Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?

[eggplant107]

No: HPFGUIDX 156547

Salman Rushdie a man I very much respect told JKR that he thought
Snape was good and JKR responded:
 
"Your opinion, I would say, is right. However, I see I am going to
have to be more explicit and say Dumbledore is definitely dead."

Or did she? www.harrypotterspage.com also has a transcript of JKR's
response and they heard it like this:

"(After much uncomfortable body language and hemming and hawing)

(unable to hear much of her first statements) but let me say this
finally Dumbledore is definitely dead."

But if she really did say "Your opinion, I would say, is right" does
that prove Snape is good? Well, maybe not 100% proof, but for me to
continue to insist the man is evil I'd have to do what I've accused
others of doing and engage in mental back flips and contortions. The
fact that a man like Salman Rushdie does not think the idea of a good
Snape is ridiculous also makes me rethink my position.

If JKR can figure out a way to make a good Snape and a good book 7
then she's an even better writer than I think she is. But how on Earth
can she do it? I'll tell you one thing, the reason for killing
Dumbledore would have to be HUGE, tiny little reasons like helping him
in his undercover work just won't do the trick.

I'm just thinking out loud here but what if not Harry but Dumbledore
had inadvertently become a Horcrux, perhaps when he got that withered
arm? That would mean Voldemort could never die as long as Dumbledore
lived. I'm guessing, and it's only a guess, that suicide (self murder)
would only strengthen a Horcrux, he must be killed by someone in a
completely selfless act. Snape had nothing to gain personally by
killing Dumbledore, he did it because Dumbledore asked him to and
because he knew it was the right thing to do. Snape knew that killing
Dumbledore would eventually bring about his own death and he didn't
even have posthumous glory to look forward to. Snape did a good and
heroic thing, but NOBODY would ever know about it, not even Harry; a
thousand years from now people would still use the word "snape" as a
synonym for "traitor". Snape understood all this, he knew the price he
must pay for doing the right thing but he did it anyway.  

I won't pretend this theory has no holes in it; for one thing it's not
very compatible with the hatred etched into the harsh lines of Snape's
face when he killed Dumbledore. And for another it's very hard to
understand why Dumbledore didn't tell Harry what was going on, if not
before the killing then immediately after in a letter or something. As
it is Harry's titanic hatred of Snape is going to distract him from
his primary duty of killing Voldemort, and poor Snape will have enough
problems without Harry swearing a lifetime vendetta against him. Oh
well, I said I was just thinking out loud.

Eggplant