Albus Dumbledore, Part 2: Master Manipulator

Happy Monday, Fanaticals! I decided that this week, we should circle back to Harry Potter and talk about the darker side of things, now that we've had some darker theories brought into our lives. Today, we are going to go into the darker side of who everyone considers the "most beloved Headmaster". You all know by comments from our last Dumbledore post, I am not his biggest fan.

However, you must keep in mind that to those of us who have both read the books AND watched the movies, there are three different Albus Dumbledore's in our minds: the book version, the Richard Harris version, and the Michael Gambon version. Fans of Fantastic Beasts will also state they have the Jude Law version as well.

It is always important to distinguish these versions of the man, because the only side of Dumbledore that I see as a "lighter side" is Richard's version; he held the perfect Grandfather facade that we all know very well from Dumbledore. Meanwhile, Michael Gambon's version is definitely the villain version that most of us who are not Dumbledore fans associate him as. (The best example is in Goblet of Fire, and the biggest Wizard World controversy of "he said calmly".) Jude Law is the man we all know from Rita's scathing book that was released during Deathly Hallows. All the while, the book version is a perfect combination of all three; and where the true villain lies.

This is going to be a bit of a long on day, so hold tight, as we get looking into the side of Dumbledore that Rita wanted exposed! Please be advised that there WILL be light mentioning's of child abuse, as Harry and his home life will be brought up.

Master Manipulator

This is one thing that most people will come to agree on; and many take it a step further by writing fanfiction where he sheds his "grandfatherly mask". However, it goes back before that, as Rita had done a thorough look into his history. Now, for those of you who don't know: Irvin Khaytman actually turned around and wrote a published "unofficial version" of Rita's book. In his introduction, he states that there was one specific line that turned his opinions of the headmaster; in the final book when Harry is viewing Snape's memory, and he states that the headmaster was "raising him like a pig for slaughter"[1].

Personally, I think this is when most people shed their "Leader of Light" ideals of the man as it's when things start clicking into place about the whole series, and events that took place. It is this line that really gets you considering things that happened over the years, and even prior to Harry starting Hogwarts. Then, when you stop to think about information given in book six, you start to put pieces together about OTHERS that have been around Dumbledore.

You may ask yourself, "How does this make him a Master Manipulator?" Well, in many fics, people compare him to a Chess Master; everyone is just a pawn in his game, and he is setting them up to make the moves he wants in real life. It's a terrifying thought, especially when you consider that he was JUST a teacher during the time of both Gellert Grindelwald and Tom Riddle. When you really think about it, he manipulated A LOT of events.

While he may not have manipulated Grindelwald outright, there was definitely some form of manipulations there in general which, considering they were partners, isn't much of a surprise. It's quite obvious that Albus had issues with Muggles, considering he threw his lot in with Gellert, so it begs the question of how did he go from "kill/enslave all Muggles" to "we must completely accept them"? The secret is: he DIDN'T. He learned to wear a mask, became a Master Legilimens, and went for the long con; right until he heard the Prophecy that changed everything. Let's look at where his manipulations and hypocrisy lied.

The Potters and the Marauders

This is not where is all began, but it's where it all began for us. That fateful night on Samhain was just a small part of his manipulations. Placing Harry with Petunia wasn't even the beginning, but it was the start of Harry's suffering.

Anyone who has had any Military affiliation will know that a Will is a must! My ex-husband didn't have one but when he was set to deploy, we had to go to JAG together and get one done; it was a requirement for him to even leave. As James Potter was a Pureblood in a post-Grindelwald world, I feel like Wills would have been a big must especially for a Lord and Heir of an old Pureblood House. While I would like to label them as Ancient or Noble, the intricacies of the House System is very much a fandom thing so I will just remind that it HAD been mentioned that the Potters were an "old, Pureblood House".

Having this thought, where were the Potter's Wills? Some have said that they don't have them because they went into hiding and couldn't get to the bank. Counter argument: the war had been going for far longer than they were in hiding, as they didn't even go into hiding until just before Harry was born, but AFTER her pregnancy was confirmed. Meaning, they could have easily gone into Gringott's and done up a Will, only to update it just before they went into hiding, and quite possibly sent an owl to update the name of the child after he was born.

