The Life and Lies of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore by Irvin Khaytman (ereader with dictionary txt) 📕

Most of what Dumbledore says in his final conversation with Harry can be taken at face value. But there is one statement that stands out as his usual enigmatic half-truth: “I too sought a way to conquer death.” (DH713) Dumbledore is not only referring to himself in his youth. I think Dumbledore intended to use the Hallows to make Harry the master of Death in the traditional way—making Harry unable to die.

Did Dumbledore really believe that to be master of Death meant to be a “Master. Conqueror. Vanquisher.” as Xenophilius Lovegood says? (DH410) He probably did not believe that it was certain, or even likely, to do so. But what if, on the odd chance, the Hallows did make Harry master of Death in the immortal sense? Dumbledore is so determined to keep Harry alive if at all possible, he is clutching at straws, so he would gamble on odds as long as these.

This is a classic Dumbledore plot, killing two birds with one stone. Not only would he be giving Harry a better chance of survival, but he would also prolong Harry’s life quite a bit by sending him hunting for the Hallows instead of the Horcruxes. He could have told Harry about the Hallows, instead of dropping the symbol in The Tales of Beedle the Bard and hoping the Trio figured it out. But Dumbledore is a big believer in sending people chasing after things in order to stall them, as we see with Voldemort. He did a similar thing with Harry and the Hallows.

This seems uncharacteristically reckless of Dumbledore, but he essentially confesses as much, when he tells Harry he “counted on Miss Granger to slow [Harry] up.” (DH720) So Dumbledore intentionally sent Harry on a time-consuming quest for the Hallows, because it would prolong Harry’s life, and it might give him a better chance at survival. This almost seems like the childish procrastination of a student, but it makes sense.

So it turns out that what Harry (and many readers) took as evidence that Dumbledore didn’t care—that he sent Harry on a quest with barely any of the needed information—was actually the strongest expression of Dumbledore’s love. Harry laments, “I don’t know who he loved, Hermione, but it was never me. This isn’t love, the mess he’s left me in.” (DH362) As usual, Hermione is right and Harry’s wrong, and Hermione says, “He loved you. I know he loved you.”

Dwelling on Dreams

What’s interesting is that though Dumbledore intended Harry to master the Hallows, he did not allow Harry to access the Resurrection Stone during his quest. The Stone remained hidden inside Harry’s first Snitch, until Harry informed the Snitch that he was about to die. Dumbledore gives us some insight on why he barred access to the Stone:

“Harry, I only feared that you would fail as I had failed. I only dreaded that you would make my mistakes. I crave your pardon, Harry. I have known, for some time now, that you are the better man.” (DH713)

and

“I was afraid that your hot head might dominate your good heart. I was scared that, if presented outright with the facts about those tempting objects, you might seize the Hallows as I did, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. If you laid hands on them, I wanted you to possess them safely.” (DH720)

This shows that Dumbledore did still have the big picture in mind, despite how derailed his plans were by this point. He wanted to delay Harry and arm him, but he was not willing to risk Harry just getting caught up with the dead and ignoring his Horcrux-hunting duties forever. To be fair to Dumbledore, this is a reasonable concern, because Harry has shown a fascination with death, and upon Dumbledore’s untimely end, the temptation may have overpowered Harry. We see how quickly Harry decides that the Stone is the Hallow he’d most like to have (DH414). Only once Harry had fulfilled his mission and was facing his death would Dumbledore allow him to indulge and seek comfort from the deceased.

This comes back to the point I made earlier: for Dumbledore, Harry’s happiness and survival is a primary goal, superseded only by the need to defeat Voldemort. Dumbledore does an awful lot for Harry’s sake, as I’ve been expounding. However, he will not give Harry the Resurrection Stone until the last possible moment, because he believes Harry’s fascination with death would be the undoing of all his plans if indulged.

In fact, Dumbledore is so confident in the possibility that Harry would be unable to proceed if given the Stone, Dumbledore removes his own ability to help from beyond the grave. Harry says right away that he wants the Stone to “bring people back, [. . .] Sirius . . . Mad-Eye . . . Dumbledore . . . my parents. . . .” (DH416) Imagine how much easier Deathly Hallows would have been if Harry could have brought Dumbledore back for a chat. But Harry might completely lose himself in his desire to be with the dead, as the second brother in Beedle’s tale did, and as Harry nearly does at Godric’s Hollow (DH329). Even Dumbledore, who took many risks, will not take this risk: that Harry will dwell on dreams and forget to live.

Plan D: Mastering the Hallows

We know Dumbledore planned for Harry to master the Hallows, because otherwise there’s no reason to leave Hermione The Tales of Beedle the Bard and little reason to leave Harry the Resurrection Stone. Of course, there seems to be an error here: how could Dumbledore have planned for Harry to master the Hallows when he only mastered the third one by defeating Draco, which wasn’t part of the plan at all? Because while the end result was the one intended, everything else in this plan went spectacularly wrong. But before we analyze what went wrong, let’s outline Dumbledore’s final plan.

Leave Hermione The Tales of Beedle the Bard, sending the