The Harry Potter series of films and books has long been the source of many fan theories, from hidden meanings to unexpected views on the characters. But one of the darkest and most controversial theories claims that Albus Dumbledore was not a wise mentor, but a calculating manipulator who deliberately made Harry an outcast so that he would become the perfect weapon in the fight against Voldemort.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
This becomes clear in the first film, in the first minutes, when Dumbledore sends little Harry to the Dursleys' house. The Hogwarts headmaster explains this by the family protection from his mother. But the boy was also reliably protected at Hogwarts. And did this family protection even exist? After all, Harry never saw his aunt and uncle, never visited their house...
But okay, let's agree that the boy had to live in the Dursleys' house. Why completely cut him off from the wizarding world? Leave him to live in such terrible conditions, without love, care, normal communication? Why did Harry live in a cupboard and wear rags, having an impressive bank account?
By the way, the books describe in detail the dialogue between McGonagall and Dumbledore. Minerva spends a long time persuading the headmaster not to leave the boy like that... secretly, under the door of Muggles who hate his parents.
Why did Dumbledore insist? Because in such conditions it was extremely easy to raise a "victim", a person who would then easily sacrifice his life for the common good. Harry considers Dumbledore his savior, trusts him unconditionally, so he does not even doubt when he goes to look for Horcruxes.
We can say that when sending the boy to the Dursleys' house, the headmaster thought that the Dark Lord was dead. But why then did he insist on family protection and cited Harry's safety as an argument? So, already at that moment the wizard suspected that Voldemort had found a loophole and managed to cheat death. And therefore, a backup plan was needed...
So who is he – a mentor or a calculating puppeteer?
Of course, Dumbledore really did care about Harry sometimes. But if this theory is true, then his care was not selfless, it was part of a larger plan, where Harry was not a boy from the very beginning, but a pawn in a game against the Dark Lord. And after all, every year of school, it was Harry who found himself on the brink of life and death. Did the headmaster take care of him? Definitely not.
This view completely changes the perception of history. If Harry was really prepared in advance for the final battle, then the main question remains: did Dumbledore have the right to dispose of his fate like that?
