Dumbledore's death

[cat_kind]

No: HPFGUIDX 127425


> Tonks:
> > > Well this might not be the popular idea, but I think that DD is 
> > > imortal. 
> snip
>  So if I think that out, I guess 
> > > it means he dies at some point, but never really. He always comes 
> > > back. So in that way DD can never die. After all in SS/PS he says 
> > > that he will never be gone from Hogwarts as long as someone there 
> > > needs him, or was it believes in him. Anyway I think that means 
> that 
> > > he can not die. 
> snip
> 
> imamommy:
> I think this plays into the them that's already been introduced:  
> that Harry needs to learn that (in this series, at any rate) death is 
> not the end, there is an existence beyond the veil, and the ones we 
> love never truly leave us.  (That's a movie quote, I know, but I like 
> it.)
> 
> Whether DD will be proven physically immortal, as Tonks suggest, or 
> whether he will only live on in legacy and memory, is anyone's 
> guess.  I hope, for his sake, he gets to leave the confines of this 
> world and go on to a better place, but that's just me.
> 
> imamommy

catkind: Here's a couple of Dumbledore quotes on death and the dead
(taken from willowsevern's wonderful character guides):

Dumbledore(PS): "To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible,
but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a
very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is
but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such
a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two
things most human beings would choose above all -- the trouble is,
humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are
worst for them." 

Harry(PoA): "It was stupid, thinking it was him," he muttered. "I
mean, I knew he was dead."
DD replies: "You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You
think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of
great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself
most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce
that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night."

I don't think an (earthly) immortal would make the first statement,
though it sounds like DD believes in an afterlife of some kind.  

I wanted to include the second quote because I find it rather less
trite than the film version. (Ah - I didn't say that. Honest. Film,
what film?) It also indicates clearly that DD's idea of the dead still
being around is about the memory of them and not themselves.
Then of course there's the enigmatic exchange
DD: "We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man,
Tom,"..."Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit-"
LV: "There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!"
DD: "You are quite wrong,"... "Indeed, your failure to understand that
there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest
weakness - "

At least, I'm assuming it's supposed to be enigmatic.  Actually, we've
already seen one thing that's worse than death: being soul-sucked by a
Dementor. I don't see how LV can have missed that, he seems quite
friendly with the Dementors. 

But what on earth is DD planning?  Not just killing LV but also... Or
not killing him at all?  It would be poetic justice to take away
Voldemort's magic and leave him a Muggle, but would seem to violate
the "either must die at the hand of the other".  

For what it's worth, my current mad theory is that DD will die, and in
a sacrificial way, but not for Harry, for Snape. For example, Snape
could get caught spying and DD go in to rescue him, getting killed in
the process. This is based on no logic whatsoever, just on the
dramatic possibilities of the scenario.  I think Harry's had enough
people dying for him, poor kid. 
    
catkind - off to look up old threads about things much worse than death