growing up people will tell you that you need to eat vegetables and drink water and sleep 8 hours a night. and you might think "ugh, thats lame." and then you hit your 20s and your body feels Bad and you realise you need to eat vegetables and drink water and sleep 8 hours a night. and maybe youll have kids one day, and you'll tell your kids they need to eat vegetables and drink water and sleep 8 hours a night. and they might think "ugh, thats lame." and you realise the cycle continues, and has likely been continuing for generations. and i think thats beautiful.
It's something I see every now and then, the idea that Dumbledore was heavily biased against Tom Riddle in Hogwarts, that he tried his darndest to make everyone hate Tom and isolate him.
I always wondered where that came from, so a while ago I searched around and I found evidence for that! But first, let's look at the main books.
The main books where we find...nothing at all really.
That thing about Dumbledore mistrusting Tom because he's a Parselmouth? It contradicts canon, as directly stated by Dumbledore,
“And he was a Parselmouth,” interjected Harry.
“Yes, indeed; a rare ability, and one supposedly connected with the Dark Arts, although as we know, there are Parselmouths among the great and the good too. In fact, his ability to speak to serpents did not make me nearly as uneasy as his obvious instincts for cruelty, secrecy, and domination.
Dumbledore airing out Tom's past to everyone? I couldn't find any quote from say, Slughorn, mentioning how Dumbledore always prattled on about not trusting Riddle or such, and again, Dumbledore says the opposite
“Didn’t you tell them, sir, what he’d been like when you met him at the
orphanage?” asked Harry.
“No, I did not. Though he had shown no hint of remorse, it was possible
that he felt sorry for how he had behaved before and was resolved to turn over a fresh leaf. I chose to give him that chance.”
The only 'negative' reactions that Dumbledore seems to have given Tom in school is...
“But you didn’t really trust him, sir, did you? He told me… the Riddle who came out of that diary said, ‘Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did."
“Let us say that I did not take it for granted that he was trustworthy,” said Dumbledore. “I had, as I have already indicated, resolved to keep a close eye upon him, and so I did.
Is not being charmed by him like the other teachers, and keeping a 'close eye' on him, and we don't know if that close eye meant keeping his ears perked for gossip around Riddle, secretly following Tom around, or just calling Tom to his office for a chat every now and then.
I cannot pretend that I gleaned a great deal from my observations at first. He was very guarded with me
This here though suggests that it was via Dumbledore directly interacting with Tom.
Even the information Dumbledore later gives on the group of bullies that Tom formed is unreliable as evidence here, since it's directly followed up by Albus talking about how he only found a few memories of Tom in Hogwarts, and how he began searching for them after Tom left school.
This is also corroborated by what Tom said himself
‘Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think
Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and
train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have
guessed. Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the
other teachers did …’
‘I bet Dumbledore saw right through you,’ said Harry, his teeth
gritted.
‘Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after
Hagrid was expelled,’ said Riddle carelessly. ‘I knew it wouldn’t be
safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school
in fact, it even further exonerates Dumbledore here!
Tom didn't ever complain about Dumbledore turning people against him, he didn't complain about any biases or whatnot, in fact, Dumbledore only started getting 'annoying' after Tom murders Myrtle, where Tom implies that it's Dumbledore's close watch that prevented him from opening the chamber again and harming more people.
You could say that perhaps, Tom not mentioning how Dumbledore watched him at all before the murder incident proves that Dumbledore did it secretly somehow, but I'd argue against that by again bringing up Dumbledore's statement about Tom being guarded with him.
I assume that this means that Dumbledore had paid closer attention to Tom while they interacted in their regular, probably infrequent, capacity as student and teacher with Tom not finding it annoying enough, and that again, Dumbledore kept an ear out for gossip.
Then there's the one scene we have of Dumbledore and Tom interacting as student and teacher…but this post by @dufferpuffer explains it far better then I could,
So that's the main books done, I think it really shows how Dumbledore never mistreated Tom there, in fact, I think that Dumbledore might have been too secretive about Tom, he should have found a trustworthy teacher or two and enlisted their help, something akin to:
"Mr. Riddle was involved in past bullying behavior before I brought him here, could you keep an eye on him with me so that we could prevent further bullying if it happens and guide him on the right path?"
Though of course, telling other teachers might have made it common gossip, which would have certainly ruined Tom's chances at having a normal, pleasant school life, so I can see why Dumbledore didn't do it, it's a complicated situation after all.
I would also say that Dumbledore should have kept a closer eye on Tom, given all the bullying and the murders... but Tom is genuinely smart, we don't know exactly what measures Dumbledore took, and also short of Dumbledore going invisible and following the boy 24/7, I don't think he or any other teacher would have ever been able to find out about Tom's misdeeds.
...Now what was that about the evidence I mentioned?
Well, it's from the 'Pottermore Presents' series!
