What would Dumbledore do? (Re: Twist JKR?)

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 141745

 
> 
> Elyse:
> 
> P.S. I know this is totally unrelated to the topic, but someone
> (Betsy?) asked before, how people can say Snape would not do such-and-
> such a thing because it would be OOC, and wondered how people could 
> possibly *know* Snape so well. 
> I want to know how come people keep saying Dumbledore /would/ do 
> certain things, because it would/would not be in character. I know 
> that we have more info on  DD than Snape but we still dont know all 
> that much abot his character
>

Hickengruendler:

I'm not 100% sure what exactly you mean. I assume you mean the 
opinions, that Dumbledore would never beg for his life or would never 
ask someone else to kill him. These are the two points I'm answering, 
I'm not sure if you mean some other scenes as well.

First of all, many readers, including me, think Dumbledore would never 
beg for his life. While I can't speak for the others, I can tell you, 
why I think he would never do this. This is the same man, who says at 
the end of PS, that death is nothing but the next great adventure. In a 
scene, by the way, in which he told Harry, that he destroyed the 
Philosopher's Stone, therefore basically sacrificing his old friend 
Nicholas Flamel (of course with Flamel's agreement) to make sure that 
the stone will never get into Voldemort's hand. This does IMO seem to 
imply, that Dumbledore is not totally against sacrificing a human life, 
if it helps the greater good. Of course I am aware with the problems my 
interpretation has, most notably that the Flamells lived well beyond 
their age anyway, which can't really be said about Dumbledore, since 
there are still older people in the WW, like Madam Marchbanks. He 
consoles Harry with the fact, that Nicholas and Perenelle are simply 
going to their next great adventure, because it was the time for them 
to go. He reinforces this in OotP during the duel with Voldemort, where 
he called his fear of death Tom's greatest weakness. And in HBP he 
again tells Harry, that Voldemort secretly fears death and darkness, 
clearly implying that those are not things to be feared. Therefore from 
my knowledge of Dumbledore's opinion about death, I consider it OOC for 
him to beg for his life. Of course it is possible, that Dumbledore 
generally thinks death is nothing to be feared, but being confronted 
with his own possible demise, he still begs for his life, because for 
the first time he really has to face it. But that would IMO make him a 
hypocrite, who is willing to send his old friend Nicholas and his wife 
to their next great adventure, but secretly fears to make that step as 
well. Not something I would expect from the epitome of goodness. What I 
also said is, that I can't see Dumbledore pleading with a villain 
generally, even if it is for something else than his life (except maybe 
saving Harry. You know, this would be the part of OFH Snape I probably 
would accept the most. A Dumbledore who realizes that Snape will kill 
him because of the UV, but begs him to save Harry under the cloak). I'm 
basing this opinion on the way Dumbledore spoke with Voldemort in the 
DoM and with the other DE on the tower in HBP. Therefore from the way I 
have seen Dumbledore interacting with Death Eaters, I consider a DD's 
who is pleading as not in character.

On the other hand, many who think Snape is ESE or OFH, think it would 
be more OOC for him to ask someone else to kill him. Considering that 
we learnt, that a murder splits the soul, it is understandable that 
some readers think Dumbledore would never ask for this, since his "next 
great adventure" speech implies that he believes in the afterlife, and 
that people with a destroyed soul might not make that step to a better 
place (don't forget that he considered the Dementor's Kiss, basically 
the destoryment of one's soul, worse than simple death). Nonetheless, I 
am one of those, who think that in very special circumstances, it is 
not OOC for DD to ask for this. I am basing this partly on the 
destroyment of the PS, although I already mentioned the main difference 
in the two situations.

Hickengruendler