Has anyone thought that Dumbledore knows what the outcome is going to be?
Michael
mggoulden at yahoo.co.uk
Wed Jun 8 11:34:55 UTC 2005
No: HPFGUIDX 130309
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
hogwarts121943:"That time turner, what makes us think that he [DD?]
has not used it to see what is going to [happen to?] Harry? He can't
interfere with what is going to happen, but he can keep Harry safe..."
Jim Ferer: "Dumbledore *should* have told Harry about the eye contact
thing, along with a lot of other stuff. His avoidance hurt Harry. It
won't happen again, but some damage was done, particularly the MoM
battle that included Sirius's death. OTOH, the battle was a major
defeat for Voldemort."
mggoulden: Hello all. First time poster, so I've got my fingers
crossed I'm doing everything right!
Dumbledore is my favourite character in the books because he has
always come across as deceptively complex. Also, he's powerful, both
physically and politically, but never comes across as arrogant or
manipulative, although there is a definitive Machiavellian streak in
him! Does he know the future? Interestingly, I have come across a
theory - implausible - which states that he did meddle with time
during the events of Halloween 1980 in order to keep Harry safe from
harm: (http://www.redhen-publications.com/24Hours.html). Add to
this, his positively ludicrous decision to entrust an innocent man's
fate to two 13 year-old wizards, and something is decidedly fishy.
And yet, I just don't believe that Dumbledore would openly and
brazenly meddle with time - he himself says it is dangerous (from
experiece, perhaps? You see, it's still fishy!) - but then I am
clouded by my desire to see the old Headmaster of Hogwarts in a
positive light. In my opinion, he is the proverbial shrewd operator,
who's guesses tend to be right 90% of the time.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I think people too often can't force
themselves away from the "Harry POV". Of course we want Dumbledore
to tell the boy everything; otherwise how are we supposed to find
out? Contrary to this attitude, I've always fought against the
narrow perspective JKR gives us in her stories, and the advantages
this attitude can bring are greatest in PS and OotP, and in both
instances, it's because of Dumbledore. Let me explain:
I believe that in PS Dumbledore knew that Professor Quirrel was under
the control of Voldemort. As such, he had the Philosopher's Stone
placed in the school to tempt Voldemort out of hiding. Now, I'm sure
the Headmaster didn't know Voldemort was under the turban, but he did
know that he was around somewhere. His trick with the Mirror of
Erised at the end was a masterstroke, possibly designed to keep
Voldemort/Quirrel stumped so that he could confront them.
Unfortunately, Harry got involved.
I'm not the first to come up with this idea, but I certainly
subscribe to it, partly because it highlights my favourite aspect of
the stories: the mental and political conflict between Dumbledore and
Voldemort.
In OotP, the Headmaster utilised the same trick that he did in PS -
he explicitly tempted Voldemort with an object the latter was
desperate to obtain, i.e, the Prophecy. Dumbledore knew, and
Voldemort came to know, that only two people can take Prophecies out
of the DoM - in this instance, Harry and Voldemort. The two enemies
know that Voldemort doesn't want to risk rushing into the Ministry
himself as that would result in the exposure of his return (which is
what happened in a roundabout way - see how Fudge was alerted?), so
that leaves just Harry.
Dumbledore kept Harry in the dark precisely because he knew Voldemort
was always there in the boy's head somewhere; some of Harry's anger
was down to Voldemort, surely? All the "cloak and dagger" stuff in
OotP highlights this mental battle of wills between the Headmaster
and the Dark Lord, locking horns in a way they have been doing ever
since Dumbledore suspected Riddle of opening the Chamber. It's
fascinating reading OotP from this perspective; the machinations at
play are numerous and fairly complex. Yes, keeping Harry unawares
hurt him and ultimately led to Sirius' death, but Dumbledore (who is
perhaps a closet utilitarian) never lost sight of the ultimate goal:
to reveal Voldemort's return and get the Ministry back on his side.
Sirius may have been killed, but now the world knows You Know Who is
back. In light of this, I have to ask myself, would Dumbledore do
things differently if he could go back and change things? And even
though he's my favourite character, I have to say that, given the
choice, Dumbledore probably wouldn't change a thing.
-Michael
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