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

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 126503



> > Shaun:
> 
> > 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.

Nora:
> What if the choice was not a deliberate explicit choice "Hmm, 
I'm  going to be evil" but the choice of "I'm going to do what I want 
in  order to gain power for myself, because myself is what 
matters".   Voldemort's Credo is "No good and evil, only power 
and those too weak  to use it", which is a pretty concise 
statement of something like  Kantian radical evil.<
> 

Pippin:
Hmm. That was the argument Voldemort used with Quirrell, 
whom he characterized as young and naive. It may not reflect 
Voldemort's own beliefs at all, and in any case Voldemort tailors 
his message to suit his audience. 

 I think Snape as a young man wanted power because he 
wanted respect. But someone who wants respect *does* care 
what other people think, very much so. 

It's true that Snape treats Harry, Hermione and Neville very 
disrespectfully but I don't think it's because he sees them as 
insecure, powerless children. I think he feels weak compared to 
them and so he needs to intimidate them. After all, what is a 
potions master compared to the wizard  who vanquished 
Voldemort, or the most brilliant witch  Hogwarts has ever seen?   
Neville also appears to be a magically powerful potion maker 
even if he can't seem to control it --plenty of other people botch 
their potions, but they don't explode. 

I think, for whatever reason, Snape lacks any protective instinct 
toward children, so in protecting Harry he makes a *choice*. I 
think that, like Petunia, it  probably gets him more brownie points 
in JKR's book than someone who protects a child because he 
has a natural fondness for him.

Pippin