Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Dawlish

Overview
Dawlish is an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. He is described as being a tough-looking wizard.

Order of the Phoenix
We first see Dawlish when Dumbledore's Army is broken up, and Harry is brought to Dumbledore's office by Professor Umbridge. Cornelius Fudge is there, and he has felt the need to bring two Aurors for his protection; one of the two is Dawlish. When Dumbledore is placed under arrest, he warns Dawlish not to try anything: if he attempts to bring him in by force, Dumbledore will have to hurt him. As it turns out, Dumbledore does knock him out in the quick battle that ends that scene.

Dawlish is one of the people that Umbridge brings in to assist her in sacking Hagrid. He is heard pleading with Hagrid to be reasonable while he tries to Stun him.

He is seen one more time at the end of the book where he arrives to the Ministry just in time to see Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange escaping. Cornelius Fudge orders him and Williamson to go down to the Department of Mysteries to investigate.

Half-Blood Prince
As Tonks takes Harry up to Hogwarts after rescuing him from Draco Malfoy's Petrification curse on the Hogwarts Express, she tells Harry that she is not the only guard at Hogwarts: Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are also present.

After Christmas, Harry relates his conversation with Rufus Scrimgeour to Dumbledore, saying that Scrimgeour is very interested in where Dumbledore is going. Dumbledore replies that Scrimgeour had also set Dawlish to tail him, and with great regret he had had to jinx Dawlish again.

Deathly Hallows
Dawlish is mentioned as being the Auror from whom Yaxley is getting information about Harry Potter's movements. Severus Snape discounts Dawlish's information, saying that he was quite likely Confunded as part of the Order of the Phoenix laying a false trail. He says also that Dawlish is already known to be susceptible to being Confunded.

Later, the fugitive Dirk Cresswell mentions that he was being transported to Azkaban but managed to overpower his guard, Dawlish, and escape. He remarked at the time that Dawlish seemed a bit slow, as if he had been Confunded.

Finally, when the Death Eaters attempt to round up Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, in an attempt to control Neville's actions at Hogwarts, it is apparently Dawlish that they send after her. Augusta manages to put Dawlish in St. Mungo's before vanishing.

Strengths
In order to have become an Auror, Dawlish must have done well in his exams. When Fudge attempts to arrest Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore, while warning Dawlish about attacking him, does mention his high NEWT scores.

Weaknesses
Dawlish is very susceptible to the Confundus charm, and evidence suggests that he spends much of the seventh book under the influence of that charm.

Analysis
Dawlish is such an inept Auror that one must wonder how he ever managed to get hired. His physical strength is apparently backed by a relative magical weakness: he is repeatedly Confunded, jinxed twice by Dumbledore, and put into hospital by an old lady, though arguably a very formidable one. Quite possibly he is brought into the story as an example of what can go wrong when bureaucracy runs amok, as it seems to be happening under Cornelius Fudge's administration.

Despite having necessarily had high marks on his N.E.W.T.s, and therefore being skilled magically as well as being intelligent, he is susceptible to the Confundus charm, and may have been Confunded throughout a large part of the 7th book. And even Voldemort fears Dumbledore, so it's not surprising that Dawlish was easily handled by the Headmaster. Dawlish is very intelligent, capable and competent, but he has an easily exploitable weakness, plus, he takes orders without questioning them - making him a great soldier/police officer, but not a hero, or even siding with the heroes, unless he works for them and they tell him to.