Albus Dumbledore
| Harry Potter character | |
| Richard Harris as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | |
| Albus Dumbledore | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | Silver (formerly auburn) |
| Eye colour | Light blue |
| House | Gryffindor |
| Parentage | Unknown |
| Loyalty | Order of the Phoenix |
| Film portrayer | Richard Harris[HP1][HP2] Michael Gambon[HP3][HP4] |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (born c. 1845) is a character in J.K.
Rowling's Harry Potter series. He has been the
headmaster of Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry for many years and considered to be
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
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 also described as being very
well-dressed in magnificent robes. He claims to have a scar above
his left knee, its provenance unknown, which happens to be a
perfect map of the London Underground. Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card
mentions that he enjoys chamber
music and ten-pin 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 can see him
humming while strolling along the halls of Hogwarts. Additionally,
a Dumbledoor is an insect which visits the Shire each year in The Lord of the Rings, as mentioned
in the poem Errantry by J.R.R.
Tolkien.
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.
ending details follow.
Early life and career
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 in about 1851. He was sorted into Gryffindor House, according to Hermione Granger, and he confessed in the
movie version of The Goblet of Fire to
having set fire to the curtains in Harry's dormitory. His brother,
Aberforth, is the bartender at the
Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade,
and was once prosecuted in the Wizengamot
for "practicing inappropriate charms on a goat". 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, Dumbledore
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 has held the posts of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the
International Confederation of Wizards. He holds 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. 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 Lord Voldemort
One of Dumbledore's tasks as a teacher at Hogwarts was to find
the young wizard 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 has been 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 blood purity, 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
while 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 for 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. Dumbledore was compelled to flee Hogwarts after lying to
Fudge and Umbridge about the nature of Dumbledore's Army to protect
Harry. Dumbledore was reinstated after Voldemort launched an attack
on the Ministry of Magic.
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.
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.
Speculation...
Some fans have refused to believe that Dumbledore is really
dead, and have theories as to how they think he may have survived,
and there are websites devoted to that cause. It is believed that
Snape could have conceivably performed a nonverbal
Expelliarmus charm, blasting Dumbledore up and over the
edge, while only saying the words "Avada Kedavra"; but this is not
conclusive, as the Expelliarmus charm generally produces a red jet
- not green. We know from the words of Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr., both of whom are people
very experienced in Unforgivable
Curses, that wizards can "say" the words of an Unforgivable
Curse, but if they do not "mean" it and enjoy the pain it causes,
it won't work.
One more thing to consider. Since the two books released to the
Muggle world (Quidditch through the Ages & Fantastical
Beasts...) both have forwards written by Dumbledore in 2001, he
must have survived this attack that occurred in 1997.
(wink,wink)
end here.
Symbolism
Albus Dumbledore does have seemingly strong similarities with
other characters from books or movies. Two notable examples 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 - an excellent example of the Jungian, 'Wise Old Man'
archetype.
