Pity for Wormtail (was Re: Snape again)

[Lia]

No: HPFGUIDX 146973


Emily  wrote:    
>> I'm reminded forcefully of Frodo's reaction to Gollum in LOTR 
when he does finally see him:  "I do pity him."
 
I think, even though PP did all these terrible things, Harry 
pities him for the control LV has over his life.  He is repulsed 
by him, sure, but he recognizes that Peter lacks any strength of 
character at all, and I think (not at all canon here) he 
subconsciously counts Peter as another Voldemort casualty. <snip>
 
Also, I think Harry knows Peter is a puppet for LV, but Snape is 
different.  Harry knows Snape has strength to choose.  This is 
what makes Snape so powerful, and so dangerous.  He does not seem 
to fear Voldemort, even less so than, say, Lucius, and he does not 
seem to worship him a la Bellatrix.  He only seems to have loyalty 
to himself and his own aims, whether those be to torment Harry or 
to follow Voldie.  This is, IMO, why *we* have so much trouble 
figuring Snape out:  whomever he is serving, be it LV, DD, or 
himself, it seems definite he is doing it consciously and for his 
own purposes. <<
 
 
 I also have thought of the similarities between Harry's reaction to Wormtail and Frodo's reaction to Gollum more than once.  I might add here that at the near-end of LOTR, Frodo reacts in much the same way to one Wormtongue, who's in thrall to Saruman.  (Funny that the names share the "prefix".)  
 
 Harry recognizes two important things:  first, that Wormtail is actually pitiable; second, that, being wretched (though markedly despicable), Wormtail is not worth Lupin and Sirius splitting their souls over (for that is, as we find out later, exactly what they'd be doing).  Pettigrew/Wormtail, like Gollum (or Wormtongue), is two within one, someone good who's gone bad, the once loyal now a betrayer, etc.; not one to risk one's soul for, methinks.  However, given the direct and personal nature of his transgressions, Harry is right to feel a bit less merciful than Frodo and thus willing to see Pettigrew/Wormtail in Azkaban.
 
 Snape IS a wild card, isn't he?  I've noticed, too, that he doesn't seem to fear LV quite as much as the other DEs; what he expresses is more like an acknowledgment of LV's skill and power.  I don't think this indicates that he's ESE, though, as Dumbledore himself noted the same things.  Interesting note about CHOICE...as it is "our choices that make us who we truly are, more than our abilities" (I know, bad paraphrase, but I'm at work and can't check the exact wording, alas!)  (By the way, I personally think that Snape might be DDM; his boasting in "Spinner's End" and Dumbledore's out-of-character pleading point toward it, among other thing, and something didn't seem quite right with all of it...we shall see next year, I reckon!)  
 
 ---Lia