Although scholars have argued both sides of the question with Talmudic rigor, the overwhelming consensus is that he's down for the count. But the afterlife is a mysterious thing in Harry Potter, and Dumbledore may yet have a role to play.
TIME book critic Lev Grossman grabs an early copy of Deathly Hallows and finds it a sad but satisfying wrap-up to J.K. Rowling's seven-novel epic
Is Dumbledore dead?