Hey everyone,
Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today,
we’ll be discussing whether or not the late, great—and highly
revered—Albus Dumbledore ever created his own HORCRUX—before his untimely death.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the term or haven’t read up on
your Harry Potter lore recently, here’s a quick review of Horcruxes,
what exactly it takes to create one, and where they pop up in the Harry Potter series.
To start with…
What is a Horcrux? And how is it made? Horcruxes are objects of Dark Magic that
are created by a witch or wizard who wishes to live forever by immortalising a piece of their
soul inside a vessel of their choosing. The witch or wizard must first intentionally rip
away a part of their soul from their body by committing murder in COLD BLOOD. Now,
that last part—the bit about the murder being committed in cold blood—is particularly important
for our topic today—but I’ll explain that in just a moment. Once the soul has been split,
the witch or wizard then magically places the piece of their torn soul into a vessel of their
choosing in order to immortalise themselves. The vessel of a Horcrux can be just about
anything but it typically takes the form of an inanimate object. That said, it CAN be made by
using a living being, such as an animal, creature, human, or otherwise. Making a living being into a
Horcrux, however, comes with substantially more risk than using an inanimate object,
as the vessel can obviously think for itself and may not obey the creator of the Horcrux whose bit
of soul lives inside them—for example, think of Harry Potter as Voldemort’s Horcrux—but again,
I’m getting ahead of myself...Finally, in order to complete the process of making a Horcrux,
the witch or wizard must perform a ritual of Dark Magic that accompanies placing one’s torn
soul into the chosen vessel. What this ritual is exactly, is not widely known, as the magic
surrounding this type of Dark Magic is kept quite guarded by those who believe it to be among the
most evil forms of magic in existence. For this reason, it is not taught in the curriculum at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and many students believe that not even the Restricted
Section of the school’s library contains any material on this particular dark topic.
Which brings us to the series itself.
When do Horcruxes appear in Harry Potter? Throughout Harry Potter, we primarily see
Horcruxes used by Lord Voldemort in his attempt to immortalise himself and live forever. In fact,
the Dark Lord is so desperate to live forever and remain the most powerful wizard in existence that
he goes so far as to create SEVEN Horcruxes—a feat previously unheard of. The fact that that
many Horcruxes had never been created by a single witch or wizard was due to the idea that ripping
one’s soul that many times would theoretically cause incredible instability, not only for
the soul itself, but for the witch or wizard’s remaining form—which we see with Voldemort’s very
non-human-like appearance. Not to mention the fact that the Dark Lord would’ve had to commit seven
murders in cold blood AND perform the heinous ritual each and every time—a ritual too dark to
be written about or taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In any case, the first
Horcrux of Voldemort’s that we learn about is his former diary from when he was a student at
Hogwarts. The next three Horcruxes are valuable possessions that belonged to three of the four
Hogwarts’ founders, including Helga Hufflepuff’s golden cup, Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem, and Salazar
Slytherin’s locket. Voldemort also managed to steal his uncle, Marvolo Gaunt’s, heirloom
ring—later to be discovered as the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows. The final
Horcrux that the Dark Lord made INTENTIONALLY was his snake companion the Maledictus Nagini,
with the seventh, truly final—and inadvertent—Horcrux being Harry Potter himself.
This, of course, brings us to today’s theory in question:
Did Albus Dumbledore ever create his own Horcrux? Let’s take a look.
Dumbledore’s Horcrux: The Theory
So, knowing that creating a Horcrux is a bit of EXTREMELY Dark Magic that we’ve previously
only ever heard about Lord Voldemort practising (and I suppose Herpo the Foul), how did a
theory surrounding the incredibly well-respected Albus Dumbledore and Horcruxes even come to be?
