These are some of the excellent clues contained in the pages of Harry Pottter and the Half-Blood Prince which support the possibility that Dumbledore is not really dead, or at least Snape killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders, and that everything that happened that night was planned well in advance by Dumbledore himself.
Each one of these clues is perhaps, by itself not completely convincing, but if you put them all together…
(Page numbers shown are for US Edition/UK Edition.)
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 584/545
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 584/545
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.
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 591/552
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. If we believe that Dumbledore is about to fake his own death, doesn’t what he’s suggesting for Draco sound exactly like what we suspect that Dumbledore has planned for himself? At the very least, if Dumbledore’s planning his own death, he’s suggesting Draco follow a similar, yet not as drastic, plan, that he disappear as well.
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 using his own death as part of a plan. Again, exactly what we suspect Dumbledore did at the end of Half-Blood Prince.
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 highlighted):
“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?
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 318/234
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 814/719
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.
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 15/19
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 638/553
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 596/556
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! Thanks to Brave Sir Blogger and Lindsay for bringing these passages to my attention:
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 190/142
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 361/265
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 543/507 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 422/395
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.
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 217/192
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 810/715
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?
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 614/573
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 614/573
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 615/573
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 621/579
…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 625/583
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)?
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 584/545
But where is his wand now?
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,
HBP pg 488/456
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.
But as far as we know, they didn’t snap Dumbledore’s wand in two. 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?
Or if he is dead, was the plan very carefully crafted so that Dumbledore’s wand would be hidden away for safe-keeping, preventing the Death Eaters, who’s arrival on the grounds of the school was imminent, from getting their hands on it?
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 643/599
We never really see Dumbledore’s body at the funeral. How do we know it was there at all?
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 645/601
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 2/7
So, who do they think they were fooling at the funeral?
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In reference to the text that appeared in the U.S. versions and not the U.K.- is it feasible to think the opposite? That perhaps Rowling figured she needed to do a better job of laying the foundation for her readers to refer back to once Dumbledore comes out of hiding? And so she had the couple of very significant sentences added to the paragraph after careful consideration?
It’s been mentioned that the painting means Dumbledore is dead. I don’t think that’s the case. It means that Dumbledore is no longer Headmaster at the school. It’s possible that Dumbledore is faking his death, and to do that, he would have had to have ‘resigned’ (or something) from Hogwart’s. Couple that with Harry’s comment about never seeing Fawkes on school grounds, and it sinks the picture of Dumbledore being dead because the picture is there.
Yes. For more about Dumbledore’s portrait, see the “Unanswered Questions” page.
The things that you have put forward are awesome!Thanx for that insight into the mega-working,clue-unravelling brain of yours.I hope dumby hasnt died!
I really like al the ideas of dumbledor not die-ing especially the ones concerning him being an animagus and the fact of the draught of the living dead plus didn’t someone mention the brother of Albus im not sure but i believe it was our dear rowling. But why didnt his brother switch place when the real dumbledore was away so that it would not arouse the suspicion of the ministry? Well im hoping he hasnt died…
P.S does somebody now when HP 7 is coming?
Hey, Dave, just wanted to give kudos to your awesome job, but one question i’ve got – Expelliarmus spell has those effects you’ve mentioned and quoted, yes, but on several occasions the spell is noted to have a distinctly red hue – like the quote you’ve already got there it emits a “scarlet light” and in OoP when Harry vs Voldermort in Priori Incantatem, their spells are described as a red light vs a green light – red being expelliarmus and green being avada kedavra. Snape’s spell blasts Dumbeldore as an emerald hue..
Harry: The color emitted by a wand during an incantation may have less to do with the actual specific wand involved and more with the emotional state of the spell caster (for example, a spell emits green light because the caster is a Gryffindor). Perhaps we need an article about this.
Thanks, Hazel. No, we don’t have a date for Book 7 yet. Watch Wizard News for the latest updates!
