Snape, Sirius and the End of the Series(Long)

[linlou43]

No: HPFGUIDX 69744

  
  No matter what your opinion of Snape it is becoming clear as we 
reach the latter portion of the series that his character is going 
to be all but impossible to resolve within the confines of the world 
he currently lives by the end of book seven. Whether you hate him 
or love him, think he's complex or cruel, think he's a good guy or 
ESE, this is not his story and as such there is no way (IMO) he can 
find personal resolution in just the two books we have remaining in 
the series. As a result of this, I think there are only two ways 
this character can go as the saga comes to a close. 

  I'm basing the following character progressions on the premise 
that Snape has some very real inner pain that he needs to deal with. 
Whether it is from painful childhood memories, his days as a DE, or 
possibly things we as yet don't know about is irrelevant. Even those 
who think he is just being cruel for cruelty's sake, haven't denied 
that Snape carries around a wealth of hurt that he doesn't have a 
clue how to deal with.

  The first is pretty basic. Once Voldemort is defeated, Snape 
simply leaves. The problem with this scenario is that although it 
may give Snape the space and time he needs to heal his inner demons, 
it would not satisfy the reader's need for closure. I know I would 
not be satisfied with a few lines in an epilogue chapter telling me 
that Snape went to live alone in the woods for ten years, found 
himself, and lived happily ever after. No matter what happens in the 
next two books, Snape is going to need healing time and there just 
isn't going to be enough page space for us to share that with him. 


   The second is, I think, more plausible (IMO) from both the 
writer's and the readers' POV- Snape must die before the end of book 
seven in order to bring closure to both him and the readers.

   Let me say that I am not a Snape hater. I am trying to explain in 
what manner I would be most comfortable with (note the wording-I did 
not say be happy about) the character's personal developement being 
resolved. I also should say I did not cry when Sirius died. It was 
not that I didn't like the character- I did. It was not that I 
couldn't see what that would mean for Harry- I could. What it does 
mean is that I saw it as a resolution of the character that I could 
be comfortable with. I know it left a lot of people feeling that, 
along with a lot of other things, a huge story arc had been taken 
away. It was seen as a robbery of the character's potential. But 
this is Harry's story- not Sirius's story. In the same way, it is 
not Snape's story either.

   That said, Snape has become a central character, especially, it 
seems, to adult readers. He is the character that inspires the most 
passion, both in emotion as well as argument and well he should. The 
character is beautifully written. Puzzles of the human condition 
intrigue us and if Snape is nothing else he is an enigma in 
wonderful proportions. The problem with character resolution in this 
case is that Snape is also an enigma to himself and again I assert 
that there is not enough page room left for him to solve it to 
either his, or our, satisfaction.

       Sorry, I'm starting to ramble. Let me get back on point.

       Right up until the page on which it happened I did not see 
the death of Sirius coming. I missed all the foreshadowing for it 
throughout OOP and I'm actually glad I did. It made the moment more 
meaningful for me. In hindsight, I completely understand the choice 
JKR made. Once I got past the initial reaction of "poor Harry" in 
realtion to the loss of his godfather, I realized that JKR did the 
only thing she could do. Bluntly put, from a storytelling 
standpoint, Sirius was in the way. I don't mean he was in the way of 
Harry's developement as a character. I mean he was in the way of JKR 
being able to tell Harry's story in any kind of succint manner and 
still give closure to his (Sirius's) character. Again, there just 
isn't enough page space. As central as Harry felt Sirius was to his 
life, he was really a fringe character. This enabled JKR to do what 
she did so far from the end of the series. Sirius's character was 
never pertinent to the outcome of the central storyline, but his 
death still had a profound effect on the main charcter. From the 
storytelling viewpoint, I consider the choice nothing less than 
brilliant. Snape will be around until book seven. He is too central 
to the inner workings of the main storyline to go any earlier, but I 
think he will die. How and what affect it will have on Harry I don't 
know but I bet it will give another weapon to the big bang.

    -linlou, who doesn't know where all this came from as she hardly 
ever thinks this much about Snape.