Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Chapter 35
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Chapter 35 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: King's Cross
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry finds himself alone and naked in an otherworldly place. Hearing noise, he wishes for and receives clothing, then notices a hideous, child-like creature, nude and with flayed-looking skin, curled up on the ground. Dumbledore appears and lovingly greets Harry. He explains that when Voldemort took some of Harry's blood as his own, he thereby tethered his life to Harry's; Harry cannot die while Voldemort lives. Because he willingly sacrificed himself, Harry also is protecting his friends, shielding them during the duels with Voldemort, just as Lily had protected Harry by sacrificing herself. Moreover, rather than killing Harry, Voldemort's curse destroyed the seventh Horcrux within Harry's body.
Dumbledore also guesses that the reason the two brother wands interacted as they did during Harry's escape from Privet Drive is that after Harry and Voldemort's blood was joined, their wands, already connected by identical magical cores, and now wielded by wizards who shared not only pieces of their souls but also their blood, merged even closer. Furthermore, during Harry and Voldemort's duel, Harry was the stronger; Voldemort feared death, while Harry embraced the possibility. Harry's wand thus imbibed some powers from Voldemort's, making it more powerful than Lucius Malfoy's wand. That wand, even when wielded by Voldemort, was easily overpowered by Harry's. But why then, Harry asks, was Hermione's wand able to break his? Dumbledore speculates that Harry's wand was abnormally powerful only when it was directed against Voldemort, who it sensed was Harry's mortal enemy, as well as being his blood kin.
Harry asks where they are, although he himself suggests it resembles a deserted King's Cross station. He then addresses more important issues: the Hallows. Dumbledore asks Harry's forgiveness for withholding information about the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore says he was obsessed with the Hallows in his youth, eager to escape death, and equally eager to shine and attain glory, while Aberforth looked on in disgust. That is why he resented having to care for his mother and sister, and the reason he was so happy to befriend Gellert Grindelwald. The two young wizards bonded over their mutual search for the Deathly Hallows. An undefeatable wand would surely help them rise to power in the wizarding world. Dumbledore wanted the Resurrection Stone to reunite his family, but Grindelwald saw it as a means to procure an Inferi army. And while neither had much interest in the Invisibility Cloak, as both were proficient in disillusionment, Dumbledore thought it could be used to hide Ariana.
Their friendship was short-lived, however, and the two got into a fight, along with Aberforth, over Dumbledore's family. Somehow, a curse went astray and fatally hit Ariana. Grindelwald fled and started on his rampage, but Dumbledore delayed dueling him, fearing he might learn who actually killed Ariana. Eventually, and after much bloodshed and desperate pleas from the wizarding world, he felt obliged to confront his former friend and defeated him - thereby winning the Elder Wand. Dumbledore learned that Grindelwald lied to Voldemort when he said he never owned the Elder Wand, perhaps trying to protect Dumbledore in a belated remorseful act. Finally, when Dumbledore retrieved the Peverell Ring, knowing it was a Horcrux, and discovered that it was in fact the Resurrection Stone, he gave in to temptation and put the ring on. He says that he was hoping to once again see his mother and his sister. But putting it on his finger triggered a curse that was to claim his life within a year.
By withholding this information about the Hallows, Dumbledore hoped it would take Harry longer to find them, thus giving him more time to understand their true nature and avoid the temptation for greed and power that he had felt. Death's true master, he says, is the one who does not seek to run away from it.
Finally, Dumbledore tells Harry that he has a choice: if he chooses, he can head to a platform, and he would likely find a train that would take him onwards, or he can return to the living world for a chance to finish Voldemort. Harry chooses to return, but he first asks Dumbledore if their conversation has been real or is it only in his mind. Dumbledore responds, "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"
[edit] Analysis
In this chapter, more questions are answered. The creature on King's Cross' floor may have been Voldemort's soul shard inside Harry's scar; Dumbledore tells Harry that his soul is now wholly his own. According to the author, however, it was the remaining soul portion left within Voldemort's body. Recall that Voldemort himself was knocked out by the Killing Curse he cast on Harry; as it thrust Harry's spirit into the void that Harry made into King's Cross, Voldemort's soul was dragged along by the bond between them.
