Snape and Raistlin Majere

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 126446


This post contains some spoilers for the dragonlance series.





Okay, I wanted  to start a new topic that had nothing to do with 
house elves or DD. I was rereading when the dragonlance series when 
it suddenly struck me that Snape has a tremendous amount in common 
with Raistlin Majere.  Both are bitter, sarcastic, biting men with 
little regard for rules, those they percieve as stupid, and weakness 
in themselves and others.  Both wear a lot of black and even seem to 
have similar speaking patterns. Obviously both are wizards of there 
respective 'verses and both spend more than a little time on the 
dark side. Raistlin even eventually has his powers stripped away 
because of the chance he could backslide in to darkness, a la a 
recovering alcoholic. Very similar seeming to JK's reasoning about 
why DD never lets Snape teach DADA.

Here is where my cognative dissonace comes in.  I *loathe* Snape. 
there is nothing to like or love about the man and very little to 
even respect about him. I don't want him to ever be shown as right 
and I hope he's secretly evil just so someone can kick his behind. 
But Raistlin, a character so similar to Snape it's astounding, is 
one of my favorite literary characters of all time. Throughout the 
entire series of the novels I rooted for Raist. Even when he was at 
his worst, there was a part of me that desperately wanted him to 
redeem and patch up his relationships with his former friends. I 
found him entertaining, compelling, and sympathetic even when he was 
at his darkest.

Why?

What makes Snape so contempable to me and many other people, while 
similar literary characters can be just as dark and bitter and yet 
still remain sympathetic and understandable--even in their own way 
likeable. I do realize that Snape has his fans but he also has many 
detractors.  For those of you who've read both series or another 
series with a Snape like character, what seperates Snape from them 
to make him either more or less likeable and sympathetic?

phoenixgod2000, who thinks that anyone who hasn't read either the 
Dragonlance Chronicles or Legends needs to do so stat!