An Oddity - Dumbledore and Fawkes

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 168038

Goddlefrood:
> What if the connection between Dumbledore is a little more than
> just simply owner and pet? Dumbledore is acknowledged by many as
> the most skilled wizard of his age (he is, as I've said before the
> only wizard of his age ;)). <snip>

> In respect of Fawkes my ridiculous suggestion for the evening is
> that somehow Fawkes is a transformed part of Dumbledore.

Jen:  You mean a partial transformation of some sort that Dumbledore 
understands how to do because of his vast knowledge of 
transfiguration?  It's not that I don't think JKR could make 
something like this work, it's more that the transfiguration skills 
seem poised to explain how Dumbledore can make himself invisible.

My other thought is the connection between Dumbledore and Fawkes is 
largely symbolic from what I've gathered, so a literal connection 
wouldn't necessarily move the story along in a way that the symbolic 
connection can't do already:  Fawkes lives on, and will be there to 
aid Harry after Dumbledore's death just as he did while Dumbledore 
was alive.

Carol responds:
> I don't think that Fawkes is "a repository for a portion of DD's
> soul." That sounds too much like a Horcrux. Clearly, however, the
> bond between Fawkes and DD is very strong and, IMO, parallels that 
> between Voldemort and Nagini. Both seem to me to be variations on
> the idea of a witch's or sorceror's "familiar." Of course, they're
> not spirits in animal form but magical animals, but they do the 
> bidding of their masters without losing their own identities, and 
> their own goodness or wickedness matches that of their master. 

Jen:  I agree with the parallel between the two most powerful wizards 
and their magical animals.  If Nagini is a Horcrux, that would be yet 
another example of the opposite poles these two wizards occupy in 
Potterverse.  The graveyard scene represents how Voldemort's choices 
shaped his life and his refusal to die, and the tower represents how 
Dumbledore's choices shaped *his* life and acceptance of death.  

It's the comparison of these two scenes that makes me wonder if 
Fawkes was not meant to be on the tower and understood that innately 
instead of being ordered to stay away by Dumbledore.  Nagini is 
controlled by Voldemort and does his bidding at all times, possibly 
to the point of being a repository for his soul, and the apt parallel 
would be if Fawkes chooses loyalty to Dumbledore and has a certain 
amount of independence in determining his own actions.

Jen