Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Potions Professor Horace Slughorn,
and the events of the Half Blood Prince.
I just rewatched the Half Blood Prince for the 500th time last night. Though it was not
the most well received of all of the films, I really enjoy it every time- particularly
Jim Broadbent’s performance of Slughorn- and the unusual relationship that he develops
with Harry Potter over the course of the film. Their relationship, though genuine in some
respects, was largely contrived- the result of Dumbledore’s instruction to Harry to
become ‘chosen’ by Slughorn.
“I tell you all this,” Dumbledore continued, “not to turn you against Horace — or,
as we must now call him, Professor Slughorn — but to put you on your guard. He will
undoubtedly try to collect you, Harry. You would be the jewel of his collection; ‘the
Boy Who Lived’…or, as they call you these days, ‘the Chosen One.’”
Basically, Dumbledore wanted Harry to become one of Slughorn’s absolute favourites- he
wanted him to be the next member of Slughorn’s SLUG CLUB.
But, the truth is, Dumbledore didn’t instruct Harry to be chosen by Slughorn just to pad
Slughorn’s shelf of ex-students. He didn’t want Harry to be praised by Slughorn just
for the sake of it- he had an agenda. Dumbledore wanted one of Slughorn’s memories, and he
was going to use Harry to get it.
After receiving his special mission from Dumbledore, Harry’s escapades begin. He takes Dumbledore’s
mission very seriously, and kicks things off by enrolling in Slughorn’s potions class
so that he can get closer to him. At the beginning, Dumbledore’s instructions are simple: get
to know Slughorn. But things begin to get a little more complicated, and a little more
serious, when Dumbledore brings Harry to his office to look through the pensieve. A pensieve
is a magical object used to review memories - and while Dumbledore eventually shows Harry
a series of memories- he starts Harry off with one of his own.
At the moment that Harry dips his head in the pensieve’s water, he’s suddenly taken
all the way back to the year 1938. As an observer, the first thing that Harry witnesses is a
very troubled-looking young boy sitting alone in the room of an orphanage. Wool’s Orphanage.
Seconds later, the boy gets a visitor, and that visitor turns out to be none other than
a young Albus Dumbledore. After some discussion, Dumbledore reveals to the boy that a. he is
a wizard, and b. He is invited to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. What Dumbledore
did not know at that time, however, was that this boy, Tom Riddle, would go on to become
the most evil dark wizard in history. Tom tormented the other orphans and was supremely
difficult- Dumbledore even researched Riddle and became more familiar with his background,
but it didn’t mean that he was bad to the core- and it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t
get a chance at Hogwarts.
The point of this scene, and the point of Dumbledore showing Harry all of this, was
to give Harry a sense of context for the task that he would later give him, and the memories
that he would later show him. He wanted to give Harry an idea of the troubled boy that
lord Voldemort once was, show him that Tom Riddle was once a student much like him, and
show him how his path of darkness began.
The next memory that Dumbledore shows Harry is one of Slughorn’s, and it shows an older,
more refined, more..together Riddle, and an interaction with Slughorn himself. Slughorn
was one of Riddle’s professors you see- in fact, he was Riddle’s favourite professor.
In the memory, Riddle, after praising Slughorn with all sorts of compliments and buttering
him up with his favourite pineapple treat, asks Slughorn something.
“I was in the library the other night, in the Restricted Section, and I read something
rather odd about a bit of rare magic. It's called, as I understand it... a….”
The next word that’s uttered out of Riddle’s mouth is muted- the result of Slughorn tampering
with his own memory out of shame. Slughorn didn’t stop there either, as he made it
seem as though he was furious at Riddle for even asking such a question- telling him to
leave at once. This memory was of course almost entirely falsified, and the real memory that
Slughorn was trying to conceal revealed pivotal information regarding Voldemort and his horcruxes-
which Dumbledore had not yet confirmed Riddle had created. Slughorn’s real response went
more like this:
“I beg your pardon?”
“A Horcrux. I came across the term while reading and I didn't fully understand it.”
“I'm not sure what you were reading, Tom, but this is very dark stuff. Very dark indeed.”
