Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going to be
discussing why in the name of Merlin’s Beard Albus Dumbledore, one of the most celebrated
and extraordinary wizards of his time, put on a cursed ring that ultimately led to his death.
Let’s begin with Dumbledore’s claims as to how he ended up putting the ring on. He found it
in the ancestral home of the Gaunt family just outside of Little Hangleton. The ring
belonged to Marvolo Gaunt, a pure-blood wizard, descendent of Salazar Slytherin,
whose family was a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. By all accounts, not a great
bunch. Anyways, Dumbledore was hunting Voldemort’s Horcruxes and when he saw this particular one,
he said he immediately knew that, set within the ring, he had found the Deathly Hallow that he had
always craved most: the Resurrection Stone. Of course, Dumbledore undoubtedly knew the ring to
be cursed, as he knew that it had been turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort. However, he claims
that in his excitement over recovering the Stone at long last, he quite forgot that it was a most
dangerous item indeed, as he explains to Harry after his death, while the two catch up in limbo…
After another short pause, Harry said, “You tried to use the Resurrection Stone.”
Dumbledore nodded.
“When I discovered it, after all those years, buried in the abandoned home of the Gaunts,
the Hallow I had craved most of all – though in my youth I had wanted it for very different
reasons – I lost my head, Harry. I quite forgot that it was now a Horcrux, that the ring was sure
to carry a curse. I picked it up, and I put it on, and for a second I imagined that I was about
to see Ariana, and my mother, and my father, and to tell them how very, very sorry I was…”
Now, honestly. Are we supposed to believe that one of the greatest wizards of all time
simply “lost his head” and foolishly put on a cursed ring – a ring that he had been
searching for BECAUSE it was a Horcrux? This just doesn’t sit right with me. How could
Dumbledore – DUMBLEDORE – have truly lost himself enough to go through with putting the ring on his
finger. I could understand forgetting oneself at first seeing the item you’ve been searching for
your entire life – which for Dumbledore was, of course, quite a long time.
But to see it, pick it up, and PUT IT ON? I just don’t see how he could’ve been so beside himself
that he would get all the way to actually wearing the ring.
I think this point is further proven in the memories that Snape shares with Harry
before his death. Particularly, in the scene in which Severus
helps Dumbledore stanch the effects of the ring’s curse:
“Why,” said Snape, without preamble, “why did you put on that ring?
It carries a curse, surely you realised that. Why even touch it?”
Marvolo Gaunt’s ring lay on the desk before Dumbledore.
It was cracked; the sword of Gryffindor lay beside it.
“If you had only summoned me a little earlier, I might have been able to do more,
buy you more time!” said Snape furiously. Snape cuts right to the point here:
Why didn’t Dumbledore summon him sooner? I guess you could argue that he was delirious from the
effects of the cursed ring – he was in pain and unable to identify what he needed to do
in order to save himself. But again, Dumbledore was an extraordinary wizard, one who was able to
DEFEAT THE Gellert Grindelwald, and was well on his way to undermining the source of dark magic
behind Voldemort’s immortality. He was powerful beyond measure,
he was INTELLIGENT…surely, he would’ve realised he needed help. And alright,
maybe he didn’t want Severus to know that the ring was a Horcrux, so he needed to destroy it with the
Sword of Gryffindor first…BUT then that only further shows that he was sound enough of mind
to carry out his well-laid plans after putting on the ring and being affected by the curse.
So, the question remains: If Dumbledore knew what he was doing in putting on the Horcrux and
letting its effects set in just long enough to ultimately lead to his death,
why in Merlin’s beard did he put on that damn ring?
I guess you could argue that he did it to save Draco Malfoy’s life
and further push Snape into Lord Voldemort’s inner circle of Death Eaters.
After all, it’s one of the first things he says to Severus after acknowledging that the effects
of the curse are incurable: “Well, really, this makes matters much more straightforward…I refer
to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the poor Malfoy boy murder me.”
But, in my opinion, that seems like too small of gain
for sacrificing his own life – no offense to Draco and Severus…
So, then perhaps Dumbledore was feeling guilty about the fact that he had mentored Harry, just to
have him die in order to defeat Voldemort. Having come to know and care for our dear boy Harry,
as they were nearing the end of their journey towards overcoming the Dark Lord and Harry’s
inevitable self-sacrifice, perhaps Dumbledore was feeling like he too should make a sacrifice
in the name of the greater good. But again, the gains from sacrificing himself in this way seem
too insignificant, at least to me, in order for that to be the REAL reason why he put on the ring.
Which brings us to my theory on why Dumbledore put it on. I think that after all those years
of lamenting the loss of parents and sister, and feeling terribly guilty for the part he played in
each of their deaths, he was ready and willing to face death himself and join them in the afterlife
to make amends. Of course, Dumbledore could hardly be blamed for the death of his father, Percival
Dumbledore, who died in Azkaban after being sent there for attacking a group of young Muggles.
However, Percival’s actions were a retaliation for the attack on his daughter – Dumbledore’s sister,
Ariana. Percival only went after the Muggles after they had traumatized Ariana to the point
that suppressed her magic and became somewhat dangerous herself. So, it could be said that if
Albus had been around to help protect his sister from this attack, his father may never have gone
to prison and his sister may have gone on to be a normal witch…but I digress. I DO believe that
he had certain feelings of guilt for not being around when Ariana lost control of her magic
and accidentally killed their mother. And then he DEFINITELY felt responsible for Ariana’s death,
which was the direct result of an argument turned fight between Dumbledore and Grindelwald as
young men. Aberforth too. Although he was never quite sure who cast the spell that killed her,
he certainly felt a profound amount of guilt for the part he played in her death. If he had
been more careful around his family or if he hadn’t been so caught up in his pursuit of the
Deathly Hallows and the “loss” of his freedom, he could’ve prevented this tragedy from happening.
So, when, after all these years, as an older wizard, he finally comes face-to-face with the
one magical item that could reunite him with his loved ones, he would have us believe that he “lost
his head” and put the ring on if only to see them one last time. BUT I think what truly happened was
that he saw the Resurrection Stone set in the ring as a Horcrux, lamented how much of a selfish fool
he had been in his youth, and then, in a moment blaring of poetic justice, he CHOSE to put the
cursed ring on, so that he could join his family in the afterlife and find forgiveness in death.
Perhaps after putting the ring on, he realizes that he could get a bit more done and benefit
from being terminally “ill,” as it were. So, before the curse completely overtook him,
he destroyed the Horcrux and summoned Snape.
From there, he was able to kill multiple birds with ONE STONE – sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Anyways, as I was saying, he was able to use his prolonged death to help save Malfoy, further
entrench Snape into Voldemort’s good graces, help Harry get his hands on another Horcrux,
AND ultimately reunite himself with his deceased loved ones. The final reason
being his one true motivation behind putting on Marvolo Gaunt’s cursed ring.
This, of course, brings us to the end of this video. What did you think?
Did you agree with this theory? Let me know your thoughts on this one in the
comments below! And don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel.
Until next time…
“DO NOT PITY THE DEAD, HARRY. PITY THE LIVING AND ABOVE ALL, THOSE WHO LIVE WITHOUT LOVE.”