"Thank Dumbledore for that."
-- Ron Weasley to Snape (CC2.20)
Exclamation of praise, relief, or happiness in the name of the late Albus Dumbledore (CC1.4).
- In use over 20 years after his death.
- Used by Rose Granger-Weasley to express relief when the Sorting Hat put her in Gryffindor (CC1.4).
- Expression of happiness from Albus upon seeing his Uncle Ron in an alternate timeline (CC2.9).
- Expression of relief from Ron Weasley when Snape told him Scorpius Malfoy was on their side in an alternate timeline (CC2.20).
Commentary
Notes
The writers of The Cursed Child probably used the phrase "Thank Dumbledore" to please and comfort the fans still upset about Dumbledore's death, since it implies that the famous wizard is still helping the characters from somewhere in the afterlife. However, use of that phrase is a departure the other books in which the ancient Wizard Merlin is the only one evoked by name, and then often in a humorous way to exclaim wonderment as with "Merlin's beard!" (GF6), or irreverence, as Hermione does with "Merlin's pants" (DH12). In the rest of the canon, the ordinary Muggle phrase "Thank God" is the more likely turn of phrase, appearing seven times from various characters including Ron (OP4, HBP12) and Harry (DH5). It is shown quite clearly in The Cursed Child that Dumbledore has not become a deity or guardian angel of the afterlife because Harry is all-too-aware of the dead Headmaster's faults, and Dumbledore's portrait even hesitates to give advice on raising his namesake Albus Potter since he was never a father himself (CC4.4).