After writing an extended essay and giving a good amount of time to letting the “Dumbledore is not dead” crowd have their say with their many theories, it appears J.K. Rowling has ended the debate. Tonight from Mugglenet:
We just left night two of An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp where JK Rowling answered some BIG questions for everyone. Here’s the new facts: …
- Don’t expect Dumbledore to pull a Gandalf.
- Dumbledore IS really dead. “Everyone needs to move through the 5 stages of life” and get past his death. She also apologizes to DumbledoreIsNotDead.com for ruining the purpose of their site.
Here’s the exact quote, with emphasis added by me, from HPANA:
You shouldn’t expect Dumbledore to pull a Gandalf. I need to be more explicit: Dumbledore is definitely dead. I know there’s an entire site out there called DumbledoreIsNotDead.com, and I’m sorry they’re not going to like this answer.
My first thought upon reading this was, How will those who thought he was still alive respond to this? Is there any possible way to wriggle out of it? Well, it’s already begun:
But if Dumbledore is as important to the final conclusion of the story that we think he is, do we really believe J.K. would give us correct clues about what happens in Book 7? J.K.’s declaration could just as easily be one of those red-herrings that she likes to throw us off the track with…
And if he “really is dead”, that doesn’t rule out the fact that he could come back in some other way, like as a ghost, or interact via his portrait.
Two thoughts:
(1) This isn’t a “clue” – it’s a statement of fact. He’s definitely dead; however integral you think his being alive is to the plot, Rowling doesn’t think he is.
(2) We’ve all been saying we may hear him speak from his portrait since before we finished our first reading of Book 6. Not really a way to cover your own theory. No possibility of a ghost whatsoever, by the way.
Other Bloggers on this:
Muggle Matters – see particularly Felicity’s comments in this thread.
LaShawn
Jonathan on 
korg20000bc on 
Arabella Figg on 
revgeorge on 
Red Rocker on 
Dave the Longwinded on 
Fricka on 
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Dumbledore dead: no way! He’s tranfigured himself into Dachshund and is currently living in a small town outside of London. He’s just a little tired of all this good and evil business.
There’s a petition up for disgruntled “alivers.” I suppose they deserve pity. Maybe you should go over there with your alternate theory, Sean.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dumbledorelives/
Excerpts:
Why do you enjoy insulting your fans so much, JK???
You DELIBERATELY wrote the “death” scene of Albus Dumbledore so that everyone would doubt he truly died. For as we all KNOW, Professor Severus Snape would NEVER kill Dumbledore!!!
(snip)
Joanne Kathleen Rowling – until you admit that your statement “Dumbledore is definitely dead” was nothing but a bad joke, we the undersigned have no choice but to ban your Book 7. It is unfortunate that your readers will not get a chance to read what happens to Harry and his freinds, all because you insist on saying stupid things and treat your readers with no respect.
I’m utterly speechless. I have no idea what to say here.
And I highly doubt JKR will be very affected by such a statement.
Well, after my fairly unreasonable rant about how dumb I thought certain aspects of the event were, I didn’t expect to feel vindicated, but I do.
Let me explain. I don’t mind Rowling’s choice regarding Dumbledore’s fate — it fits. Dumbledore is — after all — a mere man. A “great man” as Hagrid always points out, but a man nonetheless unlike Odin or Gandalf. What I do mind is that we didn’t get a chance to find out in the pages of book 7 what really happened. And I believe she was pressured into revealing this and other things by the whole tone of the event which was “let’s bring this fabulous author of English lit down to our level of successful peddlers of word-smithery.” After all, King is a writer of slashers and I won’t elaborate on Irving’s strange fixation here.
Let me also say that the incident hasn’t tarnished JKR one bit in my mind and she remains as classy as ever. I believe that her PR folks should have just advised her to do the bit next year after the series was at a close; sincerity on behalf of all parties would be easier for me to buy at that point.
Sob! (the weeping sort)
Well, hey, that’ll give Richard Harris fans something to look forward to. Michael Gambon has always murdered the role, anyway. Sorry, that wasn’t canon, was it?