*crickets*
Come on, Pottermore Presents! The 3 part mini e-book series which consisted of Pottermore snippets and small extra additions by the author, the one that I didn't even know existed and have somehow never seen anyone even mention before despite it surely being widely known in the fandom—
Okay, sarcasm aside, this is a very obscure mini-series that I have never seen sited as evidence,
I think that it shows how most of the claims of Dumbledore mistreating Tom as a teacher is unsubstantiated head canon since it's not very likely that those claims had that mini series in mind. But regardless, I'll talk about the two passages that mention Dumbledore and Tom together.
One is from Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists:
Although it is not shown in the novels, we may deduce, from what Professor Dumbledore tells Harry Potter about his own suspicions about Tom Riddle during the latter’s school days, that Dumbledore would have warned his colleague Slughorn against allowing himself to be used by the boy. Slughorn, secure in his own judgement (which had
been vindicated so many times), brushed off such warnings as paranoia on Dumbledore’s part, believing the Transfiguration teacher to have taken an unaccountable dislike to Tom from the moment he had fetched the boy from the orphanage in which he had been brought up.
...Huh? We may deduce from what Professor Dumbledore says??
Where Dumbledore gives the exact opposite sentiment that this passage tells us and says that he hadn't told anyone about Tom's past?
Weird... but ignoring that, this also doesn't tell us much, aside from you having to ignore the very clear positive narrative framing for Dumbledore here, you also have to assume that Dumbledore starting warning Slughorn about Tom from his very first year instead of say, year 5 after Myrtle is murdered or even after it was clear that a bully group began operating in Hogwarts, and you have to then further assume that Dumbledore's warning were more explicit in trying to ruin Tom's reputation instead of say, a warning to keep a closer eye on Tom and to investigate what he says.
The 'unaccountable dislike' part is interesting though, how did Slughorn figure that? Was Dumbledore openly talking to the teachers about disliking Tom?
I don't think so, I think Slughorn clocked how Dumbledore wasn't charmed with Tom unlike every other teacher, and he took that to meaning that Dumbledore instantly disliked Tom for an unknown reason. Oh, and that passage heavily implies that Dumbledore did not tell Slughorn about Tom's past.
The other passage is from Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies:
Minerva McGonagall did not teach the young Tom Riddle, but she was privy to Dumbledore’s fears and suspicions about him. Minerva was not inducted into the Order of the Phoenix during Voldemort’s first climb to power (at that time the Order of the Phoenix was seen as a renegade outfit by the Ministry; successive Ministers feared Dumbledore’s charisma and magical talent, and were inclined to harbour fears that he wished to succeed them).
This is a section exclusive to the book I think, but the Minerva chapter has a section taken out of Pottermore that were changed later, it's this statement of Minerva being raised in the early 20th century is not in the Pottermore page now.
She grew up in the Highlands of Scotland in the early twentieth century, and only gradually became aware that there was something strange, both about her own abilities, and her parents’ marriage.
There are also claims that the Pottermore page had given an exact date of birth of 1935 before it was changed, but looking into it, many people using the wayback machine said that this wasn't the case, and the wiki doesn't mention that detail, so I don't think that's the case.
(I tried to wrangle the thing to work, but I couldn't find Minerva's page, and what I found was only from 2025 onwards, so I can't document any of the changes from the Pottermore arguments from then 'til now, and if any other sections of the books were there and taken out later)
All those details and timelines do my head in, so I won't even bother trying to explain them, the general consensus seems to be that Minerva began learning at Hogwarts near when Tom was about to graduate, or taking the FB movies into account, then she was a teacher before Tom entered Hogwarts.
All of this doesn't matter though, since the statement with her and Tom is just so very vague, was Dumbledore confiding to a student about Tom while he was still in school? That seems...rather unlikely, why would he do that? Plus, no statements from Tom about Dumbledore making students hate him.
Was he confiding to Minerva as teacher to a teacher while Tom was still in school? I guess that could be an option, though once again we see no statements from Tom about another teacher/staff member mistrusting him.
What I find much more likely, given that the immediate statement after the confiding bit was talking about the first war, is that Dumbledore would have told her about his suspicions of Tom long after he graduated, as in during the years leading up to said first war, after Dumbledore had started hearing rumors about the new death eater group and started searching out memories and former students for information about Tom.
Now, if you disregard FB then we have to think on whether Dumbledore confided that in Minerva when she was a student, or when she was a teacher... I think it makes more sense if he did so when seeing her as a college rather than as a student he was teaching to become an Animagus. Especially since the 'early twentieth century' thing would make her most likely an adult during the lead up for the first war.
And that was all the evidence I found, two vague passages in a now dubious source that already had a small part of it retconned, where you furthermore have to take both statements out of their narrative framing and fill in the vagueness with a negative view for Dumbledore.
Yo you are diving for some deep cuts
'Pottermore Presents'... yeah, crickets from me, thats a new one haha
Since you gotta reach so deep to find something that contradicts the idea "Albus was normal with Tom, not mean"... i think that says a lot.
