[HPforGrownups] Dumbledore’s flawed plan

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 135872

eggplant107 wrote:
> Please ignore my previous message, it was sent in error
> 
> In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "houyhnhnm102" Wrote
> 
>  > Dumbledore *sacrificing* his life
>  > is completely in character for me.
> 
> But a pointless sacrifice was not in character and Dumbledore's death
> accomplished nothing, in fact it was a disaster because now the most
> powerful weapon the good guys had (with the possible exception of
> Harry) is gone. If Dumbledore did have some secret grand master plan
> cooked up with Snape I think it is very safe to say that things did
> not go as expected. I do not believe that having a gang of Death
> Eaters and a homicidal werewolf who likes to attack kids enter the
> castle while Dumbledore was away was part of the plan.
> 
> I also do not think letting Harry watch as Snape killed Dumbledore
> without telling Harry it was what Dumbledore wanted could have
> possibly been part of the plan. In book 5 Dumbledore blundered in not
> telling Harry earlier about the prophecy and a good man died as a
> result, I don't believe he would make the same mistake and keep Harry
> in the dark again. He must have known if he saw his Headmaster
> murdered Harry would spend the rest of his life if need be to hunt
> down and kill the murderer, he might even make getting Snape a greater
> priority than killing Voldemort.  It seems to me it would have been
> prudent to say to Harry "Oh by the way, Professor Snape is going to
> kill me with an unforgivable curse but don't worry, I asked him to do
> it". Dumbledore told Harry nothing of the sort so we can conclude that
> Snape's actions were not part of the plan and thus Snape is just what
> he seems to be, evil.
> 
> Eggplant       

   Kathy writes:
       While I am quite certain that Dumbledore did not plan his own 
death, I am equally certain that he was aware of the possibility of it. 
He would have covered all possible bases. Once he was nearly killed 
retrieving the first horcrux the possibilities of his being killed 
increased dramatically. As the damage to his hand happened during the 
summer before Hogwarts opened, he had lots of time to make arrangements 
particularly if he knew he was dying as a result of that damage. He knew 
that drinking the potion in the cave would probably kill him, but that 
is not a huge worry to a man who knows that he is already dying.
       I don't think that he planned for Deatheaters to enter the castle 
either, but he knew there was a plan afoot and he filled the castle with 
  Order members as damage control. He also made sure to ask how they got 
in so that Harry could see to patching up the hole later.
       If the potion had killed him, it would have been a truly 
pointless death, which is why he wanted Snape brought to him 
immediately. If Draco killed him, it would also have done nothing to 
imptove the situation for the Order. Only by having Snape kill him could 
he place an Order member right beside Voldemort.
       Yes, he made the same mistake that he made last time in not 
telling Harry the whole story, but he really can't do that. The only 
reason that Voldemort is not in Harry's mind is because he is hiding 
from Harry what he is doing. He still has access to Harry's mind if he 
chooses to access it. Dumbledore has to be deliberately vague in what he 
tells Harry about Snape in spite of the fact that it is going to cause 
problems in the end.
KJ