Snape's remorse (was:ACID POPS vs LOLLIPOPS (was:Whom does Snape REALLY love)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 139061

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Then, to his horror, his information is used  to fuel           
> > Voldemort's intense interest in seeing the entire Potter family  
> > (including his old friend, Lily) slaughtered.
> > Snape runs to Dumbledore  and tells him everything.

> >>Christina:
> Another of my long-standing theories!  I love this idea- it would 
> give a lot of weight to Dumbledore's claim that Snape was very    
> remorseful of his part in what Voldemort was about to do.  It is   
> also a demonstration of Snape trying to right a previous wrong.    
> I'm in the camp that thinks that Snape is too complex to be simply 
> all good or all evil (his complexity is what makes him my favorite 
> character), so I would like to see him give some recognition to   
> his wrongs.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
It ties things up rather neatly, doesn't it?  And I think it fits 
into the redemptive arc.  I think Snape *realizes* that he's done 
wrong, and I think that wrong eats at him. (Snape's intense hatred 
of Black could well mirror Harry's intense hatred of Snape. Both are 
putting their self-loathing onto an easy target.)  I think merely 
telling Dumbledore of Voldemort's plans isn't enough to assuage 
Snape's guilt, so I feel like he's been trying to make amends 
throughout the series.  
 
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Snape is heartbroken and swears vengence (or whatever) and      
> > Dumbledore  realizes that he can fully trust Severus Snape.

> >>Christina:
> <snip>
> I think what you're suggesting is that Dumbledore could have
> taken Snape's reaction to Lily's death as the final seal on his   
> trust of him, which...I don't know. 
> <snip>
> What I *would* have an issue with is if JKR tries to tell us that 
> Snape turned over to the good side (and that Dumbledore believes   
> his change of heart) solely over Lily.  For the Snape defection to 
> matter at all, Snape had to realize that Voldemort was doing a    
> *lot* of bad things to a *lot* of people.  If Lily is the conduit 
> that helps him to see that broader picture, than this whole       
> scenario works beautifully.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Mmm, I was a bit too flippent and gave the wrong impression.  I 
actually agree with you here.  Snape's turn against Voldemort *must 
have* gone beyond the personal for Dumbledore to put him in such a 
position of trust.  I think Snape must have had an epiphany of 
sorts.  A "whatever happens, Voldemort must be stopped" sort of 
moment where he realizes and probably states to Dumbledore that 
Voldemort is totally wrong in everything he's trying to accomplish.  
Lily might be his personal symbol for what is wrong with the world 
according to Voldemort (just as Dumbledore suggested Cedric Diggory 
be for the Hogwarts student body), but Snape's turn had to be 
complete, I think.

> >>Christina: 
> All of that said, I still think that Snape was stewing for a while
> before the prophesy incident.  I think he fell slowly *into* the   
> Death Eaters, and came just as slowly back out of them.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Absolutely.  And I wonder if Lily came to symbolize the path not 
taken.  Not that Snape is still holding this burning torch for her, 
but that she represented what was good about him and what he chose 
to reject for the Death Eater way.  I picture her view of him as 
being the niggling doubt that caused him to look more critically at 
the Death Eater philosophy. (Like how Harry's voice of reason 
sometimes sounds like Hermione.)

> >>Christina:
> Someone (sorry I don't remember who it was- ack!) suggested it    
> might have something to do with Regulus Black.  I think Regulus   
> *is* RAB and was having doubts about his work (as Sirius said) and 
> shared those doubts with Snape (who developed some similar doubts).

Betsy Hp:
Or, even if the two of them didn't share their doubts (which would 
be prudent considering the organization) maybe Regulus' death 
provided even more impetus to Snape's move away from the Death 
Eaters.  And that would suggest that his disagreement with the Death 
Eaters went beyond just a "they killed my woman!" kind of change.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Of course, I  myself like the idea of Snape in love 
> > because otherwise what a waste of  the sexy.

> Christina: 
> I personally don't think that Adult!Snape was harboring a secret
> obsessive passion for Lily (I'm not sure if you do or not, but I've
> heard it suggested).
> <snip>
> ...But I totally love you for the "wasting the sexy" comment.  I   
> hate Pining!Snape, but the man *has* got a heart (IMO at least)   
> underneath all those black robes.  And what sexy robes those are.

Betsy Hp:
Hee! Thanks.  I agree, though, that Pining!Snape is a tad too 
pathetic.  Especially since I'm pretty sure Lily was gaga over James 
for quite some time.  (I think JKR means for their love to be oh so 
true.)    

I'd much prefer Snape to love someone who could love him right back 
and for the Lily thing to have been a deep friendship with maybe a 
bit of crushing on Snape's side.  And honestly, if Snape *had* felt 
this deep obsessive love for Lily I think it would too easily have 
turned to hate once she married his rival.  Which would totally blow 
the "remorse" theory out of the water, IMO.  But Snape *may* have 
felt he had had a chance with Lily and ruined it himself in fifth 
year when he turned on her.  Again, more of a path not taken than an 
undying torch sort of thing.  (And I do think there is a difference.)

Betsy Hp