Could Snape ever be a hero?/Snape a coward?

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 135580


David:
> I have one slight hope for Snape yet.  As he fled the grounds of 
> Hogwarts after killing DD, he gave Harry one last piece of advice - 
an 
> odd thing for a true villain to do:
> 
> "Blocked again, and again, and again until you learnto keep your 
mouth 
> shut and your mind closed, Potter!" sneered Snape... (page 562, UK 
> edition).  If Snape is truly evil, why would he feed Harry advice 
> about how to defeat him or defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?  It's a 
> small thing, but it hints that Snape's true loyalty may not be with 
> HWMNBN... in fact, my impression is that Snape's loyalty is all to 
> Snape and Snape alone.


Alla:

IF there is hope for Snape yet, which I amnot sure about, I don't 
think it could be based on this piece of advice.

I do remember somebody raising this objection earlier, but I don't 
remember the name of the list member. Sorry!

Anyways, what Snape tells Harry  shows  that he does not get him at 
all, IMO and it cannot really be considered a helpful advice.

Why? Because contrary to what Snape told Harry in OOP ( block the 
emotions, etc), Dumbledore tells him that his heart saved him, his 
ability to love could help him to survive, etc.

So, even if Snape truly thinks that he is helping ( which again I 
doubt) I am not sure if his advice would work for Harry at the end.

Having said all that, I am not even sure that Snape INTENDED to give 
the helpful advice.

It sounded to me like simple gloating, personally. 

At least Harry's "COWARD' got under his skin. :-)

Oh,while I am at this topic, I just wanted to nod my head in 
agreement  with the idea that this is exactly what we will discover  
about Snape in book 7 that at one point of his life he DID behave 
cowardly and it cost either him or people around him a lot.

It is just his "pained' reaction strikes with me as someone who 
protests too much, but knows about himself that he did behave 
cowardly.

I don't know what it is, maybe failure to save Lily, maybe something 
else.

It is just speculation, obviously and I am NOT saying that Snap had 
been a coward all the time, but I am betting that he WAS a coward 
during  one of very defining moments in his life.

Just my speculative opinion of course,

Alla.