DDM!Snape the definition (was Re: Snape on the tower)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 162431

> >>Julie:
> I just want to clarify what I think DDM!Snape means.
> <snip>
> Whether Snape is motivated by his conscience, by love (for
> Lily or someone else), by a desire for vengeance, or some
> combination of the above, that he has CHOSEN to stand by 
> Dumbledore's side... <snip>
> 
> But DDM!Snape is no hero, at best he's a tragic anti-hero,
> tarred by his own numerous misdeeds and misjudgments. 
> <snip>
> He can be cold, angry, bitter, sarcastic, vindictive and downright 
> mean. He can be haunted by his past, vengeful to those he believes 
> have wronged him, and blinded by his own twisted perceptions of    
> himself and others. He can act out of both noble and malicious      
> impulses, sometimes both at once. He's beset by his own demons that 
> he can't quite vanquish, yet the one constant in his life is 
> that he remains loyal to Dumbledore and devoted to furthering
> Dumbledore's cause whatever the consequences to himself. 
> 
> At least that's how I see DDM!Snape. And that's why I agree
> with Carol that DDM!Snape is an exciting, dynamic character.
> How else can you see someone so complicated and so conflicted?

Betsy Hp:
And OMG, I love him soo much!!  Seriously, the only thing Snape is 
lacking is a scene where he goes tramping about the moors, his hair 
blowing artfully in the wind. <g> (Viva Jogging!Snape?)

And I do agree that DDM!Snape offers a much more dynamic and 
fascinating character than the dry and mechanical OFH!Snape or the 
sooo boooring ESE!Snape.

To keep this from being completely "me too", my sense of what drives 
Snape is a dreadful feeling of remorse.  I feel like Snape, even as a 
child, had a high sense of right and wrong.  I think he was probably 
a lot like young!Harry in seeing the world in a pretty firm black and 
white.  I think Snape is a man who really tries to live by a firm set 
of rules or guiding principles.  Only, for some reason, those 
principles were either manipulated or tainted by his emotion (hatred 
of James, his father or Uncle or whomever), and Snape "fell".

I think Snape has been climbing back from his big mistake, ever 
since.  I think that rather than preparing for a great scene of 
redemption, Snape has been trying to redeem himself for many, many 
years.  And honestly, I'm betting Dumbledore has long thought Snape's 
made up for his past sins, but that Snape, hard (or harder, more 
likely) on himself as he is on others, doesn't believe that at all.

I fear that the only thing that will satisfy Snape is giving his life 
to the cause.  I hope that it won't come to that.  I think that Harry 
will finally see the true Snape, and I think it'll be more powerful 
if he has that revelation in front of a living, breathing Snape (with 
his malicious snark) than an easier to step around noble corpse.

But I firmly believe that Snape's story is one of redemption.  And I 
think it's a story that's been going on from the very first scene in 
the very first book.

Betsy Hp