Albus Dumbledore is one of the most loved characters by Harry Potter fans everywhere. He is full of so many good qualities - or so we think. There is a fan theory out there that might make a fan question their devotion to Albus Dumbledore.

Before I go into this theory, though, I need to give a quick recap of The Tale of The Three Brothers.

Three wizard brothers come to a river that's too treacherous to cross, so they make a bridge with their wands. But as they're crossing they're met by a hooded figure, Death, who is upset they've “cheated” him. But Death, being cunning, acts like he's impressed. He offers them each a prize for outwitting him. The first brother asks for an extremely powerful wand — and so he is given the Elder Wand. The second brother asks for the power to bring people back to life and is handed the resurrection stone. The third brother, who senses that Death may have ulterior motives, asks for something that will allow him to move forward without being followed by Death himself. And so Death hands him an invisibility cloak that hides the wearer from even his own gaze. For two of the three brothers, the story doesn't end well. The first brother is murdered over the Elder Wand. The second brother kills himself after a woman he brings back to life returns differently and he decides to join her in the void. The third brother lives to be an old man, then hands the cloak to his son, and "greets Death as an old friend."

Though paraphrased, the story is accurate. Since the first time the Tale of the Three Brothers was first revealed in the Harry Potter plot line, fans automatically linked the characters to one another. Lord Voldemort was linked to the first brother, the one with the Elder Wand. Serverus Snape was linked to the brother with the Resurrection Stone. Rowling herself made it clear in the books that Harry is a direct descendant of the third brother; the one with the Invisibility Cloak.

But, that leaves the question: who is Death?

Fans everywhere believe the answer lies in the most unexpected place: Albus Dumbledore.

Why Albus?

The first bit of evidence we see is in the very first book and film. At Christmas Harry received a gift that had no known giver. The gift was the Invisibility Cloak. We later find out that Dumbledore was the one who gave Harry the gift - much like Death was the one who gave the cloak to the third brother.

Later along in the series Harry is given the Resurrection Stone, once again by Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore had hidden the stone inside the golden snitch that Harry first caught. After Albus's death Harry received the snitch - ultimately giving Harry the Stone. For a while, Harry is unable to open the snitch. A sentence merely appears on the golden sphere, "I open at the close."

But at the end of the final book when Potter is walking to his death match with Lord Voldemort, he's finally able to open the snitch by whispering "I am about to die." Inside, he finds the resurrection stone, the stone that was part of the Tale of Three Brothers.

That leaves us with the Elder Wand - who had it? Once again the answer lies in Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore had acquired the Elder Wand in his famous dual with Grindevald, and had been the owner since. Before Dumbledore was killed, Draco Malfoy had disarmed him, which made the wand change it's allegiance over to Draco. Later the same thing happened to Draco, when Harry disarmed him. That caused the Elder Wand's allegiance to change once again, and this time to Harry.

Now, how does all of this make Albus Dumbledore Death? It's only after Harry dies we can piece the story together. When Harry dies, he goes to a place he describes as "King's Cross" where he is greeted by Dumbledore as an "old friend". This is key, for in The Tale of the Three Brothers, the third brother who was given the cloak greeted Death as an old friend when his time came. Dumbledore was also the reason behind everyone's death - Snape, Voldemort, and Harry all died on Dumbledore's account, for his plan.