Albus Dumbledore
From Wikipotter
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (c.1844-1997) is a character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series - has been the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for many years and considered one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Being benevolent, slightly eccentric, and powerful, he resembles an archetypal good wizard in the style of Merlin or Gandalf. He is often sympathetic to Harry Potter's difficulties, and, as such, occasionally allows the young wizard more leeway than he would with others. He is described as the only wizard Lord Voldemort ever feared.
Dumbledore is described as being tall and thin, with long hair and beard. He has blue eyes, a very long and crooked nose, and long fingers. He wears half-moon spectacles. He is often described to be very well-dressed in magnificent robes. He claims to have a scar above his left knee, its provenance unknown, which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card mentions that he enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling. He has a great affinity for sweets, magical and non-magical, and has frequently set the password for the gargoyle guarding his office door to be the name of various sweets. He is also a self-stated fan of knitting patterns, and once told Harry that one could never have enough socks.
The name Albus is from the Latin word albus ("white"), a frequently used symbol for good; "Dumbledore," which means "bumblebee," was picked by the author because she imagines him humming while strolling along the halls of Hogwarts.
In the movie versions, Dumbledore is played by actors of Irish origin. In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Dumbledore was played by Richard Harris, who died in 2002 of Hodgkin's disease. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Dumbledore is played by Michael Gambon.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.Contents |
Early life and career
Michael Gambon as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkaban]] Comparatively little is revealed about Dumbledore's early history or family. At the time of the series, he is (according to an interview by Rowling) about 150 years old, meaning he entered Hogwarts around 1855, being sorted into Gryffindor House (according to Hermione Granger; his confession in the fourth movie to have set fire on the curtains in Harry's dormitory adds further evidence). His brother, Aberforth, who was prosecuted for "practicing inappropriate charms on a goat," may be illiterate, and (as confirmed by Rowling) is the bartender at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore's extraordinary magical talents were apparent from an early age, as later described by the elderly Griselda Marchbanks, Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, who had personally examined the school-age Dumbledore for his NEWT exams in Charms and Transfiguration. Marchbanks recalled that the young Dumbledore had "done things with a wand I'd never seen before."[HP5]
Some time after his graduation from Hogwarts, he returned to the faculty as Professor of Transfiguration, and in this capacity also served in recruiting students for the school. He identified Tom Marvolo Riddle and offered him a place at Hogwarts, glimpsing the true nature of the boy who was to become Lord Voldemort. His keen observations of Riddle's student years led Dumbledore to influence Hogwarts' headmaster, Armando Dippet, not to offer Riddle a faculty position.
In 1945 Dumbledore defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. As J.K. Rowling confirmed, Grindelwald and his followers are meant to be the magical-world analogues of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
Dumbledore also held the posts of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. He was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for Grand Sorcery. He was removed from the aforementioned posts during his conflict with the British Ministry of Magic under the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge about the return of Voldemort and subsequent requisite actions; he was reinstated as a member of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief of the Wizengamot when the ministry was forced to see their own error.
Magical accomplishments and skills
Dumbledore is widely famous as a legendary alchemist who has worked together with Nicholas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, and is credited with discovering the twelve uses of dragon blood. In addition to these credits, he is known to be able to conjure Gubraithian Fire (magical everlasting fire). His Patronus takes the form of a phoenix, a recurring symbol in the books.
Dumbledore also invented the method of communicating messages using a Patronus Charm, a skill he taught only to members of the Order of the Phoenix[1]. He has claimed to be able to become invisible without using an invisibility cloak (although it may have been a metaphor), and there are suggestions that he is capable of seeing through invisibility cloaks. Dumbledore is also skilled in Occlumency and Legilimency.
Dumbledore can speak Mermish, the language of the Merpeople.
In an interview Rowling agreed with her interviewers that Dumbledore, albeit a genius, is sometimes very reckless, and that, "immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that. In fact, I would tend to think that being very, very intelligent might create some problems and it has done for Dumbledore, because his wisdom has isolated him, and I think you can see that in the books, because where is his equal, where is his confidante, where is his partner? He has none of those things. He’s always the one who gives, he’s always the one who has the insight and has the knowledge."
There has been much speculation about where Dumbledore learned it all - he is far more accomplished and far more knowledgeable than any other wizard. Rowling said that Dumbledore was primarily self-taught, although he "had access to superb teachers at Hogwarts". Rowling also said that as far as his education is concerned, "Dumbledore's family would be a profitable line of inquiry, more profitable than sweet wrappers."
Dumbledore and the rise of Voldemort
One of Dumbledore's tasks as a teacher at Hogwarts was to visit the young Tom Riddle and offer him a place at Hogwarts. Riddle was living in a muggle orphanage, and while he had discovered some magical abilities, did not know that his mother had been a witch. Even at this early age, Dumbledore was concerned about Riddle's character, and was especially careful to watch his progress throughout his school years. Riddle attempted to get a teaching job at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore first persuaded the current headmaster, Armando Dippet, to refuse Riddle's request, and himself refused a second request some years later.
