Harry Potter fans get $580m undersea cable rerouted after it came too close to Dobby’s ‘grave’
Harry Potter fans were left outraged after learning that a $580,000 project would have gone through the resting place of the fictional character Dobby.
The 125-mile Greenlink power connector was being built to connect the UK’s National Grid and Ireland, and would run between County Wexford and Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire.
Many Potterheads will know that Pembrokeshire is the home of Dobby's 'grave'. The beloved house elf dies in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows and is laid to rest Freshwater West beach.
The spot has since become a real-life shrine to Dobby. There's a pile of rocks at the site, one of which has 'Here lies Dobby a free elf' written on it.
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There are also wooden sticks with socks and gloves on it, paying homage to the lore of the books and movies where an elf becomes free if their master gives them an item of clothing.
Dobby served the Malfoy family who treated him poorly, but with the help of Harry Lucius ends up giving him a sock and he's freed.
After Harry Potter fans got wind of the plans for the power cable to go through the beach where Dobby's grave is, they caused a stir – so much so that the cable has was rerouted.
Simon Ludlam, chief executive of advisory firm Etchea Energy, recently featured on The Energy Revolution podcast and recalled the response the company got when news got out about the underwater cable. It cost £430 million (over $580 million) to build.
It was a BBC interview that got Harry Potter fans' attention, says Ludlam.
"Once we’d agreed with all the authorities, with all the landowners and the people who own the beach, the local residents, how we’d make landfall, I remember BBC Wales said, 'Could you come down and just do a quick thing,'" he recalled, per The Independent.
Next thing you know he was being inundated with hundreds of phone calls from Potterheads.
"My colleague Tom, who works in permitting, said, 'Simon, we’re going to have to respond to these calls,'" Ludlam went on. "And I said, 'well, Tom, I’m super busy.' And he goes, 'no, no, we really have to respond to this.'"
Ludlam admitted he didn't have a clue who Dobby was when he learned why people were so outraged, but quickly educated himself after his colleague said it was a 'very, very serious' matter.
"So we got back with the planners and discussed exactly how to reroute the cable so we wouldn't go anymore into Dobby's grave," Ludlam continued.
"And a lot of people were very happy about that and, you know, the project's now going and Dobby's happy."
The cable has been up and running since last year and is said to power as many as 380,000 homes.
Topics: Harry Potter, UK News, Wales
Niamh Shackleton