JK Rowling has admitted that Harry Potter character Professor Dolores Umbridge was based on a real person.
The author revealed that she incorporated elements of a woman whom she "disliked intensely on sight" into her depiction of the callous Hogwarts teacher, played by Imelda Staunton in the film franchise.
"Dolores is one of the characters for whom I feel the purest dislike," explained Rowling in an essay posted on her website devoted to the series of fantasy novels, Pottermore.com, earlier today (October 31).
"Her desire to control, to punish, and to inflict pain, all in the name of law and order, are, I think, every bit as reprehensible as Lord Voldemort's unvarnished espousal of evil."
Of the tutor's real-life counterpart, she added: "The woman in question returned my antipathy with interest.
"Why we took against each other so instantly, heartily and (on my side, at least) irrationally, I honestly cannot say."
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Rowling also shared new details about the character's background, including the revelation that she is a half-blood - half-wizard, half-Muggle - and not a pure-blood, as she claimed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The essay is one of several added to Pottermore to celebrate the addition of the fifth book in the young adult series to the interactive site.
Rowling hinted at the content of the 1,700 word piece in an announcement made earlier this week.
The author is currently writing the follow-up to her 2011 novel The Casual Vacancy, which has been adapted for TV by BBC One in association with HBO.
A new film trilogy based on Rowling's Harry Potter companion book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is also in development.