Hey Dave, me again =P I don’t exactly understand what you’re getting at in your sentence – in response to what you’ve remarked about being in houses?.. admittedly we’ve never had a description of anybody casting the Avada spell who did not belong to Slytherin [Do we know what house Bartemius Crouch belonged to?] – but every description we’ve had of it thus far is referred to as being accompanied by a bright green light – even Harry’s memories of his parent’s death are tinged with a green light (which he first thought were traffic lights due to Vernon and Petunia’s misdirection of him…)
I mention this because I think there is a discrepancy in the color of the light issued in different examples of Expelliarmus being issued in the books.
muah haha! i knew he was dead, though i definetily love your theories and i think you’re right in saying there’s more to snape then we have been led to think. and i think fawkes, aberforth, and dumbledore’s portrait all might lend some clues in book 7…….
yeah.. love you guyses thoughts…..isnt hp 7 coming out 7/7/07? thats what i heard cuz its like the most magical number… yeah thats what i heard/
dont you think it would be really retarted if harrys scar is a horcrux and then he has to destroy himself to kill dumbledore.. that would suck.. or if only voldemort died… that would be a typical cheeesy thing to do… harry should die…. but not with voldemort. I also think that snape “killed” dumbledore on his orders.. or he missed the spell and dumbledore faked or something like that…
i really want to read HP7.. i am going to stand out side the store however long i have to in order to buy it!
What happend after Dumbledore fell off the tower?
I’m sure it wasn’t Dumbledore himself who fell down the tower. There is a small passage in the first book wich made me stpo while reading the chapter in wich Dumbledore “died”. Remember the first evening in Hogwarts, after they all were told, in wich house they’d live.
Neville told a story of his past.His family believed he was a squib, but his granduncle Archie holds him out of the window, when he gets offered a piece of cake by Neville’s grandmum. Neville fell down, but he didn’t get injured. He jumps like a ball, down to the street. He was saved by the magic powers in him. We all know Neville and his very less magic powers. But they were enough to save his life. So, if Snape’s spell wasn’t a real Avada Kedavra, but an Exelliarmus, why wasn’t Dubmledore, the most powerfull wizard (ok, maybe after Lord Voldemort himself) resqued by his own powers, even without his wand? If even Neville’s were strong enough, why did Dumbledore himself hit the ground? I’m sure, a wizard can’t controll this powers wich resque his life. I’m sure he would have been saved, if he was still alive. My explination is, that Snape’s spell was the Avada Kedavra and Dumbledore #1 died up there. But Dumbledore #2 (the one in the “Dumbledore’s Horcrux Theory”) will be activated. A stronger and younger Dumbledore, because the Horcrux was made in 1945, nearly 60 years ago. I hope so, but we’ll see in the last book.
Dumbledoor would trust Hagrid with his life….but would he ask Hagrid to be his secret keeper?
no.
Hagrid forgets that not every one is as kind and trustworthy as himself.
Think of all the times he’s let more slip than he should..
We all love the big guy…but he’s not the one you’d choose to help you fake your death..
but wouldn’t it be funny if DD took “polypotion” and attended his own funaral as Grawp…….
I think I didn’t read this one on the site already:
Rowling says on her own site that AD� patronus is a Phoenix. She also says (you can find this in the HPB as well) that the members of the order uses their patronuses to communicate with each other.
Is it a possibility that, when � a phoenix fly�s out of the white smoke� during the funeral, it is the patronus from AD to inform the members of the phoenix?
Does your patronus vanish when your die? And does that mean AD �s not really dead, cause� his patronus is still there? Or is it a clue that he is dead indeed, and he�s patronus fly�s into the blue, because of that?
You showed a quote in the section called “Caution: Dumbledore is Flammable” that described the way Harry thought he saw a phoenix shape in the smoke. I thought about that for a while, and my conclusion supports the other theory that Dumbledore made a horcrux. After Quirrel died, Voldemort’s soul – which was also like smoke – flew away. Maybe the phoenix was Dumbledore’s soul, and it came out of his body because he made a horcrux?
I think the connection between Dumbledore and the phoenix is a strong one. Could Dumbledore be an unauthorised animagus like James, Peter and Sirius? That could explain why he had James invisibility cloak and left it at the top of the tower, he used it to transform into a phoenix and then fly from the tower, his withered hand in book 6 was an indication to Albus that he would die soon and be reborn out of the flames like Fawkes. we know that Albus was good at transfiguration as that was the subject he taught before becoming headmaster, and when he was a young man he had red hair! Both Harry and Voldemort have phoenix feathers in their wands, are they from Dumbledore?
Perhaps, DD became an animagus before the laws compeling registration were enacted…..and he just “forgot” to register…
It would be interesting to find out if there is a conection between some ones patronus and what ever form they would take as an amimagus…..
Was Serius’ patronus a dog? Is McGonagal’s a cat? Would Hermione turn into an otter? (or was she the swan?)
