Some good news: Dumbledore is not dead, according to this site. Read their analysis of the clues hidden in the books to find out why they believe this.
It’s been my belief all along, mainly because of Fawkes, the Phoenix, but I didn’t reason it out the way these guys did. Their explanations make a lot of sense.
Dumbledore is Not Dead
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Dumbledore is not dead because.
1. If snape is a good guy then he’s not a bad guy.
a. Snape (who knows quirell is bad) warns him in private to know “where his loyalties lie” in a threatening manner.
b. Snape is muttering a COUNTER CURSE to save harry potter at the quiddich match (no one knows this other than Quirrell so its not for show)/ further proof that snape is not working with Quirell to aid voldemort
c. Snape shoots quirell a nasty look in the girls bathroom after an apparent mad dash to protect the stone- let q get the stone and be part of the diversion if you are with thge v -man.
2. Voldemort does not die as the spell should have killed him- the description is wrong (ya just can not get past this)
3. If someone stands between a wand and an intended victim that person gets hit. what if a soul in a locket stands between them (hmmmmmm)
etc… Snape is in trouble with Voldemort if he is playing double agent cuz his conversations with quirell were shared with voldemort (“snape does not understand I am never alone”)
so relax peeps dumbledore is alive / maybee he drank a sleeping potion before he died ( asphodil and wormwood ) if only an infusion of wormwood was green ( Absinthe is green and made with wormwood so this fits togather sooooo nicely )
you may say that dead is dead but in the wizarding world things can return – come on the pheonix symbol is right in our faces- I know the pheonix was apparently pretty upset but a sad pheonix makes tears (powerful healing stuff )
Also it appears that powerful wizards tend toward the Animagi side – Dumbledore may be a pheonix and come back after burning up refresshed with a new arm. (ok that one was a reach but the rest is so clear its a gimmeee.)
yer pal Vince / picker upper of keys and eggs ath hogwarts
i kinda think that he is dead but then again,… i mean snape is mean but evil is to strong of a word. the book said a flash of green light hit him and he flew over the tower. but the killing curse kills you & makes u drop dead it dosnt through u backwards! dose anyone ealos think sirius black is still alive? it said he was locked in combat with belatrix and she shot a red spell at him(crucio?) but it missed and she shot another 1 and it hit him and he fell behind the vail. maybe ithe vail trapps you or makes you 4get how u got there or somthing like that? J.K.R can trick your mind and leeding you 2 the wronge thing shes kinda known 4it . i think thats what maker such a good author
wat if dumbledore is dead?? my guess is that snape actuslly DID kill dumbledore… or at least that part of him. what if dumbledore had a horcrux (is that spelled rite??) like voldemort?? then snape’s unbreakable vow would be lifted, andhe would be completely free from voldemort. also, it would seem as though dumbledoe were completely dead, adding the element of surprise to their side. Think about it!!!
–Alice Tessen
Alice, creating a horocrux (i don’t know how to spell it either!) tears one’s soul to pieces, and causes great evil, so I think Dumbledore wouldn’t do something like that.
Steph, i think dumbledore would creat a horocrux because he would not want to want to leave Harry Potter wihout protection. Also that he might now have a horocrux, he might just not be dead.
I tend to lean pretty strongly towards Vince’s arguments above, that Dumbledore only appears to be dead. The Phoenix is really compelling; I can’t imagine that Rowling would have put one in her series without the reference really meaning something, because every little detail is covered or returned to eventually in her writing. And remember the pheonix/time thing we see in the Ministry of Magic, where it keeps dying and being reborn over and over? That has to have some significance, because they’ve returned to lots of things we saw in the Ministry at one time or another.
I read through almost the whole dumbledoreisnotdead.com (I have no life) and there are some pretty convincing points. I don’t think that Dumbledore would tear his sould into pieces though I do recall reading in one of the books that killing tears the soul into pieces. (Is that a clue?) I might be completely wrong with my assumption. I think that Sirius is really dead but you never know… JK can be surprising.
The counter curse thing that vince mentioned above was explained.
What do you think about R.A.B. I have heard two different theories. One saying that it might be a combination of three people or more likely that it is Regulus Black (not sure how to spell it). Anyways I think that Dumbledore is alive… at least I hope he is!!!:)
I agree with Vince, but for diffrent reasons… observe:
Clues supporting that Dumbledore is still alive
1. Dumbledore’s Big Chill Harry and Dumbledore are up on the top of the tower underneath the Dark Mark. Harry is wearing his invisibility cloak, Dumbledore ordered him to put it on before they mounted their brooms to ride to the top of the tower. Harry hears footsteps and looks around, but Dumbledore orders him with a gesture to retreat. Harry draws his wand and backs away: The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted, “Expelliarmus!” Harry’s body became instantly rigid and immobile, and he felt himself fall back against the tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak.(HBP pg 584) It’s interesting to note that things are happening so fast, even Harry is momentarily confused: He could not understand how it happened — Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm — Then, by the light of the Mark, he saw Dumbledore’s wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and understood… Dumbledore had wordlessly immobilzed Harry, and the second he had taken to perform this spell had cost him the chance of defending himself. (HBP pg 584) Why did Dumbledore freeze Harry? Harry was already invisible to their attackers and in no danger. The only explanation could be that Dumbledore already knew, had already planned, that he would die this night (or appear to die), and not only did he not want Harry to become involved and possibly be injured himself, he needed Harry to be a witness, to be able to tell everyone else what happened. Dumbledore might have also promised Snape that he would make sure that Harry would not be able to interfere, knowing how Harry feels about Snape and what Snape was about to have to do. The supposition that it was Dumbledore’s plan to do this all along is supported by the fact that he acted so quickly to do it, almost without thinking, when Draco burst in on the scene. Harry’s own assumption that the Freezing Charm was done by Dumbledore is supported by the fact the curse lifted when Dumbledore left the tower minutes later.
