JKR's own UV (was Re: Which characters are dynamic?)

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 141909


> 
> To get Snape completely in the clear, however, involves asking us to 
> believe that a pivotal scene what we saw with our own eyes (i.e. 
> with Harry's eyes) is in fact something else entirely.

LOL, that's what I would have considered the STRONGEST arguement
against ESE!Snape!  JKR LOVES that sort thing, making you go back and
reread everything with a completely different understanding.  CoS
Ginny, anyone?


>It also 
> asks us to believe that characters whom we have known for a long 
> time would act in ways that a great many of us find to be blatantly 
> OOC according to the way they have been presented to us.  And, you 
> are quite right that it might be in the service of a set of moral 
> message that some of us would find objectionable if not downright 
> insipid.  But then maybe not, as DDM!Snape could be at the service 
> of any number of messages, as could ESE! and OFH! Snape.  
> 
> In any case, getting Snape into the clear is possible to do, of 
> course, but whereas on the cheesy scale PoA had a mild whiff of 
> cheddar, this would smell of several pounds of limburger.  As I said 
> before, to many of us unbelievable, thematically and emotionally a 
> betrayal, and aesthetically repugnant.
> 
> But, of course, exactly the same objections can and have been raised 
> about a guilty Snape.  It requires characters that we have seen and 
> known for a long time to be OOC according to how they have been 
> presented.  It undermines important moral messages and implies a 
> morality that is objectionable. It would be cheesy for Harry to be 
> right after all and DD to be wrong.  It would be unbelievable, 
> thematically and emotionally a betrayal, and aesthetically repugnant.
> 

That about sums it up, yep.  Although I'd say it's perfectly possible
for Snape at the end to satisfy most people, in being both a repugnant
jackass and a tormented soul trying to do the right thing.  The only
people likely to be dissapointed, IMO, are those looking for a cartoon
villain.

-- Sydney