Why Do Potterheads Hate Albus Dumbledore So Much?
The “Evil Dumbledore” theories have been plaguing the Harry Potter fandom for years now — but have you ever wondered why Potterheads hate the Headmaster?
One of the best things about the Harry Potter franchise is its fan community.
Even many years after the last book’s and movie’s releases, Potterheads are still more active than any other fandom in the world, and their numbers are only growing despite the distinct lack of new content that’s only now getting fixed. Every time you blink, a thousand new Harry Potter discussions start and end all around the world.
When it comes to fanfiction and fan theories, Harry Potter is unmatched, too, with hundreds of thousands of works written about the Wizarding World and countless bizarre or surprisingly believable speculations about some aspect of its lore. However, there are quite a few topics that are probably way, way too popular.
And the “Evil Dumbledore” trope/speculation is definitely one of them.
Many Potterheads genuinely believe that Albus Dumbledore was the true evil mastermind in Harry Potter, and they valiantly defend this position. Seeing how in Harry’s eyes, the Headmaster was always a positive (grand)father figure, have you ever wondered where all this fan hate for Dumbledore even came from?
Admittedly, we have J.K. Rowling to blame — but not in the way you’d expect.
For storytelling reasons, JKR was using Albus Dumbledore as a plot device: almost all the time, it was the Headmaster who knew the terrifying truth all along and explained the nature of recent events to Harry. In Harry Potter, Dumbledore knew everything — and typically withdrew crucial information from others for the plot to progress.
Considering the dramatic nature of the events, their high stakes, and numerous victims, it was easy to start seeing Dumbledore as a villain the more truth he uncovered. There was seemingly no other way to explain the Headmaster’s secrecy about things that could’ve potentially saved many lives and prevented terrible events.
The pinnacle of this development was, of course, the revelation in Snape’s memory that suggested Dumbledore had known Harry was a Horcrux all along. Many Potterheads shared Snape’s horror and immediately labeled the Headmaster a heartless, cruel, and selfish manipulator. Which he was…to some extent.
Later in the series, we learned the whole truth and heard Dumbledore’s side of the story — but by then, he was already evil in the eyes of many fans. And there was simply no stopping all the Evil Dumbledore fanfiction at that point.