Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Families

Parents

• Family: Married
  • Birth Father: Percival Dumbledore
  • Birth Mother: Kendra Dumbledore

Ancestors

Analysis

Timeline Speculation

• Dumbledore became Headmaster after Lupin was bitten.¹ Since Lupin was a classmate of James and Lily, he was born in either late 1959 or early 1960.² Since he was bitten at age four, that puts us in approximately 1964.³
• However, Dumbledore’s memory of Riddle’s timeline says that Riddle’s job interview was ten years after he murdered Hepzibah Smith.⁴ That would mean that Riddle was with Borgin and Burke for something like 20 years.⁵ This seems improbable, as he is still described as “young” when he left the shop.⁶
• It does, however fit with the emergence of Riddle and the Death Eaters as a terrorist force, which the timeline places around 1970.
• Thus my guess is that Dumbledore collected the memory from the house elf ten years prior to the interview, not that the house elf formed the memory ten years prior. Note, this actually puts Dumbledore in a really poor light.

Character Analysis

Dumbledore is not a saintly figure, but neither is he the cartoonish villain some fan fiction makes him out to be. He is a complex character who requires careful analysis to understand his flaws in the right context. I do not think Dumbledore intentionally shaped Riddle into Voldemort,⁷ nor that he is secretly the most dastardly person imaginable.

I am convinced that Dumbledore believes some form of Utilitarianism, and that this philosophy — not malice — is the root of most of his failures. Whether he absorbed this from Gellert Grindelwald,⁸ or learned it from his own parents is more than I am prepared to say. For a full discussion of his philosophical commitments and the Catholic moral framework I use to evaluate them, see Dumbledore’s Philosophy.

One of the things that really struck me as I started to really think about the Harry Potter books (as opposed to just enjoying them as stories), is just how valid some of the common fan fiction criticisms of Dumbledore are. In no particular order:

• Dumbledore does not seem to know about the horcruxes until he is presented with the diary. He knew Riddle had survived the Halloween encounter with Harry, and that Slughorn knew something about this,⁹ but apparently did nothing to investigate this beyond just enough questions to drive Slughorn away from Hogwarts.¹⁰
• Harry’s scar as a horcrux:
  • Saving the Saviour talks about how Dumbledore didn’t have Harry examined at all by a Healer after that fateful Halloween night. Could the soul fragment Riddle left have been detected? Could something have been done about it?
  • See the discussion on Harry’s scar in Horcruxes
• Dumbledore states that he did not know that Harry would survive. Dumbledore hoped that Harry would. Dumbledore, by his own admission, knows that Harry will be willing to sacrifice himself. I agree with fan fiction authors who think that Dumbledore has, in the choices he has made regarding Harry’s upbringing, purposefully worked to shape Harry into someone who will make that choice. This does not negate Harry’s virtue; Dumbledore is building on Harry’s nature, not creating it out of whole cloth. Honestly, if Dumbledore were as calculating about subjecting Harry to abuse as some authors would have him, then he took an incredibly reckless chance. Dumbledore knows how similar Harry’s situation is to Riddle’s childhood. I think that this plan is something that Dumbledore came to over time, not something he intended from the beginning.
• The above and much more concerning Harry.
• And even more about how he dealt with Riddle.

That being said, was Dumbledore a master of manipulation, or was he just as much reacting to an out of control situation that he abhorred as Harry is? In other words, just how much of the world situation is he in fact responsible for? While we cannot ultimately know, I return to Dumbledore’s inaction. What did he actually accomplish with his decades of power and influence?

Dumbledore is certainly less evil though possibly more morally dangerous (in that he is more insidious) than Riddle. He might (almost certainly is) wrong about what the Greater Good looks like. He is certainly wrong about what he can and cannot do to achieve it. I do, however, think that it is actually some version of good for the greatest number of people, and not merely for himself, that guides his actions. The reader can decide if this is damning him with faint praise, or giving him what little credit is due.

Further Reading

• Dumbledore’s Philosophy — his utilitarian commitments, the Catholic moral theology critique, the Fawkes question
• Treatment of Harry — the Dursley placement, shaping Harry toward self-sacrifice, the lack of training
• Dealing with Riddle — from the orphanage visit through the horcrux hunt
• Inaction — the eleven lost years and the pattern of failing to act
• The Manipulator — the case for Dumbledore as master manipulator
• Doubting Harry — how Snape’s characterizations may have influenced Dumbledore and other teachers
• Vision for Society — Grindelwald, the limits of his authority, what Dumbledore actually wanted, and the etymology of “warlock”