We now have two viewpoints regarding what happened the night Dumbledore retrieved the Ring Horcrux. Snape, of course, was absent when the ring was retrieved, so his memories would only reveal the aftermath, as we have seen. And Dumbledore seems reticent to explain exactly why he put the ring on. The Horcrux in the ring was likely aware that anyone putting the ring on would be cursed, and would, like any other Horcrux, be fighting for its survival. Earlier, the Locket Horcrux fought for its existence by attempting to strangle Harry and then preying upon Ron's hopes and fears; would the ring Horcrux have done any less? Dumbledore's desire was likely the same as Harry's: to be reunited with his family. Recognizing the Horcrux as the Resurrection Stone, would he not have been tempted to use the Stone to see them again? And would not the Horcrux, sensing this, entice him to put the ring on his finger, knowing that this should have killed Dumbledore before he could destroy the Horcrux?
Dumbledore said that Ariana's death was accidental. The question that has haunted Dumbledore all his life, and likely that has also been troubling Aberforth, was whose curse killed her. If it was Grindelwald, then presumably Aberforth would have sought revenge, and tried to kill him, although it is likely he would have been killed in the attempt. If it was Albus, then Aberforth would never have forgiven him, which is actually the state of affairs at the time of Albus' death. If it was Aberforth, then neither Aberforth nor Albus would be able to forgive himself. That none knew for certain left the situation clouded, and prevented Albus and Aberforth from reaching closure and moving on with their lives, following Ariana's death. Grindelwald, being considerably less caring, simply saw this as another case where he might be blamed, and took his usual course, running away.
Harry tells Dumbledore that Grindelwald lied to Voldemort, claiming that he never possessed the Elder Wand, perhaps in a belated effort to protect Dumbledore. Dumbledore believes Grindelwald may have felt remorse in his later years. It would seem his last act on Earth was an attempt to save the world from the likes of himself. He lied to Voldemort, although it was futile. Through reading his mind, or just through common sense, Voldemort determined that the Elder Wand was in Dumbledore's possession before his death, and correctly guesses that it had been entombed with him at Hogwarts. Harry realizes that the plan was to make Snape the future master of the Elder Wand, but Dumbledore comments that the plan did not work as intended.
Dumbledore, forever shamed by his delay to fight Grindelwald, chose to remain at Hogwarts, declining more prestigious appointments, solely to avoid succumbing again to power's seductive allure. It is difficult to imagine that Dumbledore, a brave and formidable wizard, could have ever feared anything or would leave others in peril. However, he ignored the Wizarding world's desperate pleas for help and avoided confronting Grindelwald for as long as he could because he dreaded learning that it may have been his own stray curse that accidentally killed his sister, Ariana. It is only after much bloodshed during Grindelwald's five-year rampage that Dumbledore finally relented and mustered the courage to face his former friend in a fierce duel. Dumbledore's delay seems incomprehensible, but he understood that truth can be a person's most fearsome and crippling enemy.
Harry now realizes that Dumbledore did indeed always love him, and Harry's faith and trust in him have been restored.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why did Dumbledore wait to fight Grindelwald? What finally prompted him to do so?
- Who does Dumbledore say is Death's true master? Why?
- Was Voldemort ever the true master of the Elder Wand? Why?
- What might the creature curled up on the floor be? Why does Dumbledore say it cannot be helped?
[edit] Further Study
- Where does Harry awaken, and what might J.K. Rowling intend for this place to represent?
- If the scene with Dumbledore took place in Harry's mind, how does Dumbledore know so much that Harry did not?
- What does Dumbledore mean when he tells Harry, "This is, as they say, your party."
- Dumbledore admits that his plan regarding the Elder Wand did not work out as he intended. Exactly what was his plan, and what would have happened if it had unfolded as he expected?
- Should Dumbledore have withheld information from Harry about the Deathly Hallows or told him more about them?
- Why was Dumbledore afraid that Harry might be tempted by the Deathly Hallows? Was Dumbledore justified in thinking this?
- Even though Dumbledore possessed the Resurrection Stone, was he ever Death's true master? Explain.
- How was Dumbledore able to beat Grindelwald, even though Grindelwald mastered the "undefeatable" Elder Wand?
- Dumbledore waited five years to duel Grindelwald. Does this long wait make him partially responsible for the deaths of Grindelwald's many victims? Explain.
- Why did it fall upon Dumbledore to combat Grindelwald?
- Even though Dumbledore assures Harry that he (Harry) is not dead, why is Harry given a choice to "move on" to the next world or return to the living? What does Harry choose and why?
[edit] Greater Picture
At last, the victorious look in Dumbledore's eye when he heard that Voldemort had used Harry's blood to create his new body is explained: through the conversation in this chapter, it is clear that Dumbledore realized that this would help Harry more than it would help Voldemort. As Harry had been protected by his mother's blood, so now would he be protected by his own blood, now running in Voldemort's veins. Dumbledore also knew that by using Harry's blood to re-animate himself, Voldemort had ensured that Harry's death would be impossible as long as this incarnation of Voldemort lived.
