Ok, let’s be real here. Why is Dumbledore such a douche? Did someone put salt in his coffee?
When times get tough, and things always go wrong in the Harry Potter story, the greatest wizard of his generation does what he does best – let teenagers deal with it. Many of Dumbledore’s moves throughout the whole story are questionable.
Going through all the books, all the movies, and all the additional lore, one can’t help but paint a shady picture of Dumbledore. Although we know that his every action was for the greater good, there were so many times he could have done things a lot better.
Here are some of the things Douchedore is known for:
- Often escaping and letting teenagers deal with his problems
- Letting teenagers fight against the most powerful dark wizard of all time
- Letting Sirius Black rot in Azkaban
- Grooming Snape for the slaughter
- Letting Harry fight a gazillion dementors on his own
- Never telling anybody his plan
And, we know some people will say: “well, he can’t be everywhere at once, he was doing other important things to fight evil” Yea, but at the end of every book, Dumbledore appears and somehow knows everything that happened, which implies he possibly known at the moment it was happening or before, and just let it happen.
Escape and let others worry about my problems!
When the Ministry of Magic gets infiltrated by Dark Wizards in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge arrives with other Aurors to arrest Dumbledore. He freezes everyone for a second, tells Harry parts of his plans, only some of them, and then vanishes.
Yes, he left Harry and the others high and dry. Of course, Harry did lead Umbridge to the Forbidden Forrest, where the centaurs took care of her, but he was also at risk! As the most powerful wizard of the generation, Dumbledore could have at least done something to help the kids.
Letting teenagers fight against the most powerful wizard of all time
Dumbledore eventually puts the dots together and realizes that Harry is the final Horcrux. He knows the boy must die for Voldemort to die. But he doesn’t inform him of this and does not attempt to defeat Voldemort in any other way.
I mean, why not just pursue Voldemort and challenge him into a duel? If Dumbledore were the only one, he was ever afraid of, he could have won. Or why not just stay with the boy and defend Hogwarts at the final battle?
The school staff and students would have stood much more chance with Dumbledore. They won either way, so things would go down much better. Many people who died could have survived.
Letting Sirius Black rot in Azkaban
Dumbledore was a powerful legilimens. Any wizard who knew the spells could have checked if Sirius comitted those crimes. Furthermore, Dumbledore and the others from the Order of the Phoenix knew that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were after the Potters.
If they knew this, why would they believe that Sirius, a person who was everyone’s friend for years, was the betrayer and a mass murderer? Wouldn’t at least someone question the official narrative set up by Pettigrew.
It is possible that the books hinted that Dumbledore did doubt this. If so, why then let the man rot in Azkaban for twelve years where he’s lost all his dignity, life, mind, and almost his soul?!
Grooming Snape for the slaughter
After Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, Snape had come to Dumbledore, asking for forgiveness and solace. He was sorry for ever considering siding with the dark lord and wanted to change his ways.
Dumbledore then takes him under his protection, guarantees on his behalf to anyone who ever questioned Snape, and grooms him to be a double agent should the dark lord return one day. However, sending someone to spy on Voldemort is like sending them to the meat grinder.
And we all know what good it did. For someone so powerful and “brilliant”, he sure makes mistakes often. Mistakes that cause other people’s and children’s demise.
Letting Harry fight a gazillion Dementors on his own
When Harry fights off the dementors in the third book, the first time he encounters them, he passes out. Then, when Hermione and Harry went back in time, he manages to fight them off. But it was a huge risk. And the most powerful wizard was just a couple hundred yards away from them at that moment.
With all his power, Dumbledore could have known what was happening and could have helped. And, he always knows everything, so why didn’t he come? Some would say he trusted Harry to find the strength to do it, but why take the risk of him possibly dying?
Never telling anybody his full plan
Presumably, Dumbledore has told Snape his full plan at the end, which led to their collective demise. But, before that, he never disclosed anything to anyone. Even things upon which lives depended on.
Some would say that he was protecting his friends from danger by not involving them, but once they were involved why not disclose everything? Harry Potter and his friends were in danger countless times because of him he could have at least told them it was all for a good purpose.