What Jo says about...
Albus Dumbledore

Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.

• Dumbledore has a scar on his left knee which is a "perfect map of the London underground." [Read the exact quote from The Herald, 1997]
• ‘Dumbledore’ is "old English word meaning bumblebee. Because Albus Dumbledore is very fond of music, I always imagined him as sort of humming to himself a lot." [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• Dumbledore is the "epitome of goodness." [Read the exact quote from CBC Hot Type, 2000]
• ‘Dumbledore’ was an old English word for Bumblebee [Read the exact quote from the eToys interview, 2000]
• McGonagall is 70, and Dumbledore is 150. Wizards have a longer life expectancy than muggles. [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• Why did Dumbledore have a look of triumph in his eyes at the end of book four?
  JKR: "Good question … excellent, in fact, and like all the best questions I get asked, I can’t answer it! Because it would give too much away. However, well-spotted. Have fun guessing … someone’s bound to get it right!" [Read the exact quote from the AOL chat, 2000]
• JKR: "What's very important for me is when Dumbledore says that you have to choose between what is right and what is easy. This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going to have to choose, because what is easy is often not right." [Read the exact quote from Entertainment Weekly, 2000]
• Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape to be so nasty to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and Neville)? JKR: "Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life ... horrible teachers like Snape are one of them!" [Read the exact quote from the Barnes & Noble chat, 2001]
• JKR: "Dumbledore often speaks for me." [Read the exact quote from the Chamber of Secrets DVD, 2003]
• If JKR needs to tell the readers something, she lets Hermione or Dumbledore say it. [Read the exact quote from the Chamber of Secrets DVD, 2003]
• SF: I don't know how many boys and girls are aware that a lot of names have very particular meanings Albus Dumbledore is on the side of light and his name means white.
  JKR: Yes, white and wisdom as well
  SF: And wisdom from "Alb." And in Britain, Albion was an old name for a Briton. [Read the exact quote from Royal Albert Hall, 2003]
• "I don't want to give too much away, but Dumbledore is a very wise man who firstly knows Harry is going to have to learn a few hard lessons to prepare him for what maybe coming in his life, so he allows Harry to do a lot of things he wouldn't normally allow another pupil to do and he also unwillingly permits Harry to confront a lot of things he'd rather protect him from but as people who have finished Order of the Phoenix will know, Dumbledore has had to step back a little bit from Harry in an effort to teach him some of life's harder lessons." [Read the exact quote from Royal Albert Hall, 2003]
• Dumbledore thought the DADA job would "bring out the worst in Snape." [Read the exact quote from Royal Albert Hall, 2003]
• Dumbledore has heard and believes Snape’s story as to why he should be trusted. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• JKR: "If Dumbledore had been Harry's grandfather, why on Earth would he have been sent to live with the Dursleys?" [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Dumbledore's brother Aberforth is the barman at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• The second question we should be asking is "why Dumbledore did not kill or try to kill Voldemort in the scene in the ministry." Dumbledore did not give the real reason. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Someday we may find out how Dumbledore got his scar shaped like the London Underground. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• What did Dumbledore's Howler to Aunt Petunia mean? ("Remember my last?")
  Dumbledore is referring the letter he left for Petunia upon the Dursleys' doorstep (along with Harry). It was his "last" because there were letters to Petunia before that. A day later, JK clarified that Dumbledore was not thinking of school letters he sent to both the Dursleys. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Dumbledore is not Ron or Harry "from the future;" no book character has returned from the future. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Dumbledore has not requested the school song since book 1 because he has not felt as "buoyant;" times are getting darker. If he ever "suggests a rousing encore," you can assume he is on top form once more. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• The Order communicates by Patronus; Dumbledore taught them how to do this. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Jo agrees that Dumbledore can seem trusting almost to the point of recklessness. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• We will earn more about Dumbledore's backstory in Book 7. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore's "wisdom has isolated him ... where is his equal, where is his confidante, where is his partner?" [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Although McGonagall is a worthy second in command, she is not Dumbledore's equal. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore is detached and likes to let people solve problems on their own. He thinks "let's wait and see if he can work this out." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK won't tell us what Dumbledore would see in front of the Mirror of Erised, or what his boggart is, though we might be able to guess the boggart from clues in Book 6. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• It is possible that we will find out what spell Dumbledore was trying to cast on Voldemort in the Ministry. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• "Draco would not have killed Dumbledore." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK won't tell us if Dumbledore was planning to die. "I have to give people hope." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore is primarily self-taught. He also had access to superb teachers at Hogwarts. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK: “Dumbledore's family would be a profitable line of inquiry.” [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore’s line “the prophecy is significant only because you and Voldemort choose to make it so” is a key point in Book 6. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore’s “gleam of triumph” (GoF) will be enormously significant to Book 7. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore's guesses about how to kill Voldemort are “never very far wide of the mark.” Harry will need to get rid of four horcruxes, and then “go for Voldemort.” Dumbledore has given Harry “some pretty valuable clues” and Harry "has amassed more knowledge than he realizes." [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore is about 150. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Dumbledore and Flamel "became friends during Dumbledore's lifetime, they hadn't been friends from boyhood." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Fawkes has always been owned by Dumbledore. JK will not answer a question about his role in the next book "which probably gives you a big clue." Fawkes is Dumbledore's possession, not a Hogwarts possession. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Jo is implying that Dumbledore had a hand in ending WWII when he defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. [Read the whole quote from Owen Jones interview, 2005]
• Dumbledore regretted that it was he "who had the burden of knowing." He would "rather not know." [Read the whole quote from BBC-Radio4, 2005]
• She didn't enjoy killing the character who dies at the end of book 6, but it wasn't quite as poignant as we may have imagined because she had planned it for years and had already done her grieving. [Read the whole quote from Radio City-pressconf, 2006]
• Dumbledore had to die because 'In these sort of epic sagas, the hero eventually has to fight alone', although Harry still has his two faithful sidekicks. Fundamentally, Jo is saying 'the old wizard always gets it'. [Read the whole quote from Radio City-pressconf, 2006]
• When asked about Draco, Jo said that all of her main characters except for Voldemort can be considered redeemable. [Read the whole quote from Radio City1, 2006]
• Harry believes that Draco would not have killed Dumbledore even if he had all the time in the world.  Indeed he would not have; this will have implications for Draco’s future. [Read the whole quote from Radio City1, 2006]
• Dumbledore will not “do a Gandalf;” he is truly dead. [Read the whole quote from Radio City2, 2006]
• JKR: "Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?" is an important question that no one has asked her ("NAQ"). [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]