Nope, no consensus on Snape / Snape a decent person, a hero, or somebody els

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 142822

lealess wrote:
> and he has a propensity for "slithering out of action" according to
a highly-placed Death Eater.  
> 
> a_svirn responded:
> Except that we've seen him in action, have we not? 

Carol responds:
I assume that you're referring to Snape killing Dumbledore on the
tower, which is not a straightforward instance of Snape "in action" as
a Death eater. Bellatrix's distrust of him and her reference to him as
"slithering out of action" do suggest, as lealess indicated, that he
has not regularly participated in the sorts of Muggle-baiting and
torturing that Bellatrix expects of a loyal DE. 

We have, in fact, no direct evidence of anything Snape did as a DE
except join in the first place and report the first part of the
Prophecy to LV (before Harry was born and probably, IMO, without
interpreting its contents in the way that LV did). We know that he
went to Dumbledore with "a tale of deepest remorse," that Dumbledore
believed his repentance to be sincere, that Snape (still a very young
man in his early twenties) began spying for DD *before* Voldemort's
fall "at great personal risk" (GoF, "The Pensieve," quoted from
memory) and that he was given the Potions position rather than the
DADA position that he applied for (on LV's orders, as DD almost
certainly knew) again *before* Godric's Hollow, as Snape reminds
Bellatrix in "Spinner's End." (Clearly, he was *not* at Godric's
Hollow; he was already at Hogwarts as of the beginning of the term.)
That is *all* we know of his early activities (except for his own
implication in PoA that he tried to warn James Potter that Sirius
Black was a spy and a traitor but Potter was too "arrogant" to believe
him--that SS was wrong about the identity of the traitor doesn't
negate his attempt to warn Potter of his danger, assuming that the
statement is true).

What's interesting to me is that we know more or less what other Death
Eaters did: Bellatrix Lestrange and her all-male entourage (the
Lestrange brothers and Barty Jr.) Crucio'd people, most notoriously
the Longbottoms. Macnair is a beast killer who likes to swing his axe
(interestingly employed as envoy to the giants as well). Karakaroff
testifies that Rookwood was an informant, Mulciber was an Imperius
specialist, Travers helped murder the McKinnons, Dolohov tortured
countless Muggles and nonsupporters of the Dark Lord (with Karkaroff's
help, according to Moody), and so forth. But Snape is not implicated
in any of these crimes. Karkaroff says only, "I assure you, Severus
Snape is a Death Eater," which is followed by Dumbledore's statement
that Snape "rejoined our side" and is "now no more a Death Eater than
I am" (GoF Am. ed. 390-91). ("Rejoined," is, of course, an intriguing
choice of words.) All we know, then, is that Snape was a Death Eater
who revealed the Prophecy to LV, that he later persuaded Dumbledore
that he had changed sides and was genuinely remorseful, and that he
spied for DD before becoming a Hogwarts teacher. 

It *seems*, judging from the absence of evidence from Karkaroff and
the ease with which DD persuaded Crouch to drop all charges against
the young Snape, and from Bellatrix's later assertions that Snape
"slithered out of action," that he didn't engage in the murder,
torture, or Imperioing that the other DEs were convicted of and sent
to Azkaban for. Nor did he plead, as Malfoy and others did, that he
had been Imperio'd. Instead he was cleared of all charges. I'm
guessing that his activities were more clandestine than those of the
murderers and torturers--it makes sense that LV would use young
Snape's talents as a potion maker, especially if he was seeking to
make his body as well as his soul immortal. He (LV) does seem to have
assigned duties to his DEs according to their interests and talents.

At any rate, we can't *assume* that Snape performed any kind of
Unforgiveable Curse before the AK (if it was an AK) on the tower. I
personally don't think that DD would have trusted him to be alone with
eleven-year-old children if he had ever killed or tortured anyone
himself. (That he *witnessed* such incidents, including probably the
murder of Regulus Black, we can be fairly certain. JKR intimates as
much in an interview answer to the question whether Snape can see
Thestrals: "As a Death Eater, he will have *seen*--" quoted from
memory, my italics, break-off in the original.)
  
> 
a_svirn:
> Now, where would be the fun of it? It would have tarnished "the 
> mysterious, ambiguous, etc. Potion Master" image forever.

Carol responds:
I agree in part--knowing what Snape did as a DE would destroy the
mystery and ambiguity that makes him such and intriguing and variously
interpreted character. But I don't think we can assume (as a_svirn
seems to--please correct me if I'm wrong) that just by virtue of being
a DE, he would have tortured and killed Muggles or "non-supporters"
(Karkaroff's word). Snape seems to be in all respects a special
case--distrusted by fanatically loyal DEs (Bellatrix and
Crouch!Moody), trusted by Dumbledore. But no one--not Karkaroff, not
the real Moody (who remains suspicious of him in the Pensieve scene
but levels no specific accusations), not Barty Sr. who acquits him on
DD's testimony--accuses him of specific crimes beyond revealing the
Prophecy to DD and, of course, joining the DEs in the first place for
we don't know what reasons.

Brewing potions to help LV in his quest for immortality or poisons to
be used in murders (as I think we can reasonably suspect him of
doing)is not exactly being innocent of any crimes, but at least there
is at present no evidence that I can find to connect him with
participating in the standard DE murder and torture before or after
Voldemort's fall. (He must, of course, have supplied LV with
information in his role as double agent, but if he's DD's Man the
specific information would be arranged in advance with DD.)

In part, of course, the absence of incriminating evidence is necessary
to maintain the ambiguity regarding his loyalties. But it may also
mean that he seldom or never participated in regular DE activities,
instead persistently "slithering out of action. Oh, on the Dark Lord's
orders, of course" (Bellatrix in "Spinner's End," quoted from memory)
and that he firmly and genuinely rejected all that LV stood for even
as he pretended to the Slytherins and their DE parents to maintain his
old loyalties. At this point, we just don't know.

Carol