2. Let’s All Play Dead Together While Dumbledore is trying to talk Draco out of killing him, Dumbledore proposes an interesting way out for Draco: “I can help you, Draco.” “No, you can’t,” said Malfoy, his wand shaking very badly indeed. “Nobody can. He told me to do it or he’d kill me. I’ve got no choice.” “He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine.” (HBP pg 591) Dumbledore then offers to expand his mother in the protection, and even Lucius when he gets out of Azkaban. This is very interesting, isn’t it? Draco doesn’t take him up on it, but Dumbledore is saying he has ways that could make it appear that Draco died when he really hadn’t. Doesn’t that sound exactly like what we suspect that Dumbledore has planned for himself? This clue in Half-Blood Prince is especially interesting when placed next to another passage written much earlier. In the introduction to Quidditch Through The Ages, which was released between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, J.K. writes as Dumbledore: She [Madam Pince] suggested several alternatives, such as telling the people from Comic Relief U.K. that the library had burned down, or simply pretending that I had dropped dead without leaving instructions. (QttA pg viii) Not only does J.K. mention fire in this passage (see clue #9 below), she also very clearly describes Dumbeldore himself suggesting faking his own death. Again, exactly what we suspect Dumbledore did at the end of Half-Blood Prince. IMPORTANT REVELATION!
UK Edition Missing Important Text! The UK edition of Half-Blood Prince is missing some text that is included in the American edition, and it’s text that is very important to this clue! This is the text as it appears in the UK edition: “He told me to do it or he’ll kill me. I’ve got not choice.” “Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban…when the time comes we can protect him too…come over to the right side, Draco…you are not a killer…” Malfoy stared at Dumbledore. (HBP UK Edition pg 552) But this is the same passage from the American edition (text missing from the UK edition underlined): “He told me to do it or he’ll kill me. I’ve got no choice.” “He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me — forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it. Nor would the Death Eaters be surprised that we had captured and killed your mother — it is what they would do themselves, after all. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban…When the time comes we can protect him too. Come over to the right side, Draco…you are not a killer…” Malfoy stared at Dumbledore. (HBP US Edition pg 591) Both of the ommissions are directly related, they are about having Draco appeared to have died, so it would seem the ommisions are intentional. Did J.K. include those lines originally, and then decide she had gone too far and made the clue too transparent and obvious? Is it possible she decided to remove them, but the lines got accidentally included in the American edition anyway?
3. Fawkes doesn’t try to save Dumbledore We’ve seen Fawkes come in at the last moment and save Harry’s life in Chamber of Secrets: As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers — Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sunk out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. (CoS pg 318) And he also saved Dumbledore in Order of the Phoenix: … one more jet of green light had flown at Dumbledore from Voldemort’s wand and the snake had struck — Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole. He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. (OotP pg 814) We know Fawkes was nearby the tower, as he shows up after Dumbledore’s “death”. So, why didn’t Fawkes come to save Dumbledore this time? I think the fact that he didn’t makes it possible to believe that Dumbledore didn’t want his life to be saved, and this supports the theory that it was Dumbledore’s plan all along to “die” up on that tower that night.
4. The “Flying” Avada Kedavra As soon as I read the description of exactly what happened the moment that Snape killed Dumbledore, little red flags were popping up in my brain, but I didn’t pay attention to them at first. This was actually the very first clue that alerted me to this whole thing. Every other time we’ve seen the Avada Kedavra performed, the victim simply falls over dead: He was screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in the chair spoke as it raised a wand. There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumbled. He was dead before he hit the floor. (GoF pg 15)
From high above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, “Kill the spare.” A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: “Avada Kedavra!” A blast of green light blazed through Harry’s eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to ground beside him. Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead. (GoF pg 638) However, in Half-Blood Prince, when Snape curses Dumbledore with the same spell, Dumbledore violently flies up and away from the tower: Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. “Avada Kedavra!” A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape’s wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry’s scream of horror never left him; silently he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he slowly fell backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight. (HBP pg 596) Why would this application of the Avada Kedavra be so different from every other time we’ve seen it? Perhaps his spell was different because even though those were the words Snape said, he didn’t perform the killing curse at all. Remember all the importance this book gave to “nonverbal” spells? Perhaps Snape said Avada Kedavra, but the curse he was really thinking, the nonverbal one, was a different curse, one that only made it appear that Dumbledore was dead. The possibilty that Snape said one curse and cast another nonverbally might not be as likely if we couldn’t recognize the curse that was really cast, but we can! Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: “Expelliarmus!” There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. (CoS pg 190)
Harry made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had raised his wand. “Expelliarmus!” he yelled — except that his wasn’t the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out. Harry looked around. Both Ron and Hermione had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. (PoA pg 361) In these examples from Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban, different wizards are issuing the Expelliarmus spell with the results being described almost exactly the same way, the victim being voilenty blasted up and backwards. This also happens to be similar to the description of when Dumbledore is attacked up in the tower. So, even though Snape said Avada Kedavra, the evidence from the books shows that the nonverbal curse he cast was Expelliarmus! Even the title of the chapter this all takes place in is suspicous, “The Lightning-Struck Tower”. Even though this is the name of the ominous tarot card that Trelawney was worried about back on page 543 in chapter 25, is it possible that J.K. is hinting here that the spell was not Avada Kedavra, but some other spell that had lightening-type effects instead? But there is even another clue that Dumbledore’s flying off the tower that night was a prearranged ruse between himself and Snape. Back in chapter nineteen, when Harry orders Dobby and Kreacher to follow Malfoy around in an effort to figure out what he was up to, Dobby replies: “Yes, Harry Potter!” said Dobby at once, his great eyes shining with excitement. “And if Dobby does it wrong, Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower, Harry Potter!” (HBP pg 422) Notice, Dobby says “throw himself”, not something like “you can throw me”. Also, Dobby specifically mentions “the topmost tower”, exactly the place where the “death” of Dumbledore later occurs in the same way. Now, even though we know Dobby gets around and probably hears a lot of things he shouldn’t in the castle, we’re not suggesting Dumbledore could so easily slip up and let Dobby be privy to such a secret plan. But what we are suggesting is that J.K. is not above using something Dobby says to plant a clue for us that later on in the story it would be Dumbledore, himself, who planned the whole death cherade, and caused himself, or arranged for himself, to be thrown from the top of the tallest Astronomy tower.
