#pro dumbledore

i am very unfairly gellert biased. i know.

but i think a misconception is that people just assume im an albus hater or think that hes a bad guy

i don’t. both boys had equal blame (maybe gellert had a little more) on what happened after ariana’s death. gellert was arrogant and desperate because he didn’t understand family love. albus could not express his choice and how he felt well enough to gellert.

it’s not really albus’s fault btw.

i’m not an albus hater, i just kind of over-defend gellert. and most of the time i know i over-defend him so im trying not to do that in my fanfic

Dumbledore's office looks pretty incredible in the show so far! Looks like the show - like the movies - went with a kind of multilayered look. Which makes sense for a tower office for a headmaster if you ask me.

In honor of HBO dropping their first trailer for the new Harry Potter tv show, I thought I would do a quick breakdown of the three different outfits we have seen Dumbledore in so far.

Promotional Outfit

This look gives us a very clear sense of how HBO is going to approuch Dumbledore's robes, and it is a noticeable shift away from the brighter, more decorative styles of the early films. The outer robe is a deep burgundy velvet with what appear to be maybe blue stripes that almost reads as black in low light, with a soft sheen that suggests a heavy, slightly worn fabric, and the cut is entirely traditional—long, flowing, and loose, with wide sleeves that open at the cuffs and reveal a slightly different tone inside, adding subtle depth without any need for embroidery or pattern, which is entirely absent here; beneath it, we see only hints of a very dark inner robe, likely black or deep brown, keeping the palette nearly monochromatic, while the hat follows the same restrained logic, being a soft, slouched cap in a dark, matte fabric with only light trim and embellishment, giving him more the look of a scholar than a theatrical wizard; his hair and beard are long and natural, less styled than in earlier portrayals, blending into the robe and creating a continuous vertical silhouette, and this is paired with minimal accessories—just his half-moon glasses and a simple ring.

Beach Scene with Flamels

In the behind scenes photo of Dumbledore on the beach he is wearing what at first glance appears black robes but on closer inspection reads as a very dark, inky blue. The outer robe carries a faint, almost quilted or patterned finish that adds quiet richness without ever becoming decorative, and the cut is more structured than in the previous look, hanging closer to an overcoat with broader shoulders and a straighter line through the body, while the sleeves remain tight and controlled rather than dramatically flared. Beneath it, a similarly dark inner robe of burgundy and blue.

Trailer Dumbledore

Dumbledore is unambiguously a good guy, actually. fraught choices when he was young, but as an adult, and for the duration of the books? literally just doing his best to try to give the kid he can't figure out how to save the safest and happiest childhood he can get away with, constantly thwarted by safety and happiness doing their best to become mutually exclusive states of being for said kid

Loki is actually personally responsible for the vast majority of Thor's suffering, directly (he hurt Thor) or indirectly (the consequences of his actions led to Thor being hurt/losing people important to him/etc and those consequences would not have occurred had Loki been less of a dick/acted differently), and I don't think he deserves redemption of any kind. He's not sympathetic, he's just clever, and that's insufficient to make him forgivable. I also think Thor's position in Ragnarok (I've trusted Loki too many times and gotten burned for it and I no longer believe anything he says at all) is 100% valid and I would personally support him in staying mad instead of forgiving for like. at least a few centuries

Uchiha Itachi is not redeemable, nor do I pity him for the actions he himself committed; while I can see being sympathetic toward his position between a rock and a hard place, he lost all mourning privileges when he intentionally manipulated his younger brother to become a tool for his own suicide. His only redeeming feature is his association with Kisame, who-- unlike Itachi-- is a genuinely interesting character with interesting motivations instead of bullshit ones

the point of anakin skywalker's tragedy is that he could have made better choices and he didn't, not that the jedi somehow abused, neglected, or controlled him. He was always destined to destroy the sith, but HE'S the one who decided to become one of them, therefore requiring him to also destroy himself. He could have done it the right way if he wanted to, and externalizing the blame onto the Jedi is missing the point

speaking of which, the jedi are also unambiguously the good guys and trying to argue otherwise is ignoring the text

severus snape should have suffered more, actually; he's a self-obsessed gross little worm man who needs to let go of the girl he drove away by his own actions and choices, but he never actually becomes that mature. He never grew up past being an immature, whiny teenager and unlike sirius black, whose time incarcerated makes sense to have essentially paused his progress toward becoming a mature and responsible adult in at least some ways, snape was literally living a life and doing a grown up job and STILL never figured out how to be a grown-ass man instead of a slimy homunculus more interested in tormenting children than teaching them.

