Hey everyone,Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re
going to be discussing the top 5 most INSPIRATIONAL things Albus Dumbledore ever said to Harry
Potter. Born in 1881, Dumbledore was well over 100 – actually, 111 to be exact – when
he first encounters Harry as a young boy of 11. So,
it goes without saying that Albus Dumbledore was
likely a source of inspiration for many other witches and wizards in the magical world who
knew him before Harry Potter. Just take his obituary,
for example, where fellow wizard, Ministry of
Magic jurist, member of the Order of the Phoenix, and close friend of Dumbledore’s since the
childhood, Elphias Doge, describes him as “the most inspiring and the best loved of
all Hogwarts headmasters.”
All this to say, Dumbledore was obviously an inspirational wizard to many. In fact,
throughout the canon, Harry often overhears Dumbledore
saying inspirational things to several other characters – but in this video, we’re
going to focus on the most inspiring things Dumbledore ever said to Harry Potter himself.
Let’s take a look.
We’re going to make our way through these quotes in order of appearance – which brings
us to quote number one in which Dumbledore shares
an inspiring piece of advice with Harry in the
very first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, where he says: “It does not do
to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
In this quote, Harry has just made his way to secretly visit The Mirror of Erised – a
magical mirror that shows the viewer their deepest
desires. What he doesn’t realize, is that he’s not alone– Dumbledore is there as
well.
But before Harry realizes that Dumbledore is in the room with him, he longingly stares
into The Mirror of Erised – which, by the way, reads
as “desire” when spelled backwards. In fact, there’s
also an inscription above the mirror that spells “I show not your face but your heart’s
desire.” when read backwards. Harry, in front of The
Mirror of Erised, sees himself surrounded by his dead parents, Lily and James Potter,
as well as the rest of the Potter family – whom he’s never met.
This brings Dumbledore’s advice into better perspective – for he sees how much Harry
would love to stand in front of the mirror all day
and dream of what it would be like if his family were
still alive. But if he were to do so, he would waste away his life dreaming of what could
never be. And if Harry were to spend his life dreaming
of the things he cannot have and that are simply not possible, we would never see him
go on to do all the incredible things he accomplishes as a young wizard.
Next up we have an inspiring quote from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In this
book, Dumbledore shares with Harry: “It is our
choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far
more than our abilities.” This exchange takes place after Harry comes
out of the Chamber of Secrets, confessing to
Dumbledore that he believes the only reason that the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor
during the Sorting Ceremony – and not Slytherin like the hat was considering – was because
he asked it to.
Dumbledore’s reaction catches Harry – and possibly the reader – off-guard – he doesn’t
seem to be surprised in the least. In fact, he seems to have known that this was something
Harry asked of the Sorting Hat all along. He responds by saying to Harry: “Exactly…Which
makes you very different from Tom Riddle.” – Tom Riddle, of course, being Voldemort’s
name as a boy. With this speech, he is showing Harry how he’s in control of his own destiny
– and not the other way around. This inspirational piece of advice is pivotal
in helping steer Harry towards a path of morally good choices, in which he feels in control
of. Rather than faltering to a perceived destiny that
may have prevented him from ultimately defeating Voldemort.
Our third quote is along the same theme as the previous one. Dumbledore once again hammers
home the idea of individuals being in control of their own destiny in Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire when he says, “It matters not what
someone is born, but what they grow to be!”. Okay, I’ll admit, this was actually said
to Cornelius Fudge in front of Harry Potter, rather than
directly to Harry – but I thought it would be okay to fudge just the one – see what
I did there?
Anyway, these wise words are pretty aggressively said to Fudge, the Minister for Magic, in
the hospital wing at Hogwarts after Cedric Diggory’s death and Voldemort’s return
to power during the Triwizard Tournament. In the quote,
Dumbledore is lecturing Fudge for placing too
much importance on blood lines and a wizard’s “purity of blood” – choosing to ignore
Harry’s warnings that Voldemort has returned and instead
believing the word of pureblood families such as the Malfoys – even though they’ve been
linked to Voldemort in the past as Death Eaters. It
could be argued that this is because Harry’s mother, Lily Potter was muggle-born, or Fudge
may simply not want to believe that Voldemort
has returned. In any case, the quote inspires the
listener – namely Harry – to once again put more stock in someone’s actions or choices,
rather than their background or where they came from.
The next inspirational quote comes from the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince, and it’s a good one. Near the very beginning of the book, Dumbledore says to
Harry, “Let us step into the night and pursue that
flighty temptress, adventure.” Look at Dumbledore getting all spicy.
Dumbledore says this to Harry as they prepare to leave the Dursleys’ home on Number 4
Privet Drive for the last time – although, neither Dumbledore nor Harry know this is
the last time as they leave. In this scene, Dumbledore explains
to Harry’s Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon that, “The magic I evoked fifteen
years ago meant that Harry has powerful
protection while he can still call this house home.” So, even though Harry is technically
still protected by Dumbledore’s magic until he
becomes “an adult” at the age of 17, leaving the
Dursleys represents a leap of faith for Harry into the unknown – and possibly a very dangerous
future – which, of course, by the end of The Half-Blood Prince, we know is the case.
It’s quite possible, that contrary to what he says – Dumbledore asks the Dursleys to
allow Harry to return to Privet Drive at least one more
time before his 17 th birthday – Dumbledore may have also known that this particular departure
did in fact represent Harry embracing a dangerous future indeed. Might as well make the leap
of faith sound as inspiring and exciting as possible then, right?
Which brings us to our fifth and final inspirational quote that Dumbledore said to Harry, which
takes place in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The quote is: “Do not pity the
dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those
who live without love.”
So, of course, leave it to Dumbledore to continue to inspire Harry even after his death – as
he, of course, meets his demise in The Half-Blood Prince. This heavy, yet inspiring piece of
advice comes from Dumbledore after Harry has been
struck by Voldemort’s Avada Kedavra, leaving him not-quite dead in a strange in-between
reality- a sort of..limbo.
In the scene, Harry finds himself in King’s Cross of all places with his dead mentor,
Dumbledore, and an “agonised creature” – who we are led to believe is the piece
of Voldemort that lived in Harry as a Horcrux, which J.K. Rowling has described as “a receptacle
prepared by dark magic in which a Dark wizard has intentionally hidden a fragment of his
soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.”
So, what exactly does dead Dumbledore mean by saying this to half-dead Harry. Well, it
would seem that he’s trying to inspire him to
return to the living, rather than accept death. The option to die at this point, would almost
be the easy way out. As Dumbledore says, it’s really living that is difficult – those
who are alive are the ones Harry should pity. But, ultimately, it seems that what Dumbledore
is trying to share with Harry is that if he does choose to live, he should do so with
love.
This quote seems to encourage Harry to choose the difficult route of living but only if
he’s willing to do so with compassion – which,
of course, he does.
And that’s it for this video. If you enjoyed it, check out Dumbledore’s 5 Most POWERFUL
Spells (RANKED) and What Dumbledore REALLY Saw in the Mirror of Erised, right here on
Harry Potter Theory. Please remember to like the video and subscribe to the channel if
you enjoyed the content. As always, leave your video suggestions and comments down below.
Until next time…“All was well..”