Harry Potter: The Full Dumbledore Family Tree Explained

It's not an exaggeration to say that there are so many wizarding families found within the narrative of "Harry Potter" — though some are obviously more prominent than the others. Thanks to the specific focus on Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends, we know a lot about the Weasleys (because of Harry's best friend Ron Weasley, played by Rupert Grint), the Malfoys (because Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy is Harry's nemesis at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), and the Blacks (because Harry's godfather Sirius Black, played by Gary Oldman, hails from the ancient pureblood family), among others. But what about the Dumbledores?

We first meet Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, during Harry's first year at the wizarding school; in the massively popular film franchise, the legendary British actor Richard Harris played the role in the first two movies ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets") before he passed away in 2002. After that, Michael Gambon took over as Dumbledore and completed the franchise as the powerful wizard, with Jude Law stepping in to play a younger Albus in the "Fantastic Beasts" prequels. Dumbledore fits nicely into the "wizened old wizard" trope, bearing similarities to other staples of the fantasy genre like Gandalf from "Lord of the Rings," but he's also funny, passionate, eccentric, and completely unique. So what else do we need to know about Albus and his family? Here's the entire Dumbledore family tree, explained.

We all know about Albus Dumbledore, but here's the quickest of refreshers. The eldest child of his family and a preternaturally talented wizard — even in his younger years — Albus graduates from Hogwarts and plans to travel abroad with his friend Elphias Doge (a post-school trip was, apparently, somewhat traditional during this time, which Elphias tells Harry years later in the book version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"). When Albus' mother Kendra died — and we'll return to Kendra shortly — he was essentially forced to stay home to help take care of his younger sister Ariana, but thanks to his budding friendship with Gellert Grindelwald, that entire situation ends in utter tragedy.

When we meet Dumbledore at the start of Harry's first year at Hogwarts, he's a lovable and quirky older wizard famous for dueling Grindelwald in 1945 and defeating him for good (at least, that's what it says on his Chocolate Frog card). We also learn that he was approached to be the Minister for Magic but turned it down to work at Hogwarts instead, which says something about his character — specifically, that he would rather teach the next generation of witches and wizards than wield power. Dumbledore leads Hogwarts and mentors Harry throughout the sixth book and film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," but after he and Harry go searching for all of the Horcruxes belonging to the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the two discover that Hogwarts has been infiltrated by Death Eaters.

Dumbledore is killed by his own Potions master Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) — though we eventually learn the two were in cahoots — and his death looms large over the franchise's final installment "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the movie version of which is split into two roles. Harry reunites with Dumbledore in "death" after the younger wizard sacrifices himself to Voldemort to destroy the Horcrux that lies within his soul, and his mentor encourages him to return to the world of the living to settle the score. Dumbledore is a great yet flawed wizard who provides incomparable support to Harry, and though Harry loses him before his final battle against Voldemort, the older wizard's wisdom gives Harry the strength he needs to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

We never see Kendra and Percival Dumbledore on screen in the "Harry Potter" movies, and we also don't hear from them directly in the books ... but what we know about them is deeply tragic. Not much is specifically known about Kendra and Percival's early life in Mould-on-the-Wold, but the inciting incident involves Ariana, the youngest daughter of the Dumbledore family who, like most wizarding children, has trouble "controlling" her magic. When two Muggle boys see her doing what they think are simple magic tricks, they try and force her to perform, which only frightens and aggravates Ariana ... and the boys ultimately attack her. Percival sought revenge and attacked the boys in turn but was sent to the wizarding prison Azkaban for attacking non-magical Muggles, and we later learn that he died serving out his sentence.

As for Kendra, she was left to hold her family together after Percival's incarceration, and to protect Ariana — whom I'll discuss in detail shortly — Kendra elected to move the rest of the family to Godric's Hollow, a wizarding village where Harry's parents James and Lily later lived. Sadly, Kendra ends up dying too young after Ariana, who is no longer capable of controlling her magic after enduring so much trauma, causes an accident that kills her mother, forcing Albus to come home and serve as the head of the family. 

