[HPforGrownups] Re: Hearing from the Great Middle...well not really...

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 140214

vmonte:
"Something that I find interesting in the Snape debates is that nothing JKR says in her interviews about Snape is ever considered as canon evidence. "



For me, it's not that I think she ever lies, but just that "he's a deeply horrible person" doesn't tell me what actions he will or won't commit.  I don't look for reasons behind Snape's actions that will make him a nice guy--I don't think he joined the DEs for not-so-bad reasons, or bullies Neville to make him strong, or anything like that.

But I don't feel like I yet know all the things that were going on in HBP, particularly exactly what Snape's motivations were.  I do think DD had good reason to trust Snape the way he did that we don't know yet.  I do think that Snape killed DD, I just feel like I don't know the whole story yet.

Sometimes it's only in retrospect JKR's comments become clear.  When she's talking about people liking the character, especially, I think it sometimes seems like she's giving away more than she is. It's not like Snape being horrible isn't already there in the books, really.  So I think when she says that she's not revealing what's going to happen so much as saying things that are important that we should already know.  If PoA had come out in two books, for instance, I doubt she'd have been telling us in interviews halfway through that Peter was really a terrible person and Sirius was really nice. Snape was already deeply horrible in PS/SS, but there he was the one who hated Harry but didn't want him dead.  He's more interesting because he doesn't always do the bad thing, even being the guy he is.

-m