“Which is why I came to you.” “A Horcrux is an object in which a person
has concealed part of their soul.”
“But I don't understand how that works, sir.”
“One splits ones soul and hides part of it in an object. By doing so, you are protected,
should you be attacked and your body destroyed.”
“Protected?”
“That part of your soul that is hidden lives on. In other words, you cannot die.”
“And how does one split his soul, sir?”
“I think you already know the answer to that, Tom.”
“Murder.”
This is one of the most sinister interactions from the entire Harry Potter series, as it
depicts Slughorn unknowingly providing Voldemort with the information necessary to reach new,
uncharted levels of power. More than anything, however, it was important that Dumbledore
and Harry extract the real memory from Slughorn, as the fate of the wizarding world depended
on it.
For a good portion of the book/film, Harry is trying desperately to win Slughorn over
so that he can learn the truth about Slughorn’s memory- but it’s no easy task, and Dumbledore
makes it exceedingly clear that the fate of the wizarding world potentially rests on Harry’s
shoulders. My question is- why didn’t Dumbledore, one of the most talented wizards of all time,
just use another method to extract Slughorn’s memory? There are many ways of getting information
from someone in the wizarding world, and though some of them are unethical and illegal, surely
the prevention of Voldemort’s resurgence would have warranted such courses of action.
The first method that Dumbledore could have used would have been one of the unforgivable
curses- the imperius curse. When the imperius curse is cast on a victim, they are forced
to perform the unquestioned bidding of the caster. They adopt an extremely ‘carefree’
attitude, and are inclined to carry out tasks for the caster without any sort of moral compass
or awareness of the caster’s intentions or desires. Given that the root of Slughorn
hiding his memory was ‘shame’ I think that this method would have been more than
suitable.
The next method that I imagine he could have used would have been Legilimency. Legilimency
is essentially the art of magically navigating through someone’s mind -it’s very invasive
and difficult to perform, but it allows you to see into people’s minds and read their
thoughts. Surely this would have been an option for Dumbledore, who is one of the most powerful
wizards of all time.
The NEXT method that I imagine could have been used would have been a potion by the
name of Veritaserum. Veritaserum is basically a TRUTH serum which forces the consumer to
answer questions and reveal information truthfully. Seems to me like that would work perfectly
in this situation.
Dumbledore was all about acting ‘for the greater good’, at least in his youth, and
so I’m sure he would have been able to justify such courses of action, particularly as the
fate of the wizarding world was resting on the retrieval of this memory. So, why didn’t
he pursue one of these other courses of action? Why put it all on Harry?
We can rule out use of the Imperius Curse almost immediately, because Dumbledore, in
his later years, was strongly opposed to the use of dark magic. I think that the only way
that Dumbledore would resort to dark magic, like an unforgivable curse, would be if he
had no other option - and he was confident that Harry would be able to get the job done.
Okay, so no Imperius curse- but what about Veritaserum or Legilimency? They aren’t
exactly entirely innocent courses of action, but they certainly aren’t akin to an unforgivable
curse. In the books/films, Harry actually suggests one of these methods to Dumbledore.
“But surely, sir,’ he said, keeping his voice as respectful as possible, ‘you don’t
need me – you could use Legilimency … or Veritaserum …’
‘Professor Slughorn is an extremely able wizard who will be expecting both,’ said
Dumbledore. ‘He is much more accomplished at Occlumency than poor Morfin Gaunt, and
I would be astonished if he has not carried an antidote to Veritaserum with him ever since
I coerced him into giving me this travesty of a recollection.
‘No, I think it would be foolish to attempt to wrest the truth from Professor Slughorn
by force, and might do much more harm than good; I do not wish him to leave Hogwarts.”
So, there you have it. Dumbledore is opposed to dark magic, which meant that imperio was
never really an option for him. As for the other methods? Well, he didn’t feel that
they would be effective. Dumbledore also liked that Slughorn had returned to Hogwarts- he
was a powerful wizard and an impressive potions professor. He was an asset to the school,
and it would have been a regrettable decision.
And that’s it for this video! Did you guys ever think about this?
Let me know down in the comment section below
UNTIL NEXT TIME
YER A WIZARD ARRY