Owl Me Anything: Dumbledore, Arthur and Molly

[author_by_night]

lindalupos asked: What are your thoughts on Dumbledore, and on Mr and Mrs Weasley, now you're rereading the series as an adult?

Hm... I'm not sure that much has changed in reading it while I'm older, per se, but here is what I've come away with in re-reading.

Dumbledore: I think Dumbledore is complicated, because he acts as almost a mystical character, albeit a fallible one who sometimes has to own his mistakes. do sometimes wonder if there isn't meant to be a mystical component to his character - but I think mostly, he is just an incredibly smart and gifted wizard who, at times, took being smart and gifted much too far. But he's also often been right in his leaps of faith - which, at times, are huge. Harry saved the stone, and survived walking to his own death.

I DO think Dumbledore kept way too much to himself, however. Especially Horcruxes. Of course, we know members of the original Order had been killed, so it is possible that some of them knew. Also, I feel like the Horcrux theory was only confirmed in HBP, with it taking many years of interviews and, finally, Slughorn's (real) memory.

His character is probably the one I changed my mind about the most, primarily while the books were still coming out. I hated him after OoTP because of Sirius, but I acknowledged his complexity in HBP and DH and liked him more for it.

(Fun quirk: I think it was the Diagon Alley theme, but in any case, one of the HP movie themes goes "duh duh duh, duh duh duh, duh duh duh." My quirkster brain turned it into "Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Dum-ble-dore!")

Arthur Weasley: A little obsessed with Muggles to patronizing levels, but on the other hand, this is toned down in the later books - enough so that I may even call "early installment weirdness" for this one. (Yes, I DO throw around TV Tropes terms.) That, or JKR decided being obsessed with Muggles and their funny ways had more sour implications during a war.

Otherwise, I quite like Arthur. I think beneath his occasional awkwardness he has very solid solid principles. He keeps what seems to be something of a lower level job rather than waver from his views. I do wish we'd seen more of Perkins, though!

Molly Weasley: I like her. Don't have much to say about her other than "not my daughter, you bitch!" Also, I love how she just takes in Harry without question.

One thing that strikes me about the Weasleys too is that they seem to have had biases, given Ron's reaction to Remus being a werewolf in PoA (although he DID think the guy was trying to kill his friend), and Ron's reaction to Hagrid being half-giant, which was almost word for word "it's okay because it's Hagrid." Ron... learned those things from somewhere. However, they seem to regard Remus as a close friend by OoTP, and in HBP are encouraging him and Tonks to get married. I think they have their flaws, but are fundamentally good people who are open to change when they realize it's needed.

Comments

[hildigunnur]

I think that Ron's "learned" biases are very realistic element. It's realistic to me that the Weasleys do have some prejudices, the Wizarding World is very conservative so I think it's to be expected. And they are, as you say, open to change.

[author_by_night]

Oh, learned prejudices are definitely realistic - it happens, unfortunately. It's a matter of realizing you were mistaken and changing, which the Weasleys do. :)