A retraction. A couple of days ago, I posted what I thought looked like hints that Dumbledore was beginning to suffer the effects of age-related cognitive decline.

It was a lovely hypothesis and it's hard to let it go. Voldemort was Demented, Dumbledore was demented, and that sort of symmetry in fiction feels beautiful and true. It gave the author a way to engage with the deathism of the pivotal scene of the original novels, the most important death in a series about death. Rowling's allegory of a creeping curse would become the thing it represents. It would be the perfect backdrop for a heartbreaking speech on the horror of aging, something as moving as this, since Eliezer never just discusses something in the abstract. He gives examples. How could he not do this?

Well, because there are many transhumanist stories you could build from the raw material of the Harry Potter novels, so having found one of them doesn't mean it's the one he's writing. And he's already ruled it out.

Only it was the Zeroth World which Harry had left, the wizarding world, of Cleansing Charms and house elves; where, between the healer's arts and your own magic, you could hit one hundred and seventy before old age really started catching up with you.

If Dumbledore had used his Time-Turner for the full six hours every day of his life for 110 years, which he hasn't, he'd still be effectively younger than 140. Never mind.