Draco, Snape and Others: Castles in the air?

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 124756


> Lupinlore wrote:
> <snip> Let me put forth a theory about Draco and Snape (and
> Lupin and Neville and Petunia and other characters we like to argue
> about).  And the theory is this:  by and large they are pretty much
> what they appear to be.  The complexities we like to read into their
> characters are largely castles we build in the air.
> 
<snip>
> As I've said before, I think in the end a lot of our speculations 
are
> going to be confounded and disappointed by a rather clear ending and
> rather unshocking revelations (can we say prophecy, anyone?).  Snape
> will turn out to be not nearly so complicated as we like to 
believe. 
> Neville's role will stay confined to supporting cast. 

Neri:
I tend to agree, in general, and I wrote similar things in the past. 
And yet, if Snape and Neville are that simple, why don't we have even 
a single theory that explains all their mysteries in a simple way? 
You might say that we lack the information to decide which theory is 
true, but you would expect that at least we'd have several candidate 
theories that offer satisfying explanations to all the different 
mysteries. And yet, none of the Snape theories or Neville theories 
that I know actually rings true. Some sound like they might be 
approximations, but none that actually supplies explanations to all 
the questions and makes you feel that "this just night be it". So why 
is that, if Snape and Neville are indeed so simple and predictable?

Neri