Dumbledore = Nicholas Flamel?

[elirtai]

No: HPFGUIDX 36284

Hello,

A Barkeep in Diagon Alley wrote:
> Is Dumbledore really Nicholas Flamel? [rest snipped]

An interesting theory, I enjoyed reading it :-)
I don't really believe it, but I can't find any holes.

Kelly the Yarn Junkie countered:
> Since Dumbledore's brother is still alive, I doubt this.

I've looked up the part about his brother, and my conclusion is that 
we have no real evidence about him having a live brother, other than 
his own words. If the theory was true, this wouldn't be the hardest 
part to fake. Here's the quote (from GoF, chapter 24, "Rita Skeeter's 
scoop"):

[begin quote]
An excellent point," said Professor Dumbledore. "My own brother, 
Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a 
goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did 
not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of 
course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been 
bravery..."
[end quote]

Note that it was "all over the papers", but we know how easily press 
can be manipulated. And there's the prosecution proceedings probably,
anyway the Ministry seems to be as easily fooled as the press, if not 
more... so this is not necessarily a hole although it was well 
spotted.

Now, for my own contribution and other reasons why I don't believe it
(although that's a hunch, nothing of this is hard evidence either).

First, he appears in Tom Riddle's diary. His apparent age (which he 
could have altered magically, I'll grant) is consistent with his 
supposed age at that time. That's also near the time of his victory 
over Grindelwald, which must have weighed for his election as next 
headmaster. He became a famous man if he wasn't before. He was
probably in focus on the papers, and was the buzz of the moment.
Surely a lot of people were trying to dig his past up. It would be
hard to explain why the staff at Hogwarts who admitted him didn't
know anything.

Anyway, the Barkeep further says:
> Taking a cue from the Elves in the Lord of the Rings, nothing 
> eliminates desire like being immortal -- there's simply all the 
time 
> in the world to do whatever you want to do, kind of takes the fun 
out 
> of it.

Yes, I agree with that! But if you look at Dumbledore now, and at 
Tolkien's elves, there's a definite difference. He has fun out of a 
lot of things. He's one to involve himself and take a stance in every 
situation. He certainly doesn't looks like one who has got bored with 
life knowing that life will eventually give him everything he wants.

Cheers,
Elirtai