The Flagrant Foolish Flaws In Dumbledore's Plan

Don't worry, I'm well aware how terrible my Photoshopping is.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian CheezWhiz Dumbledore is the smartest and greatest wizard in the history of the Wizarding World, of course, but he's also sometimes the dumbest. He himself admitted to Harry that his outstanding brilliance means his mistakes are "correspondingly huger." Boy, was he right. 

As clever as he was to discover Voldemort's secrets, he's incredibly lucky Voldemort didn't expose the flagrant flaws in his plan the way Harry exposed the glaring flaws in Voldemort's. Dumbledore's general strategy was to never put all his eggs in one basket and minimize the number of baskets, which was prudent since absolute secrecy was necessary to successful execution. If Voldemort had ever got an early whiff that his Horcrux secret was out, he'd have locked it down real quick, probably burying one or two in the deep depths of the ocean or floating in space where no one would ever find them, ensuring his immortality. (Which he should have done from the get-go, but thankfully his terrible ego prevented that. Phew!)

Considering Voldemort was a frighteningly effective Legilimens, Dumbledore was right to tell as few people as possible about the Horcruxes. Only he, Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew, and Ron and Hermione only because he knew Harry was a prat who needed help. And, I suppose, for backup in case Harry accidentally bit the dust. No one else in the Order knew because Dumbledore couldn't risk anyone being captured and having the secret ripped from their mind by Legilimancy. He did a good job of spreading that egg into three baskets, just enough to ensure the task got done and no more. 

However, beyond that, he did a pretty terrible job of spreading the eggs into enough baskets. For starters, he certainly should have had another chat with Harry about where he thought the rest of the Horcruxes could be and what they might be. Perhaps he was planning to and his death surprised him a bit earlier than expected, so I can sort of understand. But dude, hunting Horcruxes is dangerous and he knew it, so why the bloody hell didn't he tell Harry all his hunches before they went off to hunt one down together, in case things went south. Which, by the way, THEY DID! Dumbledore left Harry in the lurch for no good reason.

Artwork by Kazu Kibuishi 

Not to mention it was unbelievably stupid to go after the first Horcrux (the ring) alone when he was, at that point, the only person who knew about the Horcruxes (at least the only person not in denial, *cough* Slughorn *cough*). He's lucky Snape saved him and salvaged him another year of life, or else he could have died and no one would have known how to defeat Voldemort. Great plan, Stan!

Speaking of Snape, that brings me to the other flaw: Dumbledore only told one person that Harry was the final Horcrux (without actually telling Snape about Horcruxes) and had to willingly sacrifice himself to ensure its eradication. That person being Snape, who Dumbledore knew would be at insane risk after dutifully killing him. This isn't a question of trust, it's a question of practicality. What if one of the Order murdered Snape out of vengeance? What if Voldemort murdered Snape for good or no good reason? Dumbledore intended for Snape to earn the allegiance of the Elder Wand, therefore ensuring his safety in any duels, but he didn't take any actions whatsoever to make sure Snape knew to win it and take it off him. Nor did he consider that Malfoy or any other Death Eater might win it with a simple disarm.

Artwork by artsymptom

And even if Snape had the protection of the Elder Wand, what if he had a natural everyday accident and died? He put that egg in one basket, and it was the basket most at risk. Also the basket that would be least accessible to pass on the information to Harry since Snape would publicly be on Team Dark Lord after Dumbledore's death. Just how did Dumbledore reasonably expect Snape to ever get in contact with Harry, or even get close to him when everyone in the Order would be hellbent on keeping Snape away from him?

In fact, Voldemort did kill Snape for no good reason, and only through sheer luck was Harry there in the nick of time to receive his tearful memories for the Pensieve. If Harry hadn't been there, he would have never gotten the information. If Snape had died earlier, Harry never would have gotten the information. If the Horcrux ring had killed Dumbledore immediately, Harry never would have gotten any of the information. That's a lot of unnecessary ifs that could have been avoided had Dumbledore spread the eggs among more baskets.

Artwork by HogwartsHorror

As brilliant as Dumbledore was to discover Voldemort's secrets and bring about his ruin, time and time again Dumbledore's plan only succeeded because of, in the words of the great Professor McGonagall, "sheer dumb luck." He left gaping flaws in the plan that could have been—and nearly were—exploited and spelled doom for the entire world. Thankfully, they weren't and all was well. I know Dumbledore is only human and therefore flawed and capable of idiotic mistakes, but damn he was a downright dumbass sometimes. 

Still love him, though. Sherbet lemon!