5. Was Snape Serious? Several times in the course of the Harry Potter books, J.K. has told us that the Avada Kedavra is not a curse you can make lightly. In Goblet of Fire, the fake Mad Eye Moody tells his DADA class: “Avada Kedavra’s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed.” (GoF pg 217) And in Order of the Phoenix, we learn more about Avada Kedavra when Harry tries to curse Bellatrix: Hatred rose in Harry such that he had never known before. He flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed “Crucio!” Bellatrix screamed. The spell had knocked her off her feet, but she did not writhe or shriek with pain as Neville had — she was already on her feet again … “Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?” she yelled. “You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain — to enjoy it …” (OotP pg 810) If Snape was really working on Dumbledore’s orders to make it look to the world as if Snape had killed him, even if he had used the real Avada Kedavra, if he had not really meant it, if he really didn’t want to kill Dumbledore, then isn’t it possible that the curse didn’t kill Dumbledore, but only injured him badly?
6. Fawkes’ Lament Directly after Dumbledore’s murder, as everyone assembled in the hospital wing, Harry tells everyone Snape did it. He stops, overcome with emotion, and right then, something very important happens: Madame Pomfrey burst into tears. Nobody paid her any attention except Ginny, who whispered, “Shh! Listen!” (HBP pg 614) Everyone was there, Ron and his parents, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks. Yet it is Madame Pomfrey who J.K. tells us is struck by this turn of events. Continuing: Gulping, Madame Pomfrey pressed her fingers to her mouth, her eyes wide. Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before; a stricken lament of terrible beauty. (HBP pg 614) J.K. spends another paragraph on how the phoenix song echos their grief, but while doing so mentions: Harry felt, as he had felt about the Phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without … How long they stood there, listening, he did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little to listen… (HBP pg 615) And then McGonagall enters, changes the subject, and the phoenix song is forgotten. Many minutes later, after all the retelling of the night’s affair, J.K. mentions Fawkes is still at it: They all fell silent. Fawkes’s lament was still echoing over the dark grounds outside. (HBP pg 621) …but Harry’s thoughts move right on to other things, like wondering where Dumbledore’s body is now. Many minutes later still, as this meeting breaks up and Harry is following McGonagall up to what is now her office, J.K. interjects: The corridors outside were deserted and the only sound was the distant phoenix song. (HBP pg 625) Whatever it was he was doing, Fawkes was working hard at it, and not giving up. Yet we are supposed to believe, as in the title of this chapter, “The Phoenix Lament”, that it is only Dumbledore’s pet echoing everyone’s grief? Are we so easily to forget that phoenix tears have powerful healing powers? Significantly, it is the healer, Madame Pomfrey, who is brought to tears by the phoenix song. She knows the healing power of the phoenix well. She gulps with eyes wide. She recognizes something special is going on. Also, J.K. goes out of her way to point out the healing qualities of the phoenix song, Harry feels it inside, the way he did last time he was healed by one, and most importantly, it seems to ease their pain! From these passages, it certainly seems that J.K. wants us to know that Fawkes is doing some healing! Perhaps Fawkes is not powerful enough to bring someone back from the Avada Kedavra, but what if Dumbledore was not really hit by an Avada Kedrava, and instead hit with half a spell, or a spell to make him appear dead (as explained in the clues above)?
7. Anyone Seen Dumbledore’s Wand? At the very begining of the big scene between Draco, Dumbledore and Snape, one of the first things that happens is Dumbledore loses his wand: The door burst open and somebody erupted through it and shouted, “Expelliarmus!” … by the light of the Mark, he saw Dumbledore’s wand flying in an arc over the edge of the ramparts … (HBP pg 584) But where is his wand now? From that point on, we never see his wand again. We know a wizard’s wand is very important to him, and a wand that belonged to a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore would be a very important item to know the whereabouts of, something you wouldn’t want falling into the wrong hands. This clue might not mean as much if we didn’t know the customs of wizards in such occasions, but we do! Five chapters ago, when Harry and Slughorn were consoling Hagrid over the death of Aragog, Hagrid and Sluggy sang a song about a wizard called Odo, and Sluggy sang the lines: And Odo the hero, they bore him back home,
To the place that he’d known as a lad,
They laid him to rest with his hat inside out
And his wand snapped in two, which was sad. (HBP pg 488) But as far as we know, they didn’t snap Dumbledore’s wand in two. (Not to mention we never see his hat inside out either…) After the scene at the top of the tower, Dumbledore’s wand is simply never mentioned again. Is it possible that Dumbledore’s wand is missing because Dumbledore still has his wand, still needs his wand, because he’s not dead?
