Is Snape good or evil? (longer)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 148734

Dungrollin:
> But I may as well tell you what I think about the potion and DD's 
> state on the tower while I'm at it. Um... some DDM!Snapers might not 
> like it...
> 
> The potion in the cave had one plot function, which was to disable 
> DD so that he was vulnerable to Draco. Draco *had* to fail because 
> he was unable to take that last leap into darkness and kill an 
> unarmed man to save his own life. (No sarcastic comparisons with 
> Snape here, please, DELUSIONAL DDM!Snape didn't want to do it at 
> all.) If DD had been healthy, he would have overpowered Draco and 
> sorted out the DEs in the flick of a wand, and there goes the 
> *entire* plot of HBP.
> 
> In other words, Draco only got as far as he did through pure 
> luck. "I am more defenceless than you can have dreamed of finding 
> me." (HBP ch27 UK p551.)
> 
Pippin:
No...there was a choice involved also. JKR didn't have to give
Dumbledore all the symptoms of severe poisoning and have
him insist on sending Harry for Snape if all she wanted to
do was show that DD was weak.

 Instead she shows a desperately ill Dumbledore choosing 
to investigate the situation on the tower before seeking help. 
He put the safety of the students ahead of his personal safety, 
and I think that shows he was already prepared to sacrifice
himself if necessary.

It's a chess game, and in chess powerful pieces are often
sacrificed to put weaker ones in a stronger position. Surely
Dumbledore is just as capable of making such a sacrifice as
Ron is. While Snape can no longer serve the Order as a spy,
he is in a much improved position for sabotage and wreaking
havoc among the DE's.  Which of them, even Bella, would dare
to question an order he said came from Voldemort?

I can't help thinking that for reasons of economy, the thing
Snape didn't want to do any more and the thing Dumbledore
pleaded with Snape to do on the tower must be the same.

Pippin