Power vs. Trust (was:The Possibilities of Grey Snape...)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 143028

Lupinlore:

> So Harry's wrong yet again?  That would be boring and insipid 
beyond 
> belief, and if it's used as a way to release Snape from punishment 
> for the abuse he's subjected Harry to, it would be morally corrupt 
> to the point of inducing projectile vomiting.  

Magpie:

LOL!  We don't want that!:-) It depends on what Harry is wrong 
about.  Obviously he's got to have some things left to learn in Book 
VII, but some ways could definitely be bad storytelling.  For 
instance, I don't think we're going to get a convoluted explanation 
that illustrates that any time it looked like Snape did something 
kind of bad it really wasn't bad or wasn't his fault, and anything 
good that happened was somehow due to Snape--which I do think is 
sometimes suggested. I don't think we'll find out Snape's always 
been this nice guy and Harry should really be grateful to him.  But 
I don't have a problem with having more to learn about exactly what 
was going on in Book VI, since the book seemed to indicate there was 
more going on than I was seeing. We have, though, I think, moved 
beyond the simple, "When you thought Snape was hexing your broom, he 
was really trying to save you!"

Lupinlore: 
> 
> I agree with Nora.  Harry's been shown to be wrong a lot, and I 
for 
> one am extremely tired of it and wouldn't find a DDM plot either 
> intelligent or interesting.  Rather it would be a preachy and 
cheesy 
> contrivance ham fistedly used to force an unbelievable ending.
> 
> You do have a point about certain kinds of Snape theories reducing 
> Dumbledore to a plot device.  The problem with most DDM!Snape 
ideas 
> is that they reduce HARRY to a plot device -- an excuse for the 
> noble Severus Snape to make his awful sacrifice and this bring 
about 
> victory for the side of light.  

Magpie:

I wouldn't want to see that either--and I think we agree on what 
types of solutions would give us that sort of ending.  Some of the 
explanations for Snape's actions do seem like exactly that.  He's 
not just misunderstood or in the wrong place at the wrong time and 
mean Harry was too prejudiced to notice.  Harry doesn't have the 
viewpoint to know everything that's going on in the story from the 
adults pov, and as a kid he's come into the story halfway through--
that's one of the things I find really compelling about the story, 
actually, the way that as a kid Harry just has no way of knowing how 
all these people are connected and who they were way back when.  
(Draco and Neville have been put in similar situations, both having 
had to deal with adults who have significant ties to their parents 
etc.)  In PS, Harry is mistaken in thinking Snape is taking the 
stone, but he's not mistaken that Snape has something personal 
against him.  

And that's no small thing for Harry to be right about, because 
throughout the series Snape's personal hatred for him is at least as 
important a motivation as his loyalty to Dumbledore, imo.  We can 
*see* that working in Snape in ways we don't see his loyalty to 
Dumbledore at all, we're just told to trust it.  In the Occlumency 
lessons it seems like hatred of Harry/James won out over Dumbledore 
no contest.  I would say that both Harry and Draco (who were 
originally compared to James and Snape in PS) have moved beyond that 
place already in HBP.  Perhaps that's one more reason I have a hard 
time believing it when Snape is made out to be the greatest hero 
etc., especially one who is watching over both of them and deserves 
credit for every correct thing either of them does, somehow. 

Lupinlore:
> As you say, Draco provides a model in which both sides are proven 
> right, to a point.  Harry is right, but not completely right.  
> Dumbledore is a mistaken and blind fool, but not completely 
mistaken 
> and not completely blind.  Such a blending of endings and 
> expectations, in which the various threads are tied up in a way 
that 
> shows most clues and theories to have some degree of validity, may 
> perhaps be a hint about what is to come.

Magpie:

I would hope so.  I mean, believe me, while I do think that further 
understanding of Snape seems important I can't imagine an ending 
where Snape is just misunderstood.  There's always been that 
interpretation running through the series, I know, explaining how 
everything from why Snape torments Neville to why he takes the UV to 
why his hair looks greasy is always due to some completely self-
sacrificing reason.  I don't think where it's going at all.

-m