Dumbledore's Arm

[George]

Okay,
We see that, in the UK version of HBP, Dumbledore is holding his wand in his left hand. This tells us that his wand arm is his left and that he is left-handed. However, in the US version, we see, without a shadow of a doubt, that Dumbledore holds his intact, right hand above the Pensieve. If his left hand was the damaged one, and Dumbledore was still able to perform spells, then he must have been right-handed, due to all of the "wand hand" thing described in Book 1. My thinking process is thus: If one's wand hand is hurt, they can't perform spells- due to the fact that they cannot complete the necessary motions of the arm, for the spell to be cast. Either way, there is slight disagreement as to which arm Dumbledore had actually hurt in the process of getting a seventh of the Dark Lord's soul. This could be of vital importance. Any thoughts?

[Boing]

Well, in all the book covers for the US, Harry is shown holding his wand in his left hand, but it is mentioned specifically in the books that he is right-handed, so the covers might not be a true representation of wand-handedness . . .

As for Dumbledore in particular, I don't really know which arm he uses in the books, but we also know that Dumbledore doesn't need a wand to perform several spells. He uses just his hands sometimes - like lighting candles and things. It seems to me that the more powerful wizards might be able to do magic without wands more often. Even Harry does a spell without his wand in his hand - in Magnolia Crescent when the dementors come in OotP, he says Lumos to try and find his wand and his wand lights up without him touching it . . .

[Alz]

..And of course non-verbal magic - the essence of training in HBP for the students :p

I think there was a statement about someone - either Harry or Dumbledore being drawn holding the their wand in the wrong hand - but the US illustrator said she always drew then that way ... lead a lot of people to think there was a relflection or mirror situation on the cover.

If I was to make the best guess - I just think it is people drawing that dont understand the books to the same level as us die hards - might have thought JKR would have picked it up thou :p

[Hermione]

I do think Blaise has a point, it is simply the artists perception. While we may see fit to memorize the books, I doubt Mary Granprie does.

[Piper]

I looked this up regarding something else.

At the beginning of HBP, Dumbledore is going to help Harry apparthiate, and he tells Harry, "Grab my arm, my left please, as you can see, my WAND arm is injured." Those aren't the exact words, but he did specify that his Right arm was the injured one, and that it was his wand arm. This was US Edition.

[Padma Patil]

I was just going to point that out Piper. I'm re-reading HBP right now and I remember that. But on the book cover, Dumbledore has his right hand over the pensive and it looks alright to me. (Thats on the US edition's cover)

[Dumbledore]

Also on the back of book 1 (u.k) Dumbledore is using the putter- outter in his left hand. It would be easier in his right hand( if it's true his wand arm is his right)