Dumbledore the General

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 124237


>>northsouth:
>All of this stuff is personal to Voldemort. Perhaps, like last time, 
defeating Voldemort himself would be enough to end the war (though 
considering the number of unrepentant DEs hanging around, it seems to 
have been ended far from effectively) but they still have to get to 
Voldemort. So far the only one who has managed to do that is Harry, 
and that's beacuse Voldemort is too much of MWAHAHA type villain. 
He's always doing stupid dangerous things so he can get a chance to 
face off Harry himself. Harry has yet to really take initiative and 
go after LV, and if he ever does, it will need a much better 
organized, better coordinated, possessing better intelligence and 
strategy Order than I've seen so far.<

Betsy:
Dumbledore almost had Voldemort trapped in PS/SS in front of the 
mirror.  That had nothing to do with Harry.  (Though I don't think 
Dumbledore was expecting to actually catch *Voldemort*.)  Also, I 
think Dumbledore recognized that the last war was never really over.  
He knew that Voldemort had been weakened but not defeated.  (I think 
that's why so many Death Eaters were still kicking around.  They knew 
their boss wasn't fully gone.)  Though Dumbledore is fully aware that 
only Harry will be able to take Voldemort down.  You have to keep in 
mind, while judging his performance, that Dumbledore has been trying 
to *delay* the inevitable meeting between Harry and Voldemort.  In 
Dumbledore's opinion, Harry was too young for the fight.  So much of 
his strategy has been to keep Harry and Voldemort apart, and most 
importantly, keep Harry alive.

But in the greater picture thing, I think Dumbledore is working very 
hard to unite the magical world.  He's been working at it for a while 
as far as I can tell (his treatment of Hagrid and Lupin, for example) 
and I think he sees the seperation and distrust within the world as a 
large part of Voldemort's power.  So I think this is where Dumbledore 
has been the most pro-active.  He's reached out to the giants, the 
werewolves (I believe?), and to the other wizarding schools.  He's 
also encouraged the four houses of Hogwarts to work together.  As of 
right now, Dumbledore's efforts appear to be working. 

You're right, Northsouth, that Dumbledore has not gone after 
Voldemort.  The Order has been playing a defensive game.  Keep Harry 
safe, keep the prophecy away from Voldemort, keep Voldemort down for 
as long as possible.  I think that changed at the end of OotP when 
Dumbledore recognized that Harry will no longer be kept locked away.  
And it will be interesting to watch the Order go on the offense.  
However, I think Dumbledore has been doing a lot of behind the scenes 
work gathering allies and resources.  When the Order finally does 
step up, I think we, the readers, will be surprised at the assets 
Dumbledore will have.

I also think Dumbledore has set some balls rolling that will have an 
interesting effect on the WW as a whole.  I think some laws are going 
to be changed, and attitudes adjusted.  It'll be interesting to see 
how far things will change, but JKR has set us up for at least a 
start.  And I think Dumbledore's efforts will be recognized at least 
by the readers.

All my opinion of course! :)

Betsy