[HPforGrownups] Re: Arabella Figg, Snape & Lilly

Wed Aug 14 12:11:56 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 42619

Richelle said:
> > Okay, I may be going overboard with this Latin thing, but still 
> this is pretty cool.  First, I looked up "ara."  It means 
> sanctuary.  Next, bella.  It could come from one of these root words:
> > 
> > bellatrix = female warrior
> > belliger = waging war
> > bello = fight
> > bellum = combat
> > belua = monster
> > 
> > Take your pick, any of them fits in and makes sense.  Now, here's 
> the really cool part.
> > 
> > Take her last name, Figg.  In Latin it would probably come from 
> one of these two words:
> > 
> > figo = establish (that would make sense, she established a 
> sanctuary and was there to         wage war if necessary)
> > figulus = potter
> > 
> > Whoa!  Could she have changed her name to avoid association and 
> become Arabella Figg instead of Arabella Potter?  Is she Harry's 
> great aunt?  Grandmother?  Great grandmother?  Wait!  Don't throw 
> anything yet.  Let me defend my wild theory for a moment.  1) The 
> Dursleys more than likely would not know any of James Potter's 
> family, right?  Right.  2) She may not have appeared with Harry's 
> family in the Mirror of Erised, as Dumbledore told Harry "the mirror 
> will give us neither knowledge nor truth."
> > 
> > Okay, I'm admitting it's a really wild theory, but I'm rather fond 
> of wild theories.  I think I'll start writing all of my wild 
> theories down, one of them's bound to be right! :)

And then Mike replied:
> Ok I'll buy that.  Lets' take it a step further.
> 
> We know JK likes to play with names and reversing the letters right.
> Like the Mirror of Erised.  Spelled backwards (Desire).  Easy enough.
> 
> Lets try it with another name ... Snape... Epans, change the "p" 
> to "v".  Does this seem interesting?   Maybe this is why Snape 
> dislikes Harry.  Harry represents Snape's sister that was taking 
> from him.  Why Voldy didn't have to kill Lilly the night he went to 
> kill Harry?  Is this because Lilly Evans Potter was a blood sister 
> of a death eater?

Now me:
Weelll.... as much as I would love to believe that Arabella Figg is
somehow related to James Potter, I'm pretty sure it's said somewhere in
the books that the Dursleys are Harry's only living relatives. I'm
pretty sure that's why he's living with them - the protection that
Dumbledore's placed on him *only* works if he's in the care of a blood
relative. 

Of course, if I'm only imagining that it's said explicitly, there are
plenty of reasons that Dumbledore might want Harry to live with Muggles
- at the beginning of SS/PS, he says that he doesn't want Harry to get
a swelled head, that it will be better for him not to be famous, during
his childhood at least, for something that he doesn't even remember
doing. If this is the case, then I can definitely see him asking one of
Harry's "blood relatives," Arabella, to stick around and keep an eye on
him. 

I'm not sure what to make of the Snape-Evans thing, although I do find
it really interesting. If Snape realised that his sister was in danger,
that could indeed be a cause for switching sides very late in the game,
as Dumbledore said he did (this actually fits in quite nicely with the
"It wuz Snape" theory, which I don't always buy, but which definitely
holds water). I think there's a lot more to Snape than we know right
now, but... intuitively, I don't "feel" like Snape was related to (or
in love with, for that matter) Lily Evans. Which is a bad reason for
not accepting a theory, I know. But I like to go with my gut. :) What's
there in canon to tear up this theory?

First of all, there's the issue of family resemblance - JKR seems to
emphasize that quite a lot, and there's none between Snape and Lily
(though I admit Snape could be taking a potion or doing something else
to disguise himself). Secondly, the way that Snape treats Harry. I know
the man's a bit stunted, emotionally, but I feel like any
partially-normal uncle would tend to extreme kindness to the only son
of a beloved, and lost, sister. I know, I know, Snape protects him in
SS/PS, etc, etc, but he's extraordinarily mean to his friends (the
incident with Hermione's teeth in GoF) and, when you get down to it,
extraordinarily mean to Harry (that whole "Fame isn't everything" scene
in SS/PS). Aside from that, I think it's unlikely that Petunia would
not have mentioned "her freak brother," as well, when Hagrid first
comes. I suppose it could have been mentioned in Dumbledore's letter
not to reveal Snape's relationship to Harry, but it doesn't seem that
the Dursleys had been particularly concerned with Dumbledore's wishes
otherwise...

A lot of other factors are pretty neutral - the Marauders' rivalry with
Snape during their time at Hogwarts, for example. You could argue that
James and the gang wouldn't want to pick on a friend's sibling. But, if
Lily was very friendly with MWPP right off the bat, and was similarly
mischievous, one can imagine she'd offer up her sour, solemn brother as
a foil quite frequently. If James was in love with her, it gives him
extra impetus to save Snape from the Whomping Willow. But then, one
could also argue that sweet, protective Lily would never let them pick
so much on her brother. We really don't know enough about this era!
::taps foot impatiently in general direction of JKR:: There doesn't
seem to be enough canon either way, but I do think it's a really
interesting theory.

One last thing... would Snape and Lily have to be twins in order to be
in the same year at Hogwarts? All this year/when one gets the
letter/etc. stuff really confuses me :P

~ Aloha

=====
also known as Aloha Moira
Read Potters, A History - Chapter 9 is coming soon to a Schnoogle near you! www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Aloha_Moira/Potters_A_History

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