Why Albus Dumbledore Is Problematic

Everyone has their disagreements with characters from their favorite book, especially when there are more than one book in a series. When the Harry Potter books came out, I was a teenager. So I loved reading these books over and over again, even as I got older. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began to see the errors of some of the characters. Some characters, like Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, eventually grew out of their flaws. But you have characters like Albus Dumbledore that seemed to have more issues the further into the series that you got.

One of the biggest issues that I have with Dumbledore is that he left Harry on his aunt’s doorstep. I know that this may seem like one of the lowest grievances on this list, but it really rubs me the wrong way. I have never been to England, but I have watched enough British people on YouTube to know that it gets very cold in England around October. So why would someone leave a 1-year-old, wrapped only in a blanket, on a doorstep, at the beginning of November? He could have at least rang the doorbell to tell the Dursley’s that he was there. Not to mention that anyone could have walked up to the house and stolen the sleeping child from the step before the Dursley’s even knew their nephew was on that step.

The next issue that I have is the issue with the Horcrux. Dumbledore knew what was in Harry’s scar, and he knew what Harry would have to go through. While I can understand why he may have thought to not tell Harry, as to let him grow up without this hanging over his head, but I don’t understand why he left it to Snape to tell him in the end. Snape said it best, he basically raised Harry as a pig for slaughter.

An issue that I have that has nothing to do with Harry is Sirius. Dumbledore was the one who put the charm over the Potter house when they went into hiding, so he had to have known that Sirius was not the secret keeper. Then comes Sirius’ lack of a trial. As the Supreme Mugwump and the head of the Wizengamot, he could have demanded to see the transcripts of Sirius’ trial and then given him a proper trial once he realized that Sirius had not received one.

Remus Lupin… where do I begin? Dumbledore opened the doors of Hogwarts to the young werewolf, only to send him out to infiltrate wolf packs when he graduated. Not only does Lupin not accept his wolf, he also has grievance towards anyone who has come to accept their wolf. Then you have to think of the pack mentality of the wolf. To Remus, the Marauders were his pack, as they spent every full moon together. So, Harry would have been the pup of his pack, even though he was not Remus’. So, you can imagine how much it must have hurt him to have to leave his pup at the school, knowing the war was coming.

Last, but certainly not least, is Severus Snape. This began to go wrong the moment Severus went to Albus to save Lily. He promised to care for Lily’s child, even though he did not want to look at the child at first. After he became a spy, Dumbledore asked a lot of a man who had just lost the woman who had been his best friend. He also put a lot on him when he asked him to kill him when he got his hand cursed. While he had some good reasons for doing so, it was as if he did not worry what could happen if Severus were to crack under the pressure of his many roles.