Albus Dumbledore: Biography, Secrets and Mistakes

Albus Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard of his age and the only one Voldemort fears. He is also a man who stays quiet too often, and the books say so openly. His greatness and his mistakes come from the same root: he believes he knows what is best for other people.

Who he is

He is headmaster of Hogwarts, leader of the Order of the Phoenix and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. He can make a whole dining hall laugh and look at a child with a sadness that is hard to bear. He defeated Grindelwald in 1945, a fact Harry learns from a Chocolate Frog card (Philosopher's Stone, ch. 6). His personal life carries a wound we do not learn about until the last book: his sister Ariana.

Key moments

• Philosopher's Stone, ch. 12: looking into the Mirror of Erised, Dumbledore says he sees a pair of thick woolen socks. Harry is not sure he believes him.
• Chamber of Secrets, ch. 18: he tells Harry it is our choices that show who we are, far more than our abilities.
• Half-Blood Prince, ch. 27: he falls from the Astronomy Tower. His funeral is in ch. 30.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 33: Snape's memories show Dumbledore had known for years that Harry would have to die.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 35: in an imaginary King's Cross, he tells Harry his own story, including his friendship with Grindelwald.

Relationships

With Harry, real affection and a very lopsided relationship: he looks after him and prepares him, but tells him almost nothing. With Snape he shares a pact only the two of them understand. With Fawkes, his phoenix, an old companionship. With Aberforth, his brother, a conflict unresolved since Ariana's death. With Grindelwald, a youthful friendship that cost him a family.

What almost nobody notices

In Deathly Hallows (ch. 35), Dumbledore admits that as a young man he dreamed of ruling Muggles "for their own good," and that this is why he distrusts anyone who wants power. He says the people best suited to it may be those who never sought it. He says it as a man who already paid for that idea.

And in Half-Blood Prince (ch. 27), the line "Severus... please" is never fully explained. Some readers think Dumbledore is begging for death, others that he is begging Snape not to do it. The books never settle it.

Would the Hat put you in Dumbledore's house? Find out with the house quiz, or read Gaunt's Ring: The Horcrux That Doomed Dumbledore to learn what happened to his hand.