Qui-Gon Jinn? also unambiguously a good guy. He and the council don't hate each other actually. he is neither the paragon of all that the jedi should have been nor a terrible master and friend who should be scorned for his behavior; he's literally just a regular jedi. because the jedi are good people, and so is he.

Uchiha obito is more interesting when we remember that he's the kind of guy who would try to end the world because Rin died and try to imagine what was going on in his head when he was a kid that made him that way instead of coming up with reasons to make him Not be that kind of person

Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata deserve to be allowed to be housewives if they want to be, actually. To make things even more interesting they should have entirely different motivations for doing so

No actually, the Marauders and Co. are not child soldiers. Harry was, Draco and Regulus fate were inspired by Hitler youth (don't know how to say it in English sorry) but the Marauders? They were adults by 17 in the wizarding community, a society were adulthood goes REALLY fast: you usually marry your highschool sweetheart, there doesn't seem to be higher education after graduation...

Plus, James and Sirius were considered to be extremely powerful and talented, Remus was obviously really smart and his implication in the war was so personnal it only made sense he would be part of it (you could argue he's the only one who might have been part of some Dumbledore's plan but it would be much grayer than that: enrolling a werewolf at school could have been out of pure sympathy and feeling of justice or it could be to use him and have a werewolf by your side and in your pocket; or it could be both.), Peter was also, and despite what the narrative paints him as, definitely powerful once he was given instructions, Lily is seen as a talented in potions and able to cast powerful spells, Severus was literally a potion master by the time he hit 16 years old.

Marlene age was unknown, Dorcas as well.

It was clear that Harry being used as a pawn made Dumbledore uncomfortable and guilty while being made for the greater good. It would not have half the impact is he was used to this.

Why would he turned out the help of so many talented ADULTS? He HELPED Lily and James and wanted to be their secret keeper? He actually was disgusted by Snape's actions? DUMBLEDORE IS NOT A VILLAIN FOLKS.

"He didn't save Regulus." Regulus was barely changing his views (if we analyze the text he probably was) when he died. He never went to Dumbledore, he would not have and obviously thought of Voldemort as an enemy but 1) the Order of Phoenix were a SECRET association. 2) bro had been endoctrinated for YEARS, he might have started to change his views but to trust someone he thought of as the enemy would have taken much more time 3) I don't think he was trustful toward anyone: his family were all ennemies by association and his most trusted companion was his house elf, someone who's literally obliged to serve him and obey him.

"He didn't save Draco." He tried. He asked Severus to protect his soul. He asked him to kill him just so that Draco wouldn't have to do it. It might have been Dumbledore's greatest action toward Draco. It saved him from being a murderer AND his own guilt to not protect his family.

Dumbledore emprisoned and fought his one true love to protect the Muggles, people that destroyed his family and made his sister's life a living hell.

Dumbledore turned down power over and over again despite being very attracted to it because he knew no man should ever have it. He continued to be a Headmaster and cared very much for the children there, especially them being happy and having fun. It's crazy how much he thought about it, but he gave his heart in making school a funny thing, letting them sing however they want, waiting until they had eaten to tell them important stuff...

He cared for their security as well, even if Hogwarts has that reputation IRL in book it was seen as 1) pretty safe, even safer that Gringotts 2) it's children books, Kids need to fight some dragons for it to be fun 3) it's not that well written sometimes 4) the Wizarding world is fucking dangerous, Hogwarts didn't do that bad tbh

I do think Dumbledore wasn't per say the best person ever, but he was a man who tried to change society. Maybe very slowly, maybe not enough, but he did his fucking best and fought against supremacy and government control.

He let Harry discovered for himself about him having to die, he let him makes his own choice. It was one kid's life, a kid he canonically loved deeply. DUMBLEDORE WAS ALWAYS UP TO SACRIFICE, he made this choice for himself and let Harry do the same. He also helped him be able to survive it and, maybe it was actually him at the end and once again, he gave Harry the choice to go back to living with his friends or dying and reunite with his family, while guiding him on the path of life ("do not pity the dead, pity the living and above all the ones that live without love" he might be talking about Voldemort or about himself, who lived without it for years, reminding Harry HE is actually loved.)