Welsh Environmental Officials Beg 'Harry Potter' Fans To Stop Leaving Socks On Dobby's Beach

Welsh environmental officials have asked Harry Potter fans to dial it back for the sake of the planet.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that conservation charity the National Trust Wales had completed an eight-month review of the effects the socks and other junk people were leaving at the Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, better known as the beach where Dobby famously died in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

The review concluded that the socks were having a negative effect on natural wildlife, and the environmental officials subsequently forbade Harry Potter tourists from leaving tributes to Dobby on the beach in the future.

You may recall that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 concludes with house elf Dobby, who had scarcely appeared in the Harry Potter movies since his star turn in The Chamber of Secrets, getting murked by Bellatrix Lestrange. He dies in Harry Potter's arms in a scene that's either deeply tragic or deeply hilarious, depending on your investment in the character and franchise.

Potter fans have since set up a memorial at the real-world location where Dobby's death was filmed, and for years have paid tribute to the CGI house elf by leaving socks and other items of clothing (this is because in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, house elves can only be freed when their master presents them with clothes, leading to a moment where Harry frees Dobby from the villainous Malfoy household by tricking Lucius Malfoy into giving Dobby a sock).

As Harry Potter fans have become something of a punchline to jaded millennials, the fact that environmental officials had to step in to stop the Potter fandom from harming the planet struck many as very funny.

For most people, this was the first they'd heard of "Dobby's grave" or "Dobby's Beach," and many came up with similar ideas on how they'd interact with it.

Luckily for Potter fans, the memorial will remain open, just without the thrill of leaving junk on the beach. Dobby doesn't need it anyway after all. He was freed 24 years ago.