More on Albus Dumbledore_

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone. This will be quite short, but something sunnyskywalker said in a previous discussion rang bells with me. What if these books aren't quite what we think they are?


I am thinking of an interview with Rowling some years back, when she answered a question about her faith with words to this effect: "I struggle to keep believing". If anyone has the exact quote, I'd be grateful!

Because, you see, that is quite moving to me. It is hard to keep believing in God when you witness truly evil things happening to people you love. At least, you can't go on believing, like a child, in the wise old man with a beard who will make everything all right. That's so obviously not what God is.*

But, in these books, we have a wise old man with a beard. And he is very, very imperfect. Rowling's depiction of Dumbledore does, indeed, seem like an indictment of sorts.

But Dumbledore is obviously not God. He is just the headmaster of a wizarding school. Harry, despite some of the imagery surrounding him, is just as obviously not Jesus. Who is he? As I said on my blog some time back, he is an everyman character - specifically, he's Percival, the fool.

And - I think there is some kind of sense there, lurking deep down. I can't quite put my finger on it, but sometimes I think it's there.

Because, if there is a Christ figure at all in these books (but I don't think there is), that is definitely Severus Snape, in spite of his obvious imperfections. If Harry is Percival, Snape is the Fisher King; the wounded king of a wounded land. And what heals the Fisher King? Compassion and curiosity. Percival is supposed to ask a question. We all know that Harry never does that, don't we?

But, if Snape is the Fisher King and Harry Percival, who on earth is Dumbledore? Because he's not God. Not consciously, anyway. And - it's interesting that one of his names is Percival. What I'm getting at is that I sometimes think that the 'lost boys' of Hogwarts are all facets of him.

Rowling is playing with some very powerful archetypes in these stories, I think, and that's why we are still struggling to find meaning in them.

My two cents!

* As those who know me know, I'm a devout Catholic. To me, God is nothing like Dumbledore.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

What I'm getting at is that I sometimes think that the 'lost boys' of Hogwarts are all facets of him.

The Potterverse as Dumbledore's hall of mirrors... makes a lot of sense, actually, especially given that all this stuff happened under his watch and so is at least partly his doing. Tom's the Dumbledore who went dark all the way when he didn't reign him in, Snape's the one who repented, Harry is... all the other people Dumbledore has hurt, maybe?

Did Dumbledore ask Grindlewald a question when he finally captured him and locked him up? Because supposedly he felt some remorse eventually, which is a kind of healing - and in the Potterverse might literally be so, if it mended some tears in his soul.

(Side note - if Durmstrang is such a Dark Arts school, then why did they expel Grindlewald for almost killing some students? Hogwarts just gives detention for that sort of thing. Or covers it up entirely.)

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Dark Is Not Evil. If they teach them, maybe they teach how to use them responsibly rather than implying that they are inherently something to be defended against.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

Yes. Vikor Krum is hardly a psychopath, for instance, for all his Dark Arts training.

[sunnyskywalker]

All we know is that it's ever-changing etc., which isn't much help. But your interpretation is possible!

I wonder what kind of headmaster they had back when Grindlewald was there?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Tom is what Albus would have been had he listened to Gellert more, Severus is whom he would have become had he paid 'too much' attention to Aberforth. Harry is Ariana.