A Hive for the Buzzing Dumbledore
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deathtocapslockA Hive for the Buzzing Dumbledore
Author’s note: In the responses to oryx_leucoryx’s sporking of GoF 24, I wrote a mini-essay called, “The Truth about Aberforth.” In it, I mentioned in passing that I thought Albus Dumbledore was in Hufflepuff, (http://deathtocapslock.livejournal.com/146863.html) and oryx wanted to know why I believed that. When my reply to her got too long, I decided I’d better post it as a separate entry on DTCL. I’ve left oryx’s quoted remarks in my essay. It’s not necessary to read my original remarks to understand this piece, but it helps.
Hufflepuff? I have seen good arguments for both Ravenclaw (detachment, pride in his cleverness, analyzing emotions he doesn't actually experience) and Slytherin (how different is he from Tom?) but I can't see Hufflepuff. Who is he loyal to other than himself? Where is the work ethic? While I can see both Umbridge and Fudge as Hufflepuffs gone bad (though Umbridge has connections with Slytherins and Fudge can posture like the best of Gryffindor) I can't see the Twinkly One as such.
Glad you asked. :-) I've been wanting to present my arguments on Dumbledore's house for some time.
First of all, you do realize you're slandering Snape's house by implying Voldermort is representative of it, right? ;-) Albus and Tom are so much alike because they're both psychopaths. The corruption of that disorder makes all psychopaths seem more like each other than like other people who aren’t psychopaths. Of course Dumbledore's only loyal to himself. Of course he only works for his own self-aggrandizement. Those are both psychopathic characteristics.
I infer a Hufflepuff membership not for positive reasons but negative ones. Think of it like a painting of a tree. The tree is the positive space, i.e., the object you're supposed to look at, and the space around it is the negative space. There's nothing there, but without it, you wouldn't be able to see the tree. Because psychopaths are pathologically dishonest and inordinately manipulative, to understand them, you have to look at the negative spaces in their words and behavior, i. e., what they don’t say or do rather than what they do.
I know that sounds convoluted, so let me explain why I think Dumbledore is a Hufflepuff. My first argument is semi-facetious but is the kind of thing that would be considered very important if JKR were a more clever and subtle writer. "Dumbledore" means "bumblebee." Bees are yellow and black, which are the colors of Hufflepuff. The virtues you mentioned of loyalty and hard work are also characteristic of bees, which would have been a much more appropriate totem animal than a badger for that house.
My more important argument is the one involving negative space. We know Dumbledore went to extraordinary lengths to cover up what house he was in. This is particularly remarkable given his almost equally great penchant for bragging about himself, including his school career. He's happy to make public all the awards he allegedly won, the fellow students he supposedly helped (never for personal gain, of course), and what an all around Big Wizard on Campus he was. So why does he keep so quiet about this one particular piece of information?
If he were not a psychopath, I'd say he was so deeply ashamed of it, he couldn't bear to have it known publicly. Since psychopaths don't experience shame, the reason must be that it would damage, even ruin, his reputation.
I mentioned Dumbledore’s penchant for boasting about how great he is. Along with lying and manipulating, it's his most salient characteristic. And what does he like to boast about the most? How clever he is. So let's look at the houses and see how they accord with the impression of intellectual brilliance Albus liked to convey about himself.
Ravenclaw is the brainy house. Everyone who thinks Dumbledore is highly intelligent would expect him to be in Ravenclaw. Since Voldemort is also supposed to be very clever, it should reassure the public to know the head of his opposition was in the house for intellectuals. After all, one would expect a brilliant leader to come up with battle plans that would defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, thus minimizing both casualties and social disruption.
However, I don't think Dumbledore really is all that smart; he just thinks he is, and is good at convincing everyone else he is, too. At this point I’d like to add that being convinced you're smarter than everyone else is textbook psychopathic behavior. For example, some serial killers like to bait the police by playing "catch-me-if-you-can" games with them. What eventually gets psychopathic criminals caught is usually their overweening belief that their own cleverness and superiority are so great no one else can even compete with them, let alone outwit them.
On the other hand, it is literally impossible for someone who is not a psychopath to out-manipulate a psychopath. I therefore think Dumbledore's reputation for brilliance has little to do with actual brains and everything to do with (1) his ability to out-manipulate people, which makes them feel stupid, and thus believe he’s “outsmarted” them, and (2) his endless PR efforts on his own behalf.
The reasons oryx_leucoryx mentions that people give for thinking Dumbledore was in Ravenclaw are also characteristic of psychopaths, so they don’t necessarily infer his suitability for that house. That’s not to say everyone who is emotionally detached and analytical is a psychopath, just that psychopathy is an alternative explanation for why someone might possess those characteristics.
