![It Is Our Choices It Is Our Choices](https://www.hp-lexicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/the_sorting_hat_by_sahinduezguen-d47mwt5-200x0-c-default.png)
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
— addressing Harry's concerns about his similarities to Tom Riddle (CS18: Dobby’s Reward)
PS15: The Forbidden Forest
CS12: The Polyjuice Potion
CS17: The Heir of Slytherin
PA18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
OP5: The Order of the Phoenix
HBP16: A Very Frosty Christmas
HBP25: The Seer Overheard
DH10: Kreacher’s Tale
DH11: The Bribe
DH26: Gringotts
DH33: The Prince’s Tale
CC1: Cursed Child Act 1
FB/f: Fantastic Beasts (film series)
WFT: Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them (film)
Harry Potter is Sorted into Gryffindor
The spirit-form of Voldemort is defeated by Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets
Story of the Locket Revealed
Goblin Rebellion of 1612
Goblin Rebellion of 1752
The Great Gringotts Robbery
Tina, Newt, Queenie, and Jacob meet Gnarlak at the Blind Pig
Kreacher returns to the sea cave with Regulus, who dies there
Kreacher returns with Mundungus
Kreacher visits the sea cave with Voldemort and escapes
Snape overhears part of the Prophecy and rushes to tell Voldemort
Peter Pettigrew starts passing information to Voldemort
Firenze rescues Harry
Remus Lupin, as a small boy, is bitten by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback
Harry takes his O.W.L.s, but they are interrupted by a vision of Sirius being tortured
Albus Potter starts his first year at Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin
Dumbledore is killed by Snape atop the Astronomy Tower
Crabbe is killed by Fiendfyre
Harry walks into the Forbidden Forest again to meet Voldemort
Harry Potter meets Bane the centaur in the Forbidden Forest and receives a warning
Voldemort is reborn in the Little Hangleton graveyard
Memories in the Pensieve show Harry the true story of Snape’s life and love
Severus Snape is hired by Dumbledore to teach Potions at Hogwarts
Albus Dumbledore defeats the dark wizard Grindelwald
Commentary
Pensieve (Comments)
Tags: choices dark ethics fate free will light loyal loyalty magical ability morality nature power powers strength trust truth
Editor: Abby Koop
When Harry has finished recounting the story of his experience in the Chamber of Secrets, and Dumbledore has dismissed everyone else from his office, he asks Harry to have a seat. He thanks Harry for the loyalty that called Fawkes to him in the Chamber, then opens the discussion up to Harry regarding his meeting with the teenage Tom Riddle--perhaps knowing or anticipating Harry's anxieties about their similarities. Addressing Harry's concerns, Dumbledore says, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
The idea of choices determining one's true nature, as opposed to abilities, is perhaps most easily considered through the lens of different creatures in the Wizarding World, as they have very different abilities and powers in accordance with their species. When those with different abilities or circumstances make an ethical or unethical choice, that choice shapes the arc of their lives and the judgment of their characters. This truth is illustrated many times throughout the series, as discussed here.
--AK