Talk:Albus Dumbledore

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore by Newt Scamander
Grindelwald was known of one of the most evil dark wizards of Europe during the 20th Century, until He Who Must Not Be Named took his place. He was educated at Durmstrang, the Northern Wizarding school which specialises in the Dark Arts, where Grindelwald grew as a legion. He was eventually expelled from the school because of his evil behaviour and he left to visit his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, Famous Historian and writer of :     A History of Magic, in her home at Godric's Hollow.

Albus Dumbledore, who was the same age as Grindelwald and lived next to him while he looked after his youger brother and sister, had struck up a friendship with Gellert and the communicated, sending owls to each other with letters about their ideas, known as The Greater Good. They took a special interest in The Deathly Hallows, which the sign of had been carved into a wall at Durmstrang by none other than the evil Gellert Grindelwald. In later stages of their friendship, Gellert Grindelwald left to further his powers after the death of Ariana Dumbledore, a girl known to have had magical problems caused by three Muggle boys who Ariana's father attacked and was sent and died in Azkaban for his crime.

Albus's brother, Aberforth, left as well and fought with his brother at their sister's funeral, blaming him for the cruel death of their sister, who did not attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry at eleven years, but was consider and told to have been, "ill". Albus Dumbledore continued his brilliance and eventually had a scroll of his great achievments and honuarary awards. He was offered the post for Minister of Magic several times, but refused the job and said his life lay in teaching.

Meanwhile, Grindelwald was pursuing his view of The Greater Good and torturing Muggles as he gained power. Yet he was always recognised to have feared Dumbledore, so in 1945 the two magnificent wizards had a legendary duel battle and Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. He then locked him up in his own prison, Nurmenguard, (a cell for his enemies), when in later stage he was killed by the Dark Lord.

After his battle, Dumbledore bacame a Tranfiguration teacher at Hogwarts for Armando Dippet. Dumbledore then rose until he took the post of Headmaster. In 1997, he was killed by the Hogwarts potions teacher, Severus Snape, the death of Dumbledore had been planned between them, because Dumbledore was dying from a cursed Horcrux ring. Albus Dumbledore is one of the most remembered wizards in the Wizarding World  and rests in peace at his Marble White Tomb, at Hogwarts, his home.

~Nox~.

-Griflytheruffleplaw

Death
Is it ever explicitly stated that he died in June? It is a mere week or two after the attack on Draco Malfoy with Sectumsempra that Dumbledore dies, and unless I am much mistaken that happened in May. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 00:58, October 23, 2013 (UTC)

According to Scrimgeour (and Hermione) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 7 (The Will of Albus Dumbledore), the Ministry has the right to maintain possession of Dumbledore's bequests for thirty-one days only, in accordance with the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation. Dumbledore's bequests were delivered to Ron, Hermione and Harry on 31 July 1997: Harry Potter's seventeenth birthday. As it is referred in that chapter that the "thirty-one days are up", Dumbledore died exactly thirty-one days earlier, in the evening of 30 June. HarryPotterRules1 (talk) 01:12, October 23, 2013 (UTC)


 * How likely is it that the Ministry grabbed his stuff the night he died? It's generally agreed they took the possessions on the day of the funeral. We therefore know the funeral took place on 30 June, and that his death happened a few weeks prior to that. Therefore, it could be either very late May or very early June. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 01:58, October 23, 2013 (UTC)


 * The will would have been turned over to the ministry the moment he passed away, as wills do in the Muggle world too. They had the will for 31 days, thus he died at the end of June. HarryPotterRules1 (talk) 02:27, October 23, 2013 (UTC)


 * So, we know he died sometime in late June, as per Betty Braithwaite's newspaper article in the Daily Prophet. We know the exams usually happen from the 1st to the 6th (except for 1994, where they happened around the 24th), and that they were postponed for a few days. They ended anywhere from three to seven days before the funeral, during which Harry, Ginny and the lot visited the hospital wing, and that they go on for a week. Thus, they ended anywhere from the 29th to the 25th, and thus began on either the 22nd or 18th. Is there any way of pinpointing a more exact death date? --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 22:30, October 31, 2013 (UTC)