My general view of Pottermore additions is that it is acceptable (unenthusiastic) unless it contradicts the books... or is stupid and lame.
Got some good examples of both here.
Pottermore being contradictory and lame:
[...] Dumbledore would have warned his colleague Slughorn against allowing himself to be used by the boy. Slughorn, secure in his own judgement (which had been vindicated so many times), brushed off such warnings as paranoia on Dumbledore’s part, believing the Transfiguration teacher to have taken an unaccountable dislike to Tom from the moment he had fetched the boy from the orphanage in which he had been brought up.
...this is unhinged??? who wrote this???
1. As pointed out - this blatantly contradicts
"Did you tell anyone about Orphanage things?" ... "No, I didn't"
from the books.
Ik its one of the internets favourite hobbies to say Albus lied about random stuff, but we can't blindly assume characters are lying!
I can't claim "Ron was lying when he said the Chudley Cannons were his favourite team" - nobody would take that seriously unless there was evidence and motive behind that narrative decision.
2. Albus warned Slughorn not to be 'used' by a child. Used!?!
Used for what? How???
Not 'I think he is up to something... keep an eye on him'
or 'He has hurt other children before - lets watch the students'
or 'It seems very easy for him to get his way... I worry about that.'
but 'Horace - that little boy might succeed in using you.'
Saying to a teacher that an underaged child is going to somehow 'use' them is a deranged thing to do.
- I'm not sure why Albus would think that'd even happen?
Tom doesn't have a history of using anyone - especially not adults.
In his orphanage he ruled over the other kids with force and fear.
He didn't use them so much as abuse them.
The adults knew he was trouble but didn't know how because they couldn't catch him in the act. They didn't know what to do about it, other than call in professionals who dominated him.
Tom didn't 'use' anyone with genuine power over him, only those weaker. This is a pattern present from the youngest age Albus met him - and seemed to stop during Hogwarts. (Until framing Hagrid - but that is still someone weaker than him, not an adult, and was using them as bait rather than manipulation. As an adult he still fears the thought of anyone having a leg-up on him. He can't even poke Harry's body to make sure it's dead lol)
Slughorn, as a teacher, as Head of House, as someone with connections and friends and such as an adult has power over him.
Thus why no teacher ever caught Tom doing anything wrong.
All Albus saw from him was a well-behaved child who seemed to be trying to turn over a new leaf. Even if he didn't outwardly look remorseful his actions left little to complain about.
So why would Albus complain about him? Instead of doing what he said in the books he was doing: Keeping an eye on him?
- What does that insinuate he thinks of Horace?
That he is likely to do non-teacherly favors for a student?
That he could be easily hoodwinked by a child?
That's really insulting.
- Horace has a weird Slug Club and blatantly picks favourites, but thats just fostering connections for their future. Adjacent enough to his duties as a teacher and head of house.
"Don't let that boy use you... to network, or as a job reference."
I don't think that's what Albus would mean, but I can't think of anything else he would be worried Slughorn would do.
- In terms of what Tom did get from Horace:
It's not like Tom learned much from him about Horcrux's.
He learned almost everything from a book in the school library.
Telling Tom it was awful magic, not giving instructions on how to do it but describing why it's awful and its effects, isn't being 'used'.
It's being a teacher.
3. Slughorn brushed off Albus' warning, thinking it was silly...
...Maybe in his youth Slughorn was a bit more self-assured...
But he was still very concerned with his image and being in the 'good books' with more impressive figures.
Dumbledore, while just a teacher, still likely had some prestige to his name. More than that: He was likely recently Horace's own teacher.
Is Horace Slughorn the sort of man to hear his own teacher, his senior coworker and known 'very skillful wizard' of 7 years say "watch out for that kid, I reckon he is trouble..." - and disregard it completely...?
never be good at your job. it's a trap. they'll just give you more and harder stuff to do and it'll pull you away from your true passion of writing gay fanfiction for people on the internet
i feel like i'm being driven insane by people from any fandom lately cuz alot seem to be under the assumption that you can only have one idea for characters?
i think it's why there's stupid arguments whether harry is short or tall when you can just honestly...do both? whatever fancies your mind at the moment. they're both plausible in different sources
even a "what if x character experiences y", you can certainly do that and have the character change with their experiences but change it to a different idea in your next fanwork?
i feel people are so scared of deviating so much of deviating away from canon or being ooc when fandom's fun because you get to explore the what-ifs and thinking how a character would react...not just being rigid and never changing, or you can even explore that! i just don't understand why people act like you can't do different things and just have to stay in one interpretation all the time
do you have a favorite story arc in hp? If so what makes it stand out to you?
harry's stalking tendencies in hbp will always be a favorite of course but i feel that's an easy answer. I'd say i also love the whole quidditch arc during PoA, the way it's all building up to a harry vs draco in the end, the entire chaos when draco started holding onto the tail of harry's broom. apparently draco is such a fun opponent that harry's high to winning that match lasted for a week. it's just so good and fun to read
andulkaphoto
areudirty
