Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 156551

Eggplant:
> Salman Rushdie a man I very much respect told JKR that he thought
Snape was good...
*(snip)*
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.

Ceridwen:
I often disagree with your position concerning Snape, as you may or 
may not have noticed.  I am very impressed at what you wrote above!  
I don't know if I would be able to come on list and say anything so 
forthright.  For me it might sound more like: "I think that 
Snooooeee....  Snuuuuuuup...  Duh-hee..." as my tongue wound firmly 
around my teeth.

If it's any consolation, the other thread about Rushdie's comments 
might offer hope in the debate about what was said, what was 
understood, and what was meant.  Upon first reading, I took it the 
way you did as well.  But I also agree with the arguments that 
Snape's ambiguity is important to the story line and it would be a 
very unsettling thing to force an outright admission out of JKR.

Eggplant:
> 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? 

Ceridwen:
I wondered about that, too.  The dead arm portion, at least, if not 
the entire body.  We do know that Voldemort's core soul possessing 
animals during his exile after GH tended to kill them.  Snape's 
intervention before HBP begins could have been merely to contain the 
soul piece and the death which was occurring to the part already 
damaged.  That the arm didn't heal all year was surprising in a world 
where bones are re-grown overnight and major injuries are dispelled 
with the wave of a wand or the sip of a potion.

Part of my reasoning was that a soul piece would try to go into a 
nearby warm, living body if it was released from its container.  This 
would be how LV would reclaim it if necessary, I reasoned.  This 
would also be an argument for a Horcrux!Harry or a Horcrux!Ginny, 
since Harry destroyed the Horcrux!Diary and they were the only two 
warm bodies there (though Ginny was nearly drained of life force at 
this point).

I really wish we had gotten the entire story!

Another possibility that I kicked around, but which would necessitate 
legilimency between Snape and Dumbledore on the tower, was that the 
potion in the cave was part of an Inferus-making potion which was 
activated by the water from the lake.  Problem:  Harry splashed water 
on Dumbledore's face, but we don't know if any of it went into his 
mouth.  Possible support:  Harry had to use a rousing spell twice to 
bring Dumbledore around.  Ambiguity again.

Eggplant:
*(snip)*
> 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.

Ceridwen:
If Snape was forced to do something as eternally horrible as you 
outlined, which would replace the name of Judas with the name of 
Snape, that could explain his expression of hatred and disgust.  It 
wouldn't be hatred toward DD, but toward circumstances which forced 
him into that position.  Any hatred he felt, though, for whatever 
reason, would certainly be channelled into the AK.

As for a message from DD, one could still be forthcoming, to be 
released when it was necessary for the storyline in book 7.  Sirius's 
will wasn't found until after the schoolyear was over with, I presume 
everything was tied up until after he was legally declared dead.  In 
real life, wills and bequests aren't always given out until after the 
funeral.  We might get some startling news in book 7.  That, however, 
is currently speculation based on Sirius's will not being revealed 
until the book after the one in which he died.

The whole thing is, we just don't know at this point.  We don't know 
how Horcruxes are created and how they behave after that; we don't 
know the spell to create Inferi or if they could also be created by a 
potion; we don't know if Snape was in on where DD took Harry that 
night and what might happen in the cave, or even if Snape was in on 
the Horcruxes at all (though if DD didn't officially tell him, he may 
have had an idea after saving DD's hand).  JKR has written all of 
this well enough that we believe in Horcruxes and Inferi as part of 
the Potterverse while we don't know enough about them to really 
discuss them without speculation.  She's also done a superb job in 
hiding Snape's true allegiance.  That a man like Salman Rushdie 
believes in DDM!Snape is a testimony to this effective ambiguity, I 
think.

Ceridwen.