LOTR, Snape, Dumbledore, & Kidlit deaths

[Jinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 1314


> As yet another HP addict who has not read LOTR, let me add that all
> the discussion of parallels between the two series is flying clear
> over my head.  I read the Hobbit in High School and enjoyed it.  Went
> to read one of the others and felt as if someone had picked me up and
> dropped me in darkest Africa, I was so lost.  Said book is now unread
> in a box in my spare room closet.  Perhaps I'll give it another go
> now, since its virtues are being extolled with such vehemence here.

LOTR's nothing like the Hobbit, I must admit.  The Hobbit is a children's
adventure story.  LOTR is an epic fantasy novel for adults, and obsessive
ones at that.

> As for Snape and Dumbledore.  I think neither is as good or as bad as
> we have been lead to believe. Snape is inexplicably cruel to students
> not in Slytherin, as we all know.  I'd love to know why. Jealousy out
> of being stuck in Slytherin house himself, maybe?

No, he seems too nice to the Slytherins for that.  And I don't think he's
too resentful at being in Slytherin either.  Would he really have wanted to
be Head of a House he despised?  And if you're sorted into the right house,
I don't think you're really resentful about it.  I think Snape's the
ultimate Slytherin, and has never really regretted being Sorted there.

Being thwarted at
> every turn by others when something he desires comes up? I don't
> know.

Maybe.  Filch hated students because he couldn't do magic and was envious.
I think Snape's envious of them too.  Maybe because they're young and
carefree, while he's so weighed down by his sense of duty and responsibility
and his fear of looking silly, he can't let himself go.  This would explain
why the Gryffindors in particular come in for so much grief - as the courage
house, they're the most daring and reckless ones, are not afraid of
risk-taking and possible humiliation, and appear to be the most up for a
good party. :)  In other words, they're everything Snape isn't.  Which is
why he hates them.

I like the
> ambiguities floating around and the shades of grey in the
> background.  They add dimensions and facets to the series.

Oh absolutely, it makes them so much more human!  And therefore likeable, or
at least, interesting.  I really can't imagine Sauron or Darth Vader
generating as much discussion as Snape does...

Jinx