OFH, Life-debt and Snape/Lily-no-way

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 162422

"antonia31h"
> My point is that there is a contradiction between what JKR wrote in
> the book about Snape and what she's saying in interviews about him.
> She definetly loathes him but still she makes Dumbledore trust him
> completely. Like I said I think this discredits Dumbledore as a 
wizard.
> Snape is loathsome and yet he has the trust of the best wizard? 

wynnleaf
A lot of people like to use a few of JKR's quotes about Snape 
to "prove" that he must be evil.  In reading her remarks I think we 
have to remember that if JKR is trying to keep a DDM!Snape a secret, 
she certainly doesn't want to come out with quotes about any of his 
good qualities.  If she wants the reader to think he's either evil 
or out for himself, she doesn't want to go around saying anything 
that contradicts that in interviews.  Still her interviews are 
interesting.  And one should also take into account which books had 
been published at the various points when comments were made.  

For instance, the quote where JKR says, "he's a deeply horrible 
person," was after PS/SS was published.  At that point, readers had 
little hint that Snape was anything *other* than simply mean and 
nasty.  His saving Harry was a surprise after the character she'd 
described thus far.  Naturally, JKR wouldn't at that point describe 
Snape as anything other than what she'd presented in her published 
books.

Also in 1999, JKR said that Snape was "a very sadistic teacher," 
and "not a particularly pleasant person at all."  At the same time 
she also said that there was more to Snape however, and that readers 
should keep their eyes on him.  At that point, still only one book 
was out, and one wouldn't expect JKR to be revealing the "good" 
points of Snape -- especially when she knew that much of the mystery 
of the books would involve a question of his loyalties.

In the same interview, JKR said, "Who on earth would want Snape in 
love with them, that is a very horrible idea."  Oddly, this quote is 
often misconstrued to mean that Snape couldn't have loved anyone, or 
that no one could have loved Snape (now debunked by JKR).  Actually, 
if you look at the context of this quote, it's classic obfuscation.

Just after that in the same interview is the rather famous question 
about a redemptive pattern to Snape, where in print it appears that 
JKR was amazed that someone would ask about the redemptive pattern 
and we'll learn more about it in Book 7.  But if you listen to the 
audio, it sounds like she was actually amazed about someone asking 
about Snape falling in love, and that was what we'd find out more 
about in Book 7, and was not actually replying to the redemptive 
question.  The link to the audio is on the Snape page of the 
Lexicon:  http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/snape.html


We are later told in 2003 that we "shouldn't think him too nice."  

On her website she said, "I love writing Snape—even though he is not 
always the nicest person, he is really fun to write."

Then she jokingly said to an audience of fans, "You always see a lot 
of Snape, because he is a gift of a character. I hesitate to say 
that I love him. [Audience member: I do]. You do? This is a very 
worrying thing. Are you thinking about Alan Rickman or about 
Snape?"  Amid much laughter, she diverted the focus to Draco and how 
younger fans seem to like Draco from the films as much or more than 
Harry in the films.  And then her admonition to go for the good 
guys.  Some fans take these quotes of hers to mean that Snape is 
evil.  It really doesn't sound like that to me.  I think she'd talk 
quite differently about Lucius or Voldemort, or other obvious evil 
characters.

As far as I can recall, that's the main quotes that would lead 
anyone to think JKR loathed Snape's character.  I don't think the 
quotes actually bear that out.  In my opinion, the quotes indicate 
that she considers Snape a "horrible" teacher, abusing his power in 
the classroom, but not that he's in general an evil person.  
Further, she seems to enjoy writing his character more than most.  
And after COS, POA, and GOF, she typical describes him as "not nice" 
which is a far cry from loathsome, especially if he's also a "gift 
of a character."

Another rather fascinating piece of information is that at least one 
of the teachers who JKR most likely based Snape on ultimately 
identified himself (after the press came to him thinking he might be 
a link to Snape) only to discover that friends and family had 
thought for years that JKR had based Snape on him (meaning that his 
teaching style must have been close enough for lots of people to 
make the connection).  Yet the few articles that came out about this 
person did not appear to reflect some awful, nasty individual, but 
mostly just a very strict sciences teacher from the "old school."  
  
wynnleaf