I can imagine in the Will, they also would have stated who the TRUE Secret Keeper was considering they only wanted people to think that it was Sirius. If that's the case, then them having been found would have meant their Secret Keeper was the spy and traitor they had been looking for. Albus had offered HIMSELF as Secret Keeper several times, WHY? Some people will argue that it was to keep them safe, but when you consider the events that played out in Harry's life, it seems more like he could have gotten away with it better when the Potter's died, as no one would have known because it's more likely that he would not have allowed them any visitors meaning no one would have known the secret got out. However, within our knowledge of the Fidelius we know that there were only four times in the series that it was cast: on the Potter's, on Grimmauld Place, and on two of the Weasley/Prewitt residences (Shell Cottage, and Aunt Muriel's).

We are only guaranteed that Albus cast the one on Grimmauld and the others are unknown. The Fidelius Charm, though, is known that it has to be someone capable of carrying the secret in their very soul; this then has cause for belief that it takes a very powerful witch or wizard to cast the charm itself. This would then circle back to the probability that Albus cast at least three of the four, as I fully believe that Bill Weasley would have been powerful enough to cast it for his own house, if not his wife Fluer. If this were the case, then Albus most likely cast it over the Potter's house, meaning that he would have known Sirius was not the Secret Keeper.

It also brings up, if he was a Master Legilimens then how did he not know that Peter was the traitor? (We will be circling back to THAT in a minute!) Sirius and even Remus make it seem as though Peter was very weak in power; as we know that with Occlumency you need some sort of power to fuel your walls, it is likely that Peter had zero mental defenses and Albus should have known. Here is where the theory that he was entirely in the know and was planting ideas, moving chess pieces around, is the strongest.

How? If he knew that Peter was the Secret Keeper, and knew about the Wills, then it would be really simple to manipulate what would happen after that night. As it was, he sent Hagrid to get Harry. We also know there is potentially some missing time in the timeline, in which Albus could have run tests or even placed blocks on Harry's magical core; even setting wards on the Dursely's place when Minerva wasn't looking. Minerva, herself, admits that she had been watching them "all day"; how could she have been watching them all day if there wasn't missing time between Hagrid removing Harry from the wreckage of Godric's Hallow, and him being placed on the doorstep?

We also have to remember that it was mentioned that Petunia had actually WRITTEN to him about going to Hogwarts as well and was rejected. While Petunia clearly was freaked out by what her sister could do, she had also clearly wanted to attend school with her. This makes it seem as though she did not actually start having major issues with the Wizarding World until she was rejected in joining. After that, it is obvious that she became highly volatile towards magic and from the sounds of it, everyone who knew Lily knew what her sister thought.

There are theories that the Wills of James and Lily stated a) who the actual Secret Keeper was, and b) stated that Harry was never to set foot in her sister's house due to her hatred of magic. As there were never any Wills, there is the supporting theory that Albus used his position as both Chief Warlock and even Supreme Mugwump to seal the Wills. If this were true, it would mean that he also knew that Sirius was innocent and allowed a man to rot in jail. There are also the theories that as Chief Warlock, he could have accessed Sirius' information and demanded a trial; especially after the events of third year.

Not to mention the fact that Remus is the ONLY Werewolf in history to have attended Hogwarts? Remus was ten when the First War originally started; this means that Albus could have easily seen it as an opportunity to have a Werewolf in his own pocket to be able to negotiate with other wolves later down the line. Accepting Remus would have been similar to accepting and "rescuing" Harry from the Dursley's; someone who saw him as a Saviour and would owe him their lives.

Finally, there is the case of the Invisibility Cloak. Many people are torn on this one, as there isa Chianti on of the fact that Albus has at least two generations fully devoted to seeing him as the Leader of the Light that it would definitely be easy for him to just ASK James for it and he would willingly give it over, or the James’s was confounded in some way to do it. I don’t believe for a minute that a man who had that type of artifact would have given it up, regardless oof being safely secured away or not. Why? It could have come as a perfect last defense for Lily and/or Harry.

Harry Potter

As mentioned above, Harry was very similar to Remus by the time that he went off to Hogwarts; he was an outcast, but he was also abused. Dumbledore had a beautiful spot to place himself in as Harry's "saviour". There is also one other person we will be bringing into that umbrella, and that is one Tom Marvolo Riddle. For now, though, we will focus on Harry.

While we can all agree that there are definitely people who would fear magic enough to try to beat it out of a child, the Dursley’s seemed not only a bit excessive, but that was not his only misfortune. His “adventures” seemed a bit off, not to mention dangerous. Many fic writers will mention that Albus wanted him to seem downtrodden, to view Albus as this amazing person who took him away from it all. Let’s look into those adventures, though.

