The benefits of metathinking

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 42333

I realize metathinking is a bit of a dirty word, but let me speak in 
favor of it.

There have been a lot of great theories floated the last few days, 
especially regarding the night James and Lily died. And the MAGIC 
DISHWASHER theory still pokes its head up from time to time.

Canon can be interpreted in many different ways, especially when it 
comes to events such as the night James and Lily were killed and what 
Snape knew, when he turned and why.

So, we are left with a bunch of different theories, each plausible 
and each fitting with what we know about characters. It works for 
Sirius to really be Sirius or for Sirius to be a Polyjuiced 
Pettigrew, for example. 

It works for Snape to have been in love with Lily or in a life debt 
to James. Or both.

Even the DISHWASHER, in all its glory, works.

So we are left with what makes a good story.

I disapprove of DISHWASHER not because it doesn't work, but because I 
do not want to see a tortured, ambigious character like Snape become 
cleaner, which is what happens. The whole idea that he is able to 
operate on six different mental levels WHILE pretending to be so 
furious he can't see straight cheapens, not strengthens the 
character. It takes away what makes him so interesting -- he's a 
tragic and heroic figure who hates most of the people he's fighting 
with and truly despises the boy who he knows will probably be the 
linchpin in his battle. 

In fact, I'd go further. I'd love the idea of him wanting nothing 
more than to go back to the early days of the DE life, before 
whatever life-changing experience he suffered made him turn. That was 
a good time to him, I'd like to think, but he knows he can never go 
bac.

But to have the anger be an act takes the interest out of the 
character.

Likewise, canon surely supports the notion that Lily had help 
creating this sacrifice thing, but the image of Dumbledore (or worse, 
Snape) and Lily hammering this thing out is just ... wrong... to the 
story, IMHO. What makes the sacrifice so poignant is the idea of the 
suddeness of it, the almost instinctual desire for Lily to protect 
her son. 

It is a better story to have what she did unaltered as possible by 
the machinations of Dumbledore, which frankly, takes the focus away 
from Harry. He becomes a pawn in a giant game between D-Dore and V-
Mort, INSTEAD of the wild card who changed the game completely, 
surprising both sides. By having D-Dore engineer the thing, or at 
least partially do so, HE becomes the true epicenter of the story, 
not Harry.

Unacceptable. 

A little metathinking goes a long way.

Darrin
-- Just Metathink