Slytherin also has smart people in it. The difference between Ravenclaw and Slytherin is that Ravenclaws are supposed to be more abstract and analytical in their intelligence, while Slytherins are supposed to be more practical. But the other attributes associated with Slytherin, namely cunning and ambition, are also associated with intelligence, so being a member of Slytherin would not disgrace a smart person.
Gryffindor is the jock house, but not all jocks are dumb. Hermione is pretty smart, even though she's not creative. James and Sirius were also supposed to be quite intelligent. However, what Gryffindor is mostly known for isfoolhardiness courage, which compensates to some extent for its lack of overt braininess.
I realize in PS/SS 6, the text seems to say Albus was in Gryffindor, but that’s not the case. Hermione says, “...I hope I’m in Gryffindor...I hear Dumbledore himself was in it....” In other words, it’s just a rumor that the Headmaster was in that house. Rumors can be started by anyone for any number of reasons, usually bad ones. If Dumbledore started that rumor, a reason for doing so is dealt with below.
It has also been suggested he must have been a Gryffindor because of the way he engaged in reckless behavior (such as putting on the Gaunt ring) and encouraged it in the Hogwarts students, not to mention letting monsters loose on school grounds. However, the extremely limited emotional range of psychopaths leaves them feeling under-stimulated much of the time, so they often produce excitement by creating chaos, committing crimes, or behaving in foolhardy ways.
Hufflepuff is the catchall house. People go there who aren’t smart enough for Ravenclaw, ambitious enough for Slytherin, or daring enough for Gryffindor. No wonder they value hard work: Take away those other avenues to success, and that’s the only way to get ahead. Mind you, there is no canonical evidence Hufflepuffs are intellectually inferior to members of the other houses. That’s just their reputation.
And that’s the problem. To a psychopath, appearance is everything. Because they have nothing inside themselves, they have no concept of inner virtues compensating for outer deficiencies.
Now, suppose you are a young man determined to prove to the world you are so brilliant that everyone must bow down before your superior intellect and allow you to run their lives for them. In that case, being known as an alumnus of the dimwitted duffer house would be fatal to your plans.
Imagine what would have happened if Albus had been in Hufflepluff and that had become public knowledge. Consider these scenarios:
(1) Dumbledore is trying to promote himself while socializing with a man he's just met.
DUMBLEDORE: I'm Albus Dumbledore. I won every academic award Hogwarts had to give. Many people think I’m a genius. [I'm assuming for the sake of argument that either he actually won those awards, or he tampered with his school records to make it look like he did.]
STRANGE MAN: Wow. A genius, huh? What house were you in?
DUMBLEDORE: Hufflepuff.
STRANGE MAN: Hufflepuff? *snicker* Hufflepuff? You were a genius in Hufflepuff? How dumb do you think I am? Everybody knows the really smart people go into Ravenclaw! Genius, my arse! Hah, hah, hah! You can't be all that smart if you were in Hufflepuff. [Calls to his friend.] Hey, Frank! Get a load of this guy! He says he was a genius in Hufflepuff!
SECOND STRANGE MAN: You’re kidding! A Hufflepuff genius? What’ll they think of next, a Muggle genius? Har, har, har!
[The two friends laugh so hard they have to grab onto each other to keep from falling down.]
(2) Albus has just taken over the world with his boyfriend, Gellert, and he's publicly addressing his new minions for the first time.
DUMBLEDORE: I am Albus Dumbledore, genius alumnus of Hogwarts. I am your new ruler, along with my friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Today Britain. Tomorrow the world!
HECKLER IN THE CROWD: Genius? You were in Hufflepuff, Albus! Do you think everyone who went to school with you has forgotten that? All the really smart people go into Ravenclaw, or at least Slytherin. Hufflepuff's where the average people go. I was in Gryffindor, and I'm not gonna let somebody who's dumber than I am order me around. [Turns around to leave.]
DUMBLEDORE: [Points his wand at the heckler] Avada kedavra! [Shrugs, then says quietly to Gellert] Hey, I only kill if I have to. [Addressing the crowd again] Anybody else want to make fun of me for being in Hufflepuff?
This scene raises some interesting questions: What happened to all the people who knew what house Albus was in? Did he pull a Hermione on the ones he couldn't con, corrupt, or intimidate into silence? Did he kill them? Did he arrange for them to be killed during Vold War I and blame the Death Eaters? Inquiring minds want to know!
