In Harry's first year at Hogwarts, he stumbles upon the Mirror of Erised.
The mirror is a very old device and it is said that no one knows who created it or how it came to Hogwarts
but nonetheless
Harry finds it and sees his family, for maybe the first time, they're alive and happy
In the movies he sees his parents but in the books, he sees more, at least ten people within his family tree
After the sad realization that no one else could see his family, Dumbledore comes to see Harry.
Not only does he explain the function of the mirror,
that the mirro shows you what your heart desires above all else,
but he leaves Harry with some wise words.
"It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live."
Then Harry does something quite ballsy. He asked what Professor Dumbledore sees in the mirror of erised.
Dmbledore's response? "I see myself holding a pair of thick woolen socks, one can never have enough socks.
Another christmas has come and gone, and I didn't get a single pair. People insist on giving me books. Wool socks."
Definitely a curious answer. The line is a clear misdirect from the real answer and even Harry thought that Dumbledore was not truthful
But he kind of shoved it away because it was such a personal question
So if Dumbledore didn't see wool socks, what did he see in the mirror?
Well, thanks to JK Rowling, we know exactly what he saw.
JK is quoted saying he saw his family alive whole and happy
Arianna, Percival, Kendra all returned to him and Aberforth reconciled to him.
Not dissimilar to Harry, he saw a big happy family, which he had lost.
Yes, the question was extremely personal but why lie and lie about socks of all things?
Well, I don't think it was lie, rather it's a half truth.
A direct lie from Dumbledore seems very off character to me and he's always very selective,
all his words are chosen with purpose and with poetry. So where is the purpose in the wool socks?
We know from the books that Dumbledore's family is a little dysfunctional, to say the least.
Dumbledore's sister, Arianna, suffered an attack from muggle boys as a young girl, which traumatized her.
Arianna was left mentally and emotionally scarred and her magical abilities were severely altered.
They would manifest themselves on rare occasions and usually in randow and destructive ways.
In turn, she required constant care from her mother and brothers.
Because she was unable to control her magical abilities, she was kept away from the public,
But it's worth noting that her magical abilities seemed to surface when agitated
So I think that her mother looked into the muggle world for inspiration to keep her daughter calm and occupied.
The solution? Knitting.
It was actually a reference that Dumbledore likes to knit as well.
"You mind if I take this? I do love knitting paterns."
It seems strange to think of Dumbledore, a highly intellectual man, sitting there knitting away
I can't imagine that he took up this hobby later on. Rather I think it was instilled as a child
I believe that Dumbledore took up the hobby with his sister to spend time with her
and the wool socks is a reference to a memory of his sister
and the quiet times they shared within the family when knitting together.
You might be saying "we wouldn't know Dumbledore's backstory until well into the story and many books later on.
We clearly didn't know by this point" and you might be wondering if JK had even figured out his story at this point.
Whether JK Rowling had doubled our story planned out from the beginning doesn't really matter
because I think this tiny tim bit to wool socks points to the family connection either way.
Whether it's Ariana in those quiet times or the simple connection to family
I don't know about you guys but me and my family normally groaned when we received socks as gifts
And usually we got them from parents or family and we never really appreciated them
These socks aren't really given to you because you love socks, you're passionate about them
They're given to you because you need them and the people giving them to you are trying to take care of you
It's a loving gift from family.
Plus you have to take into account what was happening in the Philosophe's Stone right before this moment,
it was Christmas time at Hogwarts,
And what did Harry receive for Christmas as a present to signify family?
Yes, he did receive the invisibility cloak that used to be his father's but he got something else as well
He got a knit sweater from Molly Weasley and every single member of the Weasley family got one as well.
"What are you wearing?
Oh, mom made it
Looks like you got one too!"
This knit sweater wasn't made for Harry because Molly was concerned about getting him something for Christmas
But rather because he is now part of the family.That knit sweater is meant to keep him warm through the cold winter,
much like those wool socks that Dumbledore describes.
All of these point back to JK Rowling's confirmation that he saw his family and his sister in the mirror of erised.
I love the possibility of the socks being a tiny detail only Dumbledore would understand and I like that it wasn't a lie at all
Just an ode to when life was a little less bleak
So do you agree, do you think Dumbledore saw those socks because there was a reference to his family?
Or is there another connection that I'm missing from these wool socks?
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