Jag tror inte att det finns något kanonsvar, men jag föreslår att du får ett antal djupare insikter i Dumbledores karaktär i Dödshallarna.
Från dessa skulle jag anta att Dumbledore ursprungligen valde att inte göra det. Jag kan säga att det här är en av de gånger då Dumbledore och Gandalf (Ringenes Herre) är mycket lika i naturen.
'But I have so little of any of these things! You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?'
'No!' cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. 'With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.' His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. 'Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great, for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me.'
Dumbledore valde att spendera sin livsundervisning, skydda och bemyndiga andra. Han verkar ha tydligt gjort valet att upphäva "makt" efter händelserna kring hans syster Arianas död. Jakt ner Voldemort skulle ha varit en öppen handling av makt, något som han hade spenderat hela sitt liv att undvika.
När profetian av Sybill Trelawney gjordes hade det också varit klart att det inte var Dumbledores plats att besegra Voldemort.“Years passed. There were rumors about him. They said he had procured a wand of immense power. I, meanwhile, was offered the post of Minister of Magic, not once, but several times. Naturally, I refused. I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power.”
“But you’d have been better, much better, than Fudge or Scrimgeour!” burst out Harry.
“Would I?” asked Dumbledore heavily. “I am not so sure. I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.
"I was safer at Hogwarts. I think I was a good teacher—"
När det kom till Grindelwald var det en helt annan sak. Dumbledore kände uppenbart att han hade en direkt hand i att skapa problemet och sålunda kände sig troligen tvungen att agera.
“Well, Grindelwald fled, as anyone but I could have predicted. He vanished, with his plans for seizing power, and his schemes for Muggle torture, and his dreams of the Deathly Hallows, dreams in which I had encouraged him and helped him.