Albus Dumbledore (character sketch)

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 14204

Hi everyone --

I've snipped Caius' EXCELLENT summary of Dumbledore --
thought-provoking, thorough & very well-written.  Wow!  I had planned to
trim my Hermione FAQ to serve as her character summary in a few weeks
but perhaps I'll not trim too much since everyone seems to be enjoying
the longer summary.

Okay ... on to the questions:

> 1. We all remember the chilling scene in GoF, when Barty Crouch Jr.
> explains to Harry how each of his actions as Moody was coldly
> calculated to advance Voldemort's agenda.  Will there someday be a
> parallel scene where Dumbledore will explain his own coldly
> calculated behind-the-scenes maneuverings to Harry?

At first I wondered if you were alluding to the whole "gleam in his eye
may mean Dumbledore is really evil" discussions we've had in the past,
but then I re-read this a few times & looked at everyone else's
comments.  I was one of the only ones in previous discussions to say
that I don't think that Dumbledore is pure white without the slightest
fleck of gray in his character on a hypothetical continuum of white
(pure goodness) to black (pure unadulterated evil).  I think he's
complex.  Don't misunderstand: I think he's good ... just not "pure
unblemished" good.

Other seem to interpret your question as whether Dumbledore is "coldly"
manipulating Harry.  I agree with those members that he is not doing
that.  He is manipulating Harry IMO.

But, making cold calculating decisions is different than making
decisions based on coldly calculated motives.  I think he has the best
of intentions, but I think he's been making some calculated decisions as
far as what to let Harry be exposed to and learn about and when.  I
think he knows considerably more than his exterior persona would
suggest.  And, I think he's been manipulating events since November 1981
when he placed Harry with the Dursleys.  I think his motives will all
turn out, when revealed by him or by others later, to be good (and I
think it's likely that his decisions will be shown to have been wise).
But, I think there's been some devious calculating going on inside the
old codger's head.

> 3.Will Dumbledore survive the series? Will he hang in there until
> Book Seven, or perish earlier? Will be die with harness on his back,
> like good king Macbeth, or peacefully in his bed?

My bet is that he will die at the end of Book 6 -- possibly sometime in
Book 7.  But, I do think Harry will be left to face the final
confrontation with Voldemort without his mentor.

> 4. If Dumbledore dies, who will succeed him as Headmaster?

As someone noted, I think that may depend alot on the circumstances of
his death & the status of Hogwarts at that time (in the midst of a huge
war).  Hard to predict those circumstances, but in general, I think
Minerva McGonagall is being groomed to be his successor.  I do find
Rebecca's arguments for Snape to be compelling in some respects, but my
bet is still on McGonagall at the moment.

> 5. Voldy loves nothing more than to talk about himself (see Chapters
> 32-34 in GoF).   By contrast, most of what we know of Dumbledore's
> past was on the back of a trading card.  What is the significance of
> Dumbledore's consistent refusal to talk about himself?

I think being a mystery suits his purposes .... I think he rather enjoys
that people don't really have him figured out.

Gwen said:

> > 6. How did Dumbledore defeat the Dark Wizard Grindelwald?
> >
> I'm so glad you asked. I'm working on a backstory that will address my take
> on this, but I believe that there's no question Grindelwald was working
> with Hitler. I think that in both cases, the senior officers realized they were
> loose canons and conspired to do something about it. In the Muggle camp,
> the attempt on Hitler's life failed. On the Wizard side, it succeeded, and the
> disloyal officers (including a very young Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy's
> father) were able to set Grindlewald up to run into Dumbledore and his team
> of wizards who were on their way to besiege him. Without the assistance of
> his lieutenants, Grindlewald was forced to duel on his own. And Dumblydore
> kicked butt, but I don't think he's proud of it, in retrospect (see above).
> Maybe Olympe was part of the French Resistance wizards who helped him
> infiltrate the front to get to Grindy. (This also helps reinforce the
> Malfoy family prestige among wizards.)
>
Gwen: I can't wait to read your fanfic!  I've been very very intrigued
by the parallels to WWII in this series (I'm a bit of a WWII buff in
fact).  If you're not aware, we've had a fair number of discussions in
the past on this topic.  You might want to check out the Archives from
our former Yahoo Club days (see the home page for the URL) as well as
our current message archives.  We had a member who used to be a regular
poster (Brooks) who was writing a similar fanfic (I beta-read the first
few chapters for him but then he's disappeared & never finished the fic
as far as I know).  Anyway .... be sure to post the ff.net reference to
our Announcements Group when you write it (or each chapter)!!

Back to CMC's questions:

> 8. Did Dumbledore really forget to shut the door on the Pensive? Or
> did he mean for Harry to find it?  Does the flashback to the Crouch
> trial suggest that Dumbledore was considering the possibility that
> Crouch might be lurking about?

If you believe that he meant for Harry to find it, you must also believe
that Dumbledore knew Harry would be coming to his office (or that in the
space of time beginning with Harry coming into the office & him leaving
with Fudge et al, he had enough time to decide to leave it open in hopes
Harry would find it).  I don't think he was altogether surprised that
Harry did find it ... but I don't think he could have intended that
discovery (I do think he intended Harry to find the Mirror of Erised
though).  If he knew that Harry was coming to his office ... he would
know "why" he was coming, right?  I don't think even the seemingly
all-knowing Dumbledore has that much knowledge.

I think maybe Dumbledore was just trying to make sense of the whole DE
post-Voldy I mess .... Kakaroff, Bagman, Crouch Jr., Snape .... he was
trying to see if there could be some connection with those individuals &
current troubling events, perhaps?

> 10. Dumbledore tells Harry that the one thing Voldemort cannot
> understand is love.  Does Dumbledore understand love?  How does he
> demonstrate (or fail to demonstrate) it?

I think he understands & feels love.  If he didn't understand love, it
would be difficult for him to make his memorable summations at the end
of each book (how could he explain Lily's sacrifice and Harry's
connection with his father).

Thanks again for such a wonderful summary!!

Penny


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]