Why Dumledore is My Role Model

I have just spent my weekend in Provo, Utah at a North Star International [North Star] Conference. (North Star is organization that helps members of all faiths, but more particularly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS] who deal with same sex attraction or gender dysphoria remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the covenants that they have made. It also helps family, friends, loved ones, and church leaders understand how to help the people in their lives who experience these things.) I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to go and gain new insight and a renewal of my convictions and determination to move forward the way God would want ME to. Just because it is the way I feel like my life should go forward doesn’t mean that it is expected of other, every jot or tittle. Everyone is different and their path to God is an individual one. But one of the best things that I learned was how to make my relationships better and how to seek out healthy relationship, even while I deal with same sex attraction. I am grateful that I got to meet so many cool people during this conference. We are all children of God trying to do what is right.

When I got home, I forgot that my mom and little brother would be on Spring Break. My little brother is a huge, HUGE, Harry Potter fan. I am as well, but I think he surpassed me a while ago in nerdy-ness. But I woke up from my nap yesterday and got to watch the last half of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I must say that I prefer Richard Harris’ portrayal of Albus Dumbledore. He was a great mentor to Harry Potter and many others. Then it dawned on me. Dumbledore is homosexual. He could potentially be one of the greatest examples in literature for me, but I’ll get into that later, I want to focus on other attributes that he had.

*Disclaimer: Because I wanted to get this post out quickly I turned to Wikipedia to get most of this information, although I would love to spend time researching the books and Pottermore to gather all I can about his character, I hope you, the reader, will forgive me. But I am not writing this for profit, and you can read it as much on that page as you can in my post. So if the copyright police are out there, I think I covered my back.

Rowling stated she chose the name Dumbledore, which is an Early Modern English word for "bumblebee", because of Dumbledore's love of music: she imagined him walking around "humming to himself a lot".

The author has stated that she enjoys writing Dumbledore because he "is the epitome of goodness." Rowling said that Dumbledore speaks for her, as he "knows pretty much everything" about the Harry Potter universe. Rowling mentioned that Dumbledore regrets "that he has always had to be the one who knew, and who had the burden of knowing. And he would rather not know."

Albus Dumbledore was tall and thin, with silver hair and beard (auburn in his youth{Bryce again: I just want to say that I like him even more that he had auburn hair when he was younger cause Gingers are the best}) so long that they could be tucked into his belt. He had a very long and crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken at least twice. (It is speculated that his brother's punch during their sister's funeral may have played a role in shaping his nose.) He was also said to have long and skillful fingers. His eyes were described to be a brilliant, soul-piercing shade of blue, and usually twinkled with kindness and mischief.

Dumbledore wore half-moon spectacles and a colorful array of robes, ranging from purple to bright orange. He once claimed to have a scar above his left knee in the precise shape of a map of the London Underground, but whether or not he actually does is unknown. His demeanor is often – if not always – serene and ethereal, and he usually spoke in a calm, pleasant voice even when Harry thought that he was actually furious.

During the last year of his life, Dumbledore's right hand was scarred when he donned Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, which was cursed. Had Severus Snape not intervened with a counter-curse, Dumbledore would have died much more quickly. Regardless, the curse left his hand blackened and dead-looking, and no amount of healing could repair the appearance. According to Snape, the curse would eventually spread itself from the contained hand, and Dumbledore was doomed to die in no more than one year's time. Whether this means the blackening dead-look appearance would spread throughout the entire body is unknown.

Considered the most powerful wizard in the world, Dumbledore is benevolent and wise, a good wizard in the style of Merlin. He almost constantly gives off an aura of serenity and composure, rarely displaying intense emotions of anger or fear. Yet despite his benign nature, it is said that Dumbledore was the only wizard Lord Voldemort ever truly feared.

+Remember this next part:

Dumbledore is very eccentric and even slightly effeminate; he is very fond of knitting patterns and frequently wears flamboyant clothing (at one point, he is seen wearing a flowered bonnet). He is also known for his odd displays of whimsicality; he often uses humor to make people feel comfortable in his presence.

