Pretend to kill someone to keep your enemies in line, but really just stash them away to be used as a trump card again later, whether as a hostage or a way to reconcile with your enemy. That’s good.
I’m not sure I’d call Dumbledore “ruthless” just for this. While there might very well have been pragmatic benefits to hiding Narcissa instead of actually killing her that Dumbledore took into account, that’s not at all incompatible with a simple desire to not cause an unnecessary death.
Too much compared with what? Winning the war? Actually burning her to death? Not burning her to death, not even pretending to, so that the Death Eaters would continue to take hostages and demand ransom?
I’m not sure I’d call Dumbledore “ruthless” just for this. While there might very well have been pragmatic benefits to hiding Narcissa instead of actually killing her that Dumbledore took into account, that’s not at all incompatible with a simple desire to not cause an unnecessary death.
Still, letting a child grow up believing his mother was horribly murdered is too much.
Too much compared with what? Winning the war? Actually burning her to death? Not burning her to death, not even pretending to, so that the Death Eaters would continue to take hostages and demand ransom?