Faith in Snape; Was: What mistakes Dumbledore made? Re: Loyalty & Trust

[msbeadsley]

No: HPFGUIDX 140304

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at y...>
wrote:
<snip stuff about Dumbledore's mistakes and Lothlorien's geas>

> Plain and simple, the *only* thing keeping Snape on the good side, 
> was Dumbledore's trust. Dumbledore was perfectly aware of this, 
> particularly when one or other questions this trust. That's why 
> Dumbledore kept saying "I trust Severus Snape" and refusing to  
> listen any bad word of him. Because he did not wish to lose this 
> soul who hung to goodness *only* on his trust. I think that choice 
> was a sign of DD's goodness and wisdom-- not a misjudgement -- no 
> matter where Snape's loyalties.

This is the direction I am increasingly leaning in as well. To expand
on this: I think there was *something* that spurred Snape's defection
from Voldemort and that he presented it to Dumbledore and Dumbledore
believed him and chose to believe *in* him; he didn't do that lightly.
Once Dumbledore decided to be loyal to Severus Snape, that was it. He
was constitutionally incapable of going back on that. (Harry's loyalty
to Dumbledore has been shown again and again to be not only noble, but
downright beneficial! Loyalty is a big deal, as illustrated by the
deep interconnectedness of the Trio, right up there with courage,
IMO.)

The many examples we have seen of Snape grasping after respect and
recognition seem to me also to support this: "Call me *Sir*" and it's
"Professor" Snape; his eagerness to get that Order of Merlin in PoA.
Dumbledore, a man asked repeatedly to become Minister of Magic, chose
to offer respect and reciprocal loyalty to Severus Snape. I can't help
but imagine that was quite a balm for Snape's (apparently) battered
spirit/ego/etc.. The question we are left with is whether or not it
simply stopped being enough.

Every time I read a post saying that Dumbledore trusted Snape
because of an Unbreakable Vow or because of a transferred life debt or
something else that comes with a guarantee of some sort, I shake my
head (pretty involuntarily). I think Dumbledore's words to Draco atop
the tower support the idea that Dumbledore's M.O. was to believe in
people because he thought it was the right thing to do and also
because he believed it brought out the best in them. Dumbledore could
not *know* that Draco wasn't going to flare up and aim his wand and
carry out his assignment, but he offered him grace anyway.

> If Snape wasn't worth that trust, the blame rests wholly on Snape's 
> shoulders, and not on Dumbledore's.

I keep thinking of Snape and Dumbledore and the Prisoners' Dilemma,
which is a classic game theory exercise in loyalty/altruism vs.
betrayal/self-interest; info is available online, example at:
http://tinyurl.com/8r4kb

It boils down to whether or not either of any pair is smarter to chose
cooperation or betrayal, absent any leverage or guarantee. I think
Dumbledore chose to live his life as if it made sense to work for a
world where this "dilemma" might pass into obscurity and obsolescence.

Sandy aka msbeadsley, thinking there are worse titles than "Harry
Potter and the Prisoner's Dilemma"