+So good, right! I loved his attention to detail and that he was fashionable, if not for anyone else, for himself. And that he cared about others and that they would feel comfortable in his presence.

In the Chamber of Secrets DVD interview, screenwriter Steve Kloves stated that he considers Dumbledore a fascinating character because of the wisdom he provides, but he feels that "Dumbledore bears such a tremendous dark burden, and he knows secrets and I think in many ways he bears the weight of the future of the wizard world" and the "only way that he can keep that at bay, the darkness, is to be whimsical and humorous".

As a supremely talented wizard, Dumbledore displays numerous examples of extraordinary powers. His abilities as a wizard are combined with a kind of cunning and subtlety of mind that allowed him to comprehend human nature and turn the better aspects of humanity (trust, love, and friendship) to Voldemort's disadvantage in particular.

More than anything else, Dumbledore has a deep capacity for love, frequently reminding Harry that love was the greatest magic of all. Dumbledore believes in the good in everyone and insists on giving second chances. The greatest example of this is Dumbledore's relationship with Severus Snape, in whom Dumbledore is willing to place a considerable amount of faith because he showed remorse. Dumbledore is highly perceptive and emotionally intelligent; his knowledge of a person's true personality goes beyond simply being a good judge of character. This is never more apparent than in his complex insights into Voldemort's psyche, which he pieces together with Harry to deduce where Voldemort's horcruxes are hidden.

However, in spite of Dumbledore's many extraordinary qualities, he was no saint. According to Rowling, "Although Dumbledore seems to be so benign for six books, he's quite a Machiavellian figure, really. He's been pulling a lot of strings." In a 2005 interview, Rowling commented: "Immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes, and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that." Dumbledore's greatest personality flaw, which he explained to Harry, was his desire for power. He eventually found that those best suited for power are those who do not seek it. When he and Gellert Grindelwald met each other, they made plans to enslave Muggles and re-establish wizards as the natural rulers of the world. However, Dumbledore fell from this fantasy after his sister Ariana Dumbledore was killed during a duel between himself, Aberforth Dumbledore, and Grindelwald.

Dumbledore was haunted by his sad family history. In particular, he was riddled with guilt over the circumstances surrounding the death of his sister. He felt enormous remorse for his selfishness and was tortured for the rest of his life by the possibility that he might have been the one who cast the spell that killed his sister. When he looked into the Mirror of Erised, he saw himself redeemed in the eyes of his brother and his entire family alive and together.

+Okay! And for the great finale. I remember this being a big issue of turmoil among fans and critics. Even in my closeted state, I had a hard time believing what J. K. Rowling was about to reveal about Dumbledore, and just after he died in the 6^th book and the 7^th book had just come out a few months earlier.

On 19 October 2007, Rowling was asked by a young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." Rowling said that she always thought of Dumbledore as being homosexual and that he had fallen in love with Gellert Grindelwald, which was Dumbledore's "great tragedy"; Rowling did not explicitly state whether Grindelwald returned his affections. Rowling explains this further by elaborating on the motivations behind Dumbledore's flirtation with the idea of wizard domination of Muggles: "He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrustful of his own judgement in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and a bookish life."

+Unrequited love has been a part of my life, from both guys and girls, so the fact if Grindelwald returned the affection or not is not that big of a deal. But I too have been blinded by my crushes and have done things that I may not have done otherwise, both good and bad things. But Dumbledore eventually realized where his feelings were taking him and cut that relationship of and became the man that we know and love. Who is to say if he would have achieved as much greatness if he was in a homosexual relationship? J. K. Rowling, that’s who. But he didn’t. It also doesn’t say that he didn’t struggle with those feelings ever again, just that he became quite asexual. I’m not ruling out marriage right now in my life, but I am saying that I am happy where I am. I can still achieve good in my life. I can be a source of good for others, helping them learn from my experiences or helping them on their way to have their own to make them better people. So thank you J. K. Rowling for Dumbledore. I have a literary role model that has showed me that it is possible. That love is the most important thing, and that love doesn’t have to be sexual to be sincere.

God Bless! Until Next Time!