Dumbledore's Horcrux
Nov. 4th, 2011 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunnyskywalkerI'm honestly trying to update more often, but it's tough right now. So here's something I wrote before Deathly Hallows came out which I never got around to posting, updated slightly to reflect DH material.
Warning: this is a crack theory.
We’ve wondered how Dumbledore was able to show up in Harry’s “train station” of pre-death if he is really most sincerely dead, and furthermore has not remained behind as a ghost. Shouldn’t he be as gone as Dead Fred? If just any dead person could pop into Harry’s train station, you’d think his parents and Sirius would have been shoving Dumbledore aside to get to Harry.
So perhaps there’s something not quite right about Dumbledore’s appearance in the afterlife’s anteroom. Let’s take a look at the following facts, and then see what kind of Martian canals appear.
So, to sum up: Dumbledore was interested in immortality from a young age, and knows ancient and quite possibly dodgy sacrificial blood magic which can be used in multiple ways to preserve or renew life. He admits to having had a sense of superiority and thirst for glory strong enough that he thought world domination sounded like a good idea, and we can’t assume he was naïve enough to think no innocent strangers would die in the massive conquest. He thinks people tend to choose what’s worst for them. He has had a phoenix familiar, and jumps to the conclusion that Voldemort made his familiar into a Horcrux despite good reasons to think otherwise. It’s just authorial fiat that he’s right. And his own followers believe he could do anything Voldemort can, if he chose, acto McGonagall.
Therefore, my crack theory is that sometime during his misspent youth, Dumbledore made Fawkes into his Horcrux. (Yeah, phoenixes are supposed to be pure and all and shouldn’t go for that sort of thing, but if that’s the case, why is Fawkes hanging out with Dumbledore in the first place?) For the greater good, of course; the world needs his wisdom and his amazing example of restraint in not becoming Minister of Magic! A little collateral damage is regrettable, of course, but what can you do? *single tear* Oh, yes, of course it was a mistake, so naturally he took those books out of the library to prevent any other bright young wizard from setting himself up as competi- er, from making a terrible, terrible error, that is. Now Dumbledore is shadow and vapor, able to pop into Harry’s dreams for a little chat…
Or not. It’s also possible that a phoenix’s immortality isn’t enough to bind a Horcrux permanently to it; instead, it could work like the Harrycrux, where the vessel survives attacks but the soul-bit doesn’t. In that case, then Dumbleodore’s Horcrux was destroyed when Fawkes ate that AK at the Ministry battle. (If you’re generous, you can take that as a sign that Dumbledore chose what was right over what was easy. Who would blame him if he arrived too late to save Harry? Alas! Then he could find the other Horcruxes himself and get the credit for taking down Voldemort.) Facing the prospect of death once again might have been just the nudge Dumbledore needed to finally get cracking on Operation: Destroy Voldemort. Later that very night, he told Harry about the prophecy (you know he could have waffled more if he wanted – it’s one of his greatest talents). Then that summer just happens to be the one where he finds one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in Voldemort’s mom’s house, a place he seems to have known existed for decades? Right. I think he’d just been putting off looking there.
If he did make a Horcrux, whom he killed is an interesting question. Maybe Morfin didn’t just die in Azkaban for the usual Dementor-induced reasons, or Hokey of age. (Totally mercy-killings, right? Really, he would have been doing them a favor, honest!)
And for one last cracky possibility, consider this: Voldemort was at first called "the most dangerous dark wizard in a hundred years." So Grindlewald, who as far as we know didn’t become dangerous until at least the early 20th century, doesn't count. Who was the last one, then? Did he have a pseudonym? And we don't know that he was defeated, do we? He could have just retired and returned to his old identity...
Warning: this is a crack theory.
We’ve wondered how Dumbledore was able to show up in Harry’s “train station” of pre-death if he is really most sincerely dead, and furthermore has not remained behind as a ghost. Shouldn’t he be as gone as Dead Fred? If just any dead person could pop into Harry’s train station, you’d think his parents and Sirius would have been shoving Dumbledore aside to get to Harry.
