Since he's now removed from NPG, it's about time I finish his proposal here.
What is the Work?[]
I'm sure almost everyone on this wiki knows what Harry Potter is, but for those unaware, it's about an orphan wizard boy who goes to a magic school and learns spells. An evil wizard called Voldemort killed his parents and continues to try killing him throughout the story.
Who Is the Character and What Has He Done?[]
Albus Dumbledore is Harry Potter's mentor and headmaster throughout his time at Hogwarts. He initially wanted to take over the muggle world with his former lover Grindelwald, but came to his senses after Grindelwald used the torture curse on his brother and a duel between them accidentally killed his sister. After that, he became a teacher at Hogwarts, and would later work to combat Grindelwald, who had become a dark wizard continuing muggle domination plans alone.
We see this in Fantastic Beasts where he subtly sends Newt Scamander on a mission to find an Obscural called Credence (Dumbledore's secret nephew) before Grindelwald does the same. This leads to nearly all of New York destroyed, but Grindelwald's temporary capture. However, Grindelwald escapes and Dumbledore sends Newt again to find him in Paris, leading to Newt recovering the magic blood pact made between the two that said they'd never fight. Following this, Dumbledore visits Grindelwald in a muggle cafe and begs him to stop. It it futile and they continue their efforts against each other. Dumbledore created an army to do so, and also came to blows with Credence briefly. His army would later prevent Grindelwald from being elected Supreme Mugwump and Dumbledore defended his nephew against Grindelwald, breaking the blood pact between them as a result.
After the events of Fantastic Beasts, Dumbledore and Grindelwald would duel, a duel Dumbledore would just barely win. It was after this he became headmaster of Hogwarts, right when Lord Voldemort, a new dark wizard would rise to power. Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix as an army to go against him. However, Voldemort wouldn't be defeated properly until he attempted to kill a boy called Harry Potter, and Harry's mother's love created a barrier that rebound Voldemort's killing curse. Voldemort was not permanently dead though, and to ensure Harry's protection, he sent him to live with his mother's sister, who's blood would keep his mother's protection alive.
Upon Harry's introduction to Hogwarts, the two wouldn't interact much and would only formerly meet in the Christmas holidays where Dumbledore advises Harry to stop looking into the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that shows someone deepest desire). Near the end of the year, he would be called away on Ministry business, but it was a setup for Quirell/Voldemort to get the Philosophers stone. Dumbledore would just barely save Harry in time, and aware 170 points to Gryffindor as a reward for his and his friends bravery.
In the second installment the Chamber of Secrets is opened again by Ginny Weasley, possessed by Voldemort. As a result of the attacks, Dumbledore is forced to leave Hogwarts by the governors. However, he still contributes by sending Harry his pet phoenix Faux, alongside the Sorting Hat + the sword of Gryffindor Harry uses to kill Voldemort's basilisk.
In the third installment, Dumbledore makes efforts to ensure his students are safe from convicted murderer Sirius Black, and urges the Ministry to remove dementors from Hogwarts grounds. However, he soon learns that Sirius Black was innocent, and advises Hermione to use her time turner to go back save Sirius from getting the dementors kiss (sucking out the soul), alongside rescuing Hagrid's pet Buckbeak from execution.
In the fourth installment, Dumbledore grows concerned when Harry's name is pulled out the Goblet of Fire (albeit, less aggressively in the books), but is forced to let him participate in the tournament. He also shows him memories of the trials of several death eaters (Barty Crouch Jr. amongst them), and Ludo Bagman. After Harry arrives home with Cedric's dead body, Dumbledore attempts to comfort him. When Mad-Eye brings Harry out of Dumbledore's sight, attempting to kill him, Dumbledore realizes it wasn't Mad-Eye, and actually, Barty Crouch Jr. After hearing his confession of Voldemort's return, he attempts to convince the Minister for Magic to fight back, but is dismissed.
In the fifth installment, Dumbledore reforms the Order of the Phoenix and raises an army again against Voldemort. After Harry is accused of using magic outside of school, Dumbledore offers him a last minute defense, saving him from expulsion. After Harry starts having dreams seeing Voldemort (attacking Ron's dad), Dumbledore sends him to be saved, but also has Harry learn Occlumency to protect his mind from Voldemort. After hearing Harry started Dumbledore's Army against school rules, Dumbledore takes the fall for it and is forced to leave the school. He later returns to assist the Order in the department of mysteries, fighting Voldemort himself to a stalemate. After returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore tells Harry about the prophecy that Harry would kill Voldemort (or be killed by him).
In the sixth installment, Dumbledore is secretly dying from a curse, but has Harry take private lessons with him. This involved learning more about Voldemort's past and understanding his rise to power. His final lesson involved collecting a Horcrux from a cave Voldemort scared some children at, where he agrees to go through pretty much all the suffering for it. It turns out to be a fake though, and Snape kills him in Draco Malfoy's place (which actually turned out to be part of his plan as Snape was on his side).