Finally, I want to explain why Albus favored and disfavored the houses he did when he was Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Ravenclaw: Ravenclaws are very smart, but that’s a dangerous quality for minions to have, particularly if you’re someone who’s trying to rule his society without appearing to do so. However, their intellectual detachment may mean they’re more likely to sit around ruminating on their insights rather than acting on them. Very intelligent people can also be unexpectedly easy to manipulate because, like psychopaths, they may be convinced no one can outsmart them. Put that all together with his own conceit and Albus could reasonably assume they were safe to ignore most of the time.
Hufflepuff: Because they’re loyal, obedient, good workers, they’ll do what they’re told by whoever is in charge and usually not ask questions. They’re not threats like Slytherin, so they don’t have to be attacked, but they’re not valuable soldiers like Gryffindor, so they don’t need to be seduced into following Albus, either. Like Ravenclaw, they can be ignored most of the time.
Slytherin: As noted above, Slytherins are clever in a practical way, which means they are likely not just to see through Dumbledore and his lies, but also to take action against him. Their ambitiousness means they want power, too. Competition for Albus can’t be allowed, so he has to crush their power to ensure his own. In a tightly enclosed society like the British wizarding world, reputation is everything. Destroying Slytherin’s reputation destroys most of its power and taints what little power it does possess, thus effectively eliminating it as competition.
Gryffindor: Albus wantedcannon wand fodder. He needed a private army, and that was the house most likely to provide the best soldiers. To get his minions ready for war, he encouraged them to take foolish risks and bully attack other students, which provided them with valuable practice in mock battles with their victims opponents. By implying he was in that house rather than stating it outright, Albus encouraged Gryffindors to identify with and be loyal to him, while at the same time maintaining an appearance of house neutrality on his part. Plausible deniability is extremely important to psychopaths because being pinned down to a definite position or commitment makes it harder both to manipulate others and to evade the negative consequences of one’s own actions.
As a bonus, encouraging hostility between the houses kept the students so busy blaming each other for their problems that that they never noticed the real source of their conflicts: the Headmaster. Even if they had figured out he was to blame, they had to put so much effort into watching their backs that they didn’t have the time, energy, or attention to spare for banding together and demanding the school be run for their benefit rather than Dumbledore’s.
While it is ultimately impossible to know what house Dumbledore was in, my case for his having been in Hufflepuff is as strong as the cases made by others for his having been in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. His reasons for treating the houses as he did when he was Headmaster had nothing to do with either loyalty to his former house (since he was clearly the most treacherous of people) or personal preference. Instead, he was serving what he called “the greater good,” if by “good” you mean, “self-serving,” “manipulative,” and “ultimately injurious to the well-being of the students, school, and society as a whole.” But to psychopaths, the “greater good” refers only to what’s good for them. No one else matters.
Author’s note: In the responses to oryx_leucoryx’s sporking of GoF 24, I wrote a mini-essay called, “The Truth about Aberforth.” In it, I mentioned in passing that I thought Albus Dumbledore was in Hufflepuff, (http://deathtocapslock.livejournal.com/146863.html) and oryx wanted to know why I believed that. When my reply to her got too long, I decided I’d better post it as a separate entry on DTCL. I’ve left oryx’s quoted remarks in my essay. It’s not necessary to read my original remarks to understand this piece, but it helps.
Hufflepuff? I have seen good arguments for both Ravenclaw (detachment, pride in his cleverness, analyzing emotions he doesn't actually experience) and Slytherin (how different is he from Tom?) but I can't see Hufflepuff. Who is he loyal to other than himself? Where is the work ethic? While I can see both Umbridge and Fudge as Hufflepuffs gone bad (though Umbridge has connections with Slytherins and Fudge can posture like the best of Gryffindor) I can't see the Twinkly One as such.
Glad you asked. :-) I've been wanting to present my arguments on Dumbledore's house for some time.
First of all, you do realize you're slandering Snape's house by implying Voldermort is representative of it, right? ;-) Albus and Tom are so much alike because they're both psychopaths. The corruption of that disorder makes all psychopaths seem more like each other than like other people who aren’t psychopaths. Of course Dumbledore's only loyal to himself. Of course he only works for his own self-aggrandizement. Those are both psychopathic characteristics.
I infer a Hufflepuff membership not for positive reasons but negative ones. Think of it like a painting of a tree. The tree is the positive space, i.e., the object you're supposed to look at, and the space around it is the negative space. There's nothing there, but without it, you wouldn't be able to see the tree. Because psychopaths are pathologically dishonest and inordinately manipulative, to understand them, you have to look at the negative spaces in their words and behavior, i. e., what they don’t say or do rather than what they do.
