49 Fun Facts About Albus Dumbledore

What is the name of Dumbledore's pet bird?

Fawkes. Two of his tail feathers became wand cores, one in Harry's wand and one in Voldemort's, which is why those two wands will not work properly against each other.

Who took over as Dumbledore from Prisoner of Azkaban onwards?

Michael Gambon. He never read the novels: an actor works from the screenwriter's words, he reasoned, so he saw "no point in reading the books".

Who plays the middle-aged Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts films?

Jude Law. In The Secrets of Dumbledore his character tells Grindelwald "I was in love with you", one of two lines that Warner Bros. cut for the film's release in China.

Who was cast as Dumbledore in HBO's Harry Potter television series in 2025?

John Lithgow. He said yes despite calling it a hard decision: the long-running role, he said, is "going to define me for the last chapter of my life".

Which journalist wrote the scandalous biography The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore?

Rita Skeeter. She finished the 900-page book just four weeks after his death, and got much of her material by slipping a truth potion to the elderly historian Bathilda Bagshot.

Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card credits his work on alchemy with which partner?

Nicolas Flamel. Harry, Ron and Hermione had searched the library in vain for that name until Harry spotted it on the card, which put them on the trail of the Philosopher's Stone.

Dumbledore says he loves the patterns for which hobby?

Knitting. "I do love knitting patterns," he says on his return, and while he was out of the room Harry had talked their reluctant host into taking a job at Hogwarts.

Which Hogwarts House was Dumbledore in as a student?

Gryffindor. On her first train ride to school, Hermione says she hopes to be sorted there because it sounds by far the best: she has heard that Dumbledore himself was in it.

What does Dumbledore tell Harry "was my weakness and my temptation"?

His desire for power. It is why he stayed a teacher and turned down the post of Minister for Magic every time it was offered: he had learned young that he could not be trusted with it.

What did Rowling reveal Dumbledore truly sees in the Mirror of Erised?

His family alive and together, Rowling told fans in 2007, with his brother reconciled to him. The thick woollen socks he describes to Harry in the first book were a dodge.

The name Dumbledore is a dialect word for which insect?

Bumblebee. Rowling picked the old dialect word because she imagined the music-loving headmaster wandering the castle humming to himself.

What does Dumbledore leave with baby Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep in the opening chapter?

A letter. It explained everything to his aunt and uncle, yet for ten years they told Harry that his parents had died in a car crash.

What lures Dumbledore away from Hogwarts on the night Harry goes after the Stone?

A false message from the Ministry. It sent him off to London on the very night the Stone was in danger, but he turned back in time to pull Quirrell off Harry.

Who pressures the governors into suspending Dumbledore in Chamber of Secrets?

Lucius Malfoy. He had threatened to curse the other governors' families unless they signed, and once that came out he was sacked from the board himself.

Which guards is Dumbledore forced to accept around Hogwarts in Prisoner of Azkaban?

Dementors. When they swarmed a Quidditch match and Harry fell from his broom, a furious Dumbledore slowed the fall with his wand and drove them from the pitch.

Who does Dumbledore discover has been impersonating Mad-Eye Moody?

Barty Crouch Jr. Dumbledore knew the moment "Moody" led Harry away from him, something the real one would never have done, and he found the true Moody locked in his own trunk.

Which role does Dumbledore lose in book five for insisting Voldemort is back?

Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. The Ministry demoted him from its high court, but he said he didn't care what they did as long as they didn't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards.

Which official did Fudge impose on Dumbledore as a teacher?

Dolores Umbridge. Fudge feared Dumbledore was raising an underage wizard army to topple the Ministry, so he planted her as Defence teacher, where she banned practical spellwork.

How does Dumbledore shield the students when Dumbledore's Army is discovered?

He claims it was his idea. The group is called Dumbledore's Army, not Potter's Army, he points out, then he overpowers the officials sent to arrest him and vanishes.

What does Dumbledore use to stop the Death Eaters escaping the Department of Mysteries?

An Anti-Disapparition Jinx. With the Death Eaters pinned, he fought Voldemort in the Ministry atrium, where Fudge and his officials arrived to see for themselves that the Dark Lord was back.

Whom does Dumbledore take Harry to recruit at the start of Half-Blood Prince?

Horace Slughorn. The retired teacher had disguised himself as an armchair to hide from Death Eaters, and Dumbledore brought Harry as bait for a man who loved to collect famous pupils.

Which Horcrux first made Dumbledore suspect there were others?

Tom Riddle's diary. A mere memory that could think and act for itself alarmed him, and Voldemort's carelessness with it suggested there were more: six in all, he later concluded.

What attacks Harry in the lake when he tries to fetch Dumbledore water in the cave?

Inferi. The lake was full of these enchanted corpses, and Dumbledore, barely conscious after drinking the potion, drove them back with a ring of fire.

Who disarms Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower?

Draco Malfoy. Dumbledore had silently frozen the hidden Harry so he could not interfere, then spent his last minutes urging Draco to change sides rather than become a killer.

Where is Dumbledore entombed?

Beside the Hogwarts lake. At his funeral white flames flared up around his body, and when they died down a white marble tomb had closed over it.

What were the names of Dumbledore's parents?

Percival and Kendra. Percival died in Azkaban for attacking the Muggle boys who had hurt his daughter; he never said why, because the truth would have seen her shut away in hospital for good.

