Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Chapter 17

Is Dumbledore a shade in "King's Cross"?
My understanding was that he was more of Harry's internal voice of reason taking Dumbledore's form than an actual manifestation of Dumbledore's soul or spirit (such as the Priori "ghosts" or the people who come out of the Stone). I am interested in hearing other people's opinions.
 * I don't think we'll ever know. It is certain that Dumbledore in the Waystation knew things that Harry could not have known; likewise, he knew things that had happened after his death, so we have to postulate some sort of connection to the world. A key issue, to my mind, is Hermione's assertion that the soul, by its nature, is very nearly unbreakable; it takes an extreme bit of psychic damage to shear some of it off. The problem I see is that it seems to me that the artifacts left behind, portraits, ghosts, shades retained by the wands used to kill people, and Dumbledore's presence in the Waystation, all seem to be somehow imbued with that essence of personality we call a soul. Hermione says that dying does not damage the soul; how do these personality bits get separated? Or do the souls never proceed to their final reward until every last photograph and portrait of them is destroyed? I can't imagine that a connection remains; why would someone who has gone On care at all about what is still happening here? Additionally, none of the ten or so shades that we speak to seem to be able to say anything about what has happened to them.


 * The closest I can come is to suggest that Dumbledore's comment after the duel in the Cemetery, "not ghosts, but a kind of spirit echo," is also what powers the portraits, photos, and the Waystation. Quite possibly, the Waystation simply provided a theatre for the spirit echo contained partially in the portrait to speak directly to Harry. It is interesting that the echo of Dumbledore's spirit seems to have also retained some of his intellect... As for the Resurrection Stone, who knows? Can it actually call back the spirits of the dead? Or does it retrieve the spirit echoes out of the memories of the wielder? I personally think the latter is more likely, as none of the four retrieved by the Stone evinced any real knowledge of anything that Harry didn't already know. Chazz (talk) 07:13, 29 December 2011 (UTC)