The Unloved Son (was Re: Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?)

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 156679



Sydney:
> >  > That I think is what's happening on the overt narrative level.  
> On the
> > level of what the heck is going on that makes Snape so crazy, I 
> think
> > that's SO about Lily.

colebiancardi:  

>Why is it guilt over Lily?  I am one of those people 
> that is not following that cookie <grin>.  Sure enough, Snape doesn't 
> mention Lily to Harry like he does his father - maybe James ASKED 
> Snape to protect Lily at one time and Snape failed?  ...  I never
jumped on the Snape loves Lily theory, but I could 
> see James, if he was aware that Snape was a spy for DD, cashing in on 
> the life debt that Snape owed him and turn it over to Lily.  Snape 
> fails with Lily, the debt is still owed, which transfers to Harry.  
> According to DD, Snape just wishes he could fulfill that life debt, 
> so he could nurse his hatred over a glass of firewhiskey(or something 
> like that - it is that quote from PS, which I don't have in front of 
> me....)


I guess I'd summarize why I think it's about Lily like this:

1.  Whatever is going on with Snape and Harry, it drives him NUTS. 
The Life Debt as a simple, direct piece of magic could be annoying, or
inconvenient, or even life-threatening, or it could be a stain on his
honour.  But none of these to me vibe with the obsession Snape has
over Harry.  He's too obviously emotional about it, which for a guy
who's a professional non-feeler of emotions, is pretty odd.  The
mechanical/magical stuff and the honour stuff is too cold, IMO, to
account for how much Snape freaks out over it.  A Snape who had a
PRACTICAL problem in the Life Debt, IMO, would be reacting completely
differently.  Snape loves practical problems.  He can handle them. He
goes into them all glittery-eyed and cool and Occlumenc-y, like he
went into the UV and into spying.  This is about something he can't
handle.

2.  There has to be a point to why Lily is suddenly a crazy potions
genius.  And why, rather than staying in the background as a
featureless perfect mother she's tantalizingly brought a bit to life
but still unseen.  Something feels unresolved about Lily, and
something needs to tie her back into the center of the story in the
present day. 

3.  Harry already knows about the life-debt.  Whatever Harry doesn't
know about Snape, it has to be something shocking that will forge a
connection between them, otherwise that whole relationship doesn't
have anywhere to go.  I mean, how would it play as a scene?  "Well,
Harry, it turns out that... Snape owed a life-debt to your father!" 
"Yeah, I know.  I knew that six years ago".  "Yeah, but what you don't
know ... is that he takes it really, really seriously!".  Um.  Yeah,
great scene.  And before Neri comes in with the DeathRay!LifeDebt
theory, that isn't a good scene either, in terms of what it does to
Harry.  It would be a practical factor, not an emotional one, and the
Snape/Harry dynamic is all about emotions.

I guess I tend to visualize story as a sort of bunch of forces, that
ideally all loop into each other in a tight formation.  The
Lily/Harry/Love thing is a big dangly bit;  and the Snape/Harry
intense emotional relationship is another dangly bit, both of which
seem to hang out of the plot as important but unconcluded.  To me it's
irresistible to tie them together, it just seems the natural way that
story should fall. 

Incidentally, I also have a theory about how the life-debt could tie
into Lily.  I think the magic, as is proper for something that is
about altruism, is about connecting the two principals in subtle,
postive ways.  I think it could be something like a white-magic
version of the DADA curse, creating links and cooincidences and
bringing out something hidden.  Like the DADA curse, it can't actually
be seen in operation, or pinned down to any specific effect.  And I
think the life-debt between James and Snape manifested itself in
Snape's love for Lily, in her tying herself in with James, and then in
Snape finding himself, for the sake of Lily, devoted to trying to save
James.  Not that it acted as a Love Potion or anything like that, any
more than you could say the DADA curse 'caused' the events at the end
of PoA. You might compare it as well to the Prophecy-- something that
manifests without seeming to do so, and without compromising the free
will of its subjects.  That's my theory, anyhow!  I'm pretty curious
as to how this would work with Pettigrew-- what does he care about
that is going to wind up being entwined with Harry?  

-- Sydney, emphasising that this cookie has macadamia nuts and dark
chocolate chips... coooookie...