Half blood prince etymology

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 122150


Luckdragon:

> Half blood could refer to the blood tie between Sirius and Severus 
> and as an unrecognized (and last direct line of males )descendant
of 
> the most noble and ancient house of Black he could be considered a 
> prince. 

Laurasia:

I'm not disagreeing that Snape and Black may be brothers (yet), my
problem is that the Half-Blood Prince storyline was once part of CoS:
before we had met Black; before we saw how deeply Black and Snape
hated each other; before we knew Black was a pureblood. If, in CoS
where this storyline was originally existed in its entirety, we found
out that Snape was half brothers with a man named Sirius Black it
would mean nothing at all.

Certainly, the idea of the pureblood house of Black would slot very
nicely into CoS with all the muggle-born hunting that is going on,
however, I cannot see why JKR would ever even consider putting in into
the story *before* we meet Sirius. The fun with this theory is that
Snape and Black hate each other, yet they are related. Without the
relationship behind the theory, it is, well, boring. It's not
revealing or compelling until we meet Black.

>From JKR's quote about the Half-Blood Prince, it sounds as though she
took it out of CoS because it was *too* revealing. Not because it was
boring and made no sense.

And now I *am* disagreeing with the idea that Snape and Black are
brothers: why tell us this *after* Black has slipped beyond the veil?
To me, it spoils all the fun and weakens any probable conflict since
Black is dead. It would've fitted perfectly into OotP- Snape and Black
come to direct confrontation in the Black family home of all places. 

This revelation, IMO, does not have its 'perfect place' in Book 6.
IMO, it's a wasted opportunity to put in Book 6. If you can convince
me that there is a strong narrative reason for JKR to, firstly, put it
into Book 2, and then put in into Book 6, I won't disagree with you
any more. However, the way I see it, it's pointless and boring in CoS
and too late to cause proper conflict in HBP.

Of course, Snape may still well be the Half-Blood Prince...

~<(Laurasia)>~