Who is Dumbledore? Will We See Him In Deathly Hallows?

Posted by Liaa Cariaga | Posted in , | Posted on 5:04 AM

Dumbledore’s Flaws and Harry’s Development
The central crisis for Harry was the character of Dumbledore. If Harry had spent all of the previous year becoming “Dumbledore’s man through and through,” did he still want to be? The answer to this is significant, and it needs to guide our analysis of what Rowling was doing with Dumbledore:  

The answer was, yes, after learning everything about Dumbledore, at the end of the story, Harry wanted to remain Dumbledore’s man through and through.

That’s significant, because Dumbledore’s critics are going to feel vindicated by Deathly Hallows, and I don’t think that will be the best reading. But we’ll get back there.
Harry wrestles throughout with the question of Dumbledore, and the decisive moment comes at Dobby’s death. This is incredibly significant, because it was Dumbledore, back in Chapter 37 of Order, who insisted that house-elves have been mistreated by Wizards for centuries. The Kreacher and Dobby subplots highlight the fact that Harry finally took this lesson to heart. It is while burying Dobby that Harry decides to go through with Dumbledore’s plan, to see it through to the end, to trust Dumbledore. Two key quotes come to mind that I believed, after the release of Half-Blood Prince, were an interpretive key to the series:
  • “If we can’t trust Dumbledore, who can we trust?” ~ Hermione
  • “It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgment. I do; therefore, I trust Severus.” ~ Lupin
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