So perhaps there’s something not quite right about Dumbledore’s appearance in the afterlife’s anteroom. Let’s take a look at the following facts, and then see what kind of Martian canals appear.
- Dumbledore was fascinated by the ideas of collecting the Hallows and becoming “Master of Death” at age 18. He never quite gave up on this idea, to the point where he withheld one of the Hallows from a family who really could have used an invisibility cloak because he was just too tempted by it.
- The Hallows weren’t Dumbledore’s only immortality-related interest. He didn’t actually participate in the philosopher's stone's creation, being much too young, but he was research partners with Nicholas Flamel, who did. The Stone provides a sort of immortality. Dumbledore also guarded the Stone in Harry's first year. (Tangent: Did he take a swig of Elixer to make sure he lasted until Harry reached maturity, I wonder?) We know he and Flamel worked on some unspecified alchemy projects, and what kinds alchemical secrets would a younger apprentice be hoping to learn if not something related to the philosopher’s stone? (Playing with the panacea, maybe?) I mean, the stone is the whole point of alchemy; what else could they be doing but experimenting with it now that they have it? And maybe he’ll pick up a few tips on making his own if he’s very good… He just can’t resist the lure of immortality.
- Dumbledore knew enough about Horcruxes to have information about them banned from Hogwarts before 1945. How he got his information, we don't know. He might have known about Horcruxes since he was a studious and ethically challenged teenager staying up all night plotting with Grindlewald. In any case, once again he’s connected to immortality magic (being somewhat of an expert, in fact), even if he supposedly doesn’t like this particular kind.
- Dumbledore and his “old friend” (whatever he means by that) Slughorn have discussed Dumbledore’s opinions on leaving Horcrux information accessible at least once. Slughorn knows about Horcruxes, but claims not to know how to make one himself. If true, this suggests that even people who knew about Horcruxes before Dumbledore’s suppression campaign might not have known very much. How much did Dumbledore know before he took those books off the shelves? (And when, exactly, did he do that? As soon as he met 11 year old Tom? Later, but before Tom started researching them? Or much earlier?)
- Slughorn says wizards of a certain caliber have always been attracted to...immortality? Dark arts? He isn't exactly clear on that point, is he?
- Dumbledore discovered the 12 uses of dragon's blood. He also enhanced Lily's protective love charm on Harry with a blood-protection element. The only other person we've seen who uses blood magic that much is Voldemort, with the cave door and the graveyard ritual. This might mean that blood magic is old, highly advanced, or dodgy. Possibly all three. But it is definitely a crucial element in both Voldemort’s resurrection ritual and the charm that protects Harry’s life. So Dumbledore is an expert in another kind of magic which, while it doesn’t confer immortality, strictly speaking, is connected to preserving, extending, and renewing life. (Okay, and cleaning ovens. That’s the marketable application.)
- “We heard [Dumbledore] tell Harry that human beings seem to have a knack for choosing exactly the things that are worse for them, too. That may have the ring of experience as well” (Red Hen, “View from the Martian Canals”). Maybe Dumbledore was just thinking of choosing to hang out with Grindlewald and daydream about taking over the world. Or maybe he thinks he made at least one other really bad choice sometime in his 115 years.
