An AK Puzzle

[mt3t3l1]

No: HPFGUIDX 134036

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mt3t3l1" <mt3t3l1 at y...> 
wrote:
> > 
> > It is unclear to me what caused Dumbledore to be blasted into the 
> air 
> > and then to fall from the tower. Was it the effect of a partially 
> > effective AK coming from Snape? Did Dumbledore accomplish it 
> himself--
> > which would make it suicide? (I don't like that explanation, but 
> it 
> > has to be considered.) Does anybody have any other thoughts?
> 
> 
> Tonks:
> Maybe it is because of the power that is in DD. He is the most 
> powerful wizard of the age.  So the AK met this personal power of 
> the most powerful wizard.  One could speculate that Snape used a 
lot 
> of power himself to do the job, but I think it is the power within 
> DD that exploded.  The others that have been AKed were not as 
> powerful.
> 
> If we remember that in real wizardry, which JKR has undoubtedly 
> researched, the wizard has his own developed power and the ability 
> to harness the power of the universe.  So there would be a 
> tremendous amount of power within DD.  Also I think that DD even 
> weak, perhaps dying of poison, without a wand could have defended 
> himself even then.  It would have been a simple thing for him, 
> powerful as he is.  I think that he allowed himself to be killed.  
I 
> don't believe that anyone could have killed DD if he had not 
allowed 
> it to happen. 
> 
> Tonks_op

That makes sense to me, Tonks_op. I agree with you that, even in a 
weakened state, DD should have been able to defend himself without a 
wand. Even though the poison had weakened him considerably, just a 
few minutes earlier he had been able to fly into Hogwarts on a broom, 
and to remove the spells protecting unauthorized entrance as he flew.

The description of DD's death now looks a bit different in light of 
the recent JKR interview:

ES: Was Dumbledore planning to die?
JKR: [Pause.] Do you think that's going to be the big theory?
MA & ES: Yes. It'll be a big theory.

This makes me wonder--did Snape's use of the AK really come as a 
surprise to DD? Was the poison so potent that at this point DD 
actually couldn't resist the AK? If Snape did have the requisite 
level of hatred for DD to allow him to perform the AK properly, 
perhaps it was indeed DD's inner reserves of power that caused him 
not to die instantly but to be blasted off the tower and subsequently 
to die from the fall.

Merrylinks