Albus Dumbledore: the myth and the man

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 96085

I already posted my critique of puppet-master!DD from one aspect, 
that of the message in the story (#95461, #95566). Here I want to 
explain what, IMO, is wrong with it from the aspect of the plot. On 
this occasion I'll also take a close look at a related and even more 
common myth: the myth of omniscient!DD.

The myth of omniscient!DD had originated, I think, mainly from that 
remark of Harry by the end of SS/PS, in which he says 
(paraphrasing): "I think DD knows most anything that goes on here at 
Hogwarts". People had come up with clever ideas how DD sees 
everything that happens in Hogwarts, such as him being a bumblebee 
animagus or using the portraits as spies. Of course, we know that 
Harry's impressions are wrong as often as not, and besides this 
remark of him we don't have much support in canon for omniscient!DD. 
OTOH we have a lot of canon against it. Here is a partial list:

1. In SS/PS, Voldy is in Hogwarts during the whole year inside 
Quirrell's turban, right underneath DD's crooked nose, and DD doesn't 
seem to notice.

2. In CoS, DD does not manage to locate the entrance to the Chamber 
of Secrets, although all it would take is realizing who is Moaning 
Myrtle and questioning her about her death. 

3. Moreover, during this whole year DD fails to notice that one ickle 
firstie (namely Ginny) has been running around killing roosters, 
writing messages in blood on the corridors' walls and opening the 
Chamber. It was only sheer luck (or more likely JKR wanting to avoid 
causalities at such an early stage) that the attacked students were 
only petrified.

4. In GoF, Crouch Jr. manages to masquerade for almost the whole year 
as a Hogwarts professor and DD's close friend without DD realizing 
it. 

5. During the same year, Crouch Sr. visits Hogwarts twice while under 
the imperius curse. DD notices Crouch's starnge behavior but fails to 
realize the reason. 

6. Crouch Jr. manages to murder his father on the skirts of the 
Forbidden Forest, almost on the Hogwarts grounds, without DD catching 
him.

7. Still in GoF, DD does not realize why Harry's name was entered 
into the Goblet, and does not discover in time that the Goblet was 
turned into a portkey. 

8. DD's mistakes in OotP require a whole post of themselves to 
recount, two of which he openly admits by the end of the year.
 
9. DD, as he fully admits in PoA, didn't realize that James, Sirius 
and Peter were animagi, although they were roaming Hogwarts grounds 
and the Forbidden Forest for three whole years with Werewolf!Remus. 

10. DD had also failed for three years to discover that Pettigrew was 
living in Hogwarts as Scabbers.


This partial list does not fit very well with the myth of omniscient!
DD who knows "most anything that goes on at Hogwarts". OTOH it fits 
perfectly with DD's own remark to Karkarof (GOF 23) that "I would 
never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets". I know DD says 
this in humor, but DD has a tendency to make important points while 
joking. I wrote here before that DD often strikes me as a wise man of 
the Socrates' type: he is wise because he knows how much he does not 
know.

It is indeed possible to explain away many of the items above, as 
several list members have ingeniously done in the past, by saying 
that DD did know about them and it was actually part of this or that 
plan that he had. Explaining away *all* of these items, however, 
would require a conspiracy theory of gigantic proportions. It would 
probably also require that DD had lied to Harry (and us) more than 
once, for example about not knowing that the marauders were animagi. 
It would probably require DD to take incredible risks. For example, 
how could he predict that Harry will survive the graveyard 
confrontation with Voldy (even assuming DD was willing to sacrifice 
Cedric)? Crediting DD with so much knowledge, foreknowledge and the 
ability to manipulate others would make him practically super human. 
Poor Voldy would be hardly an opponent. In fact, why didn't 
omniscient!DD defeat stupid (by comparison) Tom years and years ago?

It is of course possible to explain only *some* of the items above 
(take your pick). Where would that leave us? With a wise man that is 
not omniscient, that is frequently a step behind his evil foe, and 
sometimes makes critical mistakes. Personally I find such a view of 
DD much more human, realistic and interesting.

Neri