- “Lord Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical history. His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling place in magical history; these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his Horcruxes with some care, favoring objects worthy of the honour…" (HBP, Ch.23 "Horcruxes"). Sort of like that other kid who also believed himself superior and wanted to carve himself a startling place in magical history, so much that he started writing to the great magical scholars of his time while still in school, the one who dreamed of taking over the world and ruling Muggles…
- On page 506 of HBP, DD says, “I think I know who the sixth Horcrux is. I wonder what you will say when I confess that I have been curious for a while about the behavior of the snake, Nagini? [...] he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux.” Dumbledore's just guessing here. Could he be sure weakened Babymort was even capable of making a Horcrux? And would Voldemort really have wanted to use a mortal creature for his Horcrux, no matter how convenient? (Well, yes, but he's not exactly the brightest Evil Overlord on the block these days. Would the Tom Riddle Dumbledore knew have used a mortal creature?) So why jump to Nagini instead of, say, a wand or a Founders artifact Dumbledore doesn't know Voldemort had? Whoever took Voldemort’s wand could have taken the artifact he brought to Godric’s Hollow too, after all, and since Voldemort has his wand back, why not assume he has the artifact back too? It seems odd for Dumbledore to assume Voldemort would choose a familiar rather than a nifty inanimate object (just send a minion to Borgin & Burke’s for an item with a little history if you don’t have something on hand).
Unless he knew of some precedent. Though logically, if you must use a living thing as a Horcrux, it should at least be immortal. Like a phoenix. Horcruxes can only be destroyed if their containers are permanently magically damaged – and as we know, phoenixes can’t be permanently damaged.
So, to sum up: Dumbledore was interested in immortality from a young age, and knows ancient and quite possibly dodgy sacrificial blood magic which can be used in multiple ways to preserve or renew life. He admits to having had a sense of superiority and thirst for glory strong enough that he thought world domination sounded like a good idea, and we can’t assume he was naïve enough to think no innocent strangers would die in the massive conquest. He thinks people tend to choose what’s worst for them. He has had a phoenix familiar, and jumps to the conclusion that Voldemort made his familiar into a Horcrux despite good reasons to think otherwise. It’s just authorial fiat that he’s right. And his own followers believe he could do anything Voldemort can, if he chose, acto McGonagall.
Therefore, my crack theory is that sometime during his misspent youth, Dumbledore made Fawkes into his Horcrux. (Yeah, phoenixes are supposed to be pure and all and shouldn’t go for that sort of thing, but if that’s the case, why is Fawkes hanging out with Dumbledore in the first place?) For the greater good, of course; the world needs his wisdom and his amazing example of restraint in not becoming Minister of Magic! A little collateral damage is regrettable, of course, but what can you do? *single tear* Oh, yes, of course it was a mistake, so naturally he took those books out of the library to prevent any other bright young wizard from setting himself up as competi- er, from making a terrible, terrible error, that is. Now Dumbledore is shadow and vapor, able to pop into Harry’s dreams for a little chat…
Or not. It’s also possible that a phoenix’s immortality isn’t enough to bind a Horcrux permanently to it; instead, it could work like the Harrycrux, where the vessel survives attacks but the soul-bit doesn’t. In that case, then Dumbleodore’s Horcrux was destroyed when Fawkes ate that AK at the Ministry battle. (If you’re generous, you can take that as a sign that Dumbledore chose what was right over what was easy. Who would blame him if he arrived too late to save Harry? Alas! Then he could find the other Horcruxes himself and get the credit for taking down Voldemort.) Facing the prospect of death once again might have been just the nudge Dumbledore needed to finally get cracking on Operation: Destroy Voldemort. Later that very night, he told Harry about the prophecy (you know he could have waffled more if he wanted – it’s one of his greatest talents). Then that summer just happens to be the one where he finds one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in Voldemort’s mom’s house, a place he seems to have known existed for decades? Right. I think he’d just been putting off looking there.
If he did make a Horcrux, whom he killed is an interesting question. Maybe Morfin didn’t just die in Azkaban for the usual Dementor-induced reasons, or Hokey of age. (Totally mercy-killings, right? Really, he would have been doing them a favor, honest!)
And for one last cracky possibility, consider this: Voldemort was at first called "the most dangerous dark wizard in a hundred years." So Grindlewald, who as far as we know didn’t become dangerous until at least the early 20th century, doesn't count. Who was the last one, then? Did he have a pseudonym? And we don't know that he was defeated, do we? He could have just retired and returned to his old identity...