First Year: While it wasn’t known until the end, he had his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who was possessed quite literally by the man who tried to kill him ten years prior. Not to mention, Albus basically had Hagrid dangle a metaphorical carrot in front of him, before he added to it himself at the Opening Feast! Watching Hagrid take some secret bundle from a bank vault, and then tell the whole school that a specific corridor is off limits was just begging to have someone try to figure out what is going on. On top of that, the fact that Gringotts was broken into, after reading that startling warning that is posted?

Then, let’s talk about the “defenses” that were “protecting” the stone. It gets pointed out about how simple it was for three first-years to get past them, up until the end. However, considering that he left the mirror where Harry could access it after RETURNING his family heirloom to him. There are theories that Albus had placed strong Compulsion Charms on the door to get Harry to go in. Which, it’s not super far-fetched, especially if we follow the theory that Albus had placed blocks and charms on him during the time in between him being taken from Godric’s and dropped off with Petunia.

I can sort of see the question about Albus not actually knowing about Qurriel because he really DID hide it fairly well; bu at the same time, if Hogwarts is supposed to be the safest place in Britain for wizard in children, then how are there not wards that would alert the Headmaster to something like a possession? (A point made for second year, as well!)

Second Year: I think the biggest point to this year is the wards not alerting Albus, or the fact that no one noticed anything was wrong with Ginny. Not even her own family! On top of that, the monster was a giant snake. From the sounds of it when it comes to the beasts research, there is clearly not a lot of things that would petrify a person so that narrowed the list down A LOT. From that list, it sounds like there was only ONE that was a snake. Which, hi, the message said enemy of the HEIR. An Heir to a Hogwarts Founder. One of which, Lou’s was already tracking. That Heir’s ancestor had a SNAKE for the emblem. Honestly, I am OBSESSED with fics where Harry tells Albus he’s an idiot because three second years (and in reality, only ONE really had the proof) figured out what the beast was but the entire staff including the Headmaster couldn’t. Why? It’s legit the truest point of that year. Any “but he was removed from his position” means nothing because he had plenty of time BEFORE that. I mean, he even let Hagrid be taken off to Azkabaan over it!

Third Year: This is where we circle back to the theory that Dumbledore KNEW the truth of the Secret Keepers. Why else would he be okay with Harry spending time in Diagon after the incident with Marge when there was a supposed Serial Killer on the loose trying to get to him? Why not send him to the Weasley’s? Not only that, but by this point it’s clear that Albus was confident enough in Harry’s downtrodden personality that he didn’t worry about the possibility of Harry going to Gringott’s and finding out his heritage. It’s definitely obvious that there is a heritage that Harry is unaware about, considering that he’s from an old Pureblood family that is supposedly older than the Malfoy’s: the Malfoy’s who are clearly loaded with money, meanwhile Harry only has a small vault? It’s more likely it was a trust vault.

This is also the year that we meet Remus. Honestly, I feel that Harry should have had a lot of anger towards Remus for not checking on him yet being his parent’s best friend. However, this is where Albus’ plans come into play. They both feel like they owe Albus everything for “rescuing” them and therefore neither of them questions anything. Then his blatant manipulations to save both Sirius and Buckbeak. Obviously, Buckbeak was actually done pretty by the book (outside of the possibility of Malfoy’s money buying the end result), but Sirius absolutely had zero reason to have to escape. If Albus had done his job as Chief Warlock, a trial would have gone through regardless of what the Minister wanted. He didn’t, which just begs as proof that he knew, and wanted to do everything he could to prevent him from being a part of Harry’s life and giving him the loving family that he wanted and deserved.

Fourth Year: Where do we even begin with this one? Even if Moody DID have amazing Occlumency defenses, Albus claims to have known him for YEARS, which means he should have been able to tell that something was off. This is also really where we start to see the separation of Richard’s Albus, and Michael’s Albus. In the fact that Michael was quoted once as saying he never read the books before he took the role, it affects a lot of us Potterheads due to the fact that he changed the way that one line was said so drastically, which is what really gives us the true villainous feeling from him. Besides that, though, it is also the extremes that the bullying got to with Harry that he just absolutely does not address; it’s basically a repeat of second year and then some. Not to mention, the way he dismisses Harry back to the Dursley’s after the death of a friend. He also din’t seem super surprised that it was Voldemort who kidnapped him and was suddenly back. While we DO know that he obviously knew that Voldemort was going to come back, there are multiple theories when it comes to the Tournament itself.

