A new hypothesis concerning the DADA Curse

Sep 22, 2019 13:00

You'd think by now I would have learned not to believe anything Dumbledore says uncritically. Let's take another look at the passage where he confirms the curse's existence:

"Oh, he definitely wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," said Dumbledore. "The aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have never been able to keep a ( Read more... )

hogwarts staff, likely stories, greater good, dada curse, albus dumbledore, author: sunnyskywalker, education at hogwarts

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chantaldormand September 23 2019, 11:11:58 UTC
Hmmm, in my experience well-educated people tend to lie by omission, using confusing language (the infamous "his proper name") or bad statistics. The quote you used here is classic Dumbledore. For example in CoS he says that only true Gryffindor could pull out Godric's sword out of the Hat, but take a step back and you realise that only very reckless (aka Gryffindorish) teenager would pull the stunt Harry did in CoS. So, in other words, the Hat wouldn't give the sword to a normal student, because they wouldn't need it.
He didn't lie per se, but both the reader and Harry would react in a different way if he was straightforward.

I can accept this as an explanation for the curse. Especially considering other teachers he hired.
Heck, in his mind kids learning next to nothing about DADA might be a good thing. After all, to effectively protect yourself from darkness, you must gaze into the abyss so you understand it. And look where it led Tom and many other students? No, no, that won't do it.

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sunnyskywalker September 24 2019, 01:10:57 UTC
Or like the time he mentions how James saved Sev's life, but not the circumstances, which leads Harry to believe his father rushed into a dangerous situation totally unconnected with him or his friends solely because rescuing people is the right thing to do. (Dumbledore could argue that he has good strategic reasons for this carefully-edited version, but it's still, you know, inaccurate.) Which he mentions in the same conversation where he says truth should be treated with caution. So... yeah.

We know he has the Horcrux books removed from the library and tells readers in his Beadle commentary that the Deathly Hallows are a fantasy (which he knows perfectly well isn't true--he's carrying one around daily). So there's precedent for Dumbledore suppressing knowledge of evil or just dangerous magic. It wouldn't be out of character for him to have misgivings about too-thorough DADA instruction.

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Lupin's hiring nx74defiant September 24 2019, 17:27:03 UTC
Do any one think Dumbledore was honest with Lupin and warned him about the curse? Did DD tell Lupin it would only be for one school year. Or did he let poor Lupin think this was the opportunity of a lifetime to have job security?

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Re: Lupin's hiring chantaldormand September 24 2019, 19:13:58 UTC
It's very hard to gauge just how much Dumbledore told Remus.
On the one hand, Remus is very indebted with Albus: starting with letting him attend Hogwarts, to hiring him.
On the other hand, it seems that not only Remus wasn't a member of OotP during the first war, but also distanced himself from his Order friends during that war.
Add to the stack that he was James' friend (potential link for Harry) and our inability to tell just how much Albus knew about Secret Keeper drama and we get very ugly picture.
In all honesty, I think that Albus hinted that certain teachers *coughcoughLockhartcoughcough* made horrible life choices and ended their career in rather dramatic fashion, but I doubt he was very straightforward about the full extent of the problem. After all, as Albus would tell you truth is a dangerous thing and letting your chess pieces to know about your plans, might work against you.

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Re: Lupin's hiring sunnyskywalker September 26 2019, 04:09:38 UTC
He was in the Order of the Phoenix class photo, but you're right that he wasn't standing with his school friends in it. And Lily doesn't mention him in her letter to Sirius. So they do seem to have--at best--drifted apart. It probably wasn't dramatic, since he seems to have only realized that the others thought he was the spy during the confrontation in the Shack, but something changed. Maybe he thought they were pulling away in response to his increasing distance (cultivated because he was trying--probably unsuccessfully so far--to get closer to the werewolf community to spy ( ... )

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Re: Lupin's hiring jana_ch September 24 2019, 19:15:51 UTC
Dumbledore, honest? With one of his minions? Surely you jest!

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