JKR chat--Snape the coward or the one left forever?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 92334

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "backstagemystic" 
<idcre at i...> wrote:
> I think Snape himself makes it clear who the coward is:
> 
> From GoF, p.710 Am Hard Cover:
> 
> "Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight?  We both felt the Mark 
> burn.  We both knew he had returned.  Karkaroff fears the Dark 
Lord's vengeance.  He betrayed too many of his fellow Death 
Eaters to be  sure of a welcome back into the fold."
> 
> I don't believe JKR even intended us to consider whether or not 
Snape  was the "coward," because she was too busy making us 
think that Snape was the "loyal" one (until Crouch Jr. was 
revealed at the end).
>

I have sometimes wondered if Karkaroff didn't take the rap for a 
great many of Snape's betrayals as a cover story, so that while 
Voldemort *thinks* that Snape is the one who was cowardly and 
Karkaroff the one who betrayed him, the situation is actually 
reversed. Now that's confusing!

Pippin