What was the name of Dumbledore's younger sister?

Ariana. After Muggle boys attacked her at six she could never control her magic, so the family hid her away, and one of her outbursts later killed their mother.

To which village did Dumbledore's mother move the family after his father was sent to Azkaban?

Godric's Hollow. She moved there to hide her daughter's condition among strangers; it is the same village where Harry's parents later lived and died.

What did the young Dumbledore and Grindelwald dream of uniting?

The three Deathly Hallows. The two teenagers meant to use them to put wizards in charge of Muggles "for the greater good", a dream that ended when their quarrel turned into a duel that killed Dumbledore's sister.

In the books, which subject did Dumbledore teach at Hogwarts before he became headmaster?

Transfiguration. He held the post when the Chamber of Secrets was first opened, and when Hagrid was wrongly expelled for it he persuaded the headmaster to keep the boy on as gamekeeper.

Which object had Dumbledore borrowed from James Potter and still held when James died?

The Cloak of Invisibility. He had asked to study it, so James was without it when Voldemort came; ten years later Dumbledore sent it to Harry as an anonymous Christmas present.

Why did Dumbledore put on the cursed ring that withered his hand?

To apologise to his sister and parents. He recognised the stone set in it as the Resurrection Stone and, in his eagerness, forgot the ring carried Voldemort's curse, which left him a year at most to live.

In the final book, what does Harry return to Dumbledore's tomb after defeating Voldemort?

The Elder Wand. Harry uses it once, to mend his own broken wand, then puts it back so that its power will be broken if he dies undefeated; in the film he destroys it instead.

Why did Richard Harris finally agree to play Dumbledore after three refusals?

His granddaughter's ultimatum. By his own account, eleven-year-old Ella said she would never speak to him again if he said no; he had kept refusing because the part meant signing up for every sequel.

Which actor reportedly turned down Dumbledore, having no interest in a children's film about wizards?

Sean Connery. He is reported to have been offered the part before Richard Harris and to have had no wish to join a children's film; he also turned down Gandalf, saying he did not understand the script.

Which actor refused to succeed Richard Harris as Dumbledore, saying Harris thought him "dreadful"?

Ian McKellen. Harris had called him and others "technically brilliant but passionless", and McKellen later joked that he, as Gandalf, had played the real wizard anyway.

Which lifelong friend of Richard Harris did his family lobby to have succeed him as Dumbledore?

Peter O'Toole. "He has similar qualities on screen," said Harris's brother, adding that the family would be delighted if his great friend were offered the part.

Which regional touch did Dumbledore's voice keep after the part was recast?

A slight Irish accent. Director Alfonso Cuarón said the new Dumbledore kept "a little Irish twist" in his voice as a nod to Richard Harris, though he would not ask him for an impression.

In the Fantastic Beasts films, what stops Dumbledore from moving against Grindelwald himself?

A blood pact. As teenagers the two swore never to fight each other, sealing the oath in a vial that Newt Scamander's Niffler later stole from Grindelwald.

After Voldemort's curse strikes him in the forest, Harry meets Dumbledore in a dreamlike version of which place?

King's Cross station. Dumbledore tells him he may board a train and go on, or go back to finish Voldemort, and that all this happening inside his head does not make it any less real.

At Harry's hospital bedside in book one, Dumbledore risks a Bertie Bott's bean and gets which flavour?

Earwax. He had avoided the beans ever since meeting a vomit-flavoured one in his youth, and thought he would be safe with what looked like a nice toffee.

Where was Rowling speaking when she said she had always thought of Dumbledore as gay?

Carnegie Hall. Asked whether Dumbledore ever found true love, she gave her answer; the audience gasped, then applauded, and she said she would have told them earlier had she known it would make them so happy.

For which director's film did Rowling write a note on the script saying Dumbledore was gay?

David Yates. At a read-through for Half-Blood Prince the script had Dumbledore recalling a girl he once knew, so she slid a note to the screenwriter; Yates remembers her leaning over to tell him as well.

What did Dumbledore leave to Ron Weasley in his will?

The Deluminator. It did more than put out lamps: after Ron walked out on Harry and Hermione, it carried Hermione's voice to him and gave him the means to find his way back.

Which Hogsmeade pub is run by Dumbledore's brother?

The Hog's Head. Aberforth tends its bar, and in the last book he sends Dobby to rescue Harry from Malfoy Manor and later lets him into Hogwarts through a secret tunnel from the pub.

Which magical object does Dumbledore use to store his memories and revisit them later?

The Pensieve. "One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind," he explains after Harry, left alone in his office, prods the basin and tumbles into old courtroom memories.

Which ordinary name is the last of Dumbledore's three middle names?

Brian. He gives his full name himself in book five, striding into Harry's Ministry hearing to announce that he is the witness for the defence.

Which secret society did Dumbledore found to fight Voldemort?

The Order of the Phoenix. He formed it in the 1970s when the Ministry could not cope with Voldemort, then revived it in 1995 with Sirius Black's family home as its headquarters.

How did Rowling describe Dumbledore, who seems so benign for six books?

Machiavellian figure. "He's been pulling a lot of strings," she said in 2007: Harry had been his puppet, protected only so that he could die at the right moment.