The REAL Reason Dumbledore Put on the CURSED Ring - Harry Potter Theory

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re discussing why in the name of Merlin’s Beard Albus Dumbledore, one of the most celebrated and extraordinary wizards of his time, put on a cursed ring that ultimately led to his death.

Let’s begin with Dumbledore’s claims as to how he ended up putting the ring on. He found it in the ancestral home of the Gaunt family just outside of Little Hangleton. The ring belonged to Marvolo Gaunt, a pure-blood wizard, descendent of Salazar Slytherin, whose family was a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. By all accounts, not a great bunch. Anyways, Dumbledore was hunting Voldemort’s Horcruxes and when he saw this particular one, he said he immediately knew that, set within the ring, he had found the Deathly Hallow that he had always craved most: the Resurrection Stone. Of course, Dumbledore undoubtedly knew the ring to be cursed, as he knew that it had been turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort. However, he claims that in his excitement over recovering the Stone at long last, he quite forgot that it was a most dangerous item indeed, as he explains to Harry after his death, while the two catch up in limbo…

...Watch the video for the rest!

MYTHOLOGY CHANNEL

Join this channel to get access to perks:

Please LIKE / SUBSCRIBE / SHARE to support the channel

Leave your video ideas down below!

Thanks!

All content falls under fair use: any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.

[RevanDuvalcane]

If it wasn't out of hubris, I do think that he did it for a primary reason: to make it easier for Snape to kill him. In order to completely fool Voldemort, something drastic needed to be done, and Snape earning the Dark Lord's allegiance completely was necessary. If Dumbledore simply doomed himself to a slow painful death by wearing the ring, for Snape psychologically, it would have been more about putting a friend out of their misery, rather than a brutal killing. Also Dumbledore knew he was getting old, and what else could he do in his old age if he knew he couldn't kill/end Voldemort directly (because Harry was destined to)? He made himself into a chess piece for the posthumous conclusion of his plan to kill Voldemort. I think that this is further reinforced by the fact that he acted very self-sacrificially in many other ways in Harry's last years before the downfall of Voldemort: he was the most powerful wizard in the world, but could do nothing with all his might to destroy Tom Riddle. That was Harry's job. So he put his life to use for "the greater good" by making it easier for Snape to carry out his plan.

[reever]

When it comes to Dumbledore I would say for each secret he reveals he hides at least 9 others... so we'll probably never know his true intentions but I enjoyed your theory!

[MonkeyDLuffy-rsgc]

When he and harry was in the cave retrieving the locket, he even said that "certain" dark magic leaves traces, implying that he knew and he's sensitive enough to such traces.

[Drewcumber]

As a side note, maybe Dumbledore's presence in harry's limbo is one important point to why Dumbledore planned his own death. It depends on your interpretation of that scene but maybe Dumbledore's death was necessary in order to wait for Harry and nudge him one last time in the right direction to finish off Voldemort. There is also the idea of the elder wand dying with him (but why not snap it in two!). The problem with using Dumbledore's words as evidence is that he is an extremely unreliable source of information. He always told people what was required for his ambitions to come true which was often not the truth.

[creedbratton]

he wasn't gonna wait for Grindlewald to put a ring on it

[SuperHolmesBrothers]

I think he strongly considered it a possibility that destroying the horcrux would destroy the stone at that time. Dumbledore's greatest desire was to see his sister and mom again and apologize. He also had an obsession for the deathly hallows. If he were to properly destroy the ring for all he knew there was a strong chance he would never get to see them again and do that. I think he put on the ring and did in fact see them again but at the cost of the curse spreading to such a fatal extent while he talked to them one last time.

[jenhernandez]

Dumbledore was obsessed with the Deathly Hallows… it’s what he sees in the mirror. His Ego got the best of him.
His obsession actually caused all of it… if he didn’t have the invisibility cloak the potters would have escaped death. If he didn’t seek the wand his sister would have lived. His obsession mirrors Voldemort’s. Immortality- the desire took everyone he loved.

