Albus Dumbledore

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (born circa 1844) is a character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series - the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and one of the most powerful wizards in the world. Being benevolent, slightly eccentric, and powerful, he resembles an archetypal good wizard in the style of Merlin or Gandalf. He is often sympathetic to Harry Potter's difficulties, and, as such, occasionally allows the young wizard more leeway than he would with others. He is described as the only wizard Lord Voldemort ever feared.

Dumbledore is described as being tall and thin, with long hair and beard. He has blue eyes, a very long and crooked nose, and long fingers. He wears half-moon spectacles. He is often described to be very well-dressed in magnificent robes. He claims to have a scar above his left knee, its provenance unknown, which is a perfect map of the London underground.

Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card mentions that he enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling. He has a great affinity for sweets, magical and non-magical, and has frequently set the password for the gargoyle guarding his office door to be the name of various sweets. He is also a self-stated fan of knitting patterns, and once told Harry that one could never have enough socks.

The name Albus is from the Latin word albus ("white"), a frequently used symbol for good; "Dumbledore," which means "bumblebee," was picked by the author because she imagines him humming while strolling along the halls of Hogwarts.

In the movie versions, interestingly enough, Dumbledore is played by Irishmen. In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Dumbledore was played by Richard Harris, who died in 2002 of Hodgkin's disease. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Dumbledore is played by Michael Gambon.

Comparatively little is revealed about Dumbledore's early history or family. At the time of the series, he is (according to an interview by Rowling) about 150 years old, meaning he entered Hogwarts around 1855, being sorted into Gryffindor House (according to Hermione Granger). His brother, Aberforth, who was prosecuted for "practising inappropriate charms on a goat," may be illiterate, and (as confirmed by Rowling) is the bartender at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore's extraordinary magical talents were apparent from an early age, as later described by the elderly Griselda Marchbanks, Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, who had personally examined the school-age Dumbledore for his NEWT exams in Charms and Transfiguration. Marchbanks recalled that the young Dumbledore had "done things with a wand I'd never seen before."

Some time after his graduation from Hogwarts, he returned to the faculty as Professor of Transfiguration, and in this capacity also served in recruiting students for the school. He identified Tom Marvolo Riddle and offered him a place at Hogwarts, glimpsing the true nature of the boy who was to become Lord Voldemort. His keen observations of Riddle's student years led Dumbledore to influence Hogwarts' headmaster, Armando Dippet, not to offer Riddle a faculty position.

In 1945 Dumbledore defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. As J.K. Rowling confirmed, Grindelwald and his followers are meant to be the magical-world analogues of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Dumbledore also held the posts of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump in International Conference of Wizards. He was a Grand Sorcerer, and was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. He was removed from the aforementioned posts during his conflict with the British Ministry of Magic under the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge about the return of Voldemort and subsequent requisite actions; he was reinstated as a member of the International Conference of Wizards when the ministry was forced to see their own error.

Dumbledore is widely famous as a legendary alchemist who has worked together with Nicholas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, and is credited with discovering the twelve uses of dragon blood. In addition to these credits, he is known to be able to conjure Gubraithian Fire (magical everlasting fire). His Patronus takes the form of a phoenix, a recurring symbol in the books.

Dumbledore also invented the method of communicating messages using a Patronus Charm, a skill he taught only to members of the Order of the Phoenix[1]. He has claimed to be able to become invisible without using an invisibility cloak (although it may have been a metaphor), and there are suggestions that he is capable of seeing through invisibility cloaks. Dumbledore is also skilled in Occlumency and Legilimency.

Dumbledore can speak Mermish, the language of the Merpeople.

Magical possessions

• A phoenix named Fawkes
• A Put-Outer - used for switching on and off the electric lights used by muggles
• A pocket watch with 12 hands and the planets instead of numbers, use unknown, but it is possible that the user uses the alignment of the planets to tell time
• A Pensieve, used for examining memories
• Odd silver devices on spindly-legged tables, uses unknown
• Half-moon spectacles: The glasses that he wears may also have magical properties, such as allowing him to see invisible objects (unconfirmed)

One of Dumbledore's tasks as a teacher at Hogwarts was to visit the young Tom Riddle and offer him a place at Hogwarts. Riddle was living in a muggle orphanage, and while he had discovered some magical abilities, did not know that his mother had been a witch. Even at this early age, Dumbledore was concerned about Riddle's character, and was especially careful to watch his progress throughout his school years. Riddle attempted to get a teaching job at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore first persuaded the then headmaster to refuse Riddle's request, and himself refused a second request some years later.

It was to Dumbledore that Sybill Trelawney, subsequently appointed as professor of Divination, revealed the prophecy regarding Voldemort's fall. The prophecy was overheard by Severus Snape, who reported most of it to Voldemort. Snape was discovered eavesdropping, but no action was taken against him by Dumbledore, other than removing him from the building. Voldemort interpreted the prophecy as referring to Harry, and as a result killed his parents, James and Lily Potter, while trying to kill Harry.

Dumbledore was instrumental in the struggle against his former student, working tirelessly against him with the Order of the Phoenix. When Harry's parents were killed, it was Dumbledore's decision to place the now-orphaned Harry in the safekeeping of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, knowing that Harry would be protected by the special magic caused by his mother's sacrifice.

Richard Harris as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.Throughout the series Dumbledore is portrayed as a wizard with modern/reformist ideas about pure-bloodedness and the rights of Muggles, part-humans, and non-humans. Dumbledore does not give importance to the so-called "purity of blood" and believes that an individual's choices reflect his character rather than his birth, blood, or family, saying "it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." Voldemort angrily refers to Dumbledore as "champion of commoners, muggles and mudbloods.". Unlike most wizards, Dumbledore is not afraid of speaking Lord Voldemort's name. Dumbledore makes the important discovery that Voldemort is trying to achieve immortality through the use of Horcruxes, one of which was Tom Riddle's diary, destroyed by Harry in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore himself destroys a second Horcrux, an old ring, and is killed after being weakened attempting to find a third.

Dismissal from Hogwarts

Dumbledore was twice dismissed from his position as Headmaster, the first time during Harry's second year at Hogwarts, when Lucius Malfoy persuaded the school's twelve governors to remove him in the wake of attacks by a basilisk on people in the school. He was subsequently reinstated, after Harry killed the basilisk and Lucius was found to have started the attacks.

In Harry's fifth year, Dolores Umbridge was appointed by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, to oversee activities at Hogwarts, after Dumbledore and Harry tried to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort had returned. Harry and other students organised a club called "Dumbledore's Army" to learn defensive magic. Umbridge discovered the club and used it as an excuse to dismiss Dumbledore as headmaster. Dumbledore was reinstated after Voldemort launched an attack on the ministry of magic.

Death

Dumbledore with Barty Crouch Sr. and Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore's death is foreshadowed at the start of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where he first appears with a burnt and blackened hand, a result of his recovery and destruction of a ring that was an heirloom of Voldemort's grandfather Marvolo Gaunt and was serving as one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. On that occasion, Dumbledore was saved from death by the intervention of Severus Snape, though the injury shows no sign of improvement throughout the year that passes in the sixth book.

Dumbledore was repeatedly warned by Harry Potter that another student, Draco Malfoy, was working for Voldemort. Dumbledore refused to take any action against Draco, and instead reassured Harry that he already knew more about what was happening than did Harry. Draco made two attempts to kill Dumbledore during the year, but on each occasion a student was injured instead. The first attempt involved a cursed necklace, the second a bottle of poisoned mead. Both these attempts were secondary to Malfoy's main plan, which was to repair a broken magical cabinet already inside Hogwarts, and use it to transport Death Eaters into the castle. The attackers entered the castle while Dumbledore and Harry were away, attempting to find and destroy another Horcrux. Dumbledore was injured, possibly fatally, in this attempt as he was forced to drink a potion left by Voldemort and on their return he was captured by Malfoy. Malfoy found that he could not bring himself to kill Dumbledore, so instead Snape used the fatal Avada Kedavra curse against him (attack on Hogwarts).

Dumbledore's last words, "Severus...please..." have raised debate over whether he begged for his life, his death, Snape's redemption, or something else. Both Dumbledore and Snape are accomplished at legilimency, and it is possible that Dumbledore's plea is the only audible portion of a greater conversation between them. Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix who has been trusted implicitly by Dumbledore, was also known to have sworn an unbreakable vow to aid Draco Malfoy in the task set him by Voldemort, — to kill Dumbledore. It is not clear that Snape knew what this task was when he swore to carry it out, should Draco fail. Draco demonstrably failed to kill Dumbledore when he had him disarmed and vulnerable in front of him during the attack, so the vow would have become binding on Snape's actions at that time. Had Draco demonstrably failed earlier in the year, perhaps as a result of Harry's warnings, then the vow would have come into effect at that time, leading to the likely death of either Dumbledore or Snape much earlier.

Dumbledore's funeral is attended by students, teachers, members of the Ministry of Magic, giants, ghosts, and other non-humans. Shrouded in purple velvet, he is entombed in a white marble tomb beside the lake at Hogwarts, and is said to be the only Hogwarts headmaster who is laid to rest in the school grounds. His portrait appears in the current headmistress's office alongside the former headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, where he will presumably, like the others, give his aid to the current head of school.

Some fans refuse to believe that Dumbledore is really dead, and have theories as to how they think he survived. Dave Haber, the Managing Editor of Wizard News, has even written a webpage on the subject. Fans who do believe that he's dead point to evidence including Snape not dying due to the Unbreakable Vow, Dumbledore's body-bind spell ceasing to work, how he didn't fly up and then to the ground when the Avada Kadavra curse was used on him, and his portrait in the headmaster's office. JK Rowling indicated that she wouldn't clearly deny Dumbledore coming back, when she was asked this question, and said she just doesn't want to spoil the hopes of the readers.

Ref: Wikipedia