I know that sounds convoluted, so let me explain why I think Dumbledore is a Hufflepuff. My first argument is semi-facetious but is the kind of thing that would be considered very important if JKR were a more clever and subtle writer. "Dumbledore" means "bumblebee." Bees are yellow and black, which are the colors of Hufflepuff. The virtues you mentioned of loyalty and hard work are also characteristic of bees, which would have been a much more appropriate totem animal than a badger for that house.
My more important argument is the one involving negative space. We know Dumbledore went to extraordinary lengths to cover up what house he was in. This is particularly remarkable given his almost equally great penchant for bragging about himself, including his school career. He's happy to make public all the awards he allegedly won, the fellow students he supposedly helped (never for personal gain, of course), and what an all around Big Wizard on Campus he was. So why does he keep so quiet about this one particular piece of information?
If he were not a psychopath, I'd say he was so deeply ashamed of it, he couldn't bear to have it known publicly. Since psychopaths don't experience shame, the reason must be that it would damage, even ruin, his reputation.
I mentioned Dumbledore’s penchant for boasting about how great he is. Along with lying and manipulating, it's his most salient characteristic. And what does he like to boast about the most? How clever he is. So let's look at the houses and see how they accord with the impression of intellectual brilliance Albus liked to convey about himself.
Ravenclaw is the brainy house. Everyone who thinks Dumbledore is highly intelligent would expect him to be in Ravenclaw. Since Voldemort is also supposed to be very clever, it should reassure the public to know the head of his opposition was in the house for intellectuals. After all, one would expect a brilliant leader to come up with battle plans that would defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, thus minimizing both casualties and social disruption.
However, I don't think Dumbledore really is all that smart; he just thinks he is, and is good at convincing everyone else he is, too. At this point I’d like to add that being convinced you're smarter than everyone else is textbook psychopathic behavior. For example, some serial killers like to bait the police by playing "catch-me-if-you-can" games with them. What eventually gets psychopathic criminals caught is usually their overweening belief that their own cleverness and superiority are so great no one else can even compete with them, let alone outwit them.
On the other hand, it is literally impossible for someone who is not a psychopath to out-manipulate a psychopath. I therefore think Dumbledore's reputation for brilliance has little to do with actual brains and everything to do with (1) his ability to out-manipulate people, which makes them feel stupid, and thus believe he’s “outsmarted” them, and (2) his endless PR efforts on his own behalf.
The reasons oryx_leucoryx mentions that people give for thinking Dumbledore was in Ravenclaw are also characteristic of psychopaths, so they don’t necessarily infer his suitability for that house. That’s not to say everyone who is emotionally detached and analytical is a psychopath, just that psychopathy is an alternative explanation for why someone might possess those characteristics.
Slytherin also has smart people in it. The difference between Ravenclaw and Slytherin is that Ravenclaws are supposed to be more abstract and analytical in their intelligence, while Slytherins are supposed to be more practical. But the other attributes associated with Slytherin, namely cunning and ambition, are also associated with intelligence, so being a member of Slytherin would not disgrace a smart person.
Gryffindor is the jock house, but not all jocks are dumb. Hermione is pretty smart, even though she's not creative. James and Sirius were also supposed to be quite intelligent. However, what Gryffindor is mostly known for is
I realize in PS/SS 6, the text seems to say Albus was in Gryffindor, but that’s not the case. Hermione says, “...I hope I’m in Gryffindor...I hear Dumbledore himself was in it....” In other words, it’s just a rumor that the Headmaster was in that house. Rumors can be started by anyone for any number of reasons, usually bad ones. If Dumbledore started that rumor, a reason for doing so is dealt with below.
It has also been suggested he must have been a Gryffindor because of the way he engaged in reckless behavior (such as putting on the Gaunt ring) and encouraged it in the Hogwarts students, not to mention letting monsters loose on school grounds. However, the extremely limited emotional range of psychopaths leaves them feeling under-stimulated much of the time, so they often produce excitement by creating chaos, committing crimes, or behaving in foolhardy ways.
Hufflepuff is the catchall house. People go there who aren’t smart enough for Ravenclaw, ambitious enough for Slytherin, or daring enough for Gryffindor. No wonder they value hard work: Take away those other avenues to success, and that’s the only way to get ahead. Mind you, there is no canonical evidence Hufflepuffs are intellectually inferior to members of the other houses. That’s just their reputation.
And that’s the problem. To a psychopath, appearance is everything. Because they have nothing inside themselves, they have no concept of inner virtues compensating for outer deficiencies.
Now, suppose you are a young man determined to prove to the world you are so brilliant that everyone must bow down before your superior intellect and allow you to run their lives for them. In that case, being known as an alumnus of the dimwitted duffer house would be fatal to your plans.
