Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort, and the epic duel in the ministry atrium from
the order of the phoenix.
“'I have nothing more to say to you, Potter,' he (Voldemort) said quietly. 'You have irked
me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!'
Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, his wand pointing uselessly
at the floor.
But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping
from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Harry and Voldemort. The spell
merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect Harry.
'What -?' cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, 'Dumbledore!'
Harry looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden
gates.”
Now, at first glance this scene seems like what you’d expect- Harry is in mortal danger,
and Dumbledore, who has looked over Harry for most of his life, intervenes and protects
him from the fatal projectile that was heading toward him. However, what’s interesting
about this is that by this point in time, Dumbledore was fully aware of Voldemort’s
horcruxes- and he was also fully aware of the fact that at some point or another Harry
had to die. Additionally, In order for the prophecy to be fulfilled and for Voldemort
to be defeated, Voldemort had to be the one to initially kill Harry. Since Dumbledore
knew all about the prophecy- one question that should be addressed here is: Why not
let Voldemort kill Harry right then and there? Though Dumbledore cares for Harry, it’s
made painfully clear in the books and films that his #1 priority is the fate of the wizarding
world, and defeating Voldemort - not saving Harry. So, again, why did Dumbledore even
bother saving Harry from the killing curse? Why not let him die and get one step closer
to defeating the dark lord?
The truth is that Dumbledore wanted Harry alive so that he could use him.
“I thought…all these years…that we were protecting him for her. For Lily.”
“We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let
him try his strength,” said Dumbledore, his eyes still tight shut.
Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.
“You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?”
“Don’t be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?”
“Lately, only those whom I could not save,” said Snape. He stood up. “You have used
me.”
“Meaning?”
“I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything
was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising
him like a pig for slaughter--”
‘Raising him like a pig for slaughter’ is such a powerful line, and this whole exchange
is powerful, because it really brings to the surface the true motivations of Dumbledore
at the time, the beloved and ‘pure’ school headmaster. Though Dumbledore genuinely cared
for Harry, he did always know that Harry was going to have to die one day, and the reason
that he didn’t let him die in the ministry atrium was because there were still more horcruxes
to be destroyed, and Dumbledore needed Harry to search for them. Harry’s unique connection
to Voldemort gave him an edge over others when it came to tracking them down- and by
having Harry do it, it also meant that no other lives would be put in danger.
“Dumbledore's betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan: Harry
had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now. He had never questioned
his own assumption that Dumbledore wanted him alive. Now he saw that his life span had
always been determined by how long it took to eliminate all the Horcruxes. Dumbledore
had passed the job of destroying them to him, and obediently he had continued to chip away
at the bonds tying not only Voldemort, but himself, to life! How neat, how elegant, not
to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked
for slaughter, and whose death would not be a calamity, but another blow against Voldemort.”
“And Dumbledore had known that Harry would not duck out, that he would keep going to
the end, even though it was his end, because he had taken trouble to get to know him, hadn't
he? Dumbledore knew, as Voldemort knew, that Harry would not let anyone else die for him
now that he had discovered it was in his power to stop it. The images of Fred, Lupin, and
Tonks lying dead in the Great Hall forced their way back into his mind's eye, and for
a moment he could hardly breathe. Death was impatient…”
As Harry was the perfect weapon for Dumbledore to use against Voldemort, it would have made
no sense at all to allow Harry to die sooner. If Dumbledore wanted Harry dead, he could
have arranged that almost any point. He kept him around to find and destroy horcruxes,
and that’s about it. Allowing him to die would have only made his ultimate goal more
difficult.
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content please like the video and subscribe
to the channel
Until next time
YER A WIZARD HARRY