Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

by

J. K. Rowling

Albus Dumbledore Character Analysis

Harry's beloved former headmaster of Hogwarts; Snape murdered him a month or so before the novel begins. The Dumbledore that Harry knew seemed to have always been old, always on the side of good, and was decidedly uninterested in seizing power, despite being one of the most powerful wizards of the age. Harry felt like he and Dumbledore were extremely close, as Dumbledore was both a mentor and a father figure to Harry. All this begins to break down, however, as Harry begins to learn about Dumbledore's early life, thanks to Rita Skeeter's hastily written biography of Dumbledore. Harry struggles with what to believe as he hears and reads that Dumbledore briefly plotted with the evil wizard Grindelwald to subjugate Muggles and that Dumbledore kept his younger Squib sister, Ariana, locked up, just like his mother Kendra did. Harry ultimately chooses to believe that Dumbledore had a plan, that he loved Harry, and that he did fight for good. The Dumbledore that Harry meets when Harry is dead, though he isn't real, suggests that Dumbledore was a far more nuanced character than either Harry or Rita Skeeter gave him credit for. The dream Dumbledore says that he did initially want to seize power for questionable reasons, but was unfit to do anything but possess the Elder Wand and use it for good. Harry is reminded that Dumbledore is both extremely intelligent and a meticulous planner; he planned Harry's entire life down to his self-sacrifice to Voldemort and gives Harry the information and the courage that Harry needs to go on and defeat Voldemort.

Albus Dumbledore Quotes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quotes below are all either spoken by Albus Dumbledore or refer to Albus Dumbledore . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Choices, Redemption, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

He had thought he knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary he had been forced to recognize that he had barely known him at all. Never once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had known him, venerable and silver-haired and old. The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore , Elphias Doge
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Five Quotes

Dumbledore would have believed him, he knew it. Dumbledore would have known how and why Harry's wand had acted independently, because Dumbledore always had the answers; he had known about wands, had explained to Harry the strange connection that existed between his wand and Voldemort's...But Dumbledore, like Mad-Eye, like Sirius, like his parents, like his poor owl, all were gone where Harry could never talk to them again.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Sirius Black, Mad-Eye Moody, Stan Shunpike, Hedwig
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eight Quotes

Harry looked into Doge's earnest, pained face and felt, not reassured, but frustrated. Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply choose not to believe? Didn't Doge understand Harry's need to be sure, to know everything?

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Elphias Doge, Rita Skeeter
Page Number: 152-53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

The accusations he had heard from Muriel at the wedding seemed to have nested in his brain like diseased things, infecting his memories of the wizard he had idolized. Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Ariana Dumbledore, Elphias Doge, Rita Skeeter, Dudley Dursley, Auntie Muriel
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighteen Quotes

Dumbledore had left them to grope in the darkness, to wrestle with unknown and undreamed-of terrors, alone and unaided: nothing was explained, nothing was given freely, they had no sword, and now, Harry had no wand. And he had dropped the photograph of the thief, and it would surely be easy now for Voldemort to find out who he was...Voldemort had all the information now...

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore , Gellert Grindelwald
Page Number: 351
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Nineteen Quotes

He was not being kind or generous. As certainly as he had known that the doe was benign, he knew that Ron had to be the one to wield the sword. Dumbledore had at least taught Harry something about certain kinds of magic, of the incalculable power of certain acts.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 373-74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty Quotes

Ron looked a little embarrassed, but said in a low voice, "Dumbledore...the doe? I mean," Ron was watching Harry out of the corners of his eyes, "he had the real sword last, didn't he?"

Harry did not laugh at Ron, because he understood too well the longing behind the question. The idea that Dumbledore had managed to come back to them, that he was watching over them, would have been inexpressibly comforting. He shook his head.

Related Characters: Ron Weasley (speaker), Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 390
Explanation and Analysis:

"Sometimes I've thought, when I've been a bit hacked off, he was having a laugh or—or he just wanted to make it more difficult. But I don't think so, not anymore. He knew what he was doing when he gave me the Deluminator, didn't he?" He—well, [...] he must've known I'd run out on you."

"No," Harry corrected him. "He must've known you'd always want to come back."

Related Characters: Harry Potter (speaker), Ron Weasley (speaker), Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 391
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Eight Quotes

He did not want to express the doubts and uncertainties about Dumbledore that had riddled him for months now. He had made his choice while he dug Dobby's grave, he had decided to continue along the winding, dangerous path indicated for him by Albus Dumbledore, to accept that he had not been told everything that he wanted to know, but simply to trust. He had no desire to doubt again; he did not want to hear anything that would deflect him from his purpose.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Aberforth Dumbledore, Dobby
Page Number: 563
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Nine Quotes

Dumbledore had warned him against telling anyone but Ron and Hermione about the Horcruxes. Secrets and lies, that's how we grew up, and Albus...he was a natural...Was he turning into Dumbledore, keeping his secrets clutched to his chest, afraid to trust? But Dumbledore had trusted Snape, and where had that led? To murder at the top of the highest tower...

"All right," he said quietly to the other two.

Related Characters: Harry Potter (speaker), Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore , Aberforth Dumbledore
Page Number: 583
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Three Quotes

"And are you tempted to join him?"

"No," said Snape, his black eyes on Fleur and Roger's retreating figures. "I am not such a coward."

"No," agreed Dumbledore. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon..."

Related Characters: Severus Snape (speaker), Albus Dumbledore (speaker)
Page Number: 680
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Four Quotes

And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to the end, even though it was his end, because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't he? Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 693
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Five Quotes

"And his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped."

