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harry potter - Why didn't Dumbledore simply cut off his hand and make a new one?


Firstly, in the Deathly Hallows when Harry was re-living Snape's memories from the Pensive he saw Snape confining the curse to one hand on Dumbledore.


Secondly, Dumbledore is known to be a wizard of equal or of greater skill than Voldemort. Voldemort was capable of making a new hand for Pettigrew after he cut his off so that Voldemort could be revived.


Therefore logic dictates that Dumbledore should be capable of doing something similar, if I am right.


I have thought about it but I can't find any reason why Dumbledore didn't remove his cursed hand and grow a fresh one in its place.



Answer



Limbs or body parts that are cursed off by Dark Magic cannot grow back. Dumbledore's hand had been destroyed by Voldemort's powerful dark curse placed on the ring Horcrux. It may be that that rendered his hand too damaged to receive a new or prosthetic one:



‘Will George be OK?’

All Lupin’s frustration with Harry seemed to drain away at the question.

‘I think so, although there’s no chance of replacing his ear, not when it’s been cursed off –’




and



Harry saw a clean, gaping hole where George’s ear had been.

‘How is he?’

Mrs Weasley looked round and said, ‘I can’t make it grow back, not when it’s been removed by Dark Magic. But it could have been so much worse ... he’s alive.’

Deathly Hallows - pages 64 and 66 - Bloomsbury - chapter 5, The Fallen Warrior



Perhaps Dumbledore might have been able to be fitted for a prosthetic hand, but the exact parameters for having prosthetic devices in Potterverse isn't known. Also, JKR herself says not all things can be fixed by magic. I don't know if self-injury would be considered Dark Magic if magic happened to be involved in someone removing their own limb. You'll note that Wormtail cut off his own hand using a plain old knife and didn't use magic to sacrifice his hand. Perhaps that is the reason why Voldemort was able to give Wormtail a magical prosthetic hand -- Wormtail's hand wasn't cursed by Dark Magic while Dumbledore's was.


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