8. No Body, No Crime The last time we really saw Dumbledore’s body was when Harry is kneeling over it shortly after he has been “killed” by Snape the previous day. Now, we see Hagrid carry the body of Dumbledore into his funeral, but it’s covered: Hagrid was walking slowly up the aisle between the chairs. He was crying quite silently, his face gleaming with tears, and in his arms, wrapped in purple velvet spangled with golden stars, was what Harry knew to be Dumbledore’s body. (HBP pg 643) We never really see Dumbledore’s body at the funeral. How do we know it was really there at all?
9. Caution: Dumbledore Is Flammable As part of the funeral service, a fire ignites around the body of Dumbledore, and when it subsides, his body is encased in a white marble tomb. Again, we don’t see the body, either before or after the fire. But more importantly, no one lights the fire, it just happens on its own. A body bursting into flame on its own. That sound like anyone we know? We’ve seen Fawkes do that several times now in the course of the Harry Potter books, and you know what happens to Fawkes after every time it does. Earlier in the book, we saw several instances where Dumbledore uses fire, an important aspect of the symbol of a phoenix. When he first meets Tom Riddle in the orphanage, to demonstrate he’s a wizard, he sets Tom’s wardrobe on fire. And he conjures fire to protect Harry and himself from the infiri in the cave. And after all this, in case we didn’t get the allusions to a phoenix, J.K. reminds us just in case: White smoke spiraled into the air and made strange shapes: Harry thought, for one heart-stopping moment, that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. (HBP pg 645) All these clues seem to suggest that if Dumbledore really did die, he has the ability to be reborn out of the ashes of his death, either under his own power, or with the help of the healing powers of Fawkes. Besides, even if Dumbledore’s body was there when it erupted into flame, we know that doesn’t mean anything to a wizard! Non-magic people (more commonly known as muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. (PoA pg 2) So, who do they think they were fooling at the funeral?
Clues supporting that Snape is on Dumbledore’s side
1. Snape Lies to Narcissa and Bellatrix… Twice During the meeting that Snape has at his house with Narcissa and Bellatrix in chapter 2, Snape tries to explain to them why he never killed Harry all those years at Hogwarts when he had ample opportunity: “Of course, it became apparent to me very quickly that he had no extraordinary talent at all. He has fought his way out of a number of tight corners by a simple combination of sheer luck and more talented friends. He is mediocre to the last degree…” (HBP pg 31) But we know Snape knows this is a lie. We know Snape knows that Harry is a powerful wizard. We know he knows Harry is a parselmouth. We know he knows Harry could conjure a corporeal patronus when he was just 13 years old. We know he knows Harry has stood up to and prevailed against Voldemort five times! But not even one whole page later, Narcissa is crying to Snape she has something she wants to say, but has been forbidden to talk about by Voldemort. Snape immediately replies that she should follow Voldemort’s orders, and sister Bellatrix agrees. But Snape appears troubled by the conversation: But Snape had gotten to his feet and strode to the small window, peered through the curtains, and then closed them again with a jerk. He turned around to face Narcissa, frowning. (HBP pg 32) What happened to make him jerk the curtains closed all of a sudden and turn back to the women, frowning? Has he had a revelation? It is only at this point that he confides in them that he already knows the plan, that Voldemort has already told him. He’s lying again! If he already knew the plan, why would he have taken the position, just one moment earlier, that she should follow Voldemort’s law and not speak of it? We know Snape is a powerful Legilimens, we learned that in the Occlumency scenes with Snape and Harry in Order of the Phoenix. Just in case we forgot about Legilimency, J.K. mentioned it just a few pages ago. Questioning Voldemort’s trust in Snape, Snape interrupts: “You think he is mistaken? Or that I somehow hoodwinked him? Fool the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?” (HBP pg 26) Having just been on the verge of spilling the beans to Snape, Draco’s assignment must have been top-most in Narcissa’s thoughts, and in the quiet moment at the window, Snape saw it in her mind. He then lies to them about already knowing the plan, to gain their trust. So, at the same time that Snape is trying to convince Narcissa and Bellatrix that he’s worthy of Voldemort’s trust, we can see he is lying to them, several times. That can only mean that Snape isn’t as loyal to Voldemort as he’d like Bellatrix and Narcissa (and us!) to believe.
2. What Hagrid Overheard Harry is talking to Hagrid after the poisoning of Ron, and Hagrid lets it slip that he overheard something he shouldn’t have: I was comin’ outta the forest the other evenin’ an’ I overheard ’em talking — well, arguin’. … I jus’ heard Snape sayin’ Dumbledore took too much fer granted an’ maybe he — Snape — didn’ wan’ ter do it anymore … Dumbledore told him flat out he’d agreed ter do it an’ that was all there was to it.” (HBP pg 405) This clue comes right out and tells us that Snape is following the orders of Dumbledore, although we now see whatever Snape has promised to do for Dumbledore is difficult or unpleasant. We also now have comfirmation that Dumbledore has a plan, which involves Snape, and Dumbleore is confident that the plan that Snape has agreed to will proceed.
