I do not claim this to be the definitive story of Dumbledore. Because it’s all happening behind the scenes—precisely what makes it all so fascinating—there is a lot of conjecture involved. Assumptions are made, leaps are required, and what I consider the only logical conclusion you may consider poppycock. The astute reader is encouraged to read this book and challenge every bit of it. Every single time I’ve presented about Dumbledore, a panel attendee has made a brilliant point that opened my eyes to something new.
I am by no means the first to analyze Dumbledore’s machinations—I owe a debt of gratitude to many exceedingly clever Harry Potter fans. While I cannot recall every essay I’ve read on MuggleNet and other websites since 2003, I will highlight some of the most interesting ones in the bibliography. However, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to two writers in particular who have continued to analyze Dumbledore after Deathly Hallows was released. I very often disagree with their conclusions, but I love examining their reasoning and engaging in the debate. They will be referenced directly in the text, because I’ve no wish to claim credit for others’ ideas.
First, thanks to mirrormere, whose 2011 essay, “The Flaw in the Plan,” first fired in me the desire to analyze Dumbledore’s actions.
The biggest debt of all, though, is owed to Josie Kearns, whose essays at the HP Companion, which analyzed the behind-the-scenes of the HP books, were always thought-provoking and often unassailable—on some issues, I disagree with her; on others I just provide concurring opinions and flesh them out.
A note on sources: this book concerns itself with the seven Harry Potter novels (page references are to US paperbacks). I will often take J.K. Rowling’s words in interviews and her websites to clarify parts of the books that would be murky otherwise. But this book won’t engage with other sources of potential canon (whether you acknowledge them as such or not): Pottermore, Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts, etc., do not apply.
So, to Dumbledore.
The series opens with him calling the shots right away in a manner very indicative of how the whole series operates. Hours after an incident occurs (the murder of Lily and James Potter), Dumbledore has a plan in motion to respond. This plan utilizes some arcane magic with which almost no other wizard is familiar: the bond of familial love between the Evans sisters, however strained that relationship was.
And right away, we see Dumbledore covering it up in half-truths: he tells McGonagall that Harry is going to the Dursleys purely to escape his own celebrity. We will come to see this as classic Dumbledore: plausible, even somewhat true, but nowhere near the whole truth. In fact, less charitable readers might call Dumbledore a hypocrite on the subject of honesty. He tells his students, “It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies.” (GF722)
Further setting the pattern for the series, McGonagall defers to Dumbledore almost without question. Dumbledore has absolute loyalty from most people on the side of good and is not afraid to use it.
Harry is left with the Dursleys, and Dumbledore has a decade of respite, locking up Death Eaters, rebuilding the wizarding world, and generally not focusing too much on Harry or Voldemort. But in the back of his mind, he knows that eventually the two will have to face off. He keeps tabs on both and perhaps starts brainstorming. But Dumbledore does not have all the information here.
This is a very important point: what Dumbledore knows and when he knows it is as important to figure out as what he was planning and how it went wrong. Many fans operate under the assumption, created by Harry in Sorcerer’s Stone, that Dumbledore is magically omniscient. He is nothing of the sort—he just has a lot of knowledge and an incredibly impressive analytical mind. We will see both at work throughout this book.
So he can relax through the ’80s. But when 1991 rolls around, both Harry and Voldemort reenter the picture. And that is the last moment of peace Dumbledore will ever have. He loses no time in setting a plan in motion before Harry is even retrieved from the Dursleys and is kept busy trying to stay a few steps ahead of Voldemort for the rest of his life.
Chapter 1:
Albus Dumbledore and the
Sorcerer’s Stone
At the end of Sorcerer’s Stone, there is a brief exchange among the Trio that first introduces us to the idea of Dumbledore’s omniscience:
“D’you think [Dumbledore] meant you to do it?” said Ron. “Sending you your father’s cloak and everything?”
“Well,” Hermione exploded, “if he did—I mean to say—that’s terrible—you could have been killed.”
“No it isn’t,” said Harry thoughtfully. “He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It’s almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could. . . .” (SS302)
The initial instinct is to just take this at face value—Dumbledore knew everything and planned everything—and just leave it at that. . . but where would be the fun? Even back in Sorcerer’s Stone, Rowling was meticulous enough that it’s possible to see Dumbledore’s hand moving the chess pieces.
It took me fourteen rereads to figure it all out, and it’s very reassuring, because the
