Inside Dumbledores Head (was Re: Prophets without Honour)

[B Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 79546

Laura- edited
 >>
Okay, okay, I'm beginning to come around to the suspicious!DD side.
There's evidence that JKR wants us to start distancing ourselves from
him as well-the couple of incidents in which Harry sees him become a
fear-inspiring figure in OoP. Those just confirm what we have known
for a while-that DD can be pretty tough-minded if he wants to be. He
had no problem hanging Snape out to dry in front of Fudge in PoA, and
doing the same to Fudge in the last 2 books.

But if I'm reading all the posts correctly, Kneasy is a lot more
hostile to DD than either Pip or Kirstini. The latter 2 think he's
fundamentally on the good side but that he makes some decisions that
are either poorly thought out or just plain cruel. But Kneasy thinks
there's something else going on with DD altogether.


I still can't decide, though, whether Kirstini and Pip are right or
whether Kneasy is (if I'm understanding everyone correctly). Clearly
DD has the big picture to deal with. Clearly he has to make
decisions that might hurt individuals in order to save society.
(Although it would have been better for Harry and Sirius if DD had
cared about Harry just a little less-then DD would have been able to
tell Harry what he needed to know.) Whether his behavior toward
Harry will change is still an open question; I think his remarks in
OoP simply suggest that he's called himself on his own behavior and
intends to be honest with himself from now on.

But Kneasy thinks there's something deeper going on with DD. A
personal vendetta against LV? A drive to dominate the world
himself? Is he really only fighting LV for pride or ego? I defer to
my superiors on the list for further explanation.
 >>

Hostile? To DD? Moi? Surely you jest.

I'm sorry if my posts read that way, but suspicion not hostility is my 
theme. ESE!DD is not my fantasy ending. But there are different grades 
and nuances of suspicion. What I have is not suspicions of motives or 
betrayal, but suspicions of his function, his place in the order of 
things. What is he up to? What is the function he is fulfilling? How 
will this  govern his actions?

What bothers me - well, let me sift through the rummage bin hat passes 
for my intellect and try to fit a few pieces together.

I am intrigued by where DD  fits in the cast list. He is (was) expected 
to be the mentor/guardian figure for Harry and the other 'youngsters' 
(With that I include the Sirius/James/Lupin generation as well). He is 
the well-worn, battered veteran; been there, seen that, got the 
cauldron. He's getting old; now's  the time to pass on the knowledge, 
skills, advice, ready to slide into a less demanding position. But he 
doesn't. He has an 'otherness' a detachment from events that doesn't 
sit well with his perceived role.

There is no exposition of plans or strategy. Just the largely 
ineffectual Order, from which he sends out members on assignments. He 
never explains why or how the results or intelligence gathered will be 
used. He has no understudy, no second in command privy to his plans. If 
anything happened to him, the whole thing would fall apart. But he is 
not a participant, as far as we can tell. He is a Black Hole; 
everything goes in, nothing, especially not light, comes out. He gives 
facile explanations to Harry, the 'reasons why' something has happened. 
They don't convince. There's more. Much more.

How often does he seem really concerned about Harry's position? How  
often does he really get involved? Well, twice actually. Once after the 
Portkey!Cup and once at the Ministry. (The other possible time, at the 
end of PS/SS I don't count. Reviving Harry etc. was just straightening 
the furniture after an unfortunate disturbance.)

The impression given is that he only intervenes when events are 
deviating from some pre-ordained script. Crouch!Moody and the Portkey 
were not in that script; things were coming off the rails. It wasn't 
supposed to happen this way. then he finds out that Voldemort has used 
blood from Harry - the gleam! Ah! things are back on track again.

The Ministry fracas - Harry should have been protected by his 
Occlumancy lessons; but because of the antipathy between he and Snape 
and teenage bloody-mindedness / curiosity, he didn't knuckle down and 
do it. Either one on it's own would probably not have prevented him 
acquiring sufficient protection. But the juncture of the two, plus 
Snape's reaction was more powerful than DD imagined.
He was vulnerable. So DD has to intervene to prevent things going 
belly-up. (Cheer up, Laura! It wasn't really DD's fault after all.)

Does he *know* what is to happen? Little  seems to surprise him. Calm, 
collected and *ready*, even when Harry comes back from the graveyard to 
tell him V is back. No doubts, no confusion, no checking what assets he 
has available, no planning what to do next. He's ready. Is it his job 
to ensure things go to plan? What plan? Whose plan?

How can we fit this contradictory pattern into the plot? It's 
difficult. DD acts as a cross  between a prompter, reminding the cast 
how they should respond to a cue and to an overseer, making sure 
certain tasks are fulfilled. Within the confines  of the Potterverse 
this character package is  an anomaly. Why is it there? I can't come up 
with a credible answer.

But this is Fantasy. Step back a bit. Distance lends enchantment.
Suppose  more  than the Potterverse  is involved. There is a 
possibility, no more than just a chance, that longer timelines should 
be considered, that the Harry Potter story is a link in a much longer 
chain. At the start of every school year the Sorting Hat gives us a 
reminder of beginnings, of a continuity of themes.
This wider view could explain Dumbledore. He could be assigned a role 
that is a recurring myth in many cultures. That of the advisor/hero who 
appears at times of great need. Merlin, for example. To such, Harry and 
his friends would be transient, small stuff in the greater scheme of 
things. DD is reputed to be 150 years old. What can a person of this 
age have in common with a 15  year old boy. Not much. Common purposes 
at  best. If, as I mused yesterday, he has perhaps been re-born using 
the Essence of PS, he could be much older. He knows people die. He's 
seen it, time and again. The tragedy is if he has  to go on, time and 
again. As he said to Voldemort, there are worse things than death.

This is no  more  than  a hypothesis; an attempt too explain 
observations that do not seem to fit into ordinary categories. I will 
not be surprised if  it's wrong, but I still insist on my basic premise 
that DD is up to something. Being tempted into the realms of myth is 
the only way I can reconcile his actions and attitudes with being on 
the side of good. Mind you, I can always change my mind later. depends 
if I  can fit some pieces into a different pattern. For now I'm stuck 
with this one.

Kneasy

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