So, is that really the stone? Was “triumphant Dumbledore” enough to get the mirror to coff it up, or is that a trap of some kind?
My thinking is trap. Dumbledore doesn’t believe he can best Voldemort, he thinks Harry will, due to prophecy. He’s set up the mirror to give him a false Stone if he appeared in front of it thinking that he’d won, because he believes that if that was the cases he’d have been deceived.
Further guess, the mirror’s actual condition for giving up the stone is that it will give the stone to a phoenix.
Right, so, by Dumbledore’s thinking, if he shows up having beaten Voldemort then he’s not real. He expects that Voldemort would kill him. So the mirror could be a trap for any “triumphant Dumbledore” who appeared before it.
This is particularly true because Dumbledore doesn’t fear death. He could easily have made himself forget the trap. If he wins and is killed by his trap, what’s the harm? Its just the next great adventure.
To actually get the Stone probably just needs some terminal values equivalent of the arbitrary physical description Harry gave. A crazy person Dumbledore happens to know who thinks they are the only person in the world. Someone who doesn’t know anything about the mirror at all. The possibilities are endless. Flamel himself is the obvious choice, identified as a person who knows some bit of trivia (s)he learned in 600 years alive.
So, is that really the stone? Was “triumphant Dumbledore” enough to get the mirror to coff it up, or is that a trap of some kind?
My thinking is trap. Dumbledore doesn’t believe he can best Voldemort, he thinks Harry will, due to prophecy. He’s set up the mirror to give him a false Stone if he appeared in front of it thinking that he’d won, because he believes that if that was the cases he’d have been deceived.
Further guess, the mirror’s actual condition for giving up the stone is that it will give the stone to a phoenix.
But Dumbledore doesn’t necessarily expect to live out any encounter with Voldemort, does he? And Harry’s lost his chance of a phoenix
Right, so, by Dumbledore’s thinking, if he shows up having beaten Voldemort then he’s not real. He expects that Voldemort would kill him. So the mirror could be a trap for any “triumphant Dumbledore” who appeared before it.
This is particularly true because Dumbledore doesn’t fear death. He could easily have made himself forget the trap. If he wins and is killed by his trap, what’s the harm? Its just the next great adventure.
To actually get the Stone probably just needs some terminal values equivalent of the arbitrary physical description Harry gave. A crazy person Dumbledore happens to know who thinks they are the only person in the world. Someone who doesn’t know anything about the mirror at all. The possibilities are endless. Flamel himself is the obvious choice, identified as a person who knows some bit of trivia (s)he learned in 600 years alive.