In the last installment, despite being dead, he keeps his plan ongoing through Snape. He has him put the idea of the Seven Potters in an Order member's head and also has him leave the sword of Gryffindor with Harry to destroy the Horcruxes. He also had Snape agree to tell Harry the truth (that there is a Horcrux inside him and Voldemort must kill him) right when all the other Horcruxes are gone (Voldemort stops sending Nagini to do his work). After Harry's "death", he visits him in limbo and tells him everything, including about his youth working with Grindelwald, and how Voldemort using Harry's blood kept Harry alive. Eventually, Harry is able to defeat Voldemort in a final showdown where the Elder wand's allegiance kills Voldemort instead of him.
Admirable Standards[]
Dumbledore was instrumental in the defeat of, not one, but two dark wizards that threatened wizardkind. Grindelwald would never have been defeated without their duel, and Voldemort would never have been defeated without his input. I really don't have a lot to say here, his contributions are listed above and you could potentially even say he's more admirable than the protagonists as he was the one pulling the strings the whole time.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
Dumbledore has a variety of corrupting qualities that prevent him from even being NPG due to their severity and number.
Severe Preventions[]
- He's made several morally grey decisions across the story that are too major for him to even be NPG:
- There's of course the whole stuff about him wanting to rule over muggles as a young wizard with Grindelwald. While he long subverted this initial act, the "for the greater good" mentality is still within him as you'll see.
- He left Harry at the Dursleys, who were objectively abusive guardians. It's also not like he didn't have other options to keep Harry safe, such as raising him at the school, or even just checking up on him to ensure the Dursleys were treating him well (as Sirius, and later, the rest of the Order did anyway).
- He was basically grooming Harry to die at the proper moment up until the fourth book as he knew Voldemort had made Harry a Horcrux, and it was only possible that Harry would survive after Voldemort used his blood.
- Instead of confronting Draco Malfoy directly about assassinating him, he instead opted to let Draco continue the attempts on his life to ensure his plan remained the same, leading to a student being cursed by a necklace and Ron being poisoned.
- Before the battle of the Seven Potters, he had Snape give the correct date of Harry's transfer as a means to gaining Voldemort's trust, indirectly causing Mad-Eye's death and George losing his ear.
- He has a habit of making incredibly poor judgements due to letting his emotions get in the way of rational thinking:
- He refused to see the darkness inside Grindelwald despite his suspicions until it was too late, which was ultimately because he was in love with him.
- He didn't fight Grindelwald until nearly a decade after their blood pact was destroyed despite having the skill to do so, leaving the wizarding world at its knees before they fought. This was because he was scared of discovering if he was the one that accidentally killed his sister in their duel.
- He refused to tell Harry about the prophecy until his fifth year despite admitting himself that he should have done it immediately. However, he couldn't bring himself to put the pressure on Harry, prioritizing his happiness over his wellbeing and wizardkind safety.
- He recklessly put on the Gaunt family ring despite knowing the risks attached and received a life-threatening curse as a result. He did this because the ring contained the resurrection stone, an item he wanted to use to see his dead sister again, something he later admitted would have been selfish of him to do as his sister would have already moved on at that point and he's basically be dragging he back unwillingly.
- He is a pretty huge liar and manipulator. He didn't tell Newt Scamander that he sent him to New York to find Credence and help defeat Grindelwald, instead using his love for magical creatures to have him go there to release one into the wild. He also claimed he told Harry everything he knew after the fifth installment, which ended up being a lie as he still kept information from him like Snape's allegiance a the deathly hallows. There's even a scene in the deathly hallows where Harry actually worries if he's like Dumbledore for keeping secrets about the Horcruxes from his classmates.
Minor Preventions[]
- Despite claiming he is a good teacher, there a several decisions he's made across his teaching career that contradict that:
- He hired Snape to teach potions and be the head of Slytherin house and made no effort to reprimand him when Snape showed blatant favoritism to his house (leading to Slytherin unfairly having a record in house cup victories), alongside bullying students he didn't like.
- At the end of the first installment, he awarded Gryffindor 170 points despite already announcing Slytherin as the winners, basically doing a bait and switch when it would have been better to just award the points first and not get Slytherin's hopes up so early.
- He hired Gilderoy Lockhart as a teacher despite already suspecting he was a fraud and wanted to use his position as a teacher to expose him as one. This disregarded the risks of hiring an incompetent teacher in defense against the dark arts, as we see through his pixy demonstration and his dueling club.
- He was pretty callous about Barty Crouch Jr. receiving the Dementor's kiss. While Crouch Jr. was evil, the Dementor's kiss is still treated as a horrible fate that no one deserves. Harry and Professor McGonigal are even horrified by it happening.
- He has a minor mischievous moment in the sixth book where he enchants a set of teapots to bump the Dursleys in the face when they wouldn't drink them. This is of course a pretty minor prevention though because... well... it's the Durselys.
Verdict[]
I think he's a pretty good qualifier