Why Snape may know what he knows WAS Re: The Gleam Revisited

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 45138

Marina wrote:
> See, this is what I continue to have trouble with.  From where I'm 
> sitting, the entire MAGIC DISHWASHER theory is built on a single 
> metathinking supposition -- that JKR is writing a LeCarre-style spy 
> thriller -- and all the support for the theory comes from reasoning 
> backwards from that supposition: *if* you assume the theory is true, 
> *then* canon must be interpreted in a particular way.

No, it's not a metathinking assumption of any kind. For one, I have not 
read Le-Carre *ever* so I couldn't identify his style even if I tried. 
I joined the spy-game train after reading Pip's first post on the 
matter. I had grown unconvinced on the accepted vision on the books, 
*because* it was metathinking: what I call the ego-centric Harry (Harry 
is the centre of everything that happens - see bellow for my reasoning 
on why it's metathinking). Pip's theory, on the other hand, takes a 
step back and asks what is *really* going on? and grows from that: from 
observing what was going on in the Potterverse *before* Harry entered 
the picture. Let me give you a run-down:

10 years before Harry was born, Voldemort had managed to achive 
national (and possibly international) fame. There was something going 
on (not exactly a war) that has been called "the Reign of Terror". What 
could be this? Not a civil war, certainly, since we know that most of 
the DEs were not known. This fits perfectly, however, with a situation 
that has been hapening for a long time now in both my country and 
JKR's: a terrorist action. Taken to the extreme, and with the 
capabilities for hiding that the wizards have developed over the last 
500 years, Voldemort reached a point were he was unstoppable... or at 
least it was unstoppable for the MoM that, by all reports, was about to 
give in. What was Dumbledore doing? What were his plans? the fact is 
that we don't know, but I believe that it's a good suposition that he 
*had* plans. Posibly involving the Potters, Ancient Magic, maybe the 
PS, Snape, etc. The only thing we can reasonably sure of is that he 
wasn't going to try a direct confrontation, because Dumbledore knows he 
couldn't pull an AK, not even on Voldemort (even if he could find out 
were he was). Experience (both from my country and from England) has 
demonstrated that fighting terrorism with naked force is useless 
anyway. Only spying techinques (what I normally call "information 
wars") have a minimun chance of being succesful. Dumbledore is 
intelligent enough to realise that and, since the MoM was already 
taking the confrontation option, he knew he had to take the matters 
into his own hands.

Then, a cataclismic event took place: Voldemort had comited an error, 
something so minuscle and utterly inprobable and yet so useful: he had 
managed to blow himself *almost* dead when trying to kill a baby. In 
any war, but especially an information war, errors are very costly, and 
Dumbledore started to work inmediately. What work? Why, planing how to 
make use of that error to destroy once and forever the threat of 
Voldemort. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Note that I haven't mentioned JKR other to put examples of terrorism 
wars, and I have not mentioned the fact that HP is a book, nor that in 
it JKR is God and Creator. At all points I treat Dumbledore et co. as 
if they were real beings, capable of abstract thought. NOT as secondary 
characters of a literature piece called "the Adventures of Harry 
Potter". As I said, MAGIC DISHWASHER is NOT metathinking.

> But if you don't start with any meta presuppositions, then there's 
> no reason to assume that Snape know any more than he says he knows 
> in PoA.  All his actions are consistent with his past 
> characterization, his expresssed conviction that Sirius is guilty, 
> and his desire for vengeance and vindication. His behavior is 
> perfectly adequately explained by the facts and motivations 
> established in the text, without inventing an entire extratextual, 
> invisible spy thriller going on out of sight behind the scenes.  The 
> invention of such a plot is a hell of a lot more meta than simply 
> taking Snape's reactions in PoA at face value.

Read Pip's post 39662 for the full description, but the fact is that 
Snape shows some pretty strange behaviour during the scene. Strange, 
that is, until Pip's examination wrings some sense into his movements. 
Taking Snape's actions at face value would almost mean that he's a 
dangerous sycopath, which we know he isn't. He was under preassure, 
when he was in no particular phisical danger, so it must be something 
else he's worried about...

> It is not "metathinking" to claim that Harry is the hero of the 
> books.  The books are called "Harry Potter and --"; with the 
> exception of one chapter in GoF and one scene in PS/SS, they're all 
> written from his point of view.  In every book, he's the one who 
> takes the decisive action that saves the situation (even if all he 
> can manage in GoF is a partial save).  However fascinating we might 
> find Snape, or Dumbledore, or Sirius, or Avery, or Mrs LeStrange, 
> the books are not about them; they're about Harry.
> 
> Marina

I have to disagree strongly here: *making* Harry the centre of all 
theories *just* because HP is a book with his name and he's the one who 
almost always the story centres in IS the most pure form of 
metathinking. Read, for example, a similar book, the Belgariad, were 
the main character IS the centre of almost everything that goes on. And 
not even then, since there are things that go around him that have 
nothing to do with him. In a good fantasy world, the universe shouldn't 
spin around whomever happens to have his name in the cover. Because the 
real world is not like that, and a fantasy, to be enjoyable, must be a 
reflection of our world, with a few changes to the physical rules.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf