JK Rowling's Cornelius Fudge was real To be clear, we do not think JK Rowling found the inspiration for Cornelius Fudge from anywhere other than her wondrous imagination, one that has yielded far greater fantasies than this particular moniker. However, what if she had picked up Cornelius in a junk shop, so to speak? Inspiration can be found in the most unlikely places, including the mouthparts of a marine mammal, especially the fabulous narwhal, and there is nothing wrong with that. Serendipity is a no less wondrous thing than the mind of JK Rowling. We just wonder whether the narwhal "tusk" is in fact the horn of the fabled unicorn, itself another star of the Potter universe. That would be a story.