The story of Dumbledore and the Resurrection Rock was cloaked in secrecy inHarry Potter and the One-half-Claret Prince. How did Dumbledore get the Resurrection Stone? And what happened to his hand? By reading between the lines, you can notice the real tragedy backside Dumbledore and the Resurrection Stone.

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Harry Potter and the One-half-Blood Prince isn't my favorite book in the Harry Potter series for a number of reasons. The outset reason is that information technology begins with a somewhat tedious affiliate (pitiful, Jo) that's meant to grab up the folks who oasis't been reading the preceding books religiously, and to set up the events to come up. A conversation betwixt the Prime Government minister and onetime Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, only isn't terribly engrossing.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back cover / CR: Kazu Kibuishi / Scholastic

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back cover / CR: Kazu Kibuishi / Scholastic

Another reason information technology'southward not my favorite volume in the Harry Potter serial is all the teen romance drama. I've discovered I may be in the minority in this; several fans I've spoken to, including my own family members, enjoy the beloved triangle of Hermione, Ron and Lavender. I discover it all rather giddy, simply perhaps I am reminded too much of my ain silly youth. Conversely, I exercise enjoy watching Harry and Ginny come together as a couple, probably because I'm but and then thankful Harry hassome happiness in his life.

The last reason I don't savourHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is because the entire volume has the feel of a penultimate affiliate. Yes, incredible events take place, including one of the most of import events in the series: the death of Dumbledore. Merely fifty-fifty the death of such an important graphic symbol merely feels like information technology'due south function of a prologue to what we know is coming: the inevitable battle betwixt the Death Eaters and the practiced guys, and the fight betwixt Voldemort and Harry.

Save the All-time for Last

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, however, is brimming with information and stories that volition become of import simply subsequently, even stories that, after reading the unabridged series and looking back, analyze and so much about what led to that last duel. And most Dumbledore and the Resurrection Stone. In fact,Harry Potter and the Half-Claret Prince is actually nearly Dumbledore, although yous don't necessarily realize it at the offset.

Later the tedious showtime chapter, Dumbledore arrives at Number 4 Privet Bulldoze to escort Harry to the Burrow. Harry notices Dumbledore's hand is blackened, merely when he asks about information technology, Dumbledore politely puts him off. We, likewise, put the matter aside, until information technology'south brought to our attending again, later in the book. Each time Harry asks nearly the damaged hand, Dumbledore delays explaining.

Sadly, Harry never gets to hear Dumbledore tell his thrilling tale. Dumbledore is killed at the top of the Astronomy Tower before he can tell information technology.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince / CR: Kazu Kibuishi / Scholastic

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince / CR: Kazu Kibuishi / Scholastic

One gets the sense, throughout the entire book, that Dumbledore is purposely keeping his story to himself. Dumbledore is very intelligent, and uses his words wisely. So, if he wanted to tell Harry how his hand came to be injured, he would have fabricated sure that there was a time and a identify for it.

The question becomes, why doesn't Dumbledore tell Harry about his blackened manus? The answer is that to do so, he would have to reveal something about himself that he did non wish Harry to encounter. He would have opened himself up, bared his heart and soul, and exposed what he probably considered to be his worst shame.

The Trouble with Hallows

After readingHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we know that Marvolo Gaunt'southward ring, the one Dumbledore tells Harry he establish at the former Gaunt home, was a Horcrux. We also know that Dumbledore had a difficult time destroying it. When Dumbledore doesn't explain his blackened paw, nosotros assume that the Horcrux put upward a expert fight and somehow injured him. But that was not the instance.

InHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we learn that the stone in Marvolo Gaunt'southward onetime band is actually the Resurrection Rock, one third of the Deathly Hallows. Hermione reads the story of the Deathly Hallows inThe Tales of Beedle the Bard, which explains that ane of the Peverell brothers turned the rock over three times in club to bring back from the expressionless the woman he loved.

We likewise learn more about Dumbledore inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, like the fact that Aberforth, the possessor of the Hog'southward Head, is his blood brother. And we find out he had a sister, Ariana, who suffered a horrible attack at the easily of Muggles when she was a child, an set on that left her non quite right. Equally Harry pieces together Dumbledore'southward past, from conversations he has with Elphias Doge and Aberforth, and from reading Rita Skeeter's horrible biography,The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, we get a clearer picture show of the young Dumbledore, who is very different from the Headmaster who takes Harry nether his fly.

When Dumbledore was immature, he and Gellert Grindelwald, who is subsequently imprisoned, imagined reining in Muggles for "the greater practiced," using the Deathly Hallows. They became obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore was completely focused on his own ambitions, fifty-fifty after his mother, Kendra, died and he was left to care for his brother and sis. He neglected them, which made Aberforth resent him terribly. The tension between Albus and Aberforth came to a head in a three-way duel between the two brothers and Grindelwald. Sadly, Ariana was hitting and killed.

Harry Potter (Credit: Jim Kay © 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.)

Harry Potter (Credit: Jim Kay © 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.)

We can only surmise that Ariana's death forced him to mature and become more than selfless, although the damage was already done. At this betoken, Dumbledore must have taken a turn away from his original path, because we know he defeated Grindelwald (who was also his lover, equally J.K. Rowling later revealed), and he became a champion for Muggles. He spent the balance of his life eschewing power (he was asked many times to run for Minister of Magic and refused), and trying to do enough expert in the world that he could assuage his guilt over Ariana'southward death.

Regrets, I Accept a Few

Now, imagine, Dumbledore enters Marvolo Gaunt's home, many years afterward the death of his little sister. He finds the Resurrection Stone, which is said to bring back the expressionless. Can y'all imagine how conflicted he must accept been? He needed to destroy the slice of Voldemort'due south soul that was living in the band, but here, after and then long, was his adventure to see his sis and beg for her forgiveness.

We know how the Horcrux spoke to Ron inHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, how it played on Ron's fears and insecurities. So, imagine what the Horcrux would have said to Dumbledore, or shown to him, to try to keep him from destroying information technology. Dumbledore, feeling and then guilty and having go such a good person, couldn't resist putting on the ring and trying to go on his sister live, with him. Merely, nighttime magic was at work and if he hadn't acted as speedily as he did, he would accept died instantly, rather than walk away with a blackened hand.

Dumbledore never told Harry how his manus was blackened because he did not want Harry to know that he had had a moment of weakness. He did not to explicatewhy he had tried on the band, which would mean revealing his greatest regret. Finally, I too call up he did non desire to explicate the Deathly Hallows to Harry, face to face. Possibly in doing and then, he would accept revealed his obsession with them (think how he secretly kept the Invisibility Cloak for a while?), or revealed that previously, he had quested for power.

Trying on Marvolo Gaunt's ring was one of very few mistakes Dumbledore made in all vii books. Being a human being who rarely makes mistakes, I'g certain he was reluctant to admit his fault. And, no uncertainty, in telling the story, he would take to re-live the scene that would haunt him until his end: the death of Ariana.

Dumbledore and the Resurrection Stone were fated to meet in that filthy hut. And the Resurrection Stone was Dumbledore's final mistake.

Want more than about Harry Potter? Download my free ebook Harry Potter In-Depth: Beyond Butterbeer and Boggarts. You lot'll learn more about the Crouch family unit, the Resurrection Rock, and what it means to be a Harry Potter geek.

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Paradigm credits (peak to bottom): Original Mary Grand Pré cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Claret Prince; #two Harry Potter and the Half-Claret Prince Back Cover by Kazu Kibuishi; Kazu Kibuishi cover Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; Harry Potter (Credit: Jim Kay © 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.)