Fiction Analysis
Harry Potter

Why did Dumbledore hire Lockhart?

Strong Verdict

Dumbledore hired Lockhart to expose him as a fraud (and extract pedagogical value), luring him with Harry; staffing scarcity and the DADA jinx were secondary context.

Competing Theories

We've gathered the strongest arguments from across the internet. Here's how they stack up.

Expose-the-Fraud Strategy

Best Supported

J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World character piece; echoed by SFF Stack Exchange, CBR, GameRant

Dumbledore knowingly hired Lockhart to reveal him as a fraud in a controlled school setting, extracting pedagogical value while coping with a jinxed post.

  • Rowling says Dumbledore believed a normal school setting would expose Lockhart as a charlatan.
  • Dumbledore (per Rowling) told McGonagall there is value in learning even from a bad teacher.
  • Dumbledore deliberately lured Lockhart by promising proximity to Harry, indicating a planned hire rather than credulity.
  • Rowling notes Dumbledore knew Lockhart’s victims and that Lockhart’s skills (aside from Memory Charms) had atrophied, making exposure predictable.
  • Lockhart’s classroom and Duelling Club failures swiftly reveal his incompetence, matching Dumbledore’s expected outcome.
  • Dumbledore’s “Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!” underscores that Lockhart’s downfall was anticipated rather than surprising.

Background Context

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the celebrity author Gilderoy Lockhart is hired as Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Given his dubious credentials and the cursed DADA post, fans ask why Dumbledore chose him. The answer reveals Dumbledore's strategy, staffing limits, and what he wanted students to learn.

Full Analysis

A detailed breakdown of each theory with supporting evidence.

Core Claim

Dumbledore knowingly hired Lockhart to reveal him as a fraud in a controlled school setting, extracting pedagogical value while coping with a jinxed post.

Rowling’s own account states Dumbledore already knew the true origin of Lockhart’s ‘achievements’ and believed that returning him to an ordinary school environment would unmask him. He explicitly told McGonagall that students can learn even from a bad teacher—what not to do—and he baited Lockhart by dangling the chance to teach Harry. This shows premeditation: a headmaster with prior knowledge of Lockhart’s charlatanry, leveraging Lockhart’s vanity to secure a stopgap teacher in a cursed role. The books corroborate this arc. Lockhart’s incompetence surfaces immediately (e.g., the Duelling Club), and Dumbledore’s dry “Impaled upon your own sword” after the backfired Memory Charm reads as the culmination of a foreseen collapse. Rowling adds that Lockhart’s practical skills had atrophied except for Memory Charms, making exposure likely without empowering true malice. Given the DADA jinx’s deterrent effect on qualified candidates, using a high-profile but fundamentally hollow wizard under close staff oversight was a rational, risk-managed choice that still taught students valuable critical discernment.

Core Claim

With the DADA job effectively cursed and unattractive, Dumbledore hired Lockhart because he was the only willing candidate and it was better than leaving the post empty.

Canon acknowledges that after refusing Voldemort the post, Hogwarts could not retain a DADA teacher beyond a year; Hagrid flatly says it was getting very difficult to find anyone and calls Lockhart “the on’y man for the job.” In that market, a fame-chasing egotist like Lockhart is precisely the sort who would accept despite the role’s reputation. Rowling’s note that Dumbledore had to lure Lockhart with access to Harry underscores how hard it was to secure even him. On this reading, necessity drove the hire: the curriculum had to continue, OWL/NEWT preparation couldn’t pause, and Ministry and parent expectations required a staffed classroom. Dumbledore then made the best of a bad situation—leveraging Lockhart’s presence for whatever instructional value could be extracted—because the alternative was a vacancy or a riskier candidate.

Core Claim

Knowing the DADA post was inevitably lost each year, Dumbledore selected a disposable, non-malicious celebrity to absorb the jinx with minimal long-term harm.

Dumbledore states Hogwarts has never retained a DADA teacher beyond a year since Voldemort’s request, and official materials acknowledge the post’s jinxed reputation. In that environment, risk management dictates choosing a teacher whose failure would be survivable. Lockhart, an attention-seeking but non-ideological wizard with atrophied practical skills, fits that profile. Rowling further notes Dumbledore had to bait him with Harry, consistent with deliberately recruiting someone unlikely to last. Canon outcomes match a containment strategy: Lockhart’s bungles were public and largely self-defeating, and his most dangerous act—the Obliviate—backfired on himself. Staff were able to step in around him, and the year concluded with the jinx ‘spent’ on a figure whose collapse did not empower Dark forces. In short, if a one-year loss was unavoidable, Dumbledore chose the lowest-risk occupant to carry it.

Core Claim

Dumbledore took Lockhart’s public accolades at face value and misjudged him, hiring in good faith before discovering the fraud.

Within the primary novels, Dumbledore’s prior suspicion is never stated; he treats Lockhart with the same courteous distance he extends to other flawed staff, and Lockhart’s bestselling books and awards would plausibly satisfy due diligence in a jinx-plagued hiring market. Dumbledore’s broader pattern of giving chances to questionable figures makes an honest misjudgment credible on a text-only reading. Amid the basilisk crisis and a notoriously hard-to-staff post, Dumbledore may have prioritized filling the role and accepted a celebrated author whose credentials looked impressive. Only after repeated classroom failures and the final attempted Obliviate would the extent of the deceit become undeniable. If one limits themselves strictly to the novels without later commentary, this straightforward misreading of character remains a parsimonious interpretation.

Supporting Evidence

The Verdict

Strong Verdict

Best Supported Theory

Expose-the-Fraud Strategy

How We Weighed the Evidence

Primary canon does not state Dumbledore’s motive for hiring Lockhart, so I prioritized Secondary sources per the hierarchy. J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World/Pottermore writing explicitly says Dumbledore suspected Lockhart was a fraud, believed a normal school setting would expose him, and even argued that students can learn from a bad teacher what not to do. That direct, specific authorial account is highly probative when the novels are silent. Within the books, events align with that account: Lockhart is swiftly revealed as incompetent, and Dumbledore’s reaction to the backfired Obliviate suggests no surprise. I treated internal logic about the DADA jinx and hiring scarcity as contextual support, but not as primary drivers unless corroborated by Rowling’s statements.

Our Conclusion

Best answer: Dumbledore hired Lockhart deliberately to expose him as a fraud in a controlled school setting, believing students could learn from his failures, and he baited Lockhart’s vanity with proximity to Harry. This aligns with Rowling’s explicit account and the book’s depiction of Lockhart’s rapid unmasking. The DADA jinx and thin applicant pool likely made Lockhart a convenient short-term stopgap, but those factors are secondary. The core motive was pedagogical and strategic exposure, not credulity. Accordingly, Theory 1 is best supported; Theories 2–3 provide context rather than primary motive, and Theory 4 is inconsistent with the strongest evidence.

What Would Change This?

This verdict could be upgraded to definitive if the creators explicitly confirmed this theory, or if new canonical material addressed the question directly.

Sources (12)

  1. 1
    Wizarding World: 'Gilderoy Lockhart' character file (Rowling)Word of God
  2. 2
    Wizarding World: 'Gilderoy Lockhart' character file (Rowling)Word of God
  3. 3
    Wizarding World: 'Gilderoy Lockhart' character file (Rowling)Word of God
  4. 4
    Chamber of Secrets, ch. 18 ('Dobby’s Reward')Canon
  5. 5
    Chamber of Secrets, ch. 7 ('Mudbloods and Murmurs')Canon