Albus Dumbledore: the myth and the man

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 96135

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> wrote:

snip
> 
> 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.
> 

Nice post. 
Explaining DD will probably get you a  doctorate in years to come, but
for us it's merely verging on the impossible, we haven't reached the end.
Doesn't stop us trying though.

Part  of the problem with the omniscience thing is that he knows too 
much about some things yet acts as if he knows nothing about others.

He knew Harry was looking into the Erised mirror.
Fawkes turns up with the Sorting Hat and Gryffindors sword in CoS. Can
he be presumed to know what Harry wanted without DD's instructions?
And I've lost count of the number of times he's asked Harry "Is there
something you wish to tell me?" -  invariably when there's something
Harry should tell him. T'ain't natural.
He tells Harry in OoP that he watched Harry "from afar" with his problems
with the Dementors in PoA.
He knows entirely too much about what went on at Godrics Hollow for 
someone who wasn't there.
It's all a mixture - no apparent consistency. 

I love conspiracy theories, as most are aware, so naturally conspiracy 
explains all. DD was originally thought to be the 'mentor' figure; he
probably still is - but his mentoring has taken some strange paths.

I first posted a piece on this as a joke job evaluation and performance
review in 'FLOOZY  No.1-The Dumbledore Papers', 65696; since then
my suspicions have hardened.  It's this damn 'plan' of his. Obviously
the defeat of Voldy is top of the menu, but how and what is Harry's
role from DD's point of view? Is he Weapon!Harry, Successor!Harry
or what? DD won't attempt to  kill Voldy, why not? Yet he tells Harry
that the end will be the death of Harry or Voldy. So how will Harry
do it? Has all this angst just been a training schedule? What DD knows
and what he says are not necessarily the same thing.

I agree that he graveyard incident was a shock to him; it was entirely
unexpected, but at the same time he must have known Crouch!Moody
was a fake. They were old friends, going back to the first Voldy War, it's
impossible that he didn't notice something amiss in an entire school
year. Crouch might look like Moody, but he doesn't have his memory.
The inconsistencies mount.

Total omniscience is unlikely, agreed. But DD still knows a lot more
than we're aware of IMO. How much? If he'd give us the details of his
plan it might be (should be) possible to make an informed guess but 
even then I'd expect surprising revelations.

Kneasy