More OFH! Snape (Responses to two posts)

jessicabathurst ragingjess at hotmail.com
Sat Nov 12 00:16:29 UTC 2005


No: HPFGUIDX 142899

(My boss has left me alone in the office with a box of bottle-shaped 
chocolate liqueurs - let the fun begin!)

Way back when ago, Jessica wrote:

> Here's where I run into a problem with OFH! Snape - why wouldn't a 
> Snape who's concerned with his own safety first and foremost even 
> attempt to make nice with the kid who might defeat the Big Bad in 
> accordance with the prophecy?  

And Nora responded:

<small snip>

>  One which I myself incline to is that one thing OFH!Snape likes 
>  about being where he is is that he has a boss who's really quite 
>  lenient towards his foibles, up to a point.  I keep coming back to 
>  the JKR interview comment about Dumbledore and Hagrid, and how 
>  Dumbledore could have gone and told Hagrid to snap out of it--but 
>  he wanted Hagrid to figure it out for himself, because it would be 
>  better than way.  Dumbledore isn't going to force anyone to have 
>  an epiphany, just put them into situations where he hopes they'll 
>  do it for themselves.  Given that kind of tolerance, OFH!Snape, so 
>  long as he toes some lines, is free to indulge in his displaced 
>  antagonism towards James; Dumbledore isn't going to *make* him get 
>  over it, just hope that he will.

>  And in at least one reading of OFH!ness, Snape prioritizes what it 
> is that Snape wants.  Particularly as the books go along, it would 
>  take more and more to admit to himself that his judgement hadn't 
>  been particularly sound, and to deal with his lingering grudges 
>  and resentments.  Maybe he just doesn't *want* to, because he 
>  holds his hatreds dear?  [There's a potential object lesson for 
>  both Harry and the kiddies...]

>  One also wonders how seriously Snape takes the prophecy.  He 
> doesn't know all of it, I do believe (canonically).  He seems 
>  pretty dismissive of Harry's chances in HBP, although of course he 
>  could be lying.  It's about 60/40 whether he really puts his faith 
>  in Harry as the man for the job, IMO.

Jessica now:

I should explain that, when I think about an OFH!Snape, I think about 
someone who examines all of the options to see which one will be best 
for him.  (In this way, I'd distinguish him from some of the other 
flavors of Snape, such as Garbo!Snape (he vants to be alone)or 
OffTheWagon!Snape or any other non-ESE! or DDM!Snape.)  When Harry 
arrives at Hogwarts, Snape knows the following about him:

1.  He's "the boy who lived."
2.  He's "the one who has the power to vanquish the Dark Lord."
3.  He's the son of James and Lily Potter.

So, knowing that Harry has survived an AK and is the prophecy boy, 
what's the first thing that Snape does when Harry shows up in his 
class?  He antagonizes Harry and humiliates him in front of the 
class.  That's the point that I can't wrap my head around - if Snape 
is covering all his bases, why would he go out of his way to make an 
enemy of someone he might need later?  Snape doesn't even have to be 
particularly nice to Harry; he just has to not be mean to him.  It 
eliminates an option for Snape, which is not very smart at all when 
one is trying to play both (or all three sides) against each other.  
(In fact, if Snape is not lying when he tells Bella and Narcissa that 
he thought Harry might be another Dark Lord, antagonizing Harry is 
very, very stupid.)

Conversely, I do agree with you that it's possible that Snape might 
not take the prophecy very seriously, but he would then appear to be 
the only person in the WW who isn't, and I'd love to know why.  Also, 
it's possible that, at the beginning, he might not be aware that  
Voldemort is back, so he doesn't need to worry about whether Harry 
can defeat him or not.  However, it seems to me that someone who 
really is trying to work out the best deal for himself doesn't make 
unnecessary enemies and doesn't get himself trapped by Unbreakable 
Vows.  These are not mistakes that, say, Slughorn would make.  
(Slughorn's a good guy, but he's probably an expert at supporting 
opposing sides in a conflict.)

As you wrote, Snape does, indeed, hold his hatreds dear.  But would 
his hatred of James override his desire to be on the winning side?  
How OFH is OFH!Snape?

And, in another message, Sydney wrote:

>  The larger objection is a wavering, agonizing, side-switching 
>  Snape is just such a massive focus-puller.  It would make Snape, 
>  not Harry,making all the critical choices and going through the 
>  most interesting emotions at the end of the book.  Story-wise I'm 
>  much happier having Snape running down a pretty clear, 
>  straightforward track, and Harry doing all the mind-changing.  For 
>  this reason I would prefer Evil!Snape to conflicted!Snape, because 
>  much as I'd rather read a book about Snape, this ain't it.

My thoughts exactly.  The more I think about an OFH!Snape, the more 
I'm intrigued by him, but I don't think he's in this series.  

Yours,
Jessica  
(who prefers the Vanilla Stoli, in case anyone wants to buy her 
chocolates)










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