Master of Death
Should it not be pointed out that he was Master of Death, having possessed all three Hallows for a period of time. Pesa123456789 (talk) 14:21, January 4, 2014 (UTC)


 * He did not, however, possess all three Hallows concurrently. He gave Harry the Cloak of Invisibility for Christmas in 1991, and only got the Ressurection Stone in the summer of 1996 (between the close of Order of the Phoenix and the start of Half-Blood Prince, when he got his hand cursed). --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 15:39, January 4, 2014 (UTC)

Horcrux-Hunting
Just wondered, does anyone know where Dumbledore went when he got kicked out by Fudge and Dawlish and Umbridge and Weatherby? Dumbledore explicitly states in Order of the Phoenix that he wouldn't return to go to Grimmauld Place, nor would he be hiding. The comment "Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me" is ambiguous for me, but I thought perhaps at that time he was beginning the hunt for Horcruxes? Or else heading around to question the Gaunts, Hokey and Ogden?--Hunnie Bunn (talk) 15:46, January 4, 2014 (UTC)

Wand
I saw this article online and how one of the questions asked was "What was Dumbledore's wand made of?", and the answer was to do with elder wood. Elder is tricky to master, containing powerful magic, and needs to be with a wizard superior to his or her company; they have to be remarkable, unusual and special. Dumbledore is all of those things. While it's possible (nay, probable) that Rowling was talking about the Elder Wand, there is a slim chance she was also speaking at the same time of Dumbledore's first wand. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 19:28, March 27, 2014 (UTC)

Personally, I've always thought Dumbledore's original wand were made out of either Acacia wood or Beech wood and, due to his wide varies of abilities and connection to the bird phoenixes, had most likely a phoenix feather core. Ninclow 11:42, March 30, 2015 (UTC)

Death date
Where it says in the very beginning of the first paragraph; Dumbledore died June 30 not late summer, why not specify the date instead? Maggiedev1996 (talk) 06:49, April 20, 2014 (UTC)Md1


 * That would be because several decisions were made simultaneously by various users; some agree that since it was close to spring and it was described as being in mid-June, the date Dumbledore died couldn't have been the thirtieth, whereas others disagree and say that since it was the only indication of anything related to Dumbledore's death the thirtieth should be used as the date. Thus an exact day was given in some portions of the article but not in others. A decision really needs to be made on this. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 21:13, August 5, 2014 (UTC)

Blood Status
Can we get a source for his blood status? I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but it would still be nice to get a source.Allsevenbooks (talk) 05:03, July 21, 2014 (UTC)

Death date, AGAIN
A decision really needs to be made on this. There's just no way that Dumbledore died on the last day of June, since there was at least a week after that before the funeral and the train was held up from leaving so the students could pay their respects.

The OWLs take place over two weeks, from 7-17 June 1996 (so give or take a day or two for the following year). Ginny hadn't yet written her OWLs at the time of Dumbledore's death, meaning that it was sometime between, say, 1 June and 8 June, since we don't know for sure except that it was June and the OWLs hadn't yet happened.

This fits perfectly with Dumbledore's comment in the early draft of the sixth film about how he isn't sure if it's spring or summer. If it had been the last day of June, I think he'd know it was summer, and that the exams would be over at the time.

Maybe the Ministry confiscated the will when they came to the funeral at least a week after his death? That makes more sense to me. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 16:03, August 19, 2014 (UTC)


 * On second thought, I guess we're stuck saying he did die on the 30th. The Seven Potters takes place on 27 July; Harry got the newspaper with the interview on Skeeter's book that morning; in it, Betty Braithwaite says Dumbledore died four weeks ago. We can either take this literally as 28 days (which makes it the 30th, coinciding with what Hermione said in chapter seven), or as around that length of time (still around the 30th). --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 14:11, October 5, 2014 (UTC)


 * When does it say there's a week betwen the death and the funeral? Also, I thought Ginny was done with her exams before Dumbledore's death? General Ironbeak (talk) 03:58, December 14, 2014 (UTC)


