page_title: Albus Dumbledore
section_title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
hierarchical_section_title: Albus Dumbledore / Appearances / Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
caption_attribution_description: English: Reproduction of the Elder Wand in Harry Potter Warner Bros. films
context_page_description: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. As part of his backstory, it is revealed that he is the founder and leader of the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation dedicated to fighting Lord Voldemort, the main antagonist of the series.
  Dumbledore was portrayed by Richard Harris in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After Harris' death, Michael Gambon portrayed Dumbledore for all of the remaining Harry Potter films. Jude Law portrayed Dumbledore as a young man in the prequel film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
  Rowling stated she chose the name Dumbledore, which is a dialectal word for "bumblebee", because of Dumbledore's love of music: she imagined him walking around "humming to himself a lot".
context_section_description: Rowling used several chapters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to reveal two major details concerning Dumbledore: his early life and his death. The book introduces his parents, Percival and Kendra Dumbledore, as well as his little sister, Ariana; his brother, Aberforth Dumbledore, was mentioned in previous books. At six years old, Ariana was attacked by three Muggle boys who had witnessed her performing magic. Because of this attack, Ariana was seriously traumatised and never able to control her magic again. Enraged, Percival attacked the Muggle boys (killing them in the film version), and was given a life sentence in Azkaban. After this, Kendra moved her family to the village of Godric's Hollow. In one of her outbursts, Ariana accidentally killed Kendra at around the time that Albus completed his education. Albus became the head of the family and was forced to remain in his house with his sister while Aberforth completed his education.
  Soon afterward, a young Gellert Grindelwald arrived in Godric's Hollow to live with his great-aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, author of A History of Magic. The two young men took to each other immediately, and together they dreamed of a world ruled by wizards over Muggles by uniting the legendary Deathly Hallows. They believed that if they were forced to destroy a few along the way, it would still be "for the greater good", and the sufferings and losses would be rewarded a hundredfold in the end. However, this scenario would never happen, as an argument between Albus, Aberforth, and Grindelwald led to a duel that resulted in Ariana's death. For the rest of his life, Albus felt guilty, never certain whether it was his own curse or another's that had killed his sister. Grindelwald stormed back to Bagshot's home and departed to begin his own rule, leaving the country hours later. As a result of his mistakes, Albus felt that he was not to be trusted with power and, because of this, never took the position of Minister for Magic, despite being offered it several times. Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts as professor of Transfiguration, and he served in recruiting students for the school.
  Decades later, in 1945, Dumbledore finally defeated the now-Dark wizard Grindelwald, who had come to possess the Elder Wand. Grindelwald's defeat made Dumbledore the master of the Elder Wand, which remained his until just before his death, when Draco used the Disarming Charm on him.
  Dumbledore had another Hallow in his keeping since the death of James Potter: the Invisibility Cloak, which he had borrowed to examine. When James died, Dumbledore kept the cloak and decided to pass it on to Harry, James' son.
  The truth about Dumbledore's death is revealed through Snape's last memories in the Pensieve. Harry learns that Dumbledore made a terrible error by placing a cursed ring on his right hand, sometime between the fifth and sixth book, forgetting the curses that must be on the ring. The ring held the Resurrection Stone, which Dumbledore hoped to use to allow him to apologise to his sister and parents. Dumbledore called Snape to help him; however, when Snape arrived and assessed the curse, all he could do was contain it. Snape told Dumbledore that he had little more than a year to live. After hearing this news, Dumbledore revealed to Snape that he knew about Voldemort's plan to have Draco kill him. He asked Snape to use the Killing Curse on him when the time came because he did not want Draco to have to kill him, saying that the boy's soul was still intact; Draco's soul would have been damaged in killing Dumbledore out of malice, whereas Snape was fully aware that he would be merely sparing Dumbledore pain and humiliation. He also intended for Snape to be the one to kill him and for the Elder Wand to be buried with him, in order to prevent the wand from being passed on again.
  Dumbledore's spirit appears to Harry towards the end of the book in a limbo-like King's Cross, after Harry is struck with the Killing Curse which was conjured by Voldemort. During the last book, Harry finds out that he must die because he is a Hor
caption: The Elder Wand, as reproduced in Harry Potter Warner Bros. films
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