#this is saved in my doc as ‘dumbledore master manipulator’

[starlitsilvereyes]

Let’s talk about how Albus Dumbledore was also involved in the making of the villain, Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle, an orphan boy he found at a muggle orphanage in 1938.

The first time Dumbledore meets Tom, he tells him about the existence of magic. During the conversation, Tom tells him directly, and in exact quotation, that he can make bad things happen to people who were mean to him, and he can make them hurt, if he wants.

Tom has clearly only ever known of a world without love — sure, the worker at the orphanage tells Dumbledore that Tom is a strange child, but there are always two sides of a story. This makes me think of the possibility that Tom was also treated badly at the orphanage, by other children and by adults, and he just happened to fight back. But of course, I won’t claim that he was abused because there is no canonical evidence of it. (Although, I headcanon him as so.)

Moving back to canonical narrative, Dumbledore’s first mistake was telling Tom that he’s just like him too, right after Tom tells him that he can make people hurt. Children of Tom’s age at the time can be influenced very easily, and Dumbledore gains his trust instantly by proving to him that he is capable of magic by setting his wardrobe on fire.

Dumbledore teaches Tom the existence of magic by showing him that it can be used for more violence, to make people hurt even more, rather than showing him the positive aspects of it.

When Tom was attending Hogwarts, he was sent back to the orphanage every Summer, for seven years, during the Second World War.

Dumbledore could have kept him at Hogwarts during the time to protect him from harm, and he was more than capable too, given how many rooms there is at the school, but he didn’t. Because during this time, Tom has started to gather praise for being the Heir of Slytherin, and he was also doing particularly well in his studies and even became a prefect. Considering how Dumbledore is on the darker side of morally grey, instead of being proud of Tom for all his achievements, he saw him as someone with a potential to be manipulated by reminding him that it was Dumbledore who gave him a form of escapism from his horrible life in the muggle world.

Tom probably noticed that he was being manipulated by Dumbledore, yet he did not know it was wrong for he has trouble understanding morality, so he proceeded to manipulate others in return, thinking he will never amount to anything if he didn’t become the most powerful — all because the existence of magic was taught to him in a way that implied that magic equals to power and wrath by Dumbledore.

Yes, Tom was born out of a love potion, out of literal sexual abuse by a witch towards a muggle man, and it is canonically stated that he cannot feel love because of it (which I think is a very fucked up concept, Fuck you JK Rowling), but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t capable of ever being kind and compassionate.

Tom Riddle only became the villain he was known to be, Lord Voldemort, when Albus Dumbledore decided that he was unredeemable.

And when Dumbledore himself couldn’t stop Lord Voldemort anymore, he molded other people into his weapons to be used in a war that wasn’t even theirs to fight in the first place — which leads to the stories of everyone mentioned above.

Just like Slughorn, Albus Dumbledore collects people. Only, instead of focusing on those with influence, he looks to the outcasts.

The expelled half-giant. The young werewolf. The repentant Death Eater.

He protects them and gives them a second chance. All he asks in return is their loyalty.

And, if on occasion he requests that they undertake a certain task, invoking their debt of gratitude - well, that is no more than he is owed.

He once thought to add a certain disowned Black to his collection, but quickly realised his mistake.

Sirius is not an outcast, but a rebel. He knowingly chose his path, and chooses what price he is willing to pay for it. He refuses to be used.

So Albus Dumbledore abandons him.