Clair:
I love the idea of DD being the phoenix that gave the 2 feathers for Harry & LV’s wands (I assumed it was Fawkes). I know there is more to the story of the wands and their connection to the phoenix & the wand maker (where is Ollivander anyway).
AJ & Clair:
the phoenix that gave the feathers for Harry’s and Voldemort’s wands WAS fawkes. read the books again.
Just a thought, Ollivander disappeared at the same time as Florean Fortescue. Maybe Fortescue was forced to become a death eater, and Voldemort is planning to drown Harry in ice cream
I agree with the people who think Aberforth might be the dead one. J.K. Rowling never says which Dumbledore dies. Why would she mention Aberforth in the Harry Potter books? She has to have a good reason for it. There’s only one thing that makes me doubt it was Aberforth. Aberforth wouldn’t be as wise as (Albus) Dumbledore because he couldn’t even read. At the end, when (Albus) Dumbledore is talking to Malfoy, he sounds like Albus Dumbledore (the words he uses, and all the calmness). So, if it was Aberforth, then he must have been under the imperius curse but my friend says that Albus is an extremely smart and should have found a way around putting Aberforth under the imperius curse by inventing a curse or by using an unkown one. We were told that it’s possible to invent curses and spells in Harry Potter 6 when Snape invents some and writes them in the potions book. But would Dumbledore sacrifice his own brother for his life? He said he wasn’t afraid of death, so this wouldn’t make sense. I think he made a plan with Snape to kill him (Albus), for some reason, but Snape refused (that’s when they had the argument in the woods). Later on, I think Snape managed to trap Dumbledore somewhere, making Aberforth the disguised Albus with polyjuice potion. Aberforth probably agreed to die for his brother, even though Albus was against it. Then, he died because of the avada kedavra. Maybe, if Aberforth was the one who died, he flew into the air from the avada kedavra because he was using polyjuice potion. We were never shown the effect of the avada kedavra on someone disguised as another person with polyjuice potion. Or, maybe Dumbledore just duplicated himself (that’s what my friend thinks), and that’s why the effects of the Avada Kedavra were what they were. All I know is that there’s more to Dumbledore’s death than what J.k. Rowling tells us, unless we were all tricked and fooled, and in the ends, the solution of why he flies into the air from the avada kedavra is because he was a powerful wizard. Then, maybe his death would just be how Harry sees it. We’ll just have to wait for the seventh book and see what happens. Anyway, I don’t want to believe that Dumbledore is dead. He’s my favorite character. By the way, I love this website! It’s my favorite website! Thanks for the website, David Haber!
Here is something interesting about Dumbledore’s death: After he dies, when Harry sees everybody gathered around him, he walks to his side. While he’s walking, it says he feels pain, then it says the pain is mostly coming from his chest, which is where Dumbledore got hit. The book also says that Harry felt like someone near him was suffering too.
Before I read this website I was extremely worried that Dumbledore might be dead, I knew that nobody had seen his body at the funeral and I thought well maybe he wasn’t you know actually carried to the casket is was just a bundle of blankets or something else that might be able to look like a body. I also know that Harry even though I love him isn’t the smartest wizard in the wizarding world and not even at Hogwarts, how is he going to get the rest of the Horcruxes without Dumbledore even with Hermione’s help. That’s another reason I didn’t think Dumbledore could be dead because he knows alot Harry needed to know. Also why would he give Harry extra classes if he was going to be there next year so he had to have known that he was going to “die”.
i think the spell affected dumbledor differently due to the fact he was a great and powerful wizard, it probably took a while to actually work, compared to dumbledore, snape was a pawn
Snape couldn’t have faked killing Dumbledore. He made the Unbreakable Vow promising to kill Dumbledore, and if he hadn’t actually done it, Snape would be dead as well.
What if DD really did die, and everything, But, what if DD’s wand was a horcrux? I mean it doesnt mention his wand after he dies, does it? What if his wand was destroyed because it had to bring DD back? That would support most of the things on this website right? It sounds logical enough for me.
A horcrux doesn’t get desrtoyed in the course of it fullfilling its function..
I think that DD wand will be seen again in book 7.
well you know all that, there two other thing you need to look at. 1- the time tuner is a great source if you remember in POA hermione used the time turner to save buck beak and sirius black so it could be used to save him as well 2- in HBP you find out why voldemort keeps coming back so maybe he used that to come back to life.
