I delayed in commenting because I wanted to finish my second read of DH first. Looking over the comments I can see that my comment is in the minority. I think Greg in Toronto was the only one I noticed that shared my view - My RESPECT for Dumbledore went way up after DH. I mean he IS the mastermind.

As far as what he did to Harry - nothing he was not willing to do himself. Die, I mean.

As far as what he did to Snape. My response is this - yeah, it is easy to say “I’m sorry.” What Dumbledore said is Prove IT, Man UP! And, I think he was Totally Right.

As for occlumency, I always believed it was something wizards/witches learn…some can do it better than others.

As for occulmency, does anyone think it could be something you are born with? like parseltongue. Also do you think Snape looked into DD’s mind or do you think they both blocked each other out?

I suppose it shows that even though he was a wise wizard he to could be tempted because of a weakness (his love of his sister). I like the way it all seems to come back to love.

I also had a thought that maybe the reason he said he trusted Snape infalliably was because he too had his past with his sister and it was partly his fault she was killed so he could see directly what Snape was going through.

Its funny before book 7 I used to see Dumbledore as this great wizard capable of anything and after book 7, I see him as an old man that is very good at magic.

And that Dumbledore´s plan ultimately did work out…I see a lot of sheer luck involved there. (the Elder Wand?)

Ok, on to Dumbledore, I have to say that I personally admire Dumbledore a whole lot more, now that we have his backstory mapped out for us in Deathly Hallows- all the detail that Rowling managed to carve out a much more fully defined and interesting character who I think manages to encapsulate many of Rowling’s own political views and helps to ideologically contextualize the series in general. Ulitmately, I see a person who I think has been isolated by his own intellect, who had grappled with his own corruption by power, paid a horrible price for his incredible arrogrance and who consequently makes the hard choice by actively adopting a new political ideology(with a gradualist slang) and actively putting it into action by helping to bring about the fall of Voldemort.

Before getting into Dumbledore’s treatment and use of Harry and Snape, I just wanted to talk a bit about his ideological sensibilities, which relates to how he chooses to use Harry and Snape in his battle plan against Voldemort. Dumbledore’s platform of for “the greater good” goes through an interesting alchemy as we watch the events of DH play out. Greg laid this out pretty well in the podcast- through the death of Arianna, Dumbledore realizes that the greater good can not come from subjugating other people, it comes through the power of self-sacrifice. What is really interesting about Dumbledore’s letter to Gellert Grindelwald is that it reads very much like a political tract or Manifesto. A lot of philosophers and social theorists at the end of the nineteenth century looked to people like Karl Marx who saw revolution as the vehicle for promoting political change. It is interesting that Gellert and Dumbledore grew up in this era of ideological upheaval as Rowling has stated that events of the Muggle world tend to parallel that of the Wizarding world. What I admire most about Dumbledore is that he makes a very conscious decision to change his life, instead of falling further into the path of evil- he learns to concentrate his grief- and he actively repents for his mistakes. This is significant because I think making this kind of change is much harder than one would think. How many of us can say that we have made this kind of huge paradigm shift in our own personal lives? Tom Riddle never chooses the right path when Dumbledore meets him for the first time and easily recognizes the kind of arrogrance I think may have acted like a bit of a mirror for the person he used to be. Riddle really does not learn from his mistakes- he does not undergo the kind of transformation that Dumbledore does and he continues to use intimidation and force to attain his goals. Dumbledore is at the other end of the spectrum and chooses to use his extrodinary knowlege to not only extend the storehouse of wizarding knowledge but to use his influence to extend his benevolence through being Hogwarts Headmaster and passing on his ideals to the young, as well as helping to influence laws being formed by the Wizengamot. Dumbledore I think realizes that change can’t come quickly through bloody revolution and that changes come through the establishment of long-term goals. We see direct evidence of this in his development of the Order of the Phoenix, his study of Voldemort’s past, and his education of Harry to help him carry out the fall of Voldemort in the end.
Now, Dumbledore isn’t perfect, he did underestimate some of Harry’s abilities to be self-sacrificing by making his path even harder, but I think he was trying to help him do the right thing. Dumbledore I think had the bad habit of sometimes projecting his own failings and flaws onto other people- which also explains his treatment of Snape. I think what initially disgusts Dumbledore with Snape is Snape’s affinity for putting his own desires above the well-being of others and being selfish (he didn’t care about James and Harry being killed). Its true, Dumbledore used Snape’s loyatly to his love for Lily as a way of helping him use Snape to undermine Voldemort’s power, but at the same time he offered Snape a chance to perform a noble act and have his life really man something. Snape may not have had any love for Harry, but he definitely showed courage in the the loyalty he demonstrated to his love for Lily, and I think that ultmately still has value.