3. No DADA Teacher Has Lasted More Than 1 Year For every Hogwarts year that is documented in the Harry Potter books so far, it stands out prominently that there has been a different Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher each year. They even joked about it at the beginning of the previous book, when the kids are looking over their just arrived book lists for the year, and they’re wondering who assigned the Slinkhard book, as it meant Dumbledore had found a new DADA teacher: Fred told Harry … “Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year.” “Not surprising, is it, when you look at what’s happened to the last four?” said George. “One sacked, one dead, one’s memory erased, and one locked in a trunk for nine months,” said Harry, counting them off on his fingers. “Yeah, I see what you mean.” (OotP pg 161) And in Half-Blood Prince, Harry, Ron and Hermione talk about this again when they are surprised at the sorting feast that Snape will be DADA teacher that year: “Well, there’s one good thing,” [Harry] said savagely. “Snape’ll be gone by the end of the year.” “What do you mean?” asked Ron. “That job’s jinxed. No one’s lasted more than a year…Quirell actually died doing it…” (HBP pg 167/159) Ironically, it turns out, Harry was literally right. When Tom Riddle returned after a ten year absence to again request to be a teacher at Hogwarts, Dumbledore rejected him, and upon Harry’s questioning, Dumbledore gave us some important insight into the Hogwarts DADA teacher situation: “Was he after the Defense Against the Dark Arts job again, sir? He didn’t say…” “Oh, he definitely wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job,” said Dumbledore. “The aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have never been able to keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort.” (HBP pg 446/) So, Dumbledore himself is admitting he knows that Voldemort cursed the DADA teacher job. This means he knew about the curse when he assigned Snape to the job this year. But he never intended Snape to be in the job for longer than a year to begin with, as his plan for Snape to kill him and flee at the end of the year must have already been in place.
4. Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover When Snape comes into the bathroom after being alerted by Moaning Myrtle, he knows instanly that the Sectumsempra curse was used to injure Draco, because he goes right to work on him using the proper countercurse to reverse the damage. He then takes Draco to the hospital wing, ordering Harry to wait for him there. When Snape returns, he asks Harry where he learned the curse, and Harry says he saw it in a book in the library. Snape puts his Legilimency to work again: “Liar,” said Snape. Harry’s throat went dry. He knew what Snape was going to do and he had never been able to prevent it… The bathroom seemed to shimmer before his eyes; he struggled to block out all thought, but try as he might, the Half-Blood Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion Making swam hazily to the fore-front of his mind. (HBP pg 524) Snape then demands Harry bring him his books, Harry makes a detour and hides the book in the room of requirement, bringing Snape Ron’s copy of the book instead. Snape must know Harry’s trying to pull a fast one on him, he knows Harry has the book, he saw it in his mind. But instead of pressing the point, Snape just gives him a dozen detentions. Why would Snape do this if he wasn’t still working for Dumbledore? He lost his temper with Harry when he demanded Harry bring him the book, but then even though Harry lies to him about it, Snape remembers who’s side he’s on, and backs off.
5. Severus… Please… If you believe that Snape is acting on Dumbledore’s orders to kill him (or possibly just make it look like he killed him, although he’d probably still be hurting him), then Snape’s demeanor and Dumbledore’s final words take on a whole new meaning. …somebody else had spoken Snape’s name, quite softly. “Severus…” The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading. Snape said nothing, but walked forward and pushed Malfoy roughly out of the way. … Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face. “Severus… Please…” (HBP pg 595) In that passage the reader is supposed to believe that Snape hates Dumbledore and feels revulsion for him. But to help us understand the real meaning of Snape’s feelings of revulsion and hatred, J.K. used almost the exact same words for what Harry was feeling just one chapter previous: “You…you can’t stop, Professor,” said Harry. “You’ve got to keep drinking, remember? You told me you had to keep drinking. Here…” Hating himself, repulsed by what he was doing, Harry forced the goblet back toward Dumbledore’s mouth … (HBP pg 571) Even though Snape was to kill Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders, it must have been something that was still really emotional and difficult for Snape to do, exactly as it was for Harry to make Dumbledore drink the potion. The feeling of revulsion on Snape’s face was not for Dumbledore, but the act he knew he had to commit. The hatred was not for Dumbledore, but for what Dumbledore was making him do. And when Dumbledore said, “Severus… Please…” he wasn’t begging “please don’t”. What he was really saying was, “Severus, please kill me, as you promised you would.” Way back at the end the first book, when Dumbledore confirms for Harry that Flamel would die now that the philosopher’s stone was gone, Dumbledore explained: “To one as young as you, I’m sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.” (SS/PS pg 297/) Does that sound to you like someone who would beg to save his own life?
Other…
1. If Snape Didn’t Fulfill The Unbreakable Vow, Why Isn’t He Dead? There are three unanswered aspects to this question. First, do unbreakable vows have a time limit? It’s unlikely they do, because you’d think it would have to be stated when the vow was made, and no such time limit was set. But if they don’t have time limits, then it’s sort of hard to enforce an unbreakable vow, isn’t it? “Hey! You didn’t fulfill your promise! You’re dead!” “No wait! I just haven’t gotten around to it, you can’t kill me yet!” Second, I believe if you re-read all of chapter 2, you will see that the exact details of Draco’s task are never spoken outloud in that scene, we only learn of the details later. If the exact nature of what Snape’s promising to do are not spoken exactly, but possibly only an understanding between the parties, what promise is he held to, exactly? Can he be held to details of a vow that weren’t expressly stated? Am I watching too many lawyer shows on TV? One of Draco’s main tasks was to fix the vanishing cabinet so he could sneak his Death Eater pals into Hogwarts. Perhaps that’s what Snape vowed to help with, and in that case, Draco suceeeded, so Snape’s off the hook. Third, this unanswerable question is based on the assumption that Dumbledore isn’t really dead, so Snape didn’t kill him, so he didn’t fulfill the vow. But what if the person you made the vow with thinks you fulfilled it? The world, including Narcissa and Bellatrix (and you, possibly, up until you read this site! 🙂 thinks that Dumbledore is dead. So does that fulfill Snape’s vow? This one is possibly unanswerable until we can either dig out some more clues buried elsewhere in the book, or possibly we won’t know until book 7.