Well, apparently, the theory—which has been around for years—is the result of multiple fan
theories. The two most prominent both claim that it’s possible that Dumbledore COULD HAVE created
his own Horcrux in his youth, however, they differ in terms of which vessel they believe
he used to deposit his soul into. One of the very first theories claimed that Dumbledore could have
created a Horcrux out of the Elder Wand—another one of the three Deathly Hallows. While the other,
more prominent theory said that his Horcrux may actually have been Fawkes,
Dumbledore’s pet phoenix. These theories were further supported by fans’ unified
belief that Dumbledore has a—for want of a better word—darker side. This clearly stems
from the fact that he had an intense friendship with Gellert Grindelwald and held incredibly
misguided ideological beliefs in his youth. Not to mention the whole he raised up Harry
like a “pig for slaughter” thing. And while I’ll admit that Dumbledore is not all butterflies and
sherbert lemons, I really can’t believe that Albus Dumbledore was capable of such a thing…
Dumbledore’s Horcrux: DEBUNKED In my opinion, the theory that Dumbledore
secretly made a Horcrux just doesn’t make any sense. For one thing, he’s never murdered anyone
in cold blood. While I guess it’s possible that he secretly killed another witch or wizard this way,
it seems rather unlikely considering all the things that he eventually stood for
and opposed—such as Grindelwald and Voldemort. Meaning the only instance that we know of in
which Albus was involved in someone’s death was his sister, Ariana Dumbledore’s. Ariana’s
accidental death occurred around the year 1900, soon after Albus had graduated from
his final year at Hogwarts. The issue here is that no one—not even Dumbledore himself—knew
who dealt the magical blow that killed Ariana. In fact, she may have actually killed herself,
as she was an obscurial whose magic was incredibly unpredictable and dangerous. Even so,
if Dumbledore was responsible for casting the magic that killed Ariana, it certainly wasn’t
done in cold blood. In fact, Ariana’s death was an accident that he lamented until he himself died,
feeling incredible guilt and remorse for not better protecting his ailing younger
sister. Not to mention the fact that he never performed the Dark Magic ritual associated with
creating a Horcrux. Personally, I don’t care how devastated he was about the death of his sister,
there’s no way his feelings of remorse and guilt could have clouded his judgement to
the point that he would’ve mutilated or disrespected her body to create a Horcrux.
Then there’s the question of the actual objects suspected of being Albus Dumbledore’s
Horcruxes…the Elder Wand and Fawkes the phoenix. At this point in his life, during the height of
his relationship with Grindelwald and his belief that the two of them needed to reunite the three
Deathly Hallows and overtake the Muggle race, there’s no way he even HAD the Elder Wand. At
this time, Dumbledore also had yet to meet Fawkes, as it’s widely believed that the first time he
encountered the bird was in the late 1920s when a phoenix—presumed to be Fawkes—came to the aid of
Credence—who was actually Albus’ nephew, Aurelius Dumbledore. It’s speculated that Fawkes then
became Dumbledore’s companion after these events. There’s also the fact that Fawkes’ behaviour
towards Dumbledore, while certainly similar to the loyalty of, say, Nagini to Voldemort—or Horcrux to
wizard, if you will—is completely different in a many number of ways. To start with,
the Dumbledore family and phoenixes have a longstanding history and relationship in which
the rare and powerful birds are known to come to the aid of any Dumbledore in need. Albus mentions
that his grandfather benefitted from such a bond, and we also see this occur when the phoenix comes
to Credence’s side in Fantastic Beasts 2 and then again in 3. There’s also the fact that after Albus
Dumbledore’s death, Fawkes sings his Lament and then leaves—never to be seen again. If he had part
of Dumbledore inside him, you’d think he would’ve stuck around to help Harry defeat Voldemort—right?
My final note on why this theory is not valid is the sheer fact that it’s been
rejected by JK Rowling, who came right out and called it “strangely unsettling”.
And, with that, we’ve come to the end of another video! What did you think? Do you agree with me?
Or do you think it’s entirely possible that Albus Dumbledore did in fact have it in him
to create his own Horcrux? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! And, as always,
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Until next time…remember
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."