The Worst Headmaster Put to Film ~ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

[@ericklingenberg4868]

As a masive Harry Potter fan and teacher, this is the best video I've seen in a while. I'm sending it to the Head Teacher of my school as CPD.

[@HenryintheChair]

Thanks a lot mate. 😂 As long the Head of your school, does literally anything when anything happens, they're in far better shape than old Fumbly Dumbly over here.

[@rashigupta986]

How was the chamber of secrets still a thing till Harry's second year? Dumbledore literally knew all the facts the golden trio collected during their year, including the identity of the girl that was killed in the bathroom 50 years ago!

[@HenryintheChair]

Maybe Dumbledore was bored, and was like imma keep this place around just in case something fun happens down the line.

[@ericklingenberg4868]

@@rashigupta986 Nobody could find it, you had to be a parselmouth.

[@rashigupta986]

@@ericklingenberg4868 you couldn't enter it. You don't need to be a parselmouth to find the snake engraving on the side of a tap.

[@forgettableotaku]

i remember when i read the books that when ron and harry try to explain why they flew the car instead that one of the teachers said they should have waited at the platform as if this is an obvious standard protocol but this always confused me as like- what did you expect these kids to do. Harry has had it stressed to him that the train leaves at exactly 11 oclock and would 100percent not want to miss going to hogwarts and is probably freaking out that hes going to miss out for the entire year and be subjected to the dursleys the entire time and ron is worried about his family too. Like we are talking about 12 year olds in a situation that is unprecidented- or if it has happened before exceedingly rare with no protocol told to the average student. It always just felt a bit too harsh on these kids who are clearly stressed out and honestly they are lucky they wanted to go to school enough to pull such a stunt- some kids would have probably tried to wag.

[@HenryintheChair]

Very true, very true. I also kinda want to know how all the parents got back from the platform. Surly that’d be in the news if all the parents were trapped in the platform for a period of time.

[@forgettableotaku]

@@HenryintheChair true, like i imagine the malfoys and families like that would evacuate asap

[@Pup_Comments]

You do make a fair point. However, the Weasley parents are still there, clearly since the car was just waiting for them. So Ron and Harry's decision to steal the car and fly it to Hogwarts was... Impulsive and too forced, for one thing, the adults would have noticed Ron and Harry missing since the Weasleys do a last minute run and are we just going to ignore that they introduced Floo Travel before that scene and couldn't, I don't know use the Floo network to go to Hogwarts? Even if Harry and Ron didn't know they could, the fact that stealing his families' magical and illegal car was Ron's idea was problematic altogether... Until I remember they also used the same car to get Harry from the Dursleys, which also begs the question... Does it not need a key or anything to ignite it? Is it just so easy to steal? Isn't it locked? And wouldn't using a spell like alohamora to unlock it enough to alert people that kids are still at the station?

[@forgettableotaku]

@@Pup_Comments I didn't even think of floo powder, which honestly would be so much more practical that it probably should be standard practice for most of the kids from wizarding families. If the Weasleys have access to floo powder I highly doubt hogwarts wouldn't have at least one spot themselves, I have a vague feeling it was discussed in book five when they wanted to go to the ministry but it's been a while so I can't be sure. And you make a good point about the car, you'd think after the kids have already stolen it that Mr weasley would put some sort of measures in place to make it harder to steal. I imagine he'd know how given his job involves a lot of muggle artefacts that have been magically tinkered and if they can make it fly they can add security as well given most normal cars have that

[@chess123mate]

Quite enjoyed the first 16 minutes. 16:20 - But Dumbledore didn't have the authority to *stop* Hagrid from getting arrested. It's like the police showing up to arrest a friend (even if they're innocent): if you try to stop the arrest, you only become a criminal yourself. 18:00 - I was under the impression that Dumbledore didn't have a choice -- that it was worded softly ("we want you to step down"), but was actually an absolutely requirement (which is why it required all 12 signatures) -- that wasn't a petition, it sounded like a "school board", that actually had authority over him. I mean, it's an interesting idea, of Dumbledore *actually* trying to fight the government just to stay as headmaster (especially with all his skills and the school's many defences), but I don't think it'd go over well with most parents!

