The History of the Order of the Phoenix
A question that has been asked multiple times in DTCL and elsewhere is why Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix during Vold War I. Why did he need to form an independent militia to fight against Voldemort's death eaters when, at the time, he had significant power within the Ministry of Magic and the Ministry was already fighting against Voldemort? Another question that I've been pondering is what role Arabella Figg played in the Order during the first war. Since both wars seem to have been fairly limited to the wizarding world, it's hard to imagine how Arabella, a squib, might have been involved before she began monitoring Harry in Little Whinging, yet Dumbledore named her in GoF as being part of the "old crowd."
But Terri's recent essays got me thinking... are we certain that Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix in response to Voldemort, or is it possible that Dumbledore originally created it in order to fight Grindelwald?
We know that it was Dumbledore's duel that finally ended Grindelwald's reign of terror, but we also know that Wizarding Britain was not formally involved in World War II. Thus any British wizards who were involved in that war were probably working independently of the British Ministry of Magic. And any groups of British wizards that were involved in that war were probably independent militias. (Could this be how the Knights of Walpurgis originated?)
I find it rather unlikely that Dumbledore was working entirely on his own. He probably had others helping him to gather intelligence about Grindewald's activities, including squibs who had some understanding of the muggle side of the war, such as, perhaps, a young Arabella Figg. And he probably brought some other fighters with him to that final battle/duel, maybe some friends and former students, such as, perhaps, a young Alastor Moody. It would have been stupid for him to have confronted Grindelwald without any backup.
It makes sense to me that this group working with Dumbledore would have given themselves a fancy name like "The Order of the Phoenix," especially after they won. And it makes sense that this group would have become famous, along with Dumbledore, in the decades after Grindelwald's defeat; children from James Potter's generation would have grown up hearing tales about the Order of the Phoenix in the same way that the children from Harry Potter's generation grew up with the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived. Even if Dumbledore did do most of the work on his own, it makes sense that he would have given the Order some of the credit in order to keep attention away from his personal history with Grindelwald. And it therefore makes a fair amount of sense that the Ministry might have called upon the now legendary Order of the Phoenix to assist in the war against Voldemort in the 1970's. Since they had already defeated one dark lord, they could hopefully defeat another.
But Terri's recent essays got me thinking... are we certain that Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix in response to Voldemort, or is it possible that Dumbledore originally created it in order to fight Grindelwald?
We know that it was Dumbledore's duel that finally ended Grindelwald's reign of terror, but we also know that Wizarding Britain was not formally involved in World War II. Thus any British wizards who were involved in that war were probably working independently of the British Ministry of Magic. And any groups of British wizards that were involved in that war were probably independent militias. (Could this be how the Knights of Walpurgis originated?)
I find it rather unlikely that Dumbledore was working entirely on his own. He probably had others helping him to gather intelligence about Grindewald's activities, including squibs who had some understanding of the muggle side of the war, such as, perhaps, a young Arabella Figg. And he probably brought some other fighters with him to that final battle/duel, maybe some friends and former students, such as, perhaps, a young Alastor Moody. It would have been stupid for him to have confronted Grindelwald without any backup.
It makes sense to me that this group working with Dumbledore would have given themselves a fancy name like "The Order of the Phoenix," especially after they won. And it makes sense that this group would have become famous, along with Dumbledore, in the decades after Grindelwald's defeat; children from James Potter's generation would have grown up hearing tales about the Order of the Phoenix in the same way that the children from Harry Potter's generation grew up with the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived. Even if Dumbledore did do most of the work on his own, it makes sense that he would have given the Order some of the credit in order to keep attention away from his personal history with Grindelwald. And it therefore makes a fair amount of sense that the Ministry might have called upon the now legendary Order of the Phoenix to assist in the war against Voldemort in the 1970's. Since they had already defeated one dark lord, they could hopefully defeat another.