Wow this really is convincing and I belive you. You have pointed this out but most convincing is the fact that Snape could have thought Expelliarmus but says Avada Kedavra. And if its possible, what if someone was in front of Dumbledore, in an invisibility cloak and blocked Avada Kedavra for him? Then shouted Expelliarmus and sent Dumbledore flying off the tower. Then Snape might be a death eater…
There’s only one problem with your theory, Sky. It is not possible to block the Avada Kedavra with a counter-curse, and if you just mean that someone let it hit themselves instead of Dumbledore, they would be dead instantaneously and not have time to yell (or think) Expelliarmus.
Didn’t some one suggest something about what might happen if the “avada” curse passed through an invisible ghost?
We know from Nearly Headless Nick that the Bloody Baron liked to “float” around
the astronomy tower, and I think I remember reading that that was the highest tower, which is, I believe, how the tower that Harry and DD retured to was described.
It worked with the Basalisk because it work as a sort of filter, since the ghosts are translucent.
I doubt that it would work for a spell however.
Otherwise, ghosts would have been “screening” DD and other dignataries at all times.
At least thats the way it seems to be to me…
first, i like to congratulate dave on this brilliant site, i felt so happy to believe that dumbledore is still alive, nice theories ppls.
i have one: in CoS, ron tries to curse malfoy with a slug-vomiting curse. the curse is described as ‘a jet of green light’ does that ring a bell?
everyone is saying that snape casted a non-verbal spell even though he said avada kedavra. wad if this spell is the slug-vomiting one? wad do u guys think?
lol imagine dumbledore changing in a phoenix (as everyone says so) while vomiting slugs along the way…
I accept the possibility that the Dumbledore who died was not Albus but Aberforth. Although it sounds interesting to hear these grand and complex theories about what might have happened to Albus, he himself is known to offer simple theories for complex mysteries. Lily’s love acting as Harry’s shield etc. So a simple solution to this mystery is that Aberforth was the one who accompanied Harry to the astronomy tower.
My clues:
1. Despite being very weak, Harry suddenly found Dumbledore to have regained his strength at the sight of the Dark mark seen from Hogshead. Harry dismisses this newly agile Dumbledore on the broomstick as one intent on saving Hogwarts. Aberforth lived in Hogshead and could have somehow replaced Albus who was almost unconscious and then accompanied Harry to the astronomy tower.
2. I read somewhere in this site about the significance of Fawkies lamenting for a long while. If it was indeed healing someone, it could be Albus who was ill because of drinking that potion.
3. It was Albus who set Aberforth’s body on fire at the Funeral and created a tomb. And Harry noticing Fawkies flying off in the sky was Albus (invisible) leaving with Phoenix.
4. Harry might not have been unbound at the top of the Astronomy tower unless the caster was indeed dead. So Snape and Dumbledore faking the incident may not be possible.
5. Albus sounded skeptical about a living creature which can think on its own being made into an Horcrux. So Fawkies being his Horcrux is not very convincing. In anycase there is no reason to believe that Albus wanted to avoid death.
An alternate theory which contradicts some of the points above:
1. Aberforth who accompanied Harry was not human at all! So Snape did not actually kill him.
2. Harry was bound not by ‘Albus’ Dumbledore but by Snape who was chasing Draco up the astronomy tower. And he subsequently freed him when it was safe enough to do so.
Balaji.
I doubt… Dumbledore dead, not? I really don’t know what to think, Rowling said that Dumbledore is dead, and the clues don’t go that way. Snape bad or not? I think he isn’t. But I think DD is dead, but he’ll return in book7! The new title is released.. Harry potter and the deathly hallows, means DD can come back. I think DD has made horcruxes like marten did..And that snape is good.. He did this so he could have the time to search for the other horcruxes, so Voldemort thinks he’s dead…
I think that dumbledore used to be or is evil. I think that he trusts snape so much because hes the only one that knows about it. Also i think that dumbledore has horcruxes. If he does one is obviously fawkes because he can live on and on and on if he just hides somewhere. Thats probably why dumbledore keeps him quite close. And why fawkes left hogwarts. This is how in my opinion dumbledore isnt dead. Also snape is probably stil loyal to dumbledore and killed him knowing that he had a horcrux.
The thing i dont understand is why there was a glint of triumph in his eyes when voldy came back to power?
I don’t think Dumbledore is evil. He can’t be evil. It’s not possible to think he’s evil with all the wise and kind things that he says. Why would he tell Harry about the horcruxes if he was evil? I truly don’t believe Dumbledore is evil.
