Skip to main content

harry potter - Why Didn't Dumbledore Take the Sword of Gryffindor With Him to the Sea Cave (Locket Horcrux)?


Dumbledore took Harry along with him to the sea cave where the locket Horcrux was hidden because he felt Harry had earned the right to accompany him. However, why did Dumbledore neglect to bring the Sword of Gryffindor with him to destroy the Horcrux?


First, Dumbledore was sure he had found where the locket Horcrux was hidden -- in the sea cave. He did not know how it was protected or what kind of enchantments it had placed on it. Second, Dumbledore knew for certain by this time that the Sword of Gryffindor could destroy Horcruxes, for he himself used it to destroy Marvolo Gaunt's ring, plus he had arranged to leave the sword to Harry in his will by this time for the purpose of Harry using it to destroy Horcruxes. Third, Dumbledore had no way of knowing beforehand that the Horcrux in the sea cave was a fake, and that he would not need to actually destroy it. Finally, Dumbledore put Harry's life in great jeopardy by taking him along to the sea cave to begin with -- why not bring along the sword for extra magical protection? After all, Dumbledore had no idea how this Horcrux would react, whether it was cursed, poisonous, etc.


To have access to a rare magical object which could absolutely, one-hundred-percent destroy Horcruxes, and to not take it on a Horcrux-hunting mission, is so inexplicable.


Why did Dumbledore do this? Why did he leave the Sword of Gryffindor behind on the night he and Harry went to the sea cave to recover the locket Horcrux?


Please no answers sourced solely from the HP Wiki/Wikia -- answers based in canon or speculative answers based in the spirit of canon are welcome.



Answer



I don't think Dumbledore wanted to risk losing the sword. Dumbledore knew his death was near; he ordered Snape to kill him instead of Malfoy. While he may not have known it was that day, Dumbledore was prepared for it to be that day. Dumbledore used the sword in the summer of 1996 to destroy the Ring Horcrux. What happened after that?


We know Snape treated the immediate effects of the curse. We know Dumbledore expected Voldemort to order Malfoy to kill him. Upon finding out that his death was at hand, Dumbledore commanded Snape to kill him before Malfoy could succeed. I believe at that point, Dumbledore considered each day as his last. He had a specific plan for the Sword. I believe either Dumbledore himself placed the real Sword in a hole in the wall behind where his portrait would be, or he gave it to Snape then, and had him do it after his death. Either way, I don't think Dumbledore was willing to use it at the time. It was too risky to jeopardize his plan for the Sword in order to destroy the Locket that day. He knew Harry could do it when he received the Sword, with much less risk to the Sword. Dumbledore didn't want to remove the sword from either its hiding place or Snape's possession, and risk losing the sword due to his impending death.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more