There are many theories about the events surrounding the Tournament and Harry. Considering the fact that Harry was submitted under a “fourth school”, there are theories that the judges could have dismissed him without penalty. There are also theories about possible clauses in the contract for the Champions that prevented penalty for leaving if the circumstances were right. Considering that the Champions were only supposed to be OF AGE, that should mean that Harry could have gotten out of it easily, OR that by the judges allowing him to compete they signed off on him becoming magically emancipated. I find that every single of those theories could be true, because they claimed there were safe guards in place to prevent this and I would expect contract clauses to be one of them. There are also theories that if Albus was Harry’s magical guardian, he would have only needed his permission to compete which considering he didn’t fight to get him removed, that he approved it and that was what required Harry to compete. The last theory I have also seen was that it was based on the magic of who entered the name that needed to compete which there have been fics about Barty Jr losing his magic IN THE ROOM due to Harry stating he refused to compete.

Fifth Year: We already addressed the issue of Albus sending Harry back to the Dursely’s while grieving for his friend, but then at the end of this year did it AGAIN while he was grieving for the only true potential father-figure in his life. The fact also that Albus let Dolores run old the way she did and just claimed that his hands were tied because she had been sent by the Minister is a total crock too. In the US, teachers are mandated reporters; even if it’s against a fellow teacher. So, not only had Albus been failing Harry because he LEFT HIM in an abusive situation that he clearly knew about, but even as having been removed from his position as Chief Warlock, he could have made sure that Madam Amelia Bones was aware of the situation. This year was such a mess in general, as it was also the first that held the truly dark themes (outside of Harry’s abuse) as it was the first book that he really started dealing with depression.

Let’s not forget that the Ministry felt a bit like a set up as well, considering Albus obviously knew what was going on with Harry. But it was also a convienient way to dispose of the last person that could actually legally do something about Harry being at the Dursely’s.

Sixth Year: First we have the fact that he is already thrown back into an abusive house while grieving a friend, then it happens a year later after losing his Godfather. This is the year that makes you wonder if Albus would have actually told Harry anything if he hadn’t found himself dying because of a Horcrux. Knowing what we also know about how Albus felt about Tom, it makes you wonder if he had any worries whatsoever when Harry used such a dark spell on Draco, or if he was too getting memories to make sure that he had the correct information. While I’m not personally upset that he died at the end of this year, it is sad to know that his manipulations did not stop with his death.

Seventh Year: The year that Harry was forced on the run with very little information. If Albus knew he was dying the year prior, why didn’t he give Harry every bit of information he had? Why expect him to sacrifice himself? Also, with Albus dead it makes you wonder what woul have happened with Harry’s inheritance and such when HE died as Albus expected. Is this why there always seemed to be the push for him and Ginny to be together? There are a lot of theories involving love potions and such, and potential line theft. It still gets me that this is th time we realize that Albus has been playing a game the whole time, and Severus lost his life for basically no reason.

All in all, Albus manipulated a lot inn his life, some even question if they manipulated his friendships with Ron and Hermione!

Tom Riddle

This one is very easy to see, but Albus basically created Lord Voldemort. He seemed to be perfectly fine when he was first visiting him to tell him about who and what he was, until Tom revealed his darker side. From there, we see Albus treat him in a complete opposite way. Basically, he was very cold to him and acted as though every little thing he did was going to be evil.

Tom can tell that Albus was never a fan of his, and therefore never cared about what he thought except to keep a close eye on him as first his teacher, and then the Headmaster. No one even questions WHY he was the potential cause of the DADA Curse.

There are theories that Albus was not happy just being known as Gellert’s defeated and wanted to make sure that the world remembered who he was and how powerful he was. Therefore, he would have to create a Dark Lord himself. This then beg whether the Prophecy he heard that started the spiral of that fateful night was even true or not!

Severus, Lily, and James

Lastly, today, we will be looking at something that he said to Severus. At one point, we are made to understand that he tells Severus that Lily and James trusted the wrong person. However, the biggest theory is that he is not talking about Peter/Sirius, but about HIMSELF. Severus trusted Albus to protect them, just as he actually trusted Voldemort to keep his word and spare her. Lily and James also put their trust in him to protect them, which he failed. They probably also trusted him to protect their son, in the case Sirius couldn’t. From the moment I read that line, I always felt like it had a double meaning. After I discovered the theory that all three of them misplaced their trust in the Headmaster.

While there are a lot of dark theories surrounding Harry Potter, Dumbledore manipulating everyone is probably one of the darkest. However, it's probably also the most plausible out of anything. What do you think? Is Dumbledore just misunderstood, or a Master Manipulator? Join our community and swap your own thoughts! Join me tomorrow as we address the darker side of the youngest Potions Master ever!

[1] Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Chapter 36, "The Flaw in the Plan," p. 687.