Redemption of Anakin and other redemption stories (moved from Main)

[Carol]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:
>
> Magpie:
> <SNIP>
> He's not in the final group around Harry (where Lily
Alla wrote:
> 
> It is not even that he is not in the final group around Harry is what makes it very telling to me. I mean, after all Albus is not there either, since Harry thinks he betrayed him, etc.

Carol:
Right. Harry wants just the people he loved or the family he never knew. He needs to be inspired and given courage to sacrifice himself. Snape has already played his role by giving him the memories that told him what he needs to do. His absence, like Dumbledore's, has nothing to do with redemption.

Alla: 
> It is that he is not coming to chat with Harry in Kings Cross, it is that he is not with Dumbledore. I mean, supposedly Dumbledore is the only person for whom Snape had some sort of affection, he saved his life, he killed him on request. Would make a total sense to me if two people who need Harry forgiveness the most will come chat with him, but nope the only thing that Dumbledore would spare Snape is – poor Severus, when he learns that his plan did not work out.

Carol:
Again, I think we need to look at what Harry wants and needs. In this case, it's partly to understand and forgive Dumbledore (he already understands and has forgiven Snape thanks to the Pensieve memories) and partly it's wisdom and comfort from the wise old mentor who died and left him "alone." It's always been Dumbledore, not Snape, who explained to Harry what was going on, and he needs another informative pep talk. (Just how informative it was is another matter. It didn't answer all my questions, anyway.) It's psychological. Harry needs to understand, to have his questions answered and to know what to do. Not only would Snape's presence interfere with this cozy reunion, Snape himself doesn't have all the answers. (I can imagine him talking with Snape, too, clearing up all his misconceptions and filling in all the information that he concealed from him while he was alive.)

None of this, IMO, means that Snape isn't redeemed. It just means that Harry doesn't need him for a particular role that's better filled by other people. IMO, as always.

Alla: 
> Something tells me that Snape will not be sitting on cloud nine in Potterverse after life either, but it is just my opinion of course.

Carol:
Well, no. That's not what JKR's version of the afterlife apparently involves. What we see is Dumbledore with his injured hand cured and Lupin looking young and healthy and Black healed of the poison of Azkaban. If we were to see Snape, I'm pretty sure that his Dark Mark would be gone and he'd be "cured" of spite and bitterness, looking younger as Lupin does because the burdens of his existence have been lifted from him.

The only person we see suffering in the afterlife is Voldemort (whose future we glimpse before he actually dies) because he has torn his soul in seven pieces and the remaining piece is maimed by many murders and other crimes that he has not repented.

I wonder, as I said earlier, what Grindelwald's afterlife would be like. He never created any Horcruxes, so his soul is intact in that sense, but it would certainly be mutilated by his many crimes (which far outnumber and outweigh Snape's). Dumbledore is glad to know that he expressed repentance at the end. (He probably would admire old Grindelwald fearlessly facing and taunting the upstart Voldemort, as well.) So, apparently, Grindelwald's fate won't be nearly as terrible or as hopeless as Voldemort's. But given the magnitude of his sins and the absence of active atonement like Snape's, I can't imagine him walking freely with Dumbledore and talking about old times. I suppose it's up to each of us to imagine what happens there or to ignore the question altogether since JKR clearly didn't want to answer it. (Harry goes only as far as "King's Cross"; he doesn't "go on.")

At any rate, I think we can safely infer what Snape's afterlife will be like from what we glimpse of Dumbledore's and Lupin's and Black's. Voldemort's is another matter altogether.

Carol, who thinks that Snape would feel extremely silly sitting on a cloud playing a harp