2. Doesn’t Dumbledore’s Portrait Mean That He’s Dead? I know this is your biggest argument against me… but this is the best that I’ve got…Does it state anywhere in a Harry Potter book that you have to be dead to be on the wall in the headmaster’s office? I can’t prove this, but I think it’s just more likely the only requirement is you have to be a former headmaster, and it just so happens all of the former headmasters previous to Dumbledore are currently dead. The book says: …a new portrait had joined the ranks of the dead headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts: Dumbledore was slumbering in a golden frame above his desk, his half-moon spectacles perched upon his crooked nose, looking peaceful and untroubled. (HBP pg 626/584) Yes, we see it says Dumbledore joined the ranks of the dead headmasters. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he is dead, it just means the others of the ranks he was joining were dead.
2a. If Dumbledore Is Alive, Where Is Umbridge’s Portrait? So, you may say, if all the portraits on the wall in the headmaster’s office aren’t necessarily dead, then where’s the portrait of Dolores Jane Umbridge? She was temporarily headmistress last year. First of all, we don’t know there’s not a portrait of Umbridge. It’s never been mentioned, but it’s never been mentioned there isn’t one, either. But, some have asked, the event of the death of the headmaster is surely what triggers the creation of the new portrait. Unfortunately, I just don’t know enough about this. For example, it’s possible that you may have actually had to have worked in the office to be honored there. That would leave the toad-lady out, since she was locked out of the headmaster’s office during her tenure. Or, perhaps, it is a declaration by the Hogwarts board of governers which creates the portrait, in which case, Umbridge wouldn’t have one because the ministry appointed her. Of course, it’s also possible that Dolores is so hated, that the other portraits got together and banned her portrait to a closet someplace…
3. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly And speaking of Umbridge… Everyone who was everyone in the Wizarding world showed up for Dumbledore’s funeral, including Dolores! Weren’t you a bit shocked to see her there? She could have been there out of respect, but we know she wouldn’t mean it, and as she must surely be way down on the Ministry ladder right now, who would she be trying to impress by the act? I think it’s much more likely that it was arranged for her to be there, as a witness. If the plan was to have the world believe that Dumbledore is dead, then having the toad-lady there as a witness to his funeral would be pretty compelling proof for the Dumbledore haters who Umbridge represents that Dumbledore really is gone.
4. The Draught of Living Death Potions come into play a lot in the course of Half-Blood Prince. In chapter 9, Professor Slughorn presents four already-made potions to his first class, three of which figure prominently in the story. They are Veritaserum (truth potion), Polyjuice Potion, which we find out later is being used by Crabbe and Goyle to disguise themselves as girls while they’re lookouts for Draco, Amortentia (love potion), which Ron accidentally injests from a candy meant for Harry, and Feilx Felicis, which aids the members of Dumbledore’s Army later in the climax of the story. Then, in the same class, Harry, with the aid of the Half-Blood Prince, produces a perfect Draught of Living Death, which was introduced to us way back in Snape’s first lesson in the first book. Interestingly, in pratically the same breath, Snape also mentions the bezoar which also figures prominently in Half-Blood Prince, and also wolfsbane, which we know helps Lupin later in Prisoner of Azkaban: “For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As far as monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant… (SS pg 138) Some fans are speculating that the fifth potion in this scene is important too, that Dumbledore uses the Draught of Living Death to somehow fake his death that night up on the tower. While this theory is possible, besides the mention of the Draught of Living Death here in chapter 9, to my knowledge there is no other evidence to support this theory.
…Your welcome for the help Vince
OMG!!I have the answer!!in this quote we learn of the drought of living death.”For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As far as monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant… (SS/PS pg 138/103) Now, as i have read in the other commnets, it is thought that Dumbledore took this to fake his death. Now, as we know the horcrux in the sea-shore cave was a fake, the real one was taken by R.A.B. (Sirius’ brother! Regulas(spelling?) A. Black. Check the book if u don’t believe!). Now as R.A.B. is tring to twart Lord Voldemort, wouldn’t he want to refil the tank that the loket horcrux was in with somthing harmful to lord Voldemort, should he come back to get it? i think so! he put the drought of living death in it so that when Voldy tried to get the locket he would fall asleep as if he were Dead!!!
I think you are right dubldores women becuase Regulas is sirus brother. Also dumbldore might be dead but he might have made his bird a horcux becasue he did nto want to leave harry pooter alone.
I also say that dumboldores freind is rihgt because it could be the draught of living death that dumboldore drank to look like hes dead. Also nobody ever found dumboldroes wand so this means hes alive.
I think dumbledore has a horcrux coz he is known for the defeat of a certain Grindelwald(on the chocolate card).. Wat if defeating means killing? Perhaps dumbledore accidentally killed him.. Put Expelliarmus on him but instead he hit a wall or something and died.. Maybe dumbledore’s soul got ripped apart then, and he used it to his advantage.. Wat if he didn’t mean the killing, but it happened? The evil part of creating a horcrux is only the killing, right? And then, he isn’t completely dead coz of the horcrux, but maybe Snape knew of it..
One more theory.. Wat if Snape loved Lily.. Maybe that’s the regret he expresses to Dumbledore that convinces him.. Dumbledore is a great wizard, he can’t just believe wat he told harry as the reason for Snape’s “joining the good side”.. Maybe he fell in love with her after a certain incident involving him being taunted by James(pensieve)? Wat say, ppl?
i think ur right. but do u know what the horkrux is. i think it is fawkes the pheonix. yall should reall go to http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com that gives alot of reasonable clues.
im convinced dumbledore is not dead.This is because there are 3 stages of alchemy which JK Rowling seems to be following..The 1st stage is the black stage wich would signify the death of Sirius Black in the 5th book,the 2nd stage is the white stage which would signify the death of dumbledore(pure aka white)in the 6th book.There is a tie between the white and red stage which is signified by the marriage between Bill Weasley and Fleur De la cour. The third stage of alchemy is the red stage which i predict will mean the death of Hagrid(Rubeus means red) in the final book. I think Hagrid knows Dumbledore has a horcrux-Fawkes-and will die protecting this secret.In alchemy, after the red stage, salt is produced. This would signify the return of Dumbledore!!!
