The Name Game

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 110059

dcgmck:
> While many of the posts I've read on various sites generally 
accept 
> the definition of Dumbledore as bumble bee, the ensuing 
discussions 
> have never really satisfied me.  Inspired by Amey, I ran a few 
> Internet searches on "dumble" and "dore".  

Jen: JKR also said in the Connection interview in 1999 that she 
always imagined Dumbledore walking around humming, like a bumble 
bee, and that this was the connection between the old English word 
for bumblebee and his personality. That fits in with Dumbledore's 
whimsical style, when he's in a good mood anyway, and neither Harry 
nor the school is being threatened!

JKR also said in the Royal Albert Hall appearance that Albus means 
both 'white and wisdom'.

dcgmck:
> Now, if one understands "Dumbledore" to be a golden amplifier, 
things 
> get really interesting.  DD's clearly a master strategist, a 
> canonically adept legilemens, and "the only one he (TR/LV) ever 
> feared."  Despite all this, we have only only seen him engage in 
> actual physical combat once in OotP and heard about his late 
arrival 
> in PS/SS when he is helping Harry get caught up on three days' 
lost 
> time in the hospital ward (wing?).  We hear of his dedication to 
his 
> position as headmaster of Hogwarts and we hear from his own lips 
that 
> precious little can pry him from his post.  The two times he is 
> forced out of office (CoS, OotP), his spirit (and presumably 
spies) 
> retain a close watch on all that is happening and he himself is 
> within short hailing range.  His primary function, then, seems to 
be 
> that of an educator, one who helps others to "amplify" their own 
> potential into useful skills for future endeavors.  Unlike LV, who 
is 
> also eager to make use of others, DD's aim is positive (golden), 
like 
> his search for helpful uses of dragon's blood, like his co-
creation 
> of the philosopher's stone.


Jen: This is one of the better interpretations of Dumbledore I've 
read! We know so little about his life prior to the Prophecy, but 
since the Prophecy, his role is very much that of a person behind 
the scenes, attempting to strategize and, indeed, 'amplify' Harry's 
ability to defeat Voldemort. Dumbledore knows and accepts he cannot 
defeat Voldemort, no matter how hard he tries. His role is that of 
the coach waiting in the wings: guiding, critiquing, analyzing, 
strategizing, but in the end, allowing Harry to move forward on his 
own (and all the students as you said). It's not easy to surrender 
the outcome after so much involvement, the endless planning and 
especially his emotional connection to Harry, but that's exactly 
what Dumbledore is starting to do by the end of OOTP. 

Here's more support for your thoughts, dcgmck, from JKR at the Royal 
Albert Hall appearance in 2003:

"Dumbledore, um, I don't want to say too much on this because you may
find that it gives too much away but Dumbledore is a very wise man 
who firstly knows that Harry is going to have to learn a few hard 
lessons to prepare him for what may be coming in his life. So he 
allows Harry to do an awful lot of things he maybe wouldn't allow 
another pupil to do and he also unwillingly permits Harry to 
confront a lot of things rather than protect him from... but as 
people who have finished Order of the Phoenix will know, Dumbledore 
has had to step back a little bit from Harry in an effort to teach 
him some of life's harder lessons."

Jen Reese, who likes the image of Dumbledore humming as he walks 
around Hogwarts, looking for a mug of hot chocolate.