The Dumbledore Paradox

Dumbledore: Cunning Wizard or Dead Wizard?

It's that time of year again: J.K. Rowling is getting further into the writing of the latest "Harry Potter" book and (like clockwork) has released tantalizing information about what we can expect.

As has been her practice for the last few books, that information involves the death of major -but unnamed- characters. (More on that later.)

With that said, I'm more interested in looking at the death of the last major character as logically as possible in order to gauge reactions from others who are confused.

Fair warning: There will be major spoilers beyond this point so if you're not caught up; go read the books already. (Seriously -- they're each a 2 day read (at most) and if you haven't read them yet, you can't complain about plot spoilers this late in the game. You've had time.)

Last chance!

Okay -- Dumbledore is dead. The event itself was not altogether surprising but I was pretty taken aback by the way in which said event unfolded. To explain why, I'm going to need to paste in some information from the Wikipedia entry concerning Dumbledore:

Dumbledore has been the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since the very end of 1956 and is considered one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Benevolent, slightly eccentric, and powerful, he resembles an archetypal good wizard in the style of Merlin or Gandalf. He is sympathetic to Harry Potter's difficulties, and, as such, occasionally allows the young wizard more leeway than he would with others. It is said that he is the only wizard Lord Voldemort ever feared.

And this bit regarding his death:

When landing, Malfoy attempted to disarm Dumbledore. It seems that Dumbledore knew of or foresaw the attack, as he used the split second of time to immobilise Harry, ensuring his safety before his wand was removed from his hand. Malfoy found that he could not bring himself to kill Dumbledore, so instead Snape used the fatal Avada Kedavra curse against him.

The most powerful wizard in the world (or at least "one" of the most powerful) was disarmed by a student and dispatched by a faculty member. More importantly, he was dispatched by a member of the faculty who he placed his complete trust in. (And as such -- our complete trust as well.) If we're told over and over that Dumbledore truly believes that Snape has turned over a new leaf -- what reason do we have to believe otherwise based on what we know about Dumbledore?

This leaves us with two options:

1. Snape is still fighting for Voldemort:

   If this is the case, J.K. Rowing cheated. She provided every reason for her readers to believe that Snape was reformed by building Dumbledore up as wise and powerful and having him assert over and over that this is the case. She then pulls the rug out from under us by having Snape off Dumbledore as though it were like walking through the park. For this scenario to work, everything she's ever written about Dumbledore has been turned upside down and he is, in fact, a dolt. (A dead dolt, at that.)

   Rowling: Ha ha! All of that stuff I told you about Dumbledore and all of that stuff he told you about Snape? Just kidding!

   Just so I'm very clear: That's not good writing -- that's saying one thing and then doing another in an effort to surprise. Good writing would be something else entirely.

2. Snape and Dumbledore have a plan:

   Looking at what has happened up until this point logically, this really has to be the case; assuming that J.K. Rowling is a competent writer. (You know: The kind of writer that builds up a character over several books and then puts them into situations and allows them to react realistically based on the aforementioned characterization. A dead and deceived Dumbledore is not the Dumbledore that she's written and built up thus far.)

   I suppose you could argue that the beloved headmaster has the very human failing of wanting to believe in the goodness of other people and that this could have blinded him to Snape's true nature. Okay, I can buy that. Still, this doesn't explain how a (most) powerful wizard could be subdued by a student until being lazily dispatched by a teacher. (Yes, yes, Harry does it all the time with Voldemort, I know. Still -- Rowling has at least explained that and that occurrence doesn't go against anything we know about Voldemort and Harry and is generally consistent with what we've been told.)

   I suppose my best theory is that Dumbledore and Snape are involved in some sort of "secret keeper" pact that required Dumbledore to be out of the picture so that Snape could remain truly undercover without fear of discovery. (Dumbledore being the secret keeper, naturally.) I don't really read the fan sites, so if their are better explanations: Feel free to post them in the comment thread. (Of note: I don't really believe that Dumbledore is completely out of the picture, but I won't be all that surprised if I find out I"m wrong, either.)

To sum up: Either Dumbledore is one of the wisest and most powerful wizards ever (just like Rowling says) and Snape is actually good, or Dumbledore is a dunce who got taken out like a @!$%# and Rowling has some 'splaining to do.

As for the two deaths in the last book:

• If the "Snape and Dumbledore have a plan" theory holds out (even if it's not just as I've predicted) the deaths will be Snape and Voldemort. I've long predicted that Snape would ultimately die a heroic death of redemption and it's clear to me (at least) that Voldemort will die.
• If the "J.K. Rowling tricked us" theory holds out: who really cares who dies? If this is the case, she's clearly making up the rules as she goes (with one hand ready to pull on that rug again -- watch your footing) and it could be just about anyone. Most likely it'll be Harry and Voldemort in some ill-conceived desire to be edgy. I've said it once and I'll say it again: This is a young adult book and kids don't need a lesson about good sometimes not being enough to defeat evil. (Or that sometimes the main character has to die in order for evil to go away.) It's an adventure story -- and one that I feel has earned a happy ending. (How many beloved characters have to die before she feels as though she's properly imparted the moral?)

Whew -- It feels good to get that off my chest.

(For what it's worth, I'm hoping that I read the last book and that she pulls it off. I just happen to think that there's a 50-50 shot and am keeping my fingers crossed.)

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