[CB-THE-OG]

Loving your content! Dumbledore knew that him being vulnerable and weakened would cause Voldemort to act on this giving Harry a chance.

[darylsdesigns]

I have an idea for a possible video. Special Awards for Services to the School, who received it and how they received it. I imagine the video would be relatively short, but still interesting to discuss

[guillerfilm]

I can see some parallels with the Lord of the Rings One Ring, which tempts even the strongest minds like Gandalf and Galadriel to put it on.
Perhaps that’s an effect from the curse and Dumbledore couldn’t help but use it the moment he obtained it.

[connieryan]

Your theory brings to mind my original thoughts when I first read those scenes in the book. Dumbledore (to me) appeared to be tired of always fighting against magical evils, never getting to rest, and just tired of life. I think he was ready to die, see his family again (especially his sister) and to have a good long rest. The added bonuses were to setup Harry to find the remaining Horcruxes and ready to confront Voldemort in the end (game)! Just a thought.

[andreasvilladsen]

Maybe like with the locket there is a protective charm where you have to either drink the potion or wear the object in order to break the defence of the Horcrux. Why should Voldemort just let it lie there to be destroyed without putting on a fight?

[reference]

I've always questioned this myself but I believe he put it on so he could see his loved ones, knowing that destroying the ring could destroy the magic of the stone itself in the process. So in order to see his family he must first use the stone before attempting to destroy it, and knowing his days were numbered anyways he could do so without fear of death.

[lagunax]

I think there's two big reasons why the straightforward explanation is correct:
1. Its hard to imagine an archetype that lends itself more to the role of "Reliable narrator" than "Ghost of a dead mentor confessing his sins amid exposition".

2. A fictional "Smart character" can only ever be as smart as the one writing him, and while I'm not gonna dunk on Rowling, it does seem like the kind of thing that she would write and have as a canon action of her "Smart character".

[facundoschilling]

He put the ring on because Rowling needed him to die, he was just too powerful. Of course in the book she writes that Dumbledore lost his head when he saw the ring, but the truth is Rowling knew she had created such a powerful wizard that she would have to kill him at some point. Otherwise, all the struggle the main characters go through in deathly hallows wouldn't be there...

[keonr]

I think it goes back to the fact that Dumbledore realized that he was asking to much of the people around him.
Maybe ordering snape to kill him when he was healthy would have been to big of an ask. However if he was already dying he could spare Snape that guilt. This only makes sense if we believe that snape mattered a great deal to Dumbledore. He needed Voldemort to trust snape completely in order for him to further protect harry and defeat Voldemort. For Dumbledore's plan to work it wasn't just important for Harry and himself to die, but to die at the hands of the right people.

[annaathey]

I really like this theory. It makes sense.
I also wonder whether or not the resurrection stone had its own influence. We know from the tale of the three brothers that the stone itself was designed to lead its holder to death one way or another. Perhaps this is how the stone attempted to end Dumbledore‘s life? Just like the second brother, who desired to rejoin his deceased wife, Dumbledore wanted to join his deceased family. The stones magic gave him the extra push to try to make that happen.

[ThelleTV]

I think it’s far more likely that the ring had some sort of requirement to either retrieve it or destroy it such as the locket did. All head canon but it would make sense that Dumbledore had to put the ring on in order to destroy it. If he had wanted to kill himself just for the sake of seeing his loved ones, there are many other ways to do that. But that’s all just a guess /shrug

[louisekno]

I like your theory on this one and the detail of your videos. I have always thought the horcrux would have toyed with his weakness for the hallows, especially the resurrection stone. All the time alone in his office with this part of Voldemort’s soul could not have been easy even for a powerful wizard like Dumbledore, he had his flaws like we all do. His strength and power enabled him to break free of the curse in time to call Snape, to contain the spread and allow him to give Harry the final pieces of info he needed to start his quest.

[andrewlopez]

I belive he was just ready to greet death like a old friend