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort
Related Symbols: The Elder Wand
Page Number: 709-10
Explanation and Analysis:

"So Voldemort, instead of asking himself what quality it was in you that had made your wand so strong, what gift you possessed that he did not, naturally set out to find the one wand that, they said, would beat any other. For him, the Elder Wand has become an obsession to rival his obsession with you. He believes that the Elder Wand removes his last weakness and makes him truly invincible."

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort
Related Symbols: The Elder Wand
Page Number: 721
Explanation and Analysis:

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter
Page Number: 723
Explanation and Analysis:
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Albus Dumbledore Quotes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quotes below are all either spoken by Albus Dumbledore or refer to Albus Dumbledore . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Choices, Redemption, and Morality Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

He had thought he knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary he had been forced to recognize that he had barely known him at all. Never once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had known him, venerable and silver-haired and old. The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore , Elphias Doge
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Five Quotes

Dumbledore would have believed him, he knew it. Dumbledore would have known how and why Harry's wand had acted independently, because Dumbledore always had the answers; he had known about wands, had explained to Harry the strange connection that existed between his wand and Voldemort's...But Dumbledore, like Mad-Eye, like Sirius, like his parents, like his poor owl, all were gone where Harry could never talk to them again.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Sirius Black, Mad-Eye Moody, Stan Shunpike, Hedwig
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eight Quotes

Harry looked into Doge's earnest, pained face and felt, not reassured, but frustrated. Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply choose not to believe? Didn't Doge understand Harry's need to be sure, to know everything?

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Elphias Doge, Rita Skeeter
Page Number: 152-53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

The accusations he had heard from Muriel at the wedding seemed to have nested in his brain like diseased things, infecting his memories of the wizard he had idolized. Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Ariana Dumbledore, Elphias Doge, Rita Skeeter, Dudley Dursley, Auntie Muriel
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighteen Quotes

Dumbledore had left them to grope in the darkness, to wrestle with unknown and undreamed-of terrors, alone and unaided: nothing was explained, nothing was given freely, they had no sword, and now, Harry had no wand. And he had dropped the photograph of the thief, and it would surely be easy now for Voldemort to find out who he was...Voldemort had all the information now...

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore , Gellert Grindelwald
Page Number: 351
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Nineteen Quotes

He was not being kind or generous. As certainly as he had known that the doe was benign, he knew that Ron had to be the one to wield the sword. Dumbledore had at least taught Harry something about certain kinds of magic, of the incalculable power of certain acts.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 373-74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty Quotes

Ron looked a little embarrassed, but said in a low voice, "Dumbledore...the doe? I mean," Ron was watching Harry out of the corners of his eyes, "he had the real sword last, didn't he?"

Harry did not laugh at Ron, because he understood too well the longing behind the question. The idea that Dumbledore had managed to come back to them, that he was watching over them, would have been inexpressibly comforting. He shook his head.

Related Characters: Ron Weasley (speaker), Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 390
Explanation and Analysis:

"Sometimes I've thought, when I've been a bit hacked off, he was having a laugh or—or he just wanted to make it more difficult. But I don't think so, not anymore. He knew what he was doing when he gave me the Deluminator, didn't he?" He—well, [...] he must've known I'd run out on you."

"No," Harry corrected him. "He must've known you'd always want to come back."

Related Characters: Harry Potter (speaker), Ron Weasley (speaker), Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 391
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Eight Quotes

He did not want to express the doubts and uncertainties about Dumbledore that had riddled him for months now. He had made his choice while he dug Dobby's grave, he had decided to continue along the winding, dangerous path indicated for him by Albus Dumbledore, to accept that he had not been told everything that he wanted to know, but simply to trust. He had no desire to doubt again; he did not want to hear anything that would deflect him from his purpose.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore , Aberforth Dumbledore, Dobby
Page Number: 563
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Nine Quotes

Dumbledore had warned him against telling anyone but Ron and Hermione about the Horcruxes. Secrets and lies, that's how we grew up, and Albus...he was a natural...Was he turning into Dumbledore, keeping his secrets clutched to his chest, afraid to trust? But Dumbledore had trusted Snape, and where had that led? To murder at the top of the highest tower...

"All right," he said quietly to the other two.

Related Characters: Harry Potter (speaker), Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore , Aberforth Dumbledore
Page Number: 583
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Three Quotes

"And are you tempted to join him?"

"No," said Snape, his black eyes on Fleur and Roger's retreating figures. "I am not such a coward."

"No," agreed Dumbledore. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon..."

Related Characters: Severus Snape (speaker), Albus Dumbledore (speaker)
Page Number: 680
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Four Quotes

And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to the end, even though it was his end, because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't he? Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it.

Related Characters: Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore
Page Number: 693
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty-Five Quotes

"And his knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped."

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort
Related Symbols: The Elder Wand
Page Number: 709-10
Explanation and Analysis:

"So Voldemort, instead of asking himself what quality it was in you that had made your wand so strong, what gift you possessed that he did not, naturally set out to find the one wand that, they said, would beat any other. For him, the Elder Wand has become an obsession to rival his obsession with you. He believes that the Elder Wand removes his last weakness and makes him truly invincible."

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort
Related Symbols: The Elder Wand
Page Number: 721
Explanation and Analysis:

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Related Characters: Albus Dumbledore (speaker), Harry Potter
Page Number: 723
Explanation and Analysis: