Our Dumbledore, who art in Heaven...
There have been many theories over the years about the character of Dumbledore and who he represents within the story, the similarities between Dumbledore and the Christian God are to strong to overlook. Dumbledore is THE greatest wizard of all time. He is the definition of Omniscient, all knowing, all seeing, all powerful. He is the headmaster of Hogwarts, often the voice of wisdom and reason. Throughout the Harry Potter series there are many characteristics of Dumbledore that emanate a resemblance of God, watching over and helping Harry in is quest to defeat Lord Voldemort(evil) including but not limited to the following:
His Connection to the Phoenix
Dumbledore has many connections to the Phoenix which is known as the “resurrection bird” which is a symbol of Christ, his sacrifice and hope of an eternal life with and in Christ. How fitting that his patronus is a symbol of God/Christ. A patronus is a guardian for a wizard Furthermore, Dumbledore’s pet / animal companion is also a Phoenix named “Fawkes”. In the second Book “ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” when Harry is injured by the Basilisk Snake, Fawkes appears to Harry and heals his wounds with his powerfully magic tears, this can be interpreted as God’s compassion and love, Dumbledore’s phoenix sheds a tear into Harry’s wounds and they instantly heal. One of the main messages of the books is that Love is the most powerful magic in the world. This is underlined in this scene especially. Finally Dumbledore is the founder of the “Order of the Phoenix” a secret group of wizards who assembled to fight against Lord Voldemort when he first began to rise to power and reassembled with the news of the Dark Lord’s return in the fifth book “ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” it is also in this Book that Harry along with his close circle of friends creates their own secret group called “Dumbledore’s Army” (known as the D.A.) Founded by Hermione, but led/taught by Harry and later to be taken up by Neville Longbottom. This group named after Dumbledore was started as a resistance by the students against Professor Umbridge from the ministry of magic and the ministry itself who were in denial of the Dark Lord’s return. There are strong parallels between Christ and his Disciples and Harry and the members of Dumbledore’s Army. Christ and his friends had faith in God spreading the word of God, delivering them from evil, just like Harry had faith in Dumbledore and trained his friends and classmates to defend themselves and others from Lord Voldemort ( Evil)
He is the Master of Death
At one point in his life Dumbledore had possession of all three of the Deathly Hallows; the Elder Wand, The Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility, being in possession of these items would make on the master of the death gifting the owner with God like powers of omnipotence(the elder wand), omniscience (the resurrection stone), and omnipresence (the cloak of invisibility). A parallel can be made here that the Hallow’s are a Trinity (Wand, Stone, and Cloak) just like the Christian Faith as a trinity at the heart of it (The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit).
Dumbledore’s omnipresence without the Hallows
It is referred to in the series on a couple of occasions that Dumbledore does not need a cloak to be invisible one example is in the first book when Harry first receives his Invisibility cloak, he goes out to explore the castle at night and discovers “The Mirror of Erised”. Dumbledore catches him returning night after night to stare into the mirror, When Harry is surprised at his presence, Dumbledore answers without being asked simply stating:
“I don’t need a cloak to become invisible” - Dumbledore, Philosopher's Stone (Rowling,1997)
Thereby implying that Dumbledore like God, is everywhere. A second example of Dumbledore’s omnipresence is in the second book Harry and Ron go to visit Hagrid in his hunt when Dumbledore knocks on the door, the two boys hide under the cloak in the corner of the hut. At one point during his visit Dumbledore looks directly at them as if he is able to see them, Later in book seven, “the Deathly Hallows” we learn that Harry’s cloak is one of the hallows and therefore infallible, so if Dumbledore can see them under it, it further illustrates his God-like abilities. Finally another example of how Dumbledore is omnipresent is in the second book he implies that he is everywhere :
"I will only have truly left the school when none here are loyal to me" - Dumbledore, Chamber of Secrets (Rowling,1998)
Harry’s “Gethsemane” moment
In the final book “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” one of the things Dumbledore left Harry in his last will and testament was the snitch Harry caught in his first quidditch match inscribed with the words “I open at the close” inside the snitch was the resurrection stone one of the deathly hallows, and it was only when Harry accepted that he must die did the snitch open and reveal the stone. Moments before this occurs Harry learns via a memory given to him by Snape that his Gethsemane moment was orchestrated by Dumbledore, that Harry was not to find out until the last possible moment that he had to die
"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?... You have used me… I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to keep Lily Potter's son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter…" -Snape, Deathly Hallows (Rowling,2007)
Just like how God sent his son to earth to die for our sins and save us. Harry had to die to save the wizarding world. Christ went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and prepare for his death, while Harry went into the Forest when he was ready to face Voldemort not to fight him but to sacrifice himself, after words he is greeted by Dumbledore at Kings Cross in a sort of limbo dream sequence - You could even make a connection between the stations of the cross and the fact that his scene takes place at a train station. Dumbledore gives Harry the choice of either going back to continue the fight to go ahead to whatever is next.
“After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure” -Dumbledore, Philosopher's Stone (Rowling,1997)