What do you think about this: “Harry walked alongside him, feeling the aches and pains in his face and his legs where the various hexes of the last half hour had hit him, though in an oddly detached way, as though somebody near him was suffering them. What was realy and inescapable was the awful pressing feeling in his chest…” This happens when Harry and Hagrid are walking towards Dumbledore’s body. The really interesting thing is that Harry feels a lot of pain in his chest, which is where Dumbledore was hit with the Avada Kedavra curse. Harry felt like someone near him was suffering these pains too. Could he have somehow been having a connection with Dumbledore?
I really don’t think Dumbledore made horcruxes, or is evil. We don’t know if Snape is evil or not, but why does Dumbledore trust Snape so much? There has to be a good reason behind it all, but I still don’t think the reason is because Dumbledore is evil and Snape’s the only one who knows about it. If Dumbledore did have horcruxes, Snape would’ve been dead, because he made an unbreakable vow, and if not all Dumbledore’s horcruxes were destroyed, then Dumbledore wouldn’t have been able to get killed, therefore Snape would be dead, but we saw Snape escape, so he’s not dead, unless of course (Albus) Dumbledore was really Aberforth, and Aberforth was killed, but again, I don’t think Dumbledore would let his brother die to save his life, unless he was trapped by Snape because Snape didn’t want to kill him, and he didn’t have a choice of not letting Aberforth die for him, because Aberforth wasn’t trapped, and was free, and wanted to die for his beloved brother. It would be possible for Snape to make the unbreakable vow, and kill Aberforth without dying because Voldemort told Draco to kill Dumbledore (most likely), he didn’t specifically say Albus Dumbledore. If Dumbledore did have a horcrux, I agree, it would most likely be Fawkes; I still think this is unlikely, because would a guy who says “Death is but the next greatest adventure,” create a horcrux that will live on forever, and make him immortal? This sounds like something Voldemort would do. I wonder why Voldemort didn’t do that. Maybe he did. Maybe Voldemort put part of his soul in a phoenix, making him immortal. But if he did that, then why would he protect the rest of the horcruxes so well? Maybe to fool people into thinking that all his horcruxes can be destroyed. But if a phoenix was a horcrux, I wonder if when the phoenix burns up, the horcrux would be destroyed, but the phoenix would be reborn? It’s all very confusing. We’ll just have to wait for the seventh book to come out. My point is, Dumbledore is not evil, and he probably doesn’t have any horcruxes.
This is also a clue about Dumbledore being alive (I know J.K. Rowling said he’s dead, but maybe he is dead, but his soul is alive in Peter’s body):
“Dumbledore’s eyes were closed; but for the strange angle of his arms and legs, he might have been sleeping.”
So maybe Dumbledore was only sleeping, but then why would J.K. Rowling tell us that he’s dead? My friend says: Maybe because his body was so powerful, it took him a while to die, but Fawkes might’ve healed his body before he died, Peter’s soul must have been dead (this goes back to the theory about Peter and Dumbledore switching bodies). Even if they didn’t do the switching thing with the bodies, Dumbledore could’ve really been asleep and not dead, but then why would J.K. Rowling say he’s dead?
Does anyone else think that Dumbledore might be BAD? I really do think so – in the fourth book, when Harry reveals that Voldemort could touch him, he saw “a gleam of triumph” in Dumbledore’s eyes. Also, there’s Hagrid – JK mentions several times in the books that he loves dangerous animals. Additionally, he repeats over and over that he loves Dumbledore! Futhermore, Dumbledore and Voldemort have the same Arithmancy numbers – see Beyond Hogwarts – and someone mentioned that there was another person at the Potter’s house the night they died. Dumbledore would have known that Sirius wouldn’t have betrayed the Potters, and would have defended Sirius were he a good guy. I don’t know if Dumbledore is necessarily working with Voldemort, but I think he’s a bad guy. In that case, it might even be better that he was killed by Snape!
I’ve stopped believing that there’s any way Dumbledore is still alive because JKR has said he is dead. She says it quite firmly, and I’ve been chasing theories for so long now (honestly, since I was 13 when the first book came out) that I’ve noticed she does tell the truth when we’re all headed down the wrong track.
That said, it is my firm belief that Snape killed Dumbledore because Dumbledore ordered him to, and that it was planned.