It was to Dumbledore that Sybill Trelawney, subsequently appointed as professor of Divination, revealed the prophecy regarding Voldemort's fall. The prophecy was partly overheard by Severus Snape, who reported what he had heard to Voldemort. Snape was discovered eavesdropping by Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, who removed him from the building. Voldemort interpreted the prophecy as referring to Harry, and as a result killed his parents, James and Lily Potter, while trying to kill Harry.
Dumbledore was instrumental in the struggle against his former student, working tirelessly against him with the Order of the Phoenix. When Harry's parents were killed, it was Dumbledore's decision to place the now-orphaned Harry in the safekeeping of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, knowing that Harry would be protected by the special magic caused by his mother's sacrifice.
Throughout the series Dumbledore is portrayed as a wizard with modern/reformist ideas about pure-bloodedness and the rights of Muggles, part-humans, and non-humans. Dumbledore does not give importance to the so-called "purity of blood" and believes that an individual's choices reflect his character rather than his birth, blood, or family, saying "it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Voldemort angrily refers to Dumbledore as "champion of commoners, muggles and mudbloods.". Unlike most wizards, Dumbledore is not afraid to speak Lord Voldemort's name.
Dumbledore makes the important discovery that Voldemort is trying to achieve immortality through the use of Horcruxes, one of which was Tom Riddle's diary, destroyed by Harry in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore himself destroys a second Horcrux, an old ring, and is killed after being weakened attempting to find a third.
Dismissal from Hogwarts
Dumbledore was twice dismissed from his position as Headmaster, the first time during Harry's second year at Hogwarts, when Lucius Malfoy persuaded the school's twelve governors to remove him in the wake of attacks by a basilisk on people in the school. He was subsequently reinstated, after Harry killed the basilisk and Lucius was found to have threatened the other governors into removing him as headmaster.
In Harry's fifth year, Dolores Umbridge was appointed by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, to oversee activities at Hogwarts, after Dumbledore and Harry tried to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort had returned. Harry and other students organised a club called "Dumbledore's Army" to learn defensive magic. Umbridge discovered the club and used it as an excuse to dismiss Dumbledore as headmaster. Dumbledore was reinstated after Voldemort launched an attack on the ministry of magic.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.Death
Dumbledore's death is foreshadowed at the start of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where he first appears with a burnt and blackened hand, a result of his recovery and destruction of a ring that was an heirloom of Voldemort's grandfather Marvolo Gaunt and was serving as one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. On that occasion, Dumbledore was saved from death by the intervention of Severus Snape, though the injury shows no sign of improvement throughout the year that passes in the sixth book.
Dumbledore was repeatedly warned by Harry Potter that another student, Draco Malfoy, was working for Voldemort. Dumbledore refused to take any action against Draco, and instead reassured Harry that he already knew more about what was happening than did Harry. Draco made two (arguably halfhearted) attempts to kill Dumbledore during the year, but on each occasion a student was injured instead. The first attempt involved a cursed necklace, the second a bottle of poisoned mead. Both these attempts were secondary to Malfoy's main plan, which was to repair a broken magical cabinet already inside Hogwarts, and use it to transport Death Eaters into the castle. There was a similar cabinet in Borgin & Burke's shop, and there was a magical passage between them. The attackers were able to enter the castle through the other cabinet while Dumbledore and Harry were away, attempting to find and destroy another Horcrux. Dumbledore was injured, possibly fatally, in this attempt as he was forced to drink a potion left by Voldemort and on their return he was captured by Malfoy. Malfoy found that he could not bring himself to kill Dumbledore, so instead Snape used the fatal Avada Kedavra curse against him (attack on Hogwarts).
Dumbledore's funeral is attended by students, teachers, members of the Ministry of Magic, giants, ghosts, and other non-humans. Shrouded in purple velvet, he is entombed in a white marble tomb beside the lake at Hogwarts, and is said to be the only Hogwarts headmaster who is laid to rest in the school grounds. His portrait appears in the current headmistress's office alongside the former headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, where he will presumably, like the others, give his aid to the current head of school.
Some fans refuse to believe that Dumbledore is really dead, and have theories as to how they think he survived. Dave Haber, the Managing Editor of Wizard News, has even written a webpage on the subject. Some evidence of Dumbledore's survival is this: JK Rowling said in an interview, 'A wizard is very hard to kill. For example, if you threw him off the top of the Astronomy Tower, he would not die.' So the fall would not have killed him, and any wounds could have been healed by Fawkes' phoenix healing-tears. Also, in every case of Avada Kedavra, there has been a blinding flash of green light, and the victim has crumpled. But in Dumbledore's case, there was a JET of green light, and he was blasted into the air, and then fell backwards over the ramparts. So Snape could have done a nonverbal spell, causing Dumbledore to go over the edge, and only SAID the words Avada Kedavra. We know from both Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr., both of whom are people very experienced in the Unforgivable Curses, that you can say the words of an Unforgiveable Curse, but if you do not mean it and do not enjoy the pain it causes, it won't work.[2]
Symbolism
Albus Dumbledore does have seemingly strong similarities with other characters from books or movies. Most notably would be Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars and the wizard Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. Though J.K. Rowling has never admitted to which characters or persons from history have influenced Dumbledore inside of the books, it is apparent that he has much in common with all well-written mentors of literature.
