The Lies and Crimes of Albus Dumbledore Pt 3

[tygershark]

Part three and the final part of my updated essay from 2019 including one or two new theories.  Please read pt 1 and pt 2 first.

Of Dumbledore’s many failings the most far-reaching damage was in allowing corruption, bigotry, and ignorance to flourish. The problems of the British magical society are systemic and permeate the entirety of their

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

I remember the good old days when I could believe Dumbledore was flawed but ultimately good. Now, my main question is, does he even think he's good, or is oneandthetruth right and even that is a cynical act? I'd prefer the former artistically, because his opposite number is already a sociopath, and two seems redundant. It would be interesting to have someone who wants to think of himself as good, and at least sort of tries to be, but actually does as much or more damage as if he'd set out to be evil. But I honestly don't know.

Even before DH, I'd spun a theory that maybe Dumbledore had a Dark PastTM and had made Fawkes into a Horcrux during his misspent, immortality-obsessed youth. I didn't expect to be so close. And really, I think canon Dumbledore turned out worse than my retrospectively tame version.

Dumbledore could use a good dose of the doctrine of command responsibility. He's not technically a military officer, but his society doesn't have a military as such, and I think he made himself the closest possible thing when he started a

[tygershark]

I definitely agree with your take on Dumbles and his pseudo-militia. Everyone who has commanded people in battle has lost some of those people. History, especially more recent history is shamefully littered with instances of those in command of a military force using those forces as if they were literally nothing more than pawns in a game. Hey, who does that sound like? A good commander knows they may have to order their people to certain death, but such should never be without purpose. So much of what Dumbledore did seemed to be without purpose, i.e. posting a guard for a prophecy that needed no protection. But, if he was grooming Harry to be a suicide soldier, then the pieces fit together a little better

[sunnyskywalker]

I have spent way too much time trying to work out the Hogwarts population. Unfortunately for Rowling if she wanted a high student population, she set up some limiting factors, like how many class periods can fit into a day and how many students can be taught in one class section (fewer than 40, or Harry's class would be bundled into one instead of split to reduce the number of class sections that need to fit into the schedule, giving the teachers hope of time for bathroom breaks). I just cannot make it work with more than about 300 students. And that's being generous and assuming that creating such a schedule is even possible without creating some horrible conflict that would prevent half the students from taking a required class. Never mind asking how the teachers handle that workload (plus extra jobs, like McGonagall also being Deputy Headmistress and doing all the school's admin work, or Snape brewing potions for the Hospital Wing and spying and teaching Occlumency and whatnot

[ext_6053291]

Hey, this part 3 is the same as part 2