 * There were at least a "couple of days", but they also visited the hospital wing twice a day, and enough time has passed for Harry to repetitively grow angry at mention of Snape, the weather to seem to mock them and Neville to make steady improvement between the death and the funeral. As for Ginny's exams, she was studying hard for the OWLs last we heard before Dumbledore's death, whilst sometime between the death and the funeral they had already been done.
 * None of that really matters anyways, because of a) the scene with the will, in which "the thirty-one days are up" and b) Braithwaite's comments in chapter two of Hallows, both of which clearly define Dumbledore's death-date as being the 30 June. --Hunnie Bunn (talk) 04:45, December 14, 2014 (UTC)

Birth
Sorry my english is not specielt god but i have done my best

Hey every Potterheads out there There are a thing I had thinking a lot about. Is about when Albus Dumbledore was born. Because on harrypotter.wikia.com stands there that Dumbledore birth year was supposed to be in 1881.

It was there I was thinking how do they know that from, and it was from ´´Wizard of the Month`` it mean that J.K. Rowling say it. But j. k Rowling had also said in an interview that ´´Dumbledore was a sprightly 150`` and the actor Ciarán Hinds who played Aberforth “claimed” Dumbledore was 123 years old when he died. This would make his year of birth 1874.

So far. Now we have 3 theories, but none of them gives an explanation, how we knows dies dates.

But her comes my theory there explain the hole. Under Bill and Fleur's wedding at the 1st August 1997 dose Ron's great aunt Muriel says that she are 107. That’s mean she was born 107 before the wedding, that will mean in 1890. She also says to Elphias Doge and Harry Potter in the guise of Barny Weasley (translated verbatim from Danish) ´´But none of us there not was born back then, don’t know anything about`` about how Ariana died. It will say that Ariana died before Aunt Muriel was born in 1890. And we know that Ariana died when Albus Dumbledore was around 18 years old. It will say that Albus Dumbledore must have been born, minimum before 18 years 1890 thats mean that he must be born before or around 1872. Pz. Tell me what you think

Always  - Ian

Bump
Now, assuming the above calculations, that would make the headmaster 156 years old when he died. For the longest, we had him listed as being born in 1881. Which one is the accurate account for his birth? --KiumaruHamachi (talk) 11:00, December 19, 2014 (UTC)KiumaruHamachi

Dumbledore's view on Voldemort:
I feel that the 'former student' view he had on Voldemort should be properly addressed on the 'relationships' part of the article. I mean, with Gellert Grindelwald safely behind bars in the wizarding prison of Nurmengard, Dumbledore was the most brilliant wizard around, having his skill and intellect viritually unmatch by any other living witch or wizard until Voldemort showed his true colours. Pretty frustrating, I'd reckon.

The point is that in the sixth book, we get a pretty good look on Dumbledore's view of Voldemort: A worthy opponent. He had certain expectations regarding his magical capability, and felt that he had been let down when the Dark Lord did not satisfy them.

In book one, Dumbledore informs McGonagall that:

"Voldemort had powers I will never have."

He informs Harry that:

"I knew that Voldemort’s knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power".

And, when he and Harry entered the Horcrux Cave in search for the locket, Dumbledore began to check out what magical protection the most powerful Dark Wizard of All Time had placed upon the place to guard his precious piece of soul, and upon discovering the use of blood magic, better known as 'weakness payment', he was negatively surprised, describing it as 'crude', sounding 'disdainful, even disappointed, as though Voldemort had fallen short of higher standards Dumbledore expected.'

This of course, implies that Voldemort's spell was neither as dark nor as rare/powerful/extraordinary as Dumbledore would have thought, as if he had hoped for more of a challenge.

I feel this should be addressed at the relationship section at the article, hopefully by someone with better English writing capabilities than myself.

- User:Simen Johannes Fagerli.

