There is one character in the Harry Potter universe that everyone is obsessed with and I have no idea why — Albus Dumbledore.
Masked behind a calming voice and a seriously wicked beard is a man who is just as evil as some other characters in the series, just on a different level.
Dumbledore isn’t necessarily a bad guy, and it just goes to show that everyone has an evil side to them. But fans of Harry Potter often ignore Dumbledore’s humanistic tendencies and place him on a saint-like pedestal. Fans shouldn’t blindly love a character without recognizing their downfalls, and that’s often the discussion surrounding Dumbledore. People need to acknowledge the fact Dumbledore wasn’t the best guy.
It all started in book four, The Goblet of Fire. Harry’s name was plucked from, you guessed it, The Goblet of Fire and Dumbledore did nothing to help Harry out of the situation. He stood idly by and insisted Harry put his own name in for the tournament, which would have been a death sentence (that gave way to a hilarious meme). Harry never wanted to be the center of attention; he was thrown into the spotlight from birth. It’s almost as if Dumbledore wasn’t paying attention Harry’s first three years.
That was most minor of Dumbledore’s infractions. It got worse in Order of the Phoenix when Dumbledore practically ghosted Harry for the whole year. Like, what kind of petty drama is that? Dumbledore ignored a 15-year-old because he thought Harry needed some space. I’m sorry, but what teenager “needs space” after seeing the person who murdered his parents return and murder a fellow classmate? Dumbledore is ridiculous.
And here comes the sixth book, The Half-Blood Prince. Sure, Dumbledore was giving Harry private lessons so he could better understand Voldemort, or more specifically, Tom Riddle. Dumbledore could have been teaching Harry from the get-go, but the most frustrating part of the sixth installment was the fact Dumbledore convinced Harry to retrieve a memory from Horace Slughorn. Dumbledore should have been able to do that on his own. He is the greatest wizard to ever live.
In The Deathly Hallows, readers get more information about Dumbledore’s history. He had two siblings: Aberforth and Ariana. His brother and sister did not really like Albus because he resented his dysfunctional family. Ariana was killed in a three-way duel between Albus, Aberforth and dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
Grindelwald and Dumbledore were best friends. They were part of a group that believed in the Deathly Hallows. A part often forgotten — and not even touched on in the movies — was that Dumbledore also sought out the Deathly Hallows. He did not want to use it for dark magic like Grindelwald, but he wanted power nonetheless. The duel was the result of that greed, and those lesser qualities are never shown in the movies.
Before Dumbledore died, he figured out that Harry was the last Horcrux. He explained that to Severus Snape, who was absolutely disgusted that Dumbledore would send Harry on a suicide mission. That is briefly touched on in the movies, but not enough for audiences to recognize what Dumbledore did.
It feels like Dumbledore did more harm than good, and that most of what was happening was because of what he did or didn’t do. One thing is for sure, J.K. Rowling created a very complex, and often misunderstood, character.
Georgia Davis is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think of Dumbledore? Tell Georgia by tweeting her at @georgiadee35.
