Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today we’re going to be discussing Albus Dumbledore and his cursed hand.
More specifically, we’re going to be breaking down Dumbledore’s death, the curse itself
and one scenario in which MAYBE, just MAYBE- Dumbledore could have saved himself.
Let’s get in to it.
Months before Dumbledore’s tragic demise, Dumbledore himself had decided to track down
one of Voldemort’s horcruxes: a small ring crowned with a strange, dark stone.
And what made this particular Horcrux unique is that this stone was in fact one of the
fabled Deathly Hallows - the Resurrection Stone to be precise.
The history of the stone dates back some time, with its origin story suggesting that it had
been given to the middle Peverell brother, Cadmus Peverell, by Death himself.
"Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death
still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death.
So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told
him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead."
As mentioned above, this stone had the power to summon spirits back from the dead.
But when Voldemort stole his uncle Morfin’s ring years and years prior, he had no idea
that it contained such a powerful relic.
To him it was just a family heirloom, and, more importantly, an item that he could taint
with dark magic, an item that he could turn into a HORCRUX.
But when Albus first found the stone and noticed it’s distinct markings, he immediately realized
that it was one of the three Deathly Hallows.
Knowing the true power of the stone, Dumbledore’s curiosity got the better of him, and he ended
up placing the ring on his finger, securing his fate.
In the end, it was the allure of the Resurrection Stone that prompted Dumbledore to slide the
ring onto his finger, and receive Voldemort’s lethal curse.
Why did he do it?
Well, to Dumbledore, the stone represented one last chance at seeing his sister, Ariana,
who tragically died decades and decades prior.
Did Dumbledore know that the ring was a Horcrux?
Yes.
But the allure of the stone caused a momentary lapse in his judgement, resulting in him being
afflicted with a lethal curse.
Just like all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, he had protected it with dark magic, and this
particular Horcrux would curse ANYONE who tried the ring on.
“When I discovered it, after all those years, buried in the abandoned home of the Gaunts,
the Hallow I had craved most of all – though in my youth I had wanted it for very different
reasons – I lost my head, Harry.
I quite forgot that it was now a Horcrux, that the ring was sure to carry a curse.
I picked it up, and I put it on, and for a second I imagined that I was about to see
Ariana, and my mother, and my father, and to tell them how very, very sorry I was…”
And immediately after placing the Cursed Ring on his finger, Dumbledore realizes that his
clock is ticking, his time is running out.
Fortunately, thanks to Snape and his expertise in curses and potions, Dumbledore WAS able
to buy some time, but he still didn’t have much of it.
He knew that ultimately the curse WOULD kill him.
With Snape’s help, the curse was confined to a single hand, granting the headmaster
some extra time alive.
However, I think that it’s important to remember that had Dumbledore been a lesser
wizard, the curse would have stopped his heart on the spot.
Because of the way that Dumbledore was able to handle his affliction, many interpreted
this curse to be some sort of slow-acting killing charming, but this is not the case.
It took every bit of Dumbledore’s strength and Snape’s experience to halt the progression
of the curse, and in this respect Dumbledore was very very lucky.
My question is this: if Dumbledore’s curse had been effectively confined to a single
hand- why not just..Chop it off?
Snape said it himself that the curse had been temporarily contained.
The main concern surrounding Dumbledore’s survival was that the curse would eventually
spread further.
To me, chopping it off seems like the logical solution here.
I’ve got a couple of things to say about this:
Dumbledore would have lost a hand, sure, but that would have been a small price to pay
for survival.
If we think back on the series, then one character comes to mind who chops off his hand for less.
Much less.
“…Wormtail was whimpering.
He pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak.
His voice broke into petrified sobs.
"Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master.
“
He stretched his right hand out in front of him - the hand with the missing finger.
He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward.
Harry realized what Wormtail was about to do a second before it happened - he closed
his eyes as tightly as he could, but he could not block the scream that pierced the night,
that went through Harry as though he had been stabbed with the dagger too.”
Here’s the thing: the curse was completely uncharted territory, even for Dumbledore and
Snape.
Neither of them had ever dealt with a curse like that.
Yes, I suppose they could have cut Dumbledore’s hand off after confining the curse, but who’s
to say that the curse was REALLY confined.
What if they cut his hand off only to realize that the curse then transferred itself to
the rest of his body?
What if this type of curse CLINGS on to the living entity of the victim until they die?
Until they’ve let out every last breath?
Then Dumbledore would be cursed AND handless.
There’s also the possibility that cutting off his hand would have killed him sooner.
With no hand, Snape’s preventative measures would no longer be in place, and it’s entirely
possible that the curse would have immediately killed him.
What if this previously contained curse suddenly now affected ALL of Dumbledore?
Well, all of that is possible, but I suppose the only options for Dumbledore at this stage
were die slowly, or cut off the hand and see what happens.
But, let’s pretend for a second that cutting off the hand was a surefire way of keeping
Dumbledore alive.
In this case, why not do it?
Unsure of what might happen, I can imagine both Snape’s and Dumbledore’s reluctance
on the matter.
Snape would have to butcher someone, an act I’m sure he’d find repulsive, and Dumbledore
would run the risk of either dying right away OR being more helpless for his final days
while REMAINING cursed.
Dumbledore was used to being well, Dumbledore, and being a less-powerful version of himself
can’t have been too inviting a prospect for the most powerful wizard of all time.
Now let’s suppose that cutting off the hand WOULD work and both Snape AND Dumbledore KNEW
it would work.
There’s still one problem- Malfoy.
In the Half Blood Prince, Snape enters in to an unbreakable vow where he agrees to protect
Draco, help him with his task of killing Dumbledore, and even finish it himself should Draco fail.
Draco’s mission to kill Dumbledore was given to him by Voldemort himself, and I’m sure
that Dumbledore knew that if Draco were to fail in this mission, then he would be punished
severely by Voldemort.
At the end of the day, Dumbledore had a plan in motion that ACCOUNTED for his death, and
on a personal level, he was simply ready to embrace death.
I know that Dumbledore placing the ring on his finger has often been interpreted as a
foolish, impulsive decision made out of desperation.
But what we have to remember here is that this is DUMBLEDORE- a beacon of wisdom.
More likely is this:
When Dumbledore saw the Resurrection Stone set in the ring as a Horcrux, he began to
lament at how much of a selfish fool he had been in his youth.
Then, in a moment blaring of poetic justice, he CHOSE to put the cursed ring on, so that
he could join his family in the afterlife and find forgiveness in death.
Dumbledore had lived too long without love, and it was his time to move on.
“Do not pity the dead, Harry.
Pity the living.
And above all, those who live without love.”
And that’s it for this video!
Did you ever ask yourself these questions?
Let me know down in the comment section below.
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Until next time
Remember
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.