This week I continue the theme – Action – with a fan favorite. I’m looking at the climactic dual at the end of Order of the Phoenix when Dumbledore and Voldemort battle it out.
Spoilers ahead!
Let me reiterate that great action depends on setup and scene. The fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort is the culmination of six years and five books used by J.K. Rowling to develop each character’s legend and tout their extraordinary abilities. At one end you have Voldemort, the most evil and destructive sorcerer the world has ever seen. At the other you have Dumbledore, the hero of the first wizarding war, champion of all things good. They represent the epitome of good and evil and, at the same time, the most powerful members of each camp. A potential fight between them tantalizes Harry Potter readers as a ‘what if’ in the same way that ‘what if Ali could fight Mike Tyson’ does boxing fans. That’s the emotional ferment generated by Rowling in the five books leading up to the Voldemort-Dumbledore confrontation. The physical setup is developed by Rowling solely in The Order of the Phoenix.
Rowling structures her Harry Potter as a series of individual mystery novels. She uses Harry’s naiveté and undaunted curiosity about the wizarding world, and Dumbledore’s Machiavellian (but positive) schemes, to develop mystery at the outset of each book, and then she applies a dénouement-style ending, when Dumbledore explains whodunit (even in the last book after he died, she managed to do this). The Order of the Phoenix is no exception. Rowling artfully drops breadcrumbs for Harry and the reader to follow. For this book the endgame takes us to the Ministry of Magic, where we experience the battle for the prophecy and, climactically, the wizard dual between Dumbledore and Voldemort.
Rowling uses Harry’s trial at the ministry near the beginning of the book to introduce all the elements and places she intends to use at the end of the story. In particular she presents every important spatial feature used in the dual. “Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, and a goblin, and a house-elf.” (127) Harry, having arrived at the ministry for the first time, marvels at the atrium and, in particular, the fountain around which Dumbledore and Voldemort will fight. With this introduction, Rowling establishes physical parameters of the fight.
Here I want to introduce what I call the Jackie Chan principle, because Rowling makes great use of it during her scene. The principle implies that the hero must fight at a disadvantage. Though usually a superior fighter, Jackie somehow always finds himself a peg below his adversary. If the enemy has a gun, he doesn’t. If the enemy has a sword, Jackie has a broom or ladder or some other such silly weapon. And more often than not, Jackie finds himself outnumbered. That’s why his films are so memorable, because Jackie always uses his environment spectacularly to turn a disadvantage to his favor.
In Rowling’s fight sequence, Dumbledore’s disadvantage is Harry. The fight starts with Voldemort unleashing a death blast at an unprepared Harry. “But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting Harry.” (813) Dumbledore makes his arrival in style, bringing to life all of the fountain statues that Rowling so carefully identified earlier. Dumbledore appears in the nick of time to save Harry, then immediately teleports behind Voldemort, turning the fight away from the youngster. Even in the midst of battle, fighting this incredibly powerful sorcerer, Dumbledore splits his attention to protect Harry.
The fight reveals that Dumbledore is on another level, far outpacing even Voldemort. Intercepting every attack with ease, while controlling a statue to protect Harry, Dumbledore demonstrates his dominance, pushing back the dark wizard. “Dumbledore brandished his wand in one, long, fluid movement… the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass...Then he was gone, and the water fell with a crash back into its pool…” (815). Dumbledore seems to have gained the upper hand, forcing Voldemort to flee, and so Harry leaves the safety of his statue-guard. But Voldemort takes advantage of Harry’s imprudent move to possess the boy, as would a demon, and use him as a human shield. “If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy. . . . Let the pain stop, thought Harry. Let him kill us. . . .” (816) Harry blacks out from pain and the fight ends there. The next thing we know, Harry awakens to a concerned Dumbledore, with Voldemort nowhere in sight.
Throughout the entire altercation, Dumbledore holds the high ground. The duel is almost comically one sided, but the scale tips to even because of Harry. Dumbledore cannot administer the finishing blow to his nemesis because he must protect Harry throughout the dual and, once Voldemort possesses Harry, Dumbledore is unwilling to kill the boy in order to destroy Voldemort. (Of course later we learn that Dumbledore has always been more than willing to sacrifice Harry, it simply wasn’t the right time, but that’s another story). Ultimately, Voldemort must flee before reinforcements arrive, and the chance to end the series at book five is lost.
Rowling demonstrates with this fight the importance of environment and duality. We were carefully introduced to the fountain and statues early in the book, and Rowling used every element of that intelligence to craft her battle scene. The stark difference in the morality between Dumbledore and Voldemort also illuminated the action. Dumbledore refuses to kill, uses golden statues, a phoenix, and a “cocoon of molten glass”, pressing ever forward, he exposes himself to protect Harry. Voldemort uses death spells, a snake, cowardly possession, and hides behind a silver shield. Often in action scenes the descriptions becomes blurred, and you cannot distinguish between sides. Here Rowling takes no chances by clarifying the scene and creating drastic disparity between combatants, and it pays off. Readers who followed every word of the build-up over 5 books knew this altercation would come, and Rowling did not disappoint.