Dumbledore is Ever So Dead (was: Re: Under the influence)

[eloise_herisson]

Constance Vigilance:
 I think it is RAB's last words as he is tortured
> to death. But more importantly, it is further proof
> that Dumbledore is alive. Why? Because only Dumbledore
> knows what those words mean and only he can tell us.
> If he doesn't ever get back to us, then it remains a
> frustrating unresolved plot bunny. I don't think JKR
> would do that to us.

Nor do I (and incidentally I had the same initial thoughts regarding 
RAB). But Dumbledore is Ever So Dead. <g>

There are other means by which he can communicate at least that of 
which he was aware up until the time of his death. The portrait, for 
a start. And we have canon for the existence of memories, stored away 
in bottles just ready to pop into that Pensieve. Why shouldn't there 
be more? And the evidence of Snape's trustworthiness should be 
amongst them, if DD truly did believe in him. JKR has written it so 
that DD *is* the only person who can confirm Snape's...well, not 
innocence, but his loyalty. If he did anticipate his own death and if 
he did believe in Snape, then it would be an act of gross 
carelessness not to leave behind the proof that would protect him, 
given that his chances of being captured and tried as a DE would have 
dramatically risen whatever the circumstances.

CV:
> So: Unresolved potion-speak plot bunny.

EH:
Which can, I believe, be resolved in other ways.

CV:
> AK didn't act
> as AK's should.

EH:
I'd argue a) we've never seen an AK cast by an unwilling caster and 
b) JKR was using the visual imagery of the Lightning-Struck Tower 
card.

CV:
> Body found smiling. 

EH:
We've never seen the body of a victim of AK who was ready and willing 
to die.

CV:
> Body found with
> (dragon?) blood on mouth. 

EH:
Slight trickle of blood could be natural. Not clear if this detail is 
supposed to be accurate vis a vis *cause* of death or whether it's 
just a bit of description. It's the end of a sentence in which Harry 
does three things. No signifcance to that, except that sentences just 
sound right when someone "does a, does b and then does c", so it 
*could* just be window dressing.

CV:
>  Dragon blood used earlier in
> the book in a deception. We don't know what the 12
> uses of dragon's blood are and JKR told us that we
> would know (another unresolved plot bunny).

EH:
Good point, though dependent on the blood above being dragon's blood 
(of course I realise you're using this to corroborate that theory).

CV:
> Dumbledore's patronus appears at the funeral. (Who
> shot it off if he didn't?) A flash of fire which was
> also used in an earlier book for a flashy exit. 

EH:
I can't deny that it could be, OTOH, it could be representative of 
DD's spirit flying off to its next great adventure.

CV:
Per
> Nigellus, Dumbledore likes to exit in style. 

EH:
That he certainly did!


CV:
Come on,
> folks! How many times does she have to hit us over the
> head? Dumbledore is alive!

EH:
I think it would be an enormous cheat, personally. Many of us 
predicted that DD *had* to die, because as was discussed in the 
Leaky/Mugglenet interview,

"JKR: Yeah, well, I think if you take a step back, in the genre of 
writing that I'm working in, almost always the hero must go on alone. 
That's the way it is, we all know that, so the question is when and 
how, isn't it, if you know anything about the construction of that 
kind of plot.

ES: The wise old wizard with the beard always dies.

JKR: Well, that's basically what I'm saying, yes. "

So although just as in his absence in CoS, he will never truly have 
left Hogwarts until there is no-one there loyal to him, I do believe 
he's physically dead. He also said to Harry that he had never once 
left the school without ensuring its security. I imagine that he has 
also enacted some enchantment that would additionally protect the 
school in the event of (and more particularly possibly *by means of*) 
his death.

Given the fact that we've been prepared for this death since the 
first book when he mentioned his feelings regarding the next great 
adventure, I think it would be a tremendous irony if he turned out to 
be alive. All the more so if DD himself didn't expect to survive.

~Eloise

who for an encore will prove that black is white and get herself 
killed on the next zebra crossing.