Headmaster Portraits (was Re: Dumbledore dead?)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 151718

> 
> Alla:
> 
> That's the key though, isn't it? The only reason for Dumbledore to be 
> seems to be the exoneration of Snape. My question is what are the 
> other possible plot related reasons for Dumbledore to be alive?
> 
> What can be achieved through that besides Snape's exoneration? JKR 
> seems to say over and over again that she thinks that Harry has to do 
> his job alone ( with his peers, but not through any significant help 
> of adults).
> 
> How plot can be moved through DD being alive?
> 
> Because if we assume for a second that JKR may not be interested in 
> exonerating Snape, does Dumbledore have to be alive still?
> 
> Do other reasons for DD to be alive actually exist?


Pippin:
The old guy with the beard isn't there to move the plot -- he's there
to provide content and exposition. He's the one who tells the hero 
(and the reader) what all the fuss is about, and he embodies the
values and  the accumulated wisdom of the culture our hero is 
fighting to save. 

He has to be removed so that the hero can show that he's learned
what the old guy was trying to teach him. He comes back
in some form, not necessarily as a living person, to confirm that
the difficult choices the hero had to make without his guidance
were the right ones, and so the values and wisdom the hero was 
fighting for have endured.

By the author's own admission, there is evidence in the books that
Snape may not be evil, so presumably at some point Harry is going
to have to confront such evidence too and make a choice. Whatever
he decides, the reader will want to know whether Dumbledore would
have approved.

Pippin