Dumbledore's Evolution - Emily Joa Blog post 3

For me, the 7^th book was a great conclusion to the series. It answered all of the questions and made all of the characters seem really well rounded. Dumbledore’s character really changed and evolved a lot during the last book. My feelings towards him changed a lot, too.

Throughout the series, Dumbledore seemed like an amazing wizard. He was wise and always ten steps ahead of everyone. He was kind to everyone and treated everyone the same. He never treated Harry like he was a silly little boy. He treated him with a lot of respect and believed in him. But as the series went on, he seemed to grow more distant and hide more secrets from Harry. By the fifth book, he was blatantly ignoring Harry. By the sixth, he was hiding things from Harry and not fully explaining himself. By the time I got to the seventh book, I was unsure as to who Dumbledore really was. Everything about him came into question during the eulogy and Rita Skeeter’s book. Harry kept finding more and more big secrets about Dumbledore, and at one point I wasn’t even sure if he had actually defeated Grindewald or not. It seemed like maybe he wasn’t any of the things he seemed to be when he was alive. Then the big moment that confirmed everything I was afraid of came when Harry was looking into the pensieve at Snape’s memories in book seven. During this, we find out that Dumbledore knew Harry was a Horcrux and that he would have to die in the end. That really changed my viewpoint of Dumbledore because it showed him as heartless and like he didn’t actually care about Harry. Talking to Snape, he said, “But this is touching, Severus. Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?” (687). This really made him seem completely heartless. Snape is astounded that Dumbledore seemingly raised him “like a pig for slaughter” (687). And yet Dumbledore doesn’t show emotion to this. He’s more astounded that Snape actually cares. After this, it was hard not to hate Dumbledore.

After all this heartbreak, the scene that brought Dumbledore back to reality was the scene after Harry dies by Voldemort’s hand and Harry meets Dumbledore at King’s Cross. This scene brought back the Dumbledore that I knew and loved in the beginning of the series. It showed that Dumbledore couldn’t love Harry more and was constantly worried about him. He did everything to help him because he knew what his fate would be. He was brave. He made mistakes. He was human. It really made Dumbledore seem so much more of a man who wasn’t perfect but who was amazing. It made me believe in him again.

This is my first time reading the books, and so I saw the movies first, in theaters of course. When I saw the last Harry Potter, I was thoroughly impressed. My first impression was that that was the perfect ending. When I first saw the scene where Harry goes to sacrifice himself, I was deeply disappointed because the whole series I was waiting for the big showdown between Harry and Voldemort. And so when they went to battle again, it was amazing. Everything was done so well and I was so impressed. But I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was when I read the books because there is so much more to the series and so many more questions that are answered.

Overall, Dumbledore went from one of my favorite characters, to one of the most heartbreaking villains, to one of the best characters in the series. It was a long journey with a lot of unanswered questions that I honestly didn’t think would ever be answered. But by the end of the series, I was glad they were answered and I loved the answers I was given. The end of this book was the perfect ending in my opinion.