Imagine what would have happened if Albus had been in Hufflepluff and that had become public knowledge. Consider these scenarios:
(1) Dumbledore is trying to promote himself while socializing with a man he's just met.
DUMBLEDORE: I'm Albus Dumbledore. I won every academic award Hogwarts had to give. Many people think I’m a genius. [I'm assuming for the sake of argument that either he actually won those awards, or he tampered with his school records to make it look like he did.]
STRANGE MAN: Wow. A genius, huh? What house were you in?
DUMBLEDORE: Hufflepuff.
STRANGE MAN: Hufflepuff? *snicker* Hufflepuff? You were a genius in Hufflepuff? How dumb do you think I am? Everybody knows the really smart people go into Ravenclaw! Genius, my arse! Hah, hah, hah! You can't be all that smart if you were in Hufflepuff. [Calls to his friend.] Hey, Frank! Get a load of this guy! He says he was a genius in Hufflepuff!
SECOND STRANGE MAN: You’re kidding! A Hufflepuff genius? What’ll they think of next, a Muggle genius? Har, har, har!
[The two friends laugh so hard they have to grab onto each other to keep from falling down.]
(2) Albus has just taken over the world with his boyfriend, Gellert, and he's publicly addressing his new minions for the first time.
DUMBLEDORE: I am Albus Dumbledore, genius alumnus of Hogwarts. I am your new ruler, along with my friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Today Britain. Tomorrow the world!
HECKLER IN THE CROWD: Genius? You were in Hufflepuff, Albus! Do you think everyone who went to school with you has forgotten that? All the really smart people go into Ravenclaw, or at least Slytherin. Hufflepuff's where the average people go. I was in Gryffindor, and I'm not gonna let somebody who's dumber than I am order me around. [Turns around to leave.]
DUMBLEDORE: [Points his wand at the heckler] Avada kedavra! [Shrugs, then says quietly to Gellert] Hey, I only kill if I have to. [Addressing the crowd again] Anybody else want to make fun of me for being in Hufflepuff?
This scene raises some interesting questions: What happened to all the people who knew what house Albus was in? Did he pull a Hermione on the ones he couldn't con, corrupt, or intimidate into silence? Did he kill them? Did he arrange for them to be killed during Vold War I and blame the Death Eaters? Inquiring minds want to know!
Finally, I want to explain why Albus favored and disfavored the houses he did when he was Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Ravenclaw: Ravenclaws are very smart, but that’s a dangerous quality for minions to have, particularly if you’re someone who’s trying to rule his society without appearing to do so. However, their intellectual detachment may mean they’re more likely to sit around ruminating on their insights rather than acting on them. Very intelligent people can also be unexpectedly easy to manipulate because, like psychopaths, they may be convinced no one can outsmart them. Put that all together with his own conceit and Albus could reasonably assume they were safe to ignore most of the time.
Hufflepuff: Because they’re loyal, obedient, good workers, they’ll do what they’re told by whoever is in charge and usually not ask questions. They’re not threats like Slytherin, so they don’t have to be attacked, but they’re not valuable soldiers like Gryffindor, so they don’t need to be seduced into following Albus, either. Like Ravenclaw, they can be ignored most of the time.
Slytherin: As noted above, Slytherins are clever in a practical way, which means they are likely not just to see through Dumbledore and his lies, but also to take action against him. Their ambitiousness means they want power, too. Competition for Albus can’t be allowed, so he has to crush their power to ensure his own. In a tightly enclosed society like the British wizarding world, reputation is everything. Destroying Slytherin’s reputation destroys most of its power and taints what little power it does possess, thus effectively eliminating it as competition.
Gryffindor: Albus wanted
As a bonus, encouraging hostility between the houses kept the students so busy blaming each other for their problems that that they never noticed the real source of their conflicts: the Headmaster. Even if they had figured out he was to blame, they had to put so much effort into watching their backs that they didn’t have the time, energy, or attention to spare for banding together and demanding the school be run for their benefit rather than Dumbledore’s.
While it is ultimately impossible to know what house Dumbledore was in, my case for his having been in Hufflepuff is as strong as the cases made by others for his having been in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. His reasons for treating the houses as he did when he was Headmaster had nothing to do with either loyalty to his former house (since he was clearly the most treacherous of people) or personal preference. Instead, he was serving what he called “the greater good,” if by “good” you mean, “self-serving,” “manipulative,” and “ultimately injurious to the well-being of the students, school, and society as a whole.” But to psychopaths, the “greater good” refers only to what’s good for them. No one else matters.
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Date: 2011-06-24 03:27 pm (UTC)