[@juliamavroidi8601]

Obviously the real answer is that this is a children's book/movie and the child audience is fully opposed to the school closing, because then the exiting adventure is over and Harry has to go back to the Dursleys. But whatI like to think is that Dumbledore knowingly and willingly endangered students in order to sus out information about Voldemort whom (atleast in the books) he canonically knows is behind the attacks. ("The question is not who [is opening the Chamber], the question is how", he tells McGonnagal - without actually revealing who it is) In HBP it's revealed that the CoS situation helped him conform his suspicion that Voldemort has created Horcruxes. So he had a hunch and let the whole plot play out as it did, because put his responsibility to neutralize the threat of Voldemort over his responsibilty as headmaster to keep his students safe. No, Dumbledore isn't a nice person.

[@rashigupta986]

The best harry potter video essay ever!

[@HenryintheChair]

Cheers buddy 😁

[@TerezatheTeacher]

Later, we learn the DADA position has been cursed for decades and that staff members and students spread rumours about it. Voldemort looked quite young when he didn't get the job and since then, every DADA teacher seems to leave, have a freak accident or die. The teacher before Lockhart died at the school. Voldy is in his seventies. A few decades of DADA teachers lasting one year tops would make ME hire plenty of Lockharts. The position is filled and you get people you don't like to get hurt or killed. Two birds, one stone.

[@HenryintheChair]

Dumbledore hired him so something bad would happen to him. That’s a great theory. Kinda hilariously dark, but still. 👌

[@shiroamakusa8075]

@@HenryintheChair Yeah, but that still means the kids lost a whole year worth of education in a very important subject just because Dumbledore bore a grudge against a celebrity.

[@katiem2347]

He does ask... In the books. They explain that they couldn't gwt through the get. Where McGonagall is like: "you could have written us. You have an owl"

[@HenryintheChair]

You’re not wrong. They tell him about the barrier, and he still does nothing about it. Which feels like a worse response than not asking about it at all like in the movie.

[@WenceslasHolec]

Hagrid would be a suitable person to have near in such times. It's possible to use Harry Potter as an expert? He is parseltongue and would be necessary in the long run. Search the Castle for any traces and you would get to snake iconography in a permanently broken Bathrooms. Also it would be useful to have plans and maps of the Castle - like a map of the plumbing after reconstruction.

[@WenceslasHolec]

OH no, with such approach, the whole story is quickly becoming a short story.

[@katiem2347]

"Gilderoy lockhart is explained too. Hagrid explains that he was the only one too apply

[@HenryintheChair]

🤔 Could he maybe have forced someone to do it? Wait- no- couldn’t he have just taught it himself?

[@Marksmaan]

​​@@HenryintheChairThe position was cursed. Literally. Had he taught it he'd have been unable to stay at the school. Not that that means Lockhart was the right choice. But Dumbledore says later on finding DADA teachers is very difficult.

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

strictly speaking, there was another that applied (SNAPE). one he would had happily agreed to do it (LUPIN) of course, the real ALASTOR MOODY who would agreed too even if he hadn't applied nor wanted the position. I'm confident Albus too-many-middle-names Dumbledore would be able to convince his old friend.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

​@@DanielRossellSolanesLupin didn't want the job, he was convinced that it was too risky. Or at least that was the reason he told Dumbledore, in actuality it was likely more about his bad conscience. He spent his time at school lying to Dumbledore and taking advantage of his trust potentially endangering the other students (by pretending to stay in the Howling Hut during his transformations when in actuality he was exploring the school grounds with his Animagus friends), so he very much did not want to go back to that place. It wasn't until Dumbledore promised him that Snape would brew the Wolfsbane potion for him each month that Lupin agreed to taking the position. And convincing Snape to do that couldn't have been an easy thing to do either, considering his and Lupin's rocky history. So imho it's fair to consider that Lupin wasn't an available option at the time. (Alot of this didn't make it into the movie, bur afaik even in the movie it's mentioned that he was reluctant to take the position) Also there's an continuity error between the earlier books considering the curse on the DADA teacher position. While the idea is introduced in CoS, it isn't until HBP that it's confirmed that each teacher only lasts one school year. In the earlier books particularly PS and CoS it's implied that Quirrel did have the position for multiple years, so the sudden vacancy would have been unexpected and had to be filled on short notice, while if you go by the later books, Dumbledore being unprepared for it is less excusable.

