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I know he was old, and therefore having a last will isn't odd, but leaving those specific objects, so strongly connected to the mission that was about to happen now, not in, let's say, 10 years, should've made them think he planned his death.

He simply wouldn't have left those objects if he had died in a couple of years. The Gryffindor's sword should've sealed the deal for them when they figured out it could've destroyed Horcruxes. Dumbledore passed his entire possessions to Hogwarts, but one of the most valuable Hogwarts' objects he left to Harry? As above: he would've never done it if the trio hadn't instantly needed it to destroy the Horcruxes. And he didn't create the testament on the spot when Malfoy attacked him. So, there's no reason why the main characters didn't even mention such possibility.

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  • 9
    What's to say they weren't in his will just as a safety measure/backup plan?
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 15:33
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    Meta note, you need two new lines to create a paragraph break.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 15:38
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    I think you present this question far too accusatorially. As your question demonstrates, Dumbledore was a schemer, it would appear only natural to the trio that he would have made contingency plans for his death. He was regularly going Horcrux hunting and venturing into extreme danger, nobody can be surprised that he would have had plans for what would happen if he died on one of them. And in any case, this is a magical world, it can't be that hard in that world to alter your will the night before you go out on a dangerous mission.
    – Au101
    Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 16:33
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    If anything, I think you've picked on the wrong item as the clincher. Of course he would have written into his will that if he should die, Harry should get the sword of Gryffindor the moment his theories about Horcruxes had been confirmed. If anything I think it's a bit more interesting that he'd already planned to pass Ron the Deluminator so he'd be able to find the others again, and he'd already planned a way of passing something on to Harry hidden in the Snitch. But it's not really that surprising. Of course he'd expect the trio to go Horcrux hunting if and when he died or was killed
    – Au101
    Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 16:35
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    "He simply wouldn't have left those objects if he had died in a couple of years." - 2 years is plenty of time in which to update one's will. Dumbledore is visibly comfortable with death, and as others have noted, a meticulous planner. Of course his will would be up-to-the-minute prepared for anything that might happen.
    – Kevin
    Commented Jul 10, 2018 at 18:21

2 Answers 2

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If they had any suspicions, they would have been overridden by

  1. Dumbledore always made plans within plans. Trying to understand his motivations is not going to be very useful

  2. Harry saw

    Snape kill Dumbledore

Harry's interpretation of Dumbledore's death was that it was tragic and avoidable. Why question it when it was so clear to him who the enemies were.

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Having a will at times of war is not suspicious, it seems sensible to have a will and if you are lucky you live long enough to update it often. It also makes sense to have a will if you are young and there is peace, accidents are known to happen, some of them fatal.

So just the fact that Dumbledore had a will for these specific circumstances doesn't mean that he planned his death, only that he was prepared for his death.

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