I agree with Hermione, especially about Snape.. Dumbledore is not foolish, he just can’t believe people because they are sorry.. He positively dismisses harry’s suspicions.. There should be some other reason he doesn’t want to tell Harry.. When dumbledore says, “Your mother had an option too, harry”, he must’ve meant about snape.. And that black, white and red thing is really hard work, Teena
I don’t think everything you guys say only is evidence that Dumbledore is alive. For one, when Snape warns him about where his loyalties lie,could just be a statement that shows Snapes loyalty to Dumbledore. You can’t know for certain which loyalty is being mentioned.
I believe Dumbledore is dead. And just listen to me. You can correct and insult me later. I don’t think Dumbledore would use a horcrux. Tom Riddle could barely find out what one was. They are the evilest and darkest things ever heard of by us. Hermione couldn’t even figure out what one was. Do you really think that the wonderful Dumbledore, you are trying to rationalize into existence, would use such magic. This would make him very much like Riddle. Someone I doubt he tried to model.
I think we have to face the fact that death is a common theme in the book. It is there to show us how quick and cruel it can be. We must accept it, because it happens all the time. We can’t hide from it. Dumbledore even said that death is just the next step to another great adventure. Doesn’t this sugjest that Dumbledore is not afraid of dying. Explain that one to me. I would talk about Snape, but I’m afraid you would swear and whatnot at what I’d say.
Somebody stop Kait. I can’t explain very well against what she said. And what was she going to say about Snape?
Drew is my brother. What I was going to say about Snape, well might as well tell you. Snape was loyal to dumbledore. He had to kill Dumbledore. Yes, Dumbledore did plead. Yet he also pleaded to harry back when they were trying to get the horcrux. I believe somehow Snape knew that no matter what he had to kill Dumbledore.
Another thing. Snape can’t be completly evil. Not that I’m saying he’s a sugarplum. I think that J.K. Rowling has proven herself a better writer than that. Characters are only characters if they have some consistancy. Her characters haven’t been black and white. The closest to black and white would be Dumbledore. Yet he doesn’t try to save the world himself. He is wise but makes mistakes. (His death was no mistake)
Snape has some part to play in book seven that will probably end his life. And this will be the only thing that will convince Harry, that he is not straight evil. Don’t be tricked into thinking everything is straight forward. Nothing interesting ever is. I hope you guys listened a little bit. If not, fine, just wait till book seven.
And the girl on post number 12, Dumbledore would never use evil he did. If,as you suggest, dumbledore killed Grindewald I don’t think his soul would rip apart. I think that only happens when you kill to just do that, kill. Surely that wasn’t his intent. And why would Dumbledore use evil to protect himself. He wouldn’t want anything more to do with that evil he may have commited. Would you turn to evil if it could protect you. Use anothers life to save your own. I don’t think Dumbledore had that big of an Ego. To say that you are more important than another, to even the memory of a person is awful.
Dumbledore wouldn’t do that
to the girl on #9
if Voldy did drink the draught of living death, all it would do would make him fall asleep.
That isn’t very effective. There’s probably a better potion.
Hey I agree with all of you who say dumboldore is alive. Also I have heard a rumor that harry is dumboldore’s grandson or something like that. Also how could dumboldore die, he is the greatest wizard in the world and he could stop a avara kadvra. Even without his wand he could just do a novble spell. Well that is what I think my good ppl.
Fawkes tears heal they are very powerful then why doesnt Dumbledore heal is injured hand with its tears??????????????Does this mean that Fawkes is Dumbledore’s horcrux?????????????????????
At a public reading in NY this summer (2006) JK Rowling did confirm that Dunbledore was dead. That seems to make it clear, on the other hand it seems very possible that he is dead but maybe not on a permanent basis…
I addition to all the posts here, there are more reasons to believe that Snape is in with Dumbledore. The certainty with which Dumbledore trusts him has to be based on more than meets the eye. Furthermore, and I don’t see this point brought up at all, but while Snape is deflecting Harry’s attacks close to the gates of Hogwarts, he takes the time to tell him why and how he is doing that. He then proceeds to further tell Harry how his attacks would be more successful. Something along the lines of (quoting from memory but hopefully accurately) “…deflected again and again until you learn to close your mind…”. What villain would actually give you the recipe to defeat him? What Snape does in the last chapters of the Half Blood prince, is basically to carry out what I believe Dumbledore ordered him to:
-Kill him or appear to kill him.
-Protect Draco (who we know is not a killer) by taking over the task for him and in doing so fulfill his unbreakable vow.
-Protect Harry (let’s not forget that he prevents one of the death eaters from further exercising the Cruciartix curse on Harry)
-Still manage to tell Harry how his attacks could be more effective, despite the fact that Harry’s attacks are against him!
Snape may not be a likeable character so far, but there is some profound reason (as of yet unknown) that puts him on the right side despite appearances. This makes me believe that although Dumbledore is currently dead, it may not be as permanent as it appears.
The last thing that raised flags for me is that whole deal with the locket. A powerful and accomplished wizard like Dumbledore (who picks up vibes where magic was performed like detecting the entrance to the cave, the chain holding the boat etc.) would have sensed that the locket was not a horcrux when he picked it from the bottom of the basin. Yet he did not say a thing. I am speculating that a switch was performed some time between when Dunbeldore falls out of the tower and when Harry gets to his body and picks up the locket he now carries with him. That is a further reason to believe that both Dumbledore and Snape performed some misdirection…
well these re mostly my own thoughts on whats gona hppen in the finl book. i know i kinda go on about other stuff aswell. SoRrY.
