Skip to main content

Why didn't Dumbledore himself become secret keeper for the Potters?


This would have been the best way. Nobody can hope to capture Dumbledore and force the secret out of him. It's not about the Potters' preference. Surely the best person for the job would have been Dumbledore?



Answer



He offered to do so:



“James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself… and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters’ Secret-Keeper himself.”


— Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 10 (The Marauder’s Map)



Apparently James and Lily preferred one of their friends (or so they believed) to be their Secret-Keeper over Dumbledore, but I don’t think we get any reason why. Here’s a few that I thought of:




  • Dumbledore was already a high-profile target, and was near the top of Voldemort’s hit list. They probably wanted somebody more low-profile and less likely to draw attention.


  • Perhaps they weren’t sure about Dumbledore. Shortly before they went into hiding, he’s brought Snape (the former Death Eater and schoolyard rival) into the folds of the Order. As we learn at the end of Deathly Hallows,



    Snape comes to Dumbledore when he learns that Harry is the target, and asks Dumbledore to hide them. Presumably this is what motivated the Fidelius Charm – thus Snape would have been accepted before they went into hiding.



    I don’t think either of them were too keen on Snape at this point. They wouldn’t be the only people to doubt Dumbledore’s judgement about Snape, and maybe that was a deciding factor.



  • Dumbledore may not have agreed with the Potters over who to allow to know, and kept them from seeing their friends. (Or they may have worried that this would be the case.)



As for “It's not about the Potters' preference”, are you suggesting that Dumbledore force them to use him as Secret-Keeper? Coercion isn’t really his style, and that would be a great way to ensure they never trust him again.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more