Snape. Woo-HOO! With All Due Apologies to Captain Cindy.

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 56407

Deranimer wrote: 

> 
> Darrin observed that Snape's comment to Hermione about her teeth 
was really inexcusable, and the main reason he hates Snape. To which 
I can only say. . . well, yeah. 
> 

That's the most blatant example of why I dislike Snape, yes, but that 
is simply the most egregious example.

He's got a fascinating code of honor. Like I said, Harry would 
probably have been willing to call any debt Snape felt quits if Snape 
would have just cut him, Ron, Hermione and maybe Neville a break once 
in a while. But Snape had to do it in his OWN way.

I think Snape is an excellently drawn, interesting character. I would 
also rather drink one of his poisons than to spend much time with 
that character in person. 



> However.
> 
> Look, as I read Snape, the man is a sadist. I think he probably 
> *enjoyed* being a DE--I think he'd probably enjoy, say, the odd 
> Unforgivable Curse *now* if he let himself do such a thing. I think 
> he certainly enjoyed the odd Unforgivable Curse back in the day. I 
> doubt he considers the occassional hideous appearance-related 
comment as anything to even *notice.* After what he's done, do you 
honestly  think he would consider that cruelty? Real cruelty--I mean, 
I doubt it even registers on his Cruelty-o-Meter. 
> 

Let me say I love, and have espoused before, the idea of Snape 
wanting nothing more than to be a DE again, but something drew him 
out of it. Maybe it was the debt to James, or something he saw, 
heard, or was asked to do.

But, yes, I think Snape would consider it cruel to say that to 
Hermione. I think it definitely registered. He's been around kids 
long enough to know what buttons to push on a 14-year-old girl with a 
minor appearance flaw like prominent front teeth. 

He knew EXACTLY what he was saying and what the reaction of Hermione 
would be. He got the trifecta in that scene. He made Hermione cry, 
angered Harry and Ron to the point where they cursed at him and he 
could give them detention and amused the Slyths.

Later in the book, he reads passages of the "Harry and Hermione love 
story" Rita Skeeter wrote. No, Snape knows what he's doing.

> Now, on to reasons to like Snape!
> 
> 1. He switched sides. Somebody said that he may have done that 
simply  because he "wanted to be on the winning side" but at the time 
of Voldemort's disappearance, the Good Guys *weren't* the winning 
side. Voldemort was in the ascendent, and to argue otherwise would 
seem to negate the whole point of The Boy Who Lived. The reason Harry 
is a hero is that he stopped Voldemort when *nothing* else could. 
I've always assumed that Voldemort was gaining power until the minute 
he tried to AK Harry. So Snape *left* the side that was apparently 
> winning, turned himself in to the Good Guys' side when he can't 
> possibly have known what they were going to do to him, turned spy 
for Dumbledore "at great personal risk"--and did all this probably 
> against his own instincts. So Snape *is* brave. (Another 
interesting> thing to note: it seems likely that JKR likes redemption 
stories, if 
> for no other reason than that her favorite books when she was a 
child 
> were the Chronicles of Narnia, and her favorite character within 
> those books was *Eustace.* Anyone who can love Eustace shouldn't 
have 
> any problem with Snape.)

Good point about Voldemort being on the rise, and neatly skewers the 
idea of Snape being opportunistic, except for perhaps...

Dumbledore is the only wizard Voldemort fears. Snape might have found 
that out and did a bit of Divination to see which way the wind would 
eventually blow.

We are kind of left with the assumption that Snape defected to 
Dumbledore kind of on his own. And I agree that Snape had to make a 
tough decision. But it is also possible that Dumbledore went to Snape 
and convinced him to do it, and maybe Dumbledore said something that 
convinced Snape who the real winner would be.

But, those are greater reaches than I prefer. I think the 
Opportunistic!Snape, at this point, is not the answer.

> 2. He is talented. This one has been argued before: for examples, 
> feel free to ask me or one of my Snape-loving colleagues.
 
A talented potion maker, maybe the best in the world? Yes. A speaker 
capable of scaring the crap out of first-years? Absolutely. But a 
teacher? Not sold on that yet.

And I STILL think he's more ticked at Hermione because she beat his 
logic puzzle and made him look bad.


> 3. He is intelligent enough to not get caught either by Voldemort--
> who didn't know he was a spy--or by Crouch's boys--it seems that 
> Crouch didn't know Snape's identity as a spy until after the end of 
> the war.

Something to consider. Snape, interesting character that he is, might 
be playing both sides still. We do know that Dumbledore hasn't gotten 
it all right -- he bought Pettigrew's deception, faking his own 
death, apparently -- and didn't suspect Moody was Crouch, Jr.

Snape might still be on V-Mort's side, and it's D-Dore who is being 
played for the fool.

> 4. Related to 1 & 3: Come off it. He's a *spy.*

The name is Snape, Severus Snape. 

The usual, Mr. Snape? Czechoslovakian Flame Vodka with a dash of 
salamander blood, topped with a twisted frog leg?

Yes, remember, use expelliarums, not accio.

 
> 5. He is more morally complex than just about any other character 
in  the books that I can think of. And mysterious. And, to this 
point, continually fooling us all. On a purely literary level, he's a 
> tremendous character.

Uh-huh. But that doesn't make him a likable person. Love the 
character for the skillfully drawn lines, but despise the lines, I 
say.


 6. He's got guilt and angst and inner conflict. Plus, as I said 
> before, he's a sadist. So you get Hurt-Comfort and Comfort-Hurt all 
> in one! Woo-Hoo! <Derannimer breaks into helpless and rather 
> embarrassing giggles, until she notices that an awful lot of people 
> seem to be staring at her, at which point she stops the giggles.> 
> Ahem. Yes. Well. This would be the DeadSexy part of the argument, I 
> suppose. 

<This would be where Darrin stares aghast at his computer monitor and 
decides it's best to leave this to someone of the female persuasion 
to answer>


> 
> 7. He's got an excellent reason for hating James and Harry Potter; 
he  was in love with Lily and she most likely would not have died had 
she not married said James. She more especially would not have died 
had she not had said Harry. (SEE: Lollipops AND Harry as the Heir of 
> Gryffindor.) And he's got an excellent reason to hate Sirius in 
POA,> given that he's spent the past twelve years believing him to 
have betrayed said Lily. And wondering why he himself hadn't twigged 
to that one earlier, being a spy and all. (And there was that whole 
> Werewolf Incident, you know.)
> 

GAHHHHH! More unrequited Lily!Love! Jeez, someone get take the guy to 
a Veela Stripper Club and get his mind off of it.

Seriously, I've wondered if the thing Snape heard about or was asked 
to do that made him chuck the DE thing had to do with Lily.

Darrin
-- Wishing I could talk like Alan Rickman