Regarding Harry's statement that Snape was meant to be the Elder Wand's master, Dumbledore admits that that had not worked out as planned. Harry sees this, but we do not as yet; in the next chapter, it will be learned that the Elder Wand had not allied itself with Snape, and Snape's death, in turn, has not given Voldemort control over it. And though Harry confirmed this thought with Mr. Ollivander, he is still at least a little unsure of himself. Dumbledore may have made the same misstep as Voldemort: despite having the evidence, in the form of the still-living (until Voldemort murdered them) Gregorovitch and Grindelwald, Voldemort mistakenly believed that the Elder Wand would fully align itself only with the wizard who kills its previous Master, rather than the wizard who forcibly removes the wand from its previous owner's possession. Ollivander was quite emphatic that murder is unnecessary, though with the Elder Wand, that trail does seem to have followed it. As the wand's allegiance was forcibly removed from Dumbledore's possession by Draco Malfoy, even though Dumbledore retained physical custody of it, Harry believes that it allied itself with Draco. It is uncertain whether Dumbledore shares this belief, but his admission that Snape does not currently master the Elder Wand would lead us to believe that Snape's death has given him a little extra understanding. The question remains whether the Elder Wand had aligned itself with Harry once it became "aware" (if a wand can be said to be aware) that Harry disarmed Draco, and was, in fact, using Draco's own wand, the one which had disarmed Dumbledore.
Not only did Dumbledore's plan for Snape to obtain the Elder Wand ultimately fail, but it seems rather risky from the start. As mentioned above, Dumbledore should have known that capturing the wand from its owner resulted in it switching its allegiance, as he certainly fully controlled the Elder Wand, as Grindelwald had had before him, when both Gregorovitch and Grindelwald were still alive – a point that Voldemort missed, not once but twice. Even though Voldemort came to possess the wand, he never commanded it. As it was known that Snape killed Dumbledore, there was a high probability that Voldemort would eventually deduce that Snape was the Elder Wand's master, and he would therefore target and kill Snape to transfer its ownership to him. That is exactly what happened, although, fortunately, and unknown to Voldemort, Snape was never the Elder Wand's master. As Dumbledore had a pre-arranged plan with Snape to kill him, it may be that he intended for Snape alone to witness his death, thus forcibly claiming, and secretly wielding the Elder Wand. Likewise, just as Dumbledore never foresaw that Draco Malfoy would disarm him and unknowingly control the wand (although he did not possess it), he may also have failed to anticipate that circumstances would force Snape to return to Voldemort when he did, placing him in a dangerously close proximity to the Dark Lord. If Dumbledore's scheme had worked as he intended, the outcome of the story would depend on whether Snape had chosen to entomb the Elder Wand with Dumbledore, or carry it himself. Entombed with Dumbledore, the wand would have remained Snape's even while Voldemort was carrying it; Snape's death would not have aligned the wand with Voldemort, as Voldemort would not have forcefully removed the wand from its previous owner, Snape. However, equally the wand would not have aligned itself with Harry, as Harry would never have had the chance to wrest it from Snape. If Snape had retained the wand, Voldemort would have had one additional step to retrieve it, and it is possible that Snape would have simply given the wand to Voldemort. In that case, again as the wand was not wrested from Snape, it would remain his, and thus somewhat ineffectual in Voldemort's hands. Only if Snape had resisted turning over the wand, and Voldemort had seized it by force, would the wand owe allegiance to Voldemort, and in that case, Harry likely would have had a much more painful time of things.
It should also be noted that if Draco had killed Dumbledore as he had been under orders to do (in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), then Voldemort would have murdered Draco to try and win the wand, although, unknown to anyone, Draco had since lost its allegiance to Harry when Harry disarmed him at Malfoy Manor.
It is worth mentioning, perhaps, that in discussing the interaction between the two wands, Dumbledore specifically refers to the wand that Voldemort was carrying as "Malfoy's poor stick". While we know, having been present through the author's eyes at the meeting in Chapter 1, that Voldemort was carrying Lucius Malfoy's wand, Harry does not know it. While there are several other points that would be known only to Dumbledore in this chapter, regarding his own family life and his friendship with Grindelwald, there is no clear path by which this knowledge could have reached Dumbledore, except possibly through Snape talking with Dumbledore's portrait. This one point does cause a certain amount of speculation about death and afterlife, as perhaps it is meant to.
