Yahoo News Harry Potter theory will change how you see Dumbledore
So… the thing about the Harry Potter fandom is it's filled with all sorts of fan theories, some good, some bad and some indifferent. But we think we just might have come across the wackiest yet. Bear with us, because this is going to get complicated…
Remember Beedle the Bard's fairy story about the Three Brothers and the Deathly Hallows? It's kind of a vital part of the last two films, hence the title 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.
It turns out the story actually works on more than one level – and it might just be implying that Dumbledore is Death...
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A quick recap for those who might have forgotten, the story goes as follows:
Three brothers go to a river, and build a bridge to cross it, thus foiling Death who usually collects victims who drown in it. Death pretends to congratulate them, and offers them each a reward for their success. The oldest brother asks for an unbeatable wand, the middle brother for a stone which will bring people back from the dead, and the youngest (and wisest) for something which will allow him to leave without Death following him. He is given Death's own Invisibility Cloak.
The oldest brother uses the wand to fight his enemy, and wins – but when he is sleeping, someone comes in and kills him and takes the wand for himself, and thus Death claims the first brother. The middle brother uses the stone to bring back his dead fiancee, but she is only a shade of her former self, and he becomes so miserable that he commits suicide, and Death claims the second brother. The third brother uses the cloak to lead a long and happy life, at the end of which he takes off the cloak and gives it to his son, and greets Death 'as an old friend'.
Remember that it turns out that the story is based on reality, and the Deathly Hallows actually exist. Harry's Invisibility Cloak is the cloak the youngest brother used to hide from Death until he chose his own time of dying.
Dumbledore owns the Elder Wand, which is stolen from his grave by Voldemort (who doesn't realise that, as Draco Malfoy has disarmed him, and Harry has disarmed Draco, the wand actually owes its allegiance to Harry).
The Resurrection Stone is found by Dumbledore in a ring that Voldemort has used to make a Horcrux, and he bequeaths it inside a snitch to Harry – who thus, at the end of the series, is the owner of all three Deathly Hallows.
This theory has it that the characters in the fairy tale actually relate to characters in the Harry Potter series itself.
The Youngest Brother is, obviously, Harry. He is, after all, actually related to the Peverells, the original Brothers – and the cloak has been handed down in his family ever since its creation.
The Middle Brother is Snape. The Oldest Brother is Voldemort. Death is Dumbledore.
Harry has the Invisibility Cloak but also doesn't try to cheat Death. So Harry walks to his death in the story of the Deathly Hallows, but ends up meeting Dumbledore – Death – whom he 'greets as an old friend', and who tells him he can go on living. As far as we can see from the Epilogue and the Cursed Child, he's living a reasonably long and happy life, just as the Youngest Brother did.
Severus Snape, on the other hand, has his life defined by wanting to bring a particular woman back to life. He wants more than anything to bring Lily back. He's the only one who doesn't get the associated Deathly Hallow in reality. But when he fears for Lily, he goes to Death (Dumbledore) and ends up with the charge of looking after Harry, Lily's son.
So he gets back Lily, but in a form which isn't the same and which he doesn't like, just as the Middle Brother found that his returned version of his wife wasn't the same. Eventually – albeit reluctantly – he lets Harry go to die, and although he doesn't kill himself, he doesn't try to escape his own early death.
Voldemort, on the other hand, like the Oldest Brother wants to be powerful and unbeatable. He also steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore (Death). But it has a different master, and therefore ends up being his destruction. Plus, the little Horcrux which was inside Harry ends up with Dumbledore – Death – when Harry 'dies', and Harry is told that it cannot be saved. Death passes judgment.
Is that what JK Rowling intended? Who knows, quite possibly not. But it does make a weird sort of sense.
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