What I am really wondering and I don’t think anyone seems to have thought about yet (though I have not read all comments), is what the liquid that was covering the fake horcrux that Dumbledore had to drink was. Any ideas? I honestly haven’t a clue…
I must say, you’ve done a awesome job, with not only to put all this clues together, but to raise the hope to all of us who do not want to admit to ourselves that Dumbledore’s dead, but I disagree with you on what you’ve written first as nr. 1. I do not think that Harry was safe, even though he was under his cloak, because as noble as Harry is, he would’nt let Malfoy or any of the Death Eaters do anything to Dumbledore, but would have acted, and maybe by that, would’ve been killed by the Death Eaters. So my point is, that Dumbledore made Harry immobile to save his life…
There was a whole lot of foreshadowing going on in the movie version of Prisoner of Azkaban, we know that. However, have you paid any attention to the movie version of Goblet of Fire?
You know how Cedrid died? He, just as Albus in the book, was thrown backwards when he was hit with the spell.
Well, Cedric died the other way in the books, you may say. Well, does Harry actually see Cedric when he dies?
“A blast of green light blazed through Harry’s eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to ground beside him.”
Harry does not see Cedric at this moment, because the spell is so bright that it acts as a cover. He also hears – HE HEARS – Cedric fall to the ground.
While i was reading the last comment, something strucked me that indeed Dumbledore is really dead and from the beginning, what if, just a thought here, what if all those years, dumbledore is a impersonator who’s close to Harry and will present his or her real identity later? Why did he send a howler to Aunt Pertunia to remind her? She will have alot to do with this in book 7 as JKR said that Pertunia is not what she seems to be.
I couldnt come to terms with Dumbledore’s death. Simply cant digest it. Even skipped a meal.
But, I think, in order for Harray to prevail over Voldermart, he has to stand up on his own, and not with Dumbledore’s health. I think, the death is real, as this book mostly covers Harry and Dumbledore and their efforts and findings. So it will be fitting for Harry to be alone, but to bring down voldermart at the end, in the next episode.
I think that Snape was part of the plan and that he SAID avada kedavra but didn’t mean it and did expelliarmus.
I am convinced that Dumbledore is dead actually. I mean you gotta kill the only wizard who’s more powerful than the Dark Lord. It wouldn’t make sense to call it the “Harry Potter series” if Harry has the strongest wizard on his side. I think it’s about time Harry did something on his own.
wow. at first i thought that dumbledore was gone, but now i guess that he’s not… or he is… or he’s not… this site just made me incredibly confused!
if dumbledore is dead but if his phoenix is a horcrux, what was the purpose? will he come back as voldy did? or will he take control of harry and be in his head?
I think that Dumbledore is really dead (how sad it is to believe) because Harry has to challenge Voldemort on his own, but I think that Dumbledore is dead by his own orders.
I can’t imagine that Snape turns out to be bad… in all the books Dumbledore claims to know that Snape is on the good side because he “knows something about him”. Dumbledore has never been wrong before in all of the books and I just don’t want to believe that he is wrong this time by claiming that Snape is at the good side.
At the tower (I don’t know the correct passage) Dumbledore gives Snape a certain look. That look can mean that he orders Snape to do what he has to…
At the other side: when Dumbledore falls down, he hasn’t broken anything right? And there is no blood… If I would fall from the highest tower there certainly will be blood or at least some broken bones… Is it possible that his internal magic has saved him?
Wow… I’m confused now! I can’t wait till the next book comes out!
to myra:
ther is blood on dumbledore’s face, harry wipes it of with his own sleeve, and there are broken bones because his arm and legs are stange angled. so he can be faking it but i don’t think so
In the Philosophers Stone after the whole school sang a song to their ‘favourite tune’ Dumbledore wiped his eyes and said, ‘Ah music, A MAGIC BEYOND ALL WE DO HERE’
In THBP chapter 29,
‘A phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before, that the music was inside him, not without: it was his own grief turned magically to song that echoed across the grounds and through the castle windows’
One of my theories is that the magic of the phoenix could have awoken Dumbledore from the Draught of the living death, which is what I believe he drank in the cave, and that he will come to Harry in book 7 as someone else and the only way Harry will believe it is Dumbledore is when Harry asks ‘What is Dumbledores favourite jam’ which only he knows the answer to.
I could see if Dumbledore some how survived the fall from the astronomy tower
(which, incidentally, is the same tower that Fred and George threatened to “walk” Ron off of in CoS)
maybe, Maybe the sound of pheonix song could keep him barely alive, but I’ve never heard of pheonix song having anything other than an emotionel effect on its listeners..
If Fawks had been crying over Dumbledore, that would have been different.