Dumbledore and Snape again/ Argument in the Forest again.

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 137470

Esmith222002:

<SNIP>
> 
> But did DD manage to stop Voldemort committing countless atrocities 
> in the last war. No he did not. DD started the Order of the 
Phoenix, 
> but the Order was outnumbered, - and losing. The point here is that 
> DD could NOT stop Voldemort, only Harry managed that.
> So DD hatched a plan (alluded to in OOTP) that involves Harry 
> defeating Voldemort. That plan has definitely been in place 
> throughout the books and again is alluded to in OOTP. Do you 
honestly 
> believe that after all that set up, this plan has now spectacularly 
> failed? It makes no sense!!

You make a good point, but we have no idea what DD's plan was or how 
far it extended.  It is perfectly plausible from Dumbledore's speech 
in OOTP that the plan consisted of nothing more than making sure that 
Harry stayed alive and was educated as a wizard so that he could then 
fulfil his destiny as the only one who can defeat Voldemort.  
Certainly Dumbledore can't have formulated any more complicated plan 
than that between the Potter's deaths and taking Harry to the 
Dursley's, he simply didn't have time.

Also, the "plan" was one of those elements of OOTP that got very 
swiftly swept under the rug -- I suspect because it raised doubts 
about DD's character and moral fiber that JKR did not intend to 
raise.  It wouldn't surprise me very much if we never heard about it 
again, or if we do it is only in passing and it turns out to have 
been only keeping Harry alive.


<SNIP>
  
> 
> As I've said before, Snape is Evil, simply means that DD is a 
> complete fool. And DD is too powerful a wizard to be fooled thus. 
You 
> have clearly read my other posts so I won't labour the point. Only 
to 
> say that DD has a cast iron reason for trusting Snape. We have not 
> been told this reason because JKR needs the ambiguity to last into 
> book 7. But whatever it is, I don't believe DD was wrong to believe 
> it!
> 

Well, that seems to be an all-or-nothing interpretation.  I see no 
reason why Snape would have to be completely evil and/or that 
Dumbledore would have to be a complete fool.  We as yet have no idea 
of many of Snape's motivations.  Perhaps he was loyal to Dumbledore 
until something happened that overrode that loyalty.  Possibilities 
for such a scenario?  Perhaps he hates Harry too much to continue 
working with him, and the hate bubbled over at the worst possible 
moment.  Perhaps he simply could not bring himself to die for the old 
man.  Perhaps Draco is his illegitimate son and he found himself 
forced to choose between DD's life and Draco's.  Perhaps he does 
suffer something like an addiction to the Dark Arts and his sickness 
drove him insane.  Perhaps he was loyal to DD because he has sworn an 
unbreakable oath to keep Harry alive, and his resentment finally got 
the better of him.  Any of these scenarios -- along with many, many 
others -- would save DD from complete foolishness.  He simply 
underestimated the depth of Snape's feelings, and thus did not 
realize how a given situation would affect the Potions Master.  Snape 
has certainly shown in the past that he allows his personal feelings 
to interfere with the war against Voldemort, with disastrous 
consequences.  And DD has shown that, in his detachment, he was not 
capable of anticipating Snape's behavior.

DD a complete fool?  No.  Merely an old man who has become 
dangerously isolated, somewhat blinded by optimism, and to an extent 
detached from the emotions less experienced and powerful people 
feel.  He did not make many mistakes, but it only takes one mistake 
to kill.  And only one mistake to die.


Lupinlore