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

@@juliamavroidi8601 with that kind of BS, it's evident you are a close fan of Rowling. 1. lupin didn't want the job. then why did he accepted? 2. Dumbledore promised him on third year that snape would brew the wolfsbane. why didn't he do on first or second year? 3. convincing snape could be a difficult task? that's a joke. "if not for harry. for lily. didn't you promise ..." dumbledore convinced snape of even harder things to do than to brew a f*cking potion. 4. continuity error my ass. it's even mentioned in the early books that, each year, Snape asks to be the professor of DADA and Dumbledore always refuses.

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

the fact that he didn't ask for clues to the ghost of a victim is already proof that Dumbledore doesn't gives sh*t about the chamber, the truth or helping anybody. after 50 years he didn't understood that the monster is a basilisk? c'mon... a know it all twelve years old did in weeks/months and the greatest Albus Dombledore couldn't in fifty years? hell... even HAGRID knew it was a basilisk. I understand that Dumbledore didn't want snape to be the professor of DADA due to the curse but he was the perfect professor for the dueling club and, in fact, he was as at the first meeting of the club (and proved to be a hundred times better than Lockhart) by the way, surprissingly DUMBledore didn't even ask to the care of magical creatures professor. what a brilliant idea. we have an unknown monster petrifying students but he doesn't ask an expert in magical creatures!?

[@TalkingWizards-w7k]

The answer to all of this in one sweeping argument is that....Dumbledore isn't as concerned about safety and being good as the video assumes. The things you mentioned are not illogical--they are very possible. However, there is a need to accept the premise that he wants Voldemort destroyed at all costs, which can only happen if the prophecy is fulfilled (Harry is the only one who can kill him). Dumbledore is very much a lesser of the two evils kinda guy.

[@HenryintheChair]

I don’t think there’s a single thing Dumbledore does here that contributes to the defeat of Voldemort. I’m not sure how letting innocent Hagrid get arrested contributes, I’m not sure how keeping the school open when children are being attacked contributes, I’m not sure how hiring Lockhart contributes, I’m not sure how doing nothing to investigate the attacks contributes. All that really happens is Harry sees the disarming spell and Dumbledore finds out that Voldy made horcruxes. The first thing would’ve happened anyway during the course of the education process and the second he lucked into. He admits that he only realised the attacks were the work of a horcrux after Harry gives him the busted diary right at the end.

[@WenceslasHolec]

Why do you think, that Dumbledore is invested in the survival of all the students too much? He and his Order of Phoenix were fighting Voldemort and loosing people all the time. Is his approach in the school different, or does he agree with sacrifices of some pawns/students in the long term war against Voldemort, his deatheaters etc.? Lockhart was an example of abusing position of the Headmaster for personal aims or his "higher good"??? It reminds me of online article talking about negative choices and wrong assumptions of people considered to be geniuses, briliant, the cleverest ones. One example there is Oppenheimer and Dumbledore looks like another case of the same problem.

[@yami122]

Wasn't lockhart appointed to that position simply because he was the only one who applied? That's also quite a big distinction between your resistance army and school children

[@WenceslasHolec]

@@yami122 No to my knowledge and all Lockhart's victims were Dumbledore's friends. Dumbledore was capable to actively search for a teacher of this subject.

