[HPforGrownups] The "choosing evil" difference (was: Snape and Raistlin Majere)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 126500

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:28:10 -0000, cubfanbudwoman wrote
> Shaun:
> > The major reason I regard Snape more positively than Raistlin is 
> > because Snape strikes me as a man who has *genuinely* swung 
> > between evil and good. He was evil (when he was a Deatheater). He 
> > is now good (as a member of the Order). With Raistlin, it's 
> > different.
> <snip>
> > He deliberately chooses to do so, because he wants power and he 
> > sees the black robes as his path to power. To me, *deliberately* 
> > choosing to be evil in order to become powerful... that is 
> > *really* evil. 
> 
> SSSusan:
> This raises some questions for me, Shaun (or anyone else who'd care 
> to weigh in).  You're saying, then, that even though Snape had a 
> true swing from evil to good, you believe Snape did *not* choose 
> evil because he desired power.  Have I got that right?  

Shaun:

It's more a matter that I don't think we have enough information to judge why
Snape turned to evil. There's a lot more information about Raistlin and his
motives and ideas available in the DL Chronicles and Legends than there is
about Snape in the HP books.
 
> Do you imagine he chose evil for more mundane reasons, or that his 
> family background rather predisposed him towards the path he took?  
> Or something else entirely?

Very few evil people *choose* to be evil. They certainly *choose* to commit
evil acts, but if you looked at their motivations, you would find motivations
like power, or hatred, or bigotry, or fear behind those choices. Evil is the
*result* of their choices, not the motivation for the choices themselves.

As we have so little information with regards to Snape, I therefore think that
it is likely (until other evidence arises) that he fits into this model.

With Raistlin, though, the situation is that he *deliberately* chose the path
of evil - even before he'd committed an act of evil. At the time when he dons
the black robes, Raistlin has not acted explicitly evil. He has acted
competely amorally in my view, and some of the things he has done come clse to
evil, but he has stayed in the neutral area.

When Raistlin becomes evil, when he dons the black robes he announces his
deliberate intention to embrace evil. This isn't something that develops
because of his actions, this is a deliberate and premeditated choice.

To bring yet another 'fantasy' novel into this, I am reminded of the character
descriptions in Terry Pratchett's Good Omens.

At the start of that book (which is a humourous account of the apocalypse),
the characters are briefly introduced. Several demons are described as 'fallen
angels' - and then we come to one of the main characters, Anthony Crowley, who
is described as: "An Angel who did not so much Fall as Sauntered Vaguely
Downwards."

Raistlin fell - there was nothing accidental about his approach to evil. It
was clearly and explicitly chosen. I think the same applies to Voldemort - but
I think it's actually very uncommon.

Most who come to evil come to it accidentally - they saunter vaguely downwards
towards it. Can I say for certain that Snape did that? No - but in the absence
of anything to suggest he made a deliberate explicit choice of evil, I think
it unlikely. It's rare.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
      (ISTJ) | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia