VA/H=Mx13+RP? Snape's Culpability?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 147098

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Claudia" <mudblood68 at y...> wrote:
>
> > Steve:
> > <HUGE SNIP>
> > > So, I see the events surrounding Snape as very plausable. He
> > > couldn't possibly know at the time how the Prophecy 
> > > information would be interpreted and used, and that makes 
> > > him very different from Wormtail.
> > 
> > Alla:
> > 
> > ... HOW else except Voldemort killing Prophecy couple and 
> > their baby could have Snape thought that information will 
> > be used.
> > 
> > Honestly, Snape is an intelligent man. Are you arguing that he 
> > truly had no idea what Voldemort will do ...
> 
> 
> Claudia:
> I very firmly believe in DDMSnape and therefore I much more often 
> agree to what Steve writes than to Alla's points of view but in this 
> cast I can't help but agree to Alla.
> 
> How on earth could an intelligent person with only a little 
> knowledge of the "Dark Lord" think that he would react any 
> differently than he did? 
>
> ...edited...

bboyminn:

First and foremost, I am not absolving Snape. I'm not saying he is
blameless. He did what he did. However, intelligent as he is, he
really couldn't predict how Voldemort would use the Prophecy
information. The prophecy is vague and subject to interpretation. 

Now we all know that Snape was a Death Eater, and DE's are certainly
not skipping around the country side handing out Daisies, whistling a
merry tune, and hitting people with marshmallows. These are seriously
nasty people, and Snape would certainly expect 'nasty' results, but he
couldn't predict what or when any thing would happen from the vague
information in the partial prophecy he heard.

Several people in the books have suggested that it would have been
smarter for Voldemort to have waited; to have waited and found out
more details then planned his course of action. So, Snape's action
might not have had consequences for years to come. Also, he couldn't
know in the moment who the Prophecy referred to. At the time, Snape
did his job, he got information and passed it on. He couldn't really
control or influence how or when that information would be used. YES,
he knew there was a likelihood that at some time his information MIGHT
produce NASTY result, but at that point in time, he really couldn't
preceive the nature, time, or degree of the nastiness.

Again, Snape was a Death Eater, he acted like a DE, he did a bad
thing, and he certainly can't be blameless for that. But Wormtail knew
SPECIFICALLY what would happen when he /betrayed/ the Potters. There
was no vague imprecise non-specific nastiness in his action. He knew
full well that he was signing a death warant for Harry and his parents.

I say /that/ direct knowledge of specific consequences does make a
difference.

Again, just because I see Snape culpability as different from
Wormtails doesn't mean he is not responsible for the consequences of
his actions, nor does it mean that he could /specifically/ anticipate
the result of his actions.

To use a modern day analogy, does the intelligence agent in the field
who gathered information on Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle
East have blood on his hands? Is he personally responsible for how the
leaders of his country used the information he gathered? Without a
doubt at some point in the future, his information would produce nasty
results. He certainly isn't blameless, he is in a /nasty/ business
afteral, but at the same time, I don't think we can say that this
field agent brought us to war. That was the decision of our leaders.

Snape bears some responsibility in the Potter's deaths, he is afteral
in a /nasty/ business, but I don't think he should be held responsible
for the choices made by Voldemort. On the other hand, Wormtail clearly
and unquestionably conspired with Voldemort with the known and sure
intented of killing the Potters. Here there is no ambiguity.
Wormtail's action are just as direct as Voldemort's in leading to the
 imminent and immediate death of the Potter's; he acted with that
