Albus died so he could manipulate Voldemort, Snape and Harry ie he gave his life up so those 3 people would die. Plus he'd already lead a very long full life, had someone (Draco) actively trying to kill him and was about to die a painful death anyway.

Harry was young and healthy and was willing to die so that Voldemort would stay dead and the war would end.

I chose Dumbledore because the biggest reason he died was so that Draco's soul would remain intact and the Elder Wand would be buried with him. He was also somebody who wanted to be brilliant but the circumstances of his death made people ridicule him for his seemingly stupid faith in Snape and the goodness of people, and he knew it. Obviously he hoped that his plan would work but he had no guarantees his reputation would ever be salvaged.

Harry died prematurely and so that a massive amount of people would be saved, but I don't think he would've died just for Draco's soul alone.

Well, Dumbledore was going to die soon anyway, since Harry was really young I think his 'death' meant more.

Very difficult question. Each had motives of their own, which does not make them less noble.

Albus wished to die a quick death, from a friendly hand. He wanted to spare Draco's soul. He wanted Severus' position to be even more established in the Dark Lord's eyes. He had a plan, he saw plans within plans within plans. He had a long term view.

Harry did not wish to die - he was 17. Yet, he gathered from Severus' memories that he had to in order to get rid of Voldemort.
His death also protected other folks - pretty much like his mother's death had protected him from then on.

Harry Potter is the freaking main character of Harry Potter. Who else would have the nobler reason for dying if not the awesome and famous Harry Potter? Dumby is great guy yeah, but since Rita Vitrol we know that not all gold glitters and no matter how noble Dumby is, he has done stuff which we may forgive him, but he'll never forgive himself and thus his reason for dying involves the rather non-noble idea: escaping guilt. In the meanwhile Harry Potter is pure coolness and decides to throw himself to death despite his age of 17 and lack of life and all.

Erm, I may be a little biased. Dumbledore used his death, much like nene said, as a manipulation technique. He didn't do it because it was the "right thing to do" or "because he had to." It was all about manipulation.

Harry was seventeen and didn't want to die. And he didn't have to. His friends (and everyone else) were willing to protect him with their last breaths, and they would have done so. But Harry chose the hard way - he walked right up to Voldemort and let him kill him to keep everyone safe.

^But Harry _did_ need to die, and he knew it. Sure people could've protected him till the end, but him dying would've been the only way to destroy Voldemort. He basically has no choice but to die or accept everyone's deaths on his conscience, and quite possibly die himself in the battle either way.

Dumbledore's death was a part of his plan, but I do think he died because it was the right thing to do. He let Draco defeat him and then he let himself be killed by Snape, to save Draco from killing him and damaging his soul in the process. He didn't need to die, because if he would've wanted to live he could've ordered Snape not to kill him. I think him choosing not to, even knowing he would get no glory for it, was very noble.

Still, there was a choice. Just because it wasn't a good choice doesn't make any less of a choice.

True, that Dumbledore tried to save Draco's soul, but that was a very, very small part of the plan. He didn't want to be killed by the curse. He wanted the Elder Wand to be passed down to Severus and keep it out of Voldemort's hands as long as possible. He wanted Severus completely in Voldemort's favor (which put him completely out of favor with everyone else)so that he could take over Hogwarts.

There are too many ulterior motives, IMO, for his planned death to be considered noble. Harry had no other motive than to do the right thing.

i think dumbldore.... maybe he knew he needed to die such an ungraceful death for years... he chose to die like harry... but he knew he wouldn't get respect for it...

i <3 dumbledore

I still think that no matter how manipulative Dumbledore was, his good motives redeem him :) he wanted to defeat Voldemort. He knew what needed to be done in order for that to happen. He didn't like it, but he needed to act the way he knew would ensure his defeat.
I think that his distrust of others was his character flaw; he knew he was wiser than most and therefore only trusted himself. That's why he's such a likeable character in my opinion.

Anyway, my opinion is that both Harry and Dumbledore died very noble deaths.

As I said, I'm biased when it comes to Dumbledore. I, personally, don't think his "good motives" redeem all the damage he's done. But *shrug* I think this is one of those things we'll just have to agree to disagree on.

Yeah, but it's really interesting to know what people think :) not that many people have answered though, at least yet!

True. Hopefully more people do - it'd be nice to know what others say.

Er . . . as long as they keep with the trend of having valid reasons.

I don't like Albus either. I think he stayed pretty much the same as the young self who wanted to change the wizarding world along with Gellert. The only difference was that he was following a different cause. Just as when he was younger, he thought he knew better than everyone else and ploughed ahead with no regard for other people. He didn't even find anything wrong with manipulating a child (Harry) into sacrificing his life so that his (Albus') cause was achieved. And Albus didn't really sacrifice his life, rather he used his death. It was more a case of : "well I'm going to die anyway, so lets see what I can do with my death"

I believe Albus was more noble in his death; Harry even though he basically saved the whole world, seemed to enjoy being 'The Chosen One' a little too much.

Harry was young, Dumbledore was going to die soon anyway!

Haha... "Enjoy" being the chosen one?
Harry Potter will turn up in your room to shout at you :D

Dumbledore died to protect Snape's 'cover' and because he was about to die anyways. Sure, he died keeping the future in mind... but Harry, being younger was willing to die for all of mankind.