In any event, I still have a tremendous amount of respect for Dumbledore, despite what we learned of him. After all, the plan *did* work, and nearly perfectly at that. Logically, it makes sense for Dumbledore to conceal the “Harry was actually going to survive” bit of the plan from Snape. Not only could it have potentially compromised Snape’s position, but it would have totally nullified Harry’s sacrifice.

Also, the Thank-You book deadline IS extended. It’s now Saturday, September 15th, and everyone who has submitted and submits letters will be entered into a raffle for an HPProgs tee shirt!

I wonder if Dumbledore - or anyone for that matter - had simply told Harry that Voldie would try to lead Harry to the Department of Mysteries and by the way don’t go? - if Sirius would still be alive?

Although I’ve always respected Dumbledore, I’ve never gone out of my way to like him. He was the parent figure to Harry. Also, as mentioned in the podcasts, he never burdened people with the truth- could this also imply that he never told Harry about his past because it would make Harry obliged to be sorry? I don’t know, maybe one of the reasons he never shared his “power”. I really do think it was extremely selfish of him to not tell mention his past especially to Harry even once. Both he and Harry know the impact of his powers and he himself, and this kind of information could be crucial after his death.

Another thing that’s been bothering me, is why he never told Harry about the Deathly Hallows considering he had been looking for it for most of his life. Perhaps, he didn’t think it was significant enough in the search for the Horcruxes, but JKR wouldn’t have made the title of the 7th book it, if it weren’t important. As a reader, I’m just curious as to why Dumbledore never mentioned it to Harry. Like the way, Snape left Harry his memory, it was very coincidental.

Snape’s death, especially the way he died, disturbed me immesenly. After reading about Snape’s past, and Lily and all, I really hoped that JKR would have shown a little more sympathy when killing the bravest character [without doubt] in the series.

That’s all [for now]!

PS. I should mention I’m a huge fan of the site and that I’m from Thailand. Not to brag or anything, but you have a listener all the way from Asia. Just thought it would be cool for you guys to know.

PPS. Is the Sept. 1 deadline extended? I’d really like to add something ^^

I see Dumbledore as arrogant and still very power-hungry and his secrecy, which far from furthering the cause could have ruined many of his smart plans, as an instrument of power. Why for example didn´t he tell Snape about the Elder Wand? He would have been much better prepared for Voldemort´s actions. Why didn´t he tell Harry about the Hallows, but made a pointless game of it?

Ok…you’re right, Dumbledore used Snape. Dumbledore used Harry. and maybe Dumbledore set up Harry to die. Dumbledore wasn’t the person we thought he was - but as Harry acknowledged, did we even really know Dumbledore?

Putting things into a little perspective here - there’s an uber-villain running about - one that ostensibly can’t be killed. This villain is turning the world as you know it on its ear. The people that aren’t being killed or disappearing are living in fear. No one is immune. And you know with a little manipulation you can have a very effective spy and by guiding one young man to his death, you may be able to defeat ubervillain and restore peace and harmony to the world.

What do you do? What do you do?

I would be very interested to hear, maybe in some later episode, what you think about the way in which Dumbledore really pretty ruthlessly used Snape. That, more than my very ambiguous feelings about the concept of “the greater good” and even his use of Harry, is what I can´t be reconciled with about the “new” Dumbledore.

At least, he occasionally showed some remorse about having to use Harry, about having to set him up to die for the greater good. And ultimately they have the chance to make it up during the King´s Cross chapter as well as in the headmaster´s office when Harry is talking to portrait! Dumbledore.

But Dumbledore never seemed to regret what he was putting Snape through, had to put him through maybe, but all the same a little empathy would have been nice. And quite frankly Dumbledore would have really owed Snape that much at least. Dumbledore emotionally blackmails him into his role as spy, he effectively chains him to his feelings of guilt and forces him into a place where his only reason for living is atonement for past sins. And in the end, Snape finds that Dumbledore used him and lied to him from the beginning, that Harry was never meant to survive and he dies believing that his last act is sending Harry to his death too. Shame on Dumbledore for that!