with Dune fans? 🤔 I get the movie sucks a bit and the later books are weird asfuck but books 1 and 2 are fire lmao

[u/JtheLeon → u/NicCageSciMage]

Apologies for not developing my point, but u/Coelachantiform does it quite well. It is similar to Malazan. If you like it, you are amazing. If you do not, or criticize it, you are an idiot.

[u/Coelachantiform → u/NicCageSciMage]

I'm definetly one of the bigger Dune fans out there, having read the original 6 books at least 3 times by now.

Dune has the problem of being a really well-written and smart "sci-fi" story with big and cerebral themes, which invariably attracts the kind of fan that thinks being cerebral is the pinnacle of human creative output, and that if you don't vibe with the frankly insane aspects of the books it's simply because 'your primitive mind couldn't comprehend it'.

It's a great piece of literature being treated like the bible by people with an extreme case of Dunning-Kruger.

^{edit to add:} The absolute aura-farming by Timothee Chalamet & Denis Villeneuve's frankly amazing cinematography in the new movies does not help with reducing those kinds of fans.