I reckon there’s something that Aunt Petunia is hiding from Uncle Vernon, Dudley and Harry, Because Petunia was sent a howler in the 5th book. The howler said ‘’ Remember my last, Petunia ‘’ .We later find out that the howler was sent to her by Albus Dumbledore, he told Harry that it meant ‘’ Remember my last letter’’. However, J.K. Rowling tells the public that there were other letters that we do not know about. And by judging from the surprise that Vernon receives, we must assume that he is not aware of the prior letters. A possibility to consider is that Dudley is a Wizard. In the 6th book when Albus Dumbledore arrives at the Dursleys residents and says on page 57 (Bloomsbury) ‘’The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you [Dudley]. ‘’. And incidentally it is Uncle Vernon who objects to this. The most appalling damage inflicted upon Dudley could easily mean that Dumbledore has provoked magic which stops Dudley being a wizard, but now we will have to see what happens to Dudley. Because now that Dumbledore is dead surely the magic will have lifted? Apparently in the final book we will find out what memories Dudley relived the night that he and his cousin were attacked by dementors. We also find out more about Petunia and her past.
Another thing that caught my attention was the boy ‘’ Mark Evans’’ has anyone else realized that Lily Potter’s maiden name was ‘’Evans’’ too? Surely J.K. Rowling wouldn’t have used the same surname if there wasn’t a link?
And JKRowling told the public that someone would stay at Hogwarts after their the schooling, but it wouldn’t be Harry. Nor would it be Ron, this leaves Hermione or Neville I think? She did say this along time ago, so she may have changed her mind
Is Snape a good guy or a bad guy? There are many things to suggest that he is good- for instance, he might not have known the plan but simply caught on to what it was. There are many things to suggest that he is bad- the fact that when Narcissa Malfoy was expressing her worry about her son, the only clue she gave of who Draco had to kill was that Voldemort had failed to kill him. How would Snape know it was Dumbledore if Voldemort also failed to kill Harry Potter? I do however feel that it is more likely that Snape is bad due to the fact that he killed Dumbledore. ALTHOUGH he may have done it on Dumbledore’s orders. It is VERY hard to tell.
By the way do you remember when Dumbledore said something about he will only truly leave Hogwarts when there is no one loyal to him left. Harry is ofcorse still loyal to him. Im not sure if this is still the case now that Dumbledores dead.
I know this is crazy: but I think Harry might be a horcrux. Dumbledore did tell him in the 2nd book page 245, 9th line that Voldemort had left some of himself in Harry. Couldn’t that mean that he had left some of his soul in Harry? If my suspicion is correct then it would explain why occasionally Harry shares emotions with Voldemort. It would also fit with the prophecy. The way I understand it is that ‘’if one of them dies the other one dies too.’’ And of course if Harry was a horcrux he would never be able to completely kill Voldemort without killing himself. But that doesn’t explain why Voldemort is trying so hard to kill Harry, maybe he doesn’t know?
I’m sure that in the final book we will find out more about the department of mysteries. Lunar and Harry have a brief conversation about the veil, perhaps there is more to this story… and while on the subject of the department of mysteries I’m almost sure that we will find out more about the room which is ‘’always locked’’ the one in which Harry melted Sirius’s knife. I think this place might be called ‘’The Hall of Love’’ because from what Dumbledore says it deals with matters of the heart.
I am also inclined to think that R.A.B is Regulus Black, brother of Sirius, and I believe that could be one of the reasons he was killed. In the 5th book there is said to be ‘’ a heavy locket which nobody could open.’’ Could this be the horcrux?
Apparently in the final book we will investigate the past of Dumbledore, I am very curious to see and find more information about Dumbledore’s brother; Aberforth, as I find him both strange and intriguing.
I reckon that Ron and Hermione will end up together because he was really upset when he found out that she had kissed Viktor, which clearly shows he cares about her. Speaking of Viktor Krum we know he is coming back in the next book but I have no clue why. I reckon Neville will end up the Lunar.
And I do feel really sorry for Snape about what James did to him, even though he killed Dumbledore. I’m also really upset that Sirius died- he was my favorite Character. My least favorite character has got to be Hagrid.
By the way is Romilda vein attractive? And am I the only one who’s realized that Eloise Midgeon keeps cropping up in the books but never really has a ‘’part’’, all we know about her is that she has very bad acne and once tried to curse the pimples away.
Well I think that’s all… Do tell me what you think about my suspicions, as crazy as they might be, I still think there may be sense around them?
I dont think dumbledore is dead b’cause i think he faked his death. maybe he has a horcruxe.
Does anyone think Dumbledore could be Hedwig? I’m reading through the whole series again to see if they are both in the same scene but I have not come across that yet. I know there is is sex change, but it could be possible – right? I mean I wizard as advanced as Dumbledore must be an anamgus (not sure if that’s spelled right…)I’m not sure how this conflicts with Snape’s vows but there must be some trick in it. If anyone finds a part in the series were Hedwig and Dumbledore are together post it.
Well, we have now seen. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is definitely dead. And Severus Snape is a good man!
Dumbledore is not dead. In the film half blood prince snape casts the killing curse on albus, the colour of the spell was blue/green not true green as throughout the series of films, and we all know that to cast the killing curse and have it work properly one has to mean it. Snape did’nt mean it, it was set up between albus and snape long before, J K Rowling is saving a great suprise for all HP fans wait and see. Much more evidence is there in the books and the films, do your research you will see it for yourself.