[@WenceslasHolec]

@@yami122 whole existence of Lockhart in the Hogwarts is only to get him redhanded as a crook he is. Maybe it was also a good kessob to Harry, but I didn't think, his teaching at Dumbledore's focus, he did it for the greater good

[@yami122]

@@WenceslasHolec Seems pretty dumb up Of an idea to Intentionally pick such a monster as a teacher who would be a threat to their students at large but it would also be a Poor teaching aid For the literal chosen one who's needed to defeat the strongest dark wizard at all times Honestly one problem I've always had with the Harry Potter story is that Harry Potter is required to defeat the dark Lord but rarely do the forces of good put in that much effort to setting him up for victory in fact oftentimes his defense against the dark arts teacher which would be the single most important class for the chosen one is someone incompetent Or aggressively screwing him over in the case of snape And also there's just the idea that Hogwarts is supposed to be a highly elite school In the world or at least Europe Yet the teachers seemed pretty aggressively mediocre Or bad

[@WenceslasHolec]

I would summon Aurors, Order of Phoenix, anyone avaible and capable, Kids to safety, until the monster and chamber would be neutralised - meanwhile Lockhart would be assisting all time to Filch.

[@TerezatheTeacher]

Lockhart is the only teacher to have an Order of Merlin of any class when teaching - that we know of. Lupin does get one posthumously, which is beside the point. Dumbledore might know exactly what Lockhart is, but "his award is not as impressive as it could be" is a bad argument. As far as we know in the books, the only other staff member to have that award while alive is Dumbledore.

[@HenryintheChair]

Nah, I think it’s an alright argument to make. Anything 3rd class is explicitly stating it is three degrees of separation away from something that is good. A 3rd Class degree from University is not great. Being called a 3rd citizen is not a good thing. So him listing it off as one of his accolades should’ve been another red flag among many.

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

anybody that has read Lockhart books either is 300% stupid or will notice Lockhart is a fraud. I'm not sure what option speaks worse for DUMBledore but neither makes him a good headmaster.

[@Enbionic_Titan]

Also, as an O.M 1st class, wouldn't Dumbledore know of Lockharts ability to a degree?

[@HenryintheChair]

I mean, you’d think so.

[@sahilhossian8212]

Lore of The Worst Headmaster Put to Film ~ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets momentum 100

[@rhondacrosswhite8048]

As well as you've presented your arguments, bear in mind that our hero Albus Dumbledore is an excellent legilimens so he doesn't need to waste time asking questions. He can just read your mind. with a motto like "for the greater good" teaching Harry everything he needs to know IS for the greater good. Remember the prophesy? Harry will be the saviour. Needless to say, I'm still looking for my Hogwarts letter.

[@katiem2347]

At some point in the books i believe that the students have to ve accompanied everywhere by a teacher. But i can't remember when those rules are put in place.

[@HenryintheChair]

It’s after the 4th attack. A bit too little, a bit too late I’d say.

[@kazemizu]

You know, thinking about it, ifv we consider Dumbledore as the best headmaster's Hogwarts ever had, what does that say about all those who came before him??

[@HenryintheChair]

It reflects poorly on them to say the least.

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

remembering that the founders taught at hogwarts... dear merlin. how bad was Godric?

[@WenceslasHolec]

In compare with Lockhart I feel like a great magician.

[@mdude625]

It was irresponsible to hire Lockhart, especially when you think about the 5 & 7 year students preparing to take pretty important exams (OWLs & NEWTs respectively).

[@DanielRossellSolanes]

who cares? he needs to show a single student the importance of not becoming a popous arrogant brat. the rest of students can go to hell for all he cares.

[@bjones2600]

This but for every single movie, because my god Goblet of Fire, anyone? If Dumbledore was a competent headmaster in any way and not so busy breeding child soldiers (from at least the marauders days) there would be no story!

[@Monanniverse]

It's not Dumbledore that made those mistakes. It's JK Rowling that did. That woman can't write proper systems.

[@TerezatheTeacher]

Or maybe you just want to hate a writer instead of accepting that flawed characters can exist or noticing yourself that some of the points presented here are bullshit.