Now let's talk about poor Ariana, the only daughter of the Dumbledore family whose ability to perform magic was forever ruined by a vicious attack at the hands of those aforementioned Muggle boys. Before her attack, Ariana was a bright and happy girl who showed every sign of being just as brilliant as her brothers, but after the age of six, which is when the attack occurred, her magic became lethal. Basically, Ariana spent the rest of her too-short life trying to suppress her magic as an act of self-preservation, at which point it would simply explode out of her. It's because of one of these explosive rages that her mother, Kendra, died.

Aberforth, by his own admission, was the person who could help Ariana keep her temper in check, but life in the Dumbledore house after Kendra's death was understandably stressful for everybody, and Gellert Grindelwald's arrival in Godric's Hollow as a young man didn't help anything. As Aberforth tells Harry, Ron, and their best friend Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) in the book version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the three young men argued one day ... and it ended it horror. 

"'...I pulled out my wand, and [Grindelwald] pulled out his, and I had the Cruciatus Curse used on me by my brother's best friend – and Albus was trying to stop him, and then all three of us were duelling, and the flashing lights and the bangs set her off, she couldn't stand it –' The colour was draining from Aberforth's face as though he had suffered a mortal wound," the book reads. '– and I think she wanted to help, but she didn't really know what she was doing, and I don't know which of us did it, it could have been any of us – and she was dead.'"

Ariana is killed by somebody during the duel — Albus and Aberforth never know who it was, though Albus blames himself until his death — so even Ariana's memory drives a wedge between the two brothers. Thankfully, years after her death, Aberforth is able to use both Ariana's memory and image, in the form of a portrait, for good.

We don't get to spend a lot of time with Aberforth Dumbledore throughout "Harry Potter," but there's no question that he's a good man, albeit a deeply troubled one. I've already been through the Ariana situation, which devastated Aberforth, a young boy resentful of his talented older brother who adored his younger sister and felt entirely responsible for her well-being. After her death, Albus and Aberforth are never truly close again; in fact, at Ariana's funeral, Aberforth breaks Albus' nose.

Albus, at one point, tells Harry that Aberforth was held accountable by the Ministry of Magic for "practicing inappropriate charms on a goat." We never really get any closure on that, which is extremely weird, but we do learn that Aberforth's Patronus is a goat in both versions of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." When Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogsmeade, intent on breaking into Hogwarts to find a Horcrux, they set off an alarm that draws the attention of Death Eaters, at which point Aberforth saves them using said Patronus. He invites them into the Hog's Head, the rundown bar he owns, and basically tells them they should leave while they still can. Harry insists that they need to fight Voldemort, at which point Aberforth reveals that his portrait of Ariana hides a passageway into Hogwarts' secret Room of Requirement, where many of Harry's friends have sought shelter. (Aberforth also ensured that the kids stranded in the Room were well-fed by sending food through the passageway.) As it happens, Aberforth is also the person who sent the loyal house-elf Dobby, voiced in the films by Toby Jones, to help Harry earlier in "Deathly Hallows," so there's no question that Albus' younger brother is a hero in his own right.

When it comes to the "Fantastic Beasts" prequels, it's hard to view any of them as hardline canon ... largely because they introduce a brand new member of the Dumbledore family partway through the narrative. In the third installment, "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore," we get the full story of Aurelius Dumbledore, a wizard previously known as Credence Barebone played by Ezra Miller.

In the previous film "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," the conclusion sees Credence learning that his real name is Aurelius, and he's been a Dumbledore all along. Apparently, he's the secret child of Aberforth and an unknown witch, not Albus' long-lost sibling (which is what Grindelwald, played in "The Crimes of Grindelwald" by Johnny Depp, tells Credence-Aurelius at the end of that movie). Though Aurelius allies himself with Grindelwald for some time, he eventually renounces the Dark wizard and forms a relationship with Aberforth (which, to be honest, doesn't explain why we never hear about him in the original franchise, but whatever). The "Fantastic Beasts" franchise is likely dead at this point, so it's relatively safe to assume that we won't see any more of Aurelius.

The original eight "Harry Potter" films are streaming on Peacock now.