Good vs. Evil in Fantasy /Snape

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 37674

I've been thinking about this about goodies and baddies in fantasy, 
in general. We might have a goodie character who continously steals 
with no remorse, i.e. Kenders in Dragonlance. A character who kills 
and is a goodie, remorse or not (Nyissan Sadi in Mallorean Series), 
some asassins in others...

But - so far I can see one thing that unites these fantasy "goodie"-
criminals. When someone does them this bad thing - they don't hold a 
grudge. A killer-"goodie" thinks an attempt on his *own* life is 
just "part of business" or "misunderstanding". A "goodie"-thief who 
has been stolen from either does not get angry or is angry at himself 
for not taking better care of his possessions... In other words, they 
*can* taste their own medicine. Their goodie-friends don't exactly 
approve these habits, though, but a reader *does* get to think that 
they *are* on the good side despite of their bad habits.

Severus Snape doesn't accept his own faults in others, sees these 
faults where he couldn't be more wrong -- he simply breaks the custom 
of a goodie with a very bad habit. We get a hint from AD (who seems 
to be the one who knows and knows he knows) that he *is* a goodie, 
but the character contradicts what *every* other goodie with nasty 
faults has been so far.

This is what puts him under Question. Is he there to show that even 
Dumbledore's judgement of character isn't perfect because even 
Headmasters like AD do err? Or is he there to break the pattern 
of "spy, thief, killer, dirty and foulmouthed but with a good heart" -
 pattern?

-- Finwitch