The Killing of Dumbledore

“To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Eleven

Song: The Killing of Dumbledore
Artist: Nicholas Hooper
Album: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince OST
Quote: Albus Dumbledore/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/J.K. Rowling

SPOILER ALERT!!!! Snape kills Dumbledore. Now that we've gotten THAT out of the way, let's talk about the music that plays during that fateful scene at the end of the Half-Blood Prince. I must admit I was a little worried about how the movie would handle this scene, perhaps the most important moment in the entire series. However, my fears turned out to be baseless as Dumbledore's death scene is masterfully portrayed, from the acting to the pacing to the lighting and yes, to the music. The Harry Potter series went through four different composers during the decade it took to create all eight films. Nicholas Hooper (who also scored the Order of the Phoenix) creates an atmosphere of tension and dread as he uses an extremely slow buildup of strings which builds to a terrible crescendo as Albus Dumbledore is killed by Severus Snape. The music couldn't be any more fitting here and it elevates this devastating scene to the very heights of cinematic achievement.