Snape's position

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 92450

"suehpfan" wrote:
> Thanks for the response (everyone). I am still bothered (as is at 
> least one other poster I read tonight) about the reason Snape is 
> still alive.  I think I must be giving him too much credit.  There 
is 
> no other way for this all to work unless Voldemort and Malfoy both 
> see Snape as less capable than most of us who read the books do.  
> 
> It seems to me there were so many things Snape could have done to 
> stop Harry from going to the MoM, and didn't.  Why not follow them 
> into the forest?  He could have said he was helping Umbridge with 
> the "weapon" and stopped them from leaving.  He could have 
contacted 
> DD and told him Harry and co. had left, possibly getting DD to the 
> DoM sooner, etc.
> 
> DD as puppetmaster?
> Snape the pawn?
> Snape the evil capitulater with Voldemort?
> 
> Obviously I'm going to have to sit on this one until the end, 
> probably of book 7 would be my guess.
> 

Neri:
These are certainly some of the most central questions in the HP 
saga, and I'm hardly an experienced snapeologist. Just commenting 
about Snape's position and the credit we give him: In the extremely 
centralist and secret organization of LV, I believe the DEs are 
regarded by their roles rather than by their rank. LV thinks of them 
as tools and weapons rather then officers and soldiers. Avery was the 
DoM project man, for example. When Avery didn't deliver he was kicked 
out and replaced by Rockwood. Even Malfoy was probably not told about 
the project (not in detail, anyway) until he was needed for 
organizing the raid itself. So I think Snape's position is also a 
matter of his role, not his rank. It is not something like "a DE of 
the first circle" or  "a DE of the second circle". It is "my man in 
Hogwarts" and "my agent inside the Order". LV might have additional 
informers inside Hogwarts and the Order, of course, but still Snape 
seems to be located in an extremely important place, which makes him 
not only very valuable, put almost irreplaceable. This might explain 
why he is still alive. What I'm trying to say is, even if Snape *is* 
that important, he won't be told about anything unless it directly 
pertains to his specific role. This is standard need-to-know 
procedure, practiced by all terrorist organizations and especially 
those centered around a single dictator.

Neri

Neri