[HPforGrownups] Re: OFH, Life-debt and Snape/Lily-no-way

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 162432

antonia31h wrote:
Sorry if my theories are again crazy but regarding Snape and his loyalties I
am totally confused because everything points out in the book that he is in
fact a spy for Dumbledore and then JKR says in all her interviews that he is
a jerk. I mean if Dumbledore trusts him completely then this means for me
that he is a good guy. Otherwise Dumbledore is a far less skilled wizard
than I thought and than we were made to believe. C'mon he's supposed to be
the only one Voldemort has ever feared and he is not capable of recognising
if Snape is a traitor? 
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? What am I
supposed to make out of this?
Again sorry for the rambling.


Sherry now:

You are not alone in feeling the way you do.  I'd say the majority of people
who post regularly on the list believe in Snape's devotion to Dumbledore.
I, however, do not.  I will answer your question the best way I can.

Yes, Dumbledore is a great and wise wizard, but he is also human.  Humans
make mistakes in trust and love, and in my opinion, Dumbledore made his
greatest mistake of that kind in trusting Snape.  Dumbledore, himself, says
that his mistakes are greater than anyone else's precisely because of his
great age and wisdom.  If not his mistake in trusting Snape, what mistake is
it?  I think the lesson to learn here, in terms of the wizarding world and
Dumbledore's staff and the members of the Order, is that it is dangerous to
trust completely in someone else's trust and not to think for yourself and
make up your own mind.  It seemed at the end of HBP, that people were
shocked by Snape's murder of Dumbledore and that they had trusted Snape,
solely on Dumbledore's word.  I cannot speak for the author, but what it
tells me personally is that no matter how good, noble and wise a beloved
leader might be, it is foolish to take their word for any other person.
Harry potter is the hero, and I think the torch must pass, and Harry's
judgment must be the correct one in the end.  It is the twist.  We've been
led to believe he was wrong about Snape in the previous books.  Now, I think
we have to realize that Harry was always right about Snape.  Whether he's
totally on Voldemort's side, or out to do whatever is best for himself,
murdering Dumbledore was not the act of a man who is loyal to his leader.
This is all, of course, just my opinion.

Sherry