However, HBP is OVER and dead is dead, so at least that’ll give us something to look forward to when the movie comes out.
Signed,
Sour Grapes
Good bye Dumbledore, I’ll miss you.
Hope to hear from you in a painting.
When I first read that Dumbledore died I didn’t want to beleive it and it took me weeks to beleive that he was dead. Well, I guess a farewell is in order.
Here’s to Dumbledore, A wizard’s hero, and mine as well. I’ll miss his twinkling eyes, his silly comments, his showing up at just the right moment, and of course his pet Phoenix, Fawkes.
Well, if it’s any comfort, I predict the Minister of Magic Scrimgeour will appear occasionally with the “reincarnated Dumbledore.†This will scare the Death Eaters, confuse Voldemort (“Could love really be the path to eternal life after all…?”) and give heart to the Order of the Phoenix. It will turn out merely to be Dumbledore’s brother – who we see in the photo of the first Order of the Phoenix gang – and who occasionally appears as that grungy Hogsmeade bartender. (You know: tall, thin, long dirty hair, looking “oddly familiar….â€) This will serve as JKR’s homage to C.S. Lewis’ Last Battle, wherein a character depicts himself as the powerful and virtuous Aslan to fool the masses.
Only Harry & Co. will know for sure that this is a hoax because they stole Dumbledore’s portrait from the Headmaster’s office. In the interest of truth, Harry will disclose the fraud to Rita Skeeter even though he knows that it will dismay his friends and embolden his enemies.
But how do we know that Dumbledore won’t come back as a ghost? After all, JKR said he wouldn’t pull a Gandalf, but she didn’t say he wouldn’t pull an Obie-Wan. Yeah, I know Nearly-Headless Nick associates ghosthood with shame and cowardice. But maybe Dumbledore is willing to humble himself in order to accomplish a greater good. Supernatural heros do that sometimes.
Think about it: There’s a growing gang of people in the afterlife who have a score to settle w/ ol’ Voldy. And Sirius went into the afterlife while carrying a magic mirror by which he can hear and see what’s going on (even if Harry can’t hear and see Sirius). Plus there’s a big fat archway down in the bowels of the Ministry, adjoining a room full of “the greatest power known to wisardom†(or something like that). So you know there’s gotta be another shoot-out in the Hall of Mysteries. What are the odds that Harry, like Aragon before him, gets back-up from an army of dead guys?
Please do not flame me b/c we all have different opinions. That is what makes theorizing fun. Well anyways, I believe Dumbledore is still alive b/c his death from Avada Kedavra did not fit with the description of how others have died from it; Dumbledore flew up in the air. If he really died he would have fallen to the ground like Cedric Diggory
fantasyfreak, I certainly won’t “flame” you or anyone for having a different opinion! However, J.K. Rowling said as plainly as possible, “Dumbledore is definitely dead.” When the author of the books says he’s dead, that pretty much ends the debate, even if you still think what happened on the Astronomy Tower as a little odd.
As far as teh AK not fitting the description, Felicity has adequately explained in this essay that the AK on the Astronomy Tower fits the description just fine. Read her article; you’ll see that nothing was really out of order with what happened that night.
I haven’t read all of the “he’s alive” theories…because I have long family chats discussing our ideas. So…has anyone thought that maybe Dumbledore is a pheonix?
That would make JK Rowlings statement correct…at the moment…we just need to wait until he rises from his ashes.
so wut if dumbledores dead??? hasn’t anyone heard she is thinking aboutin killing harry in #7?!?1
besides if she makes dumbledore a ghost he will be just as good
Yes, Dumbledore is dead. I know who dies in book 7 (There is A LOT!!!) sadly…I can tell you if you want, just tell me. Anyway, for the Harry living or dying, I can tell you something: in between. I haven’t even read the 7th book, I have just finished the 6th, but many people around me finished the series and told me…sucks, huh? I’m just going to start the 7th in a week because it will all be over then…I have read all the books non stop since I started so I know I’ll be finished with the 7th fast enough.
*SPOILER*
SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!!!!!!!!!