Unbreakable Vow Truly Unbreakable, etc.

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 139238

--- lealess wrote:
> I am suggesting that the Vow is its own agent, it cannot 
> be broken, it has a will of its own to completion.
> 
> If the Vow made Dumbledore's death inevitable... then it 
> would be like the DADA curse: within the space of one year, 
> regardless of who was in the position, the curse worked to 
> fulfill itself and eliminate the professor.  
>
> [snip]
> 
> I guess what I am saying is that Snape made his choice when 
> he made the Vow, and after that, he was unable to make a 
> further choice about whether or not to complete Draco's 
> mission.  The Vow, and the alignment of all the players in 
> the Astronomy Tower, negated Snape's will.

I like the theory (and yes, you did express it clearly!), but would
propose a minor amendment.  Rather than depriving Snape of free will
in his future actions, suppose that the Vow acts something like the
Prophecy: without forcing individuals to act in any particular way, it
sets in motion the circumstances that will induce them to *choose* to
act that way.  

This theory works equally well with Evil Snape, Out for Himself Snape,
and Loyal Snape, and could even add to the underpinnings of each of
those theories.  (Loyal Snape theorists, for instance, might see the
Vow at work in Dumbledore's apparent fatalism toward the end of the
book.)  It also -- like Rowling's new explanation of the Prophecy in
HBP -- more comfortably reconciles with the theme of choice and
self-actualization that permeates all six books (which is not to say
that other theories of the Vow cannot be reconciled with free will;
after all, one needs to exercise free will to make the Vow in the
first place).  

While we are on the subject, your legal analysis of Snape's Vow
recalled to me two additional points that I had been thinking about in
reading others' posts.  

1) Is it possible that the third clause of the Vow was never operative
at all, because Snape had not been told what the task was?  Your
reference to "meeting of the minds" in the context of a legal contract
struck right at the point that has made me a bit unsure about the
status of the Vow when I was first reading the book: What does a
promise mean when the promiser does not know what he is promising?  

Given how things turned out, it seems a bit unlikely that the third
clause was not in fact operative, but is it possible that Snape
*believed* it would not be operative based on his own
(mis)understanding of the workings of Unbreakable Vows?  This might
better explain his decision -- after some hesitation -- to agree to
the Vow when he apparently did not know what was entailed.  

2) Following up on that last point, a number of posters have recently
hypothesized that Snape was somehow "trapped" when Narcissa came up
with the unexpected request to fulfill the task (if necessary), in
addition to aiding and protecting Draco.  While I agree that Snape was
surprised by the request, I don't see that he was trapped.  He had
already provided a perfectly plausible reason for declining
essentially the same request earlier in their conversation:

    "When Snape said nothing, Narcissa seemed to lose what 
little self-restraint she still possessed. Standing up, 
she staggered to Snape and seized the front of his robes. 
Her face close to his, her tears falling onto his chest, 
she gasped, 'You could do it. You could do it instead of 
Draco, Severus. You would succeed, of course you would, 
and he would reward you beyond all of us —-'

     Snape caught hold of her wrists and removed her 
clutching hands. Looking down into her tearstained face, 
he said slowly, 'He intends me to do it in the end, I think. 
But he is determined that Draco should try first.'"
 
Snape could have refused to sign on to the third clause of the Vow on
largely the same grounds: "Narcissa, only Dark Lord can decide who
will take up the task should Draco fail.  I would dearly love to step
in for Draco, and as I have said I hope and believe that the Dark Lord
will instruct me to do it in the end, but until then I am bound to
follow the instructions he has given me."

I don't have any very good theory for why Snape changed his tune at
the critical juncture.  It did (and still does) seem awfully out of
character for him to promise something without knowing what it would
require (unless, as I speculated above, he thought that part of the
Vow would not be binding).  Maybe Narcissa did melt his cold cold
heart....

-- Matt