Inside the Mind of Albus Dumbledore of the Harry Potter Series

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the Merlinesque (and Gandalfesque) headmaster of the magical university attended by Harry Potter, is my favorite Harry Potter character. In fact, he is one of my favorite characters of all time. Why? Because he knows things. He knows things and yet he still has a whimsical quality to his personality. Or maybe, he has that whimsical quality because he knows things, not in spite of that fact. He has been around long enough to understand the importance of simple pleasures, and to understand that people are going to do what they are going to do.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote Albus Dumbledore as the archetypal wizard and the embodiment of wisdom. Yet, she also wrote him as a fallible human man, with his own past, his own failings and desires. Thankfully, we don't see these, at least not right away. Because of her expertise at handling point of view, and of doling out information only as we needed it, she let the reader see Dumbledore in Book One as an eccentric and whimsical old man. Perhaps, because of his Merlinesque appearance and age, we sensed his power, but we were nonetheless as innocent as young Harry in our encounters with him. At least at first. In later books, we are allowed to see Dumbledore's more vulnerable moments, and to suspect that he is indeed a fallible human. As a result, it is interesting to revisit early scenes armed with this new knowledge of Dumbledore, and attempt to figure him out a bit.

There are so many lovely Dumbledore scenes, that I may not be able to do it all justice in one article. I will have to revisit Dumbledore's mind at least once per book, perhaps more. He is such a charming, fascinating old fellow, that he deserves close scrutiny as a literary character, and as Rowling's voice of wisdom in this epic coming-of-age tale.

Let's begin by considering Albus Dumbledore's name. Well, some of it anyway.

Albus, in Latin, means "white." It makes perfect sense that this wizard, which stands for all that is good in Harry Potter, should have a name depicting the most ancient symbol of goodness - the color white. Fans of Tolkien's ring trilogy will no doubt recall Gandalf the Grey becoming Gandalf the White as his power increased.

As for Dumbledore, one possible association is "dumbledor," which means "bumblebee." There are many possible readings of this name and, since Rowling makes it a habit to imbue her characters' names with meaning (consider Professor Umbridge and the "mal" of Malfoy), trying to decipher why she uses particular names can be highly entertaining. Perhaps Dumbledore should be associated with bumblebees because bumblebees seem harmless, yet have hidden powers (a powerful, poisonous stinger) if agitated. Dumbledore is, after all, much more than he appears at first glance. In addition, bumblebees are social creatures, and Dumbledore's first priority is the safety of his community.

But making suppositions about Dumbledore's name and appearance is only the beginning. After having read most of the seventh, and final, installment of the Harry Potter series, it is a revealing practice to go comb through Dumbledore's scenes in books 1-6 with more mature eyes, to see beyond the image he portrays to the children and new Harry Potter readers alike.