Snape and Rescuing the Epitome of Goodness (was Choices)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 156734

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "phoenixgod2000" <jmrazo at ...> 
wrote:
>

> I hate this idea more than words can say. I have reconciled myself 
> that I will probably never see Snape get the punishment I think he 
> deserves (and deserved long before the lightning struck tower) just 
> as I have reconciled that Ginny will be the lasting pairing for 
Harry 
> no matter how much I hate her. 

Well, I don't hate Ginny -- although I'll admit she hasn't gotten the 
character development she needs.  OBHWF has always struck me as a 
believable, if trite, ending to the shipping arcs.  And I certainly 
haven't reconciled myself to Snape escaping his just punishment for 
his abuse of Harry and Neville.  That would be a wood-chipper 
moment.  (Although I guess I have reconciled myself to it in the 
sense that I fully expect that the wood chipper will be very busy in 
a year or so).  But I do agree with the main gist of the argument, 
that turning Snape into the hero of the series would be, I think, an 
enormous mistake on JKR's part -- right on par with an epitome of 
goodness who approves of the abuse of children.



 But if JKR goes out and turns Snape 
> into an uber-hero who was on the right side the whole time, no 
> mistakes made, then I will give away my books and never read them 
> anything about Harry Potter again.  the books are entitled Harry 
> Potter and the *Blank*.  For Snape to have chosen to be a hero when 
> he was a teenager not only is a boring story choice, but takes away 
> from Harry, the guy who is supposed to be the hero of the story.
> 
> Snape at least becomes marginally more interesting if he is a 
flawed 
> man who made mistakes, tries to make up for them, and continues to 
> make mistakes along the way based on his human falliblities.  I 
still 
> hope to see bad things happen to him and for someone to call him on 
> all his crap from the first five books but like I said, I'm not 
> holding my breath.
> 

Well, holding your breath that long would be quite a feat! (Not being 
sarcastic here, just making a good-natured joke).  I agree that 
someone needs to call Snape on his abuse of Harry and Neville, and 
for that matter someone needs to call the shade of Dumbledore on his, 
IMO and I think maybe yours, contemptible failure to prevent that 
abuse (and if JKR comes out with the "Harry had to learn some hard 
lessons defense" I'll say her message is contemptible to the tenth 
power).

A Snape who makes specific mistakes is a much more interesting 
character, I agree, than one who has "always" been on the good side 
and "always" been doing the right thing.  A mistake-prone Snape is 
also, I think, less morally noxious.  But there are several varieties 
of Snape out there that might fit the bill -- Gray!Snape for 
instance, or UnlovedSon!Snape, or OFHwithapositivetwist!Snape, or 
LilyStalker!Snape, or UVwithseveralpeople!Snape, or 
DeepinDebtandHatingit!Snape

Actually, I am more concerned with rescuing DD.  If he's truly the 
epitome of goodness then, to quote Desi Arnez, "Jo, you got 
some 'splainin to do!"  Otherwise, the death scene in HBP really 
isn't very meaningful -- its just a manipulative, cold-natured, 
reprehensible old man biting the dust.


> why yes, I am a little bitter about the current state of the Harry 
> Potter series :)
> 
> phoenixgod2000
>

Oh, I agree Jo certainly has been working overtime to ruin the 
series, and has been ever since the titanic betrayal that many of her 
most ardent fans experienced in OOTP.  But compared to say, lung 
cancer, it isn't all that big of a blemish on the face of the 
universe.  Too bad about all the trees that got killed to put out the 
last couple of travesties, but then again, they're likely to wind up 
in wood chipper in any case, so I guess nature is just following its 
course in a round-a-bout way.


Lupinlore, who really does wonder what on Earth JKR was thinking 
about when she came out with that horrible and poorly-written mess of 
a fifth book