LOLLIPOPS strikes back!

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 34843

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:

> OBJECTION ONE: Too EWW to be TREWW (Marina, Cole, others)
> 
> As far as I can see, this objection is based on the view that
LOLLIPOPS can't be true because it's mushy and sickening, an overused,
trite plot device.  Pah, I say.  What sort of an argument is that?
> 

Not so much that it *can't* be true (if JKR decides to make it true,
then true it will be), but that I don't wont it to be true.  I'll be
disappointed if it turns out to be true.

> For a start, let's have a bit more faith in JKR, shall we?  She has,
thus far, managed to negotiate Harry being Saved By Mother's Love, his
crush on Cho, the Yule Ball, Ginny's crush and various high school
romances without descending into Sickly City.

The romantic elements so far (we might also include Hagrid and Madam
Maxine) have been minor side bits; none of them have been presented as
the driving force behind a character's life-changing,
character-defining decision.  Also, the characters involved have all
been already presented to us as nice folks capable of sentimental
feelings, so adding another bit of warm fuzzies to them doesn't really
change anything.  Adding it to Snape, however, would be like putting a
single pink flamingo in the middle of a Gothic cathedral.

And I never really bought the whole "Harry was safed by Lily's love"
bit; I think it's an incomplete explanation at best.  Voldemort was
wiping out families left and right at the time -- are we supposed to
believe that Lily was the only parent who ever tried to sacrifice
herself to safe her child?  Or that all those other poor, murdered
parents didn't love their children as much as Lily loved Harry?  I
don't buy it for a moment.  There's something else there, and we're
going to find out what it is.

<snip discussion about Love of Lily not being the sole motivator for
Snape's actions>

> The "great personal cost" and incredible deed he did to convince D
of his loyalty don't have to be anything which directly concerns Lily,
as anti-LOLLIPOPS types seem to assume, though if one buys the
LOLLIPOPS argument there's probably some connection.  Nor does his
loyalty to Dumbledore fourteen years after Lily's death... after all,
Dumbledore showed him Mercy and accepted him back into the Good Side
after being a Death Eater... surely this is a major thing worthy of
loyalty: the memory of Lily doesn't have to be the *only* motivator! 
There's almost certainly a lot more to the Snape Story that we just
don't know enough about at this point to theorise on.

That's certainly true, but if Lily-love is just one motivating factor
among many, then my instinct is to drop the romantic angle and let all
these other factors pull the weight.

There's also a timing problem: Snape was a spy for some time before
James and Lily died, so for a threat to Lily's life to become a
motivator for Snape changing sides, there would have to be a lengthy
gap between Voldemort deciding to kill the Potters and actually doing
it.  And I don't see why there would be such a gap.  Which is too bad,
'cause otherwise I might get George to go for Cindy's suggestion that
it was the threat to *James* that led Snape to turn, because of the
life-debt between them.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com