Photo Issue
The photo in character temple box is of a Ceiling fan. I don't know how to fix it. Zane T 69 (talk) 21:23, November 22, 2014 (UTC)


 * It was an act of vandalism. I've reverted the changes. - Nick O'Demus 22:12, November 22, 2014 (UTC)


 * Okay, thanks. EDIT: Same problem in Relationships section for Harry Potter. Zane T 69 (talk) 22:30, November 22, 2014 (UTC)
 * It is back again. I've noticed it in this article and the Harry Potter(Person) article. Chris28bot (talk) 03:07, November 26, 2014 (UTC)

Actor
why dose he have a hairbow in his beard? SandyOwl89SandyOwl89 (talk) 22:40, December 22, 2014 (UTC)

Edit request
To be added to Behind the scenes:


 * J. K. Rowling has indirectly stated that, if Albus Dumbledore were to take a assessment, his personality type would be.

Blood status

 * The 7th book states that both of Albus's parents are magical. Can we edit the blood status to pure-blood?


 * Like Harry, Albus' mother was a muggle-born, which makes him a half-blood. - Nick O'Demus 00:00, May 2, 2015 (UTC)

Date of headmaster appointment
There is an evidence that Dumbledore became a headmaster in 1969-1970, not in 1956.

1) Several sources indicate that a year when Marauders became Hogwarts first year students is 1971 (the most definite is years of life on graves of James and Lily). And in HP and the prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 18, Lupin says "Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren’t likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic." Lupin was born in 1960 and couldn't say that if Dumbledore became Headmaster in 1956.

2) Another fact which indirectly supports this theory is the scene of Tom Riddle's meeting with Dumbledore in HP and the Half-Blood Prince, chapter 20. Not only Tom says “I heard that you had become headmaster", the entire meeting looks like the declaration of war. And we know that Voldemort openly confronted magical Britain in 1970 - Dumbledore: "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years" (HP and the Sorcerer's Stone, chapter 1); Hagrid: "Anyway, this -- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers" (HP and the Sorcerer's Stone, chapter 4).

It is important to note that this theory also has two weak points:

1) McGonagall states that she began teaching at Hogwarts in December 1956, so it's very likely that Dumbledore left the position of Transfiguration teacher. But if we assume that nobody lies and none of information above is mistaken, then professor Dippet should still be alive.

Possible explanation:  we know that Tom Riddle wanted to teach DADA. “I have returned, later, perhaps, than Professor Dippet expected... but I have returned, nevertheless, to request again what he once told me I was too young to have". Why did he come to Hogwarts only when benevolent Dippet was replaced by wary Dumbledore? It would be much more logical if he came knowing that DADA position was vacant, and Dumbledore becoming Headmaster is just an unfortunate coincidence. But what if it wasn't a coincidence? What if DADA teacher who left his position was none other than Dumbledore himself? That would explain the gap between 1956 and 1970. Something happened with DADA teacher in 1956 and Dumbledore, realizing that Tom will definitely get DADA position this time, took it himself to prevent that. It's not hard to imagine at all, given his talents.

2) If meeting with Dumbledore took place in 1970, then death of Hepzibah Smith happened in 1960, meaning that Tom worked for Borgin and Burkes for 15 years.

Possible explanation: even though Harry describes Tom as young, "young" is an elastic notion, and Dumbledore says that he "was no mere assistant" and "was soon given particular jobs" - that implies that he had time to prove himself. Hepzibah is definitely the special client - the kind that is worked up for years (note Hepzibah saying "he’s never been late yet", "They overwork you at that shop, I’ve said it a hundred times" and Harry noting that Tom "picked his way through the cramped room with an air that showed he had visited many times before"). Also, Tom appears to be an experienced seducer, and that kind of experience is usually gained when men are a bit older. If that is true, that's not a surprise he gave up his work at Borgin and Burkes in 1960. Given that Dumbledore took position of DADA in 1956, Tom already suspected that he won't be able to stay in Hogwarts peacefully after all, so he didn't need to monitor Hogwarts anymore, took the legendary trinkets he's been seeking and left England to search for Ravenclaw's diadem.

So I tend to believe that Dumbldore became Headmaster in approximately 1970, not in 1956. Even if that's not the case, that is a contradiction worth mentioning on "Dating conventions" page.

UchuuEngineer (talk) 20:49, June 6, 2015 (UTC)

Age?
I made a thread about this in the Wizengamot section and nobody payed any attention, so I'm just going to put it out here. Do we have an official age for him? J.K. has said over and over that he's 150, so the birthdate can't be taken as canon. I've changed this repeatedly but it keeps getting reverted. Argulor (talk) 22:09, January 9, 2016 (UTC)
 * If your edits keep getting reverted, don't revert them back. A better solution is to discuss it with the editor reverting your edits. Otherwise it results in edit wars, and sometimes even wiki sanctions. ―  C.Syde  ( talk &#124;  contribs ) 07:59, January 10, 2016 (UTC)

Table Of Contents Issue.
I was surfing the wiki due to boredom, and I say a collapsed table of contents. I clicked "show" it took me to the very top of the page. I don't know how to fix this, so can someone else fix it? Zane T 69 (talk) 22:49, June 27, 2016 (UTC)

When I checked page less than ten minutes later, it had fixed itself. Zane T 69 (talk) 22:53, June 27, 2016 (UTC)

Behind The Scenes (Dumbledore and Jiraiya)
In the "Behind the Scenes" section of this article, there is one last bullet point noting the similarities between Albus Dumbledore and Jiraiya from the series Naruto, which in this case is impertinent to the point of the Behind the Scenes section, which should be about the depictions of Dumbledore in different media. In my opinion the aforementioned bullet point should be removed as not only is it irrelevant, the similarities listed in the post are simply too general to even have a significant meaning unless the creator of the post is suggesting that J.K. Rowling herself took inspiration from Masashi Kishimoto who published his series three years after Rowling did.

Inuyana8 (talk) 22:17, July 14, 2016 (UTC)


 * I agree. It seems to be a pointless piece of trivia. We could probably make comparisons of Dumbledore to lots of different characters! Someone who is probably a fan of both characters probably thought if it was interesting them, it may be to others and added it! I cannot find any link between the two which says that Jo took inspiration from Naruto - you pointed out, it was published three years after Rowling published her first book, so Jo definitely didn't base Dumbledore on any characters from it and may not have even read Naruto! --May32 (talk) 22:29, July 14, 2016 (UTC)

Year Dumbledore became Headteacher

 * Hey! I stumbled across a piece of information which may change the year that Dumbledore became Headteacher.
 * The Wikia says the date was probably around 1957. This comes from the fact that in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 20 (Lord Voldemort's Request), Dumbledore says that Voldemort visited him to ask for the Defence Against the Dark Arts job ten years after his murder of Hepzibah Smith, which itself occurred one or two years after Voldemort left Hogwarts in 1945. We know Dumbledore was not Headmaster at the time McGonagall started teaching at Hogwarts and she started teaching at Hogwarts in December 1956. Therefore, we came to the conclusion he became Headteacher around 1957.
 * However, one thing no one appears to have thought about was something said in the Prisoner of Azkaban. In Chapter 18, Lupin says he never thought he would be admitted to Hogwarts (“It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts”) but “then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that, as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn’t come to school …” This seems to say that Dumbledore didn't become Headteacher until some point in Lupin's childhood because for a time, he didn't think he could attend Hogwarts until Dumbledore became Headteacher. It happened in Lupin's lifetime, except he wasn't born until March 1960, three years after we said Dumbledore became Headteacher. You also have give a few years for Lupin to grow up a little, become a werewolf at age five and then get the idea he wouldn't be allowed to attend Hogwarts before Dumbledore became Headteacher and changed everything. I would say we need at least six or seven years for that to happen before Dumbledore became Headteacher in around 1966/1967. Wondered what everyone's thoughts were? Thank you :)  --Kates32 (talk) 10:00, July 23, 2016 (UTC)


 * Very nice find! Continuing the quote from - "But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn’t come to school." This has to be after the attack on Lupin in March 1965. We know that Voldemort comes back to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for the DADA job 10 years after Hepzibah Smith is killed but I don't think we have any evidence for how long Riddle worked for Borgin and Burkes at that point. Could it be that Riddle graduated 1945, travelled, worked for at least 10 years at Borgin and Burkes, kills Smith c. 1955, then returns to ask for the DADA job around 1965? Any one have evidence why this wouldn't work in the timeline? --Ironyak1 (talk) 17:01, July 23, 2016 (UTC)