Dumbledore WAS: Re: Love and Joy vs. Hate and Despair

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 190933



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, June Ewing <doctorwhofan02 at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> >> June:
> >> I think some people need to re read and understand the books.
> >> Dumbledore was not evil, he was one of the good guys.
> 
> > Pippin:
> > I think one of the ideas JKR is exploring is that in fiction we
> expect to find "good guys" while in real life there are no people
> who are always going to do the right thing except when some
> > external force prevents them.
> 
> > But I do think we are supposed to see Dumbledore as acting for
> the common good, except for those occasions when he admits that he
> behaved selfishly. And I do think there were also occasions when
> > external forces kept Dumbledore from doing as he would have liked.
> 
> 
> June:
> Exactly, Pippin. I think she wanted us to realize that Dumbledore,
> like all of us, was human and humans aren't perfect. Dumbledore I
> believe knew from the beginning that Harry may have to be sacrificed
> (after all he did have knowledge of the prophecy) and he wanted to
> prepare Harry for whatever was to come. People need to realize that
> Dumbledore and Harry were put into the situation they were in
> because of Voldemort. 

Steve responds:

This is a very complex plot aspect, and one that is not static, it is every changed as the plots of many books go on.

I think Dumbledore suspected that a part of Voldemort might be in Harry, but what that meant and where that would take them was unclear. At the early stage, I'm sure his thoughts we focused on, IF this is true, then how can I undo it?

But I think there came a moment of high and grand revelation for Dumbledore, and that moment has come to be referred to as the "Gleam" or the "Gleam of Triumph" in Dumbledore's eye near the end of Goblet of Fire, when Dumbledore realizes that Voldemort has made the mistake of using Harry's blood in his rebirth. In that moment, Voldemort made himself a Horcrux for Harry. 

So, yes, in that moment, a Gleam of Triumph, followed by the terrible weight of realizing just what this means. I don't think that up until that moment did Dumbledore believe that Harry would have to sacrifice himself to Voldemort. Certainly, Harry was in danger of dying, and certainly the Harry-Horcrux was an aspect that would have to be dealt with. But in that one great and terrible moment, Dumbledore finally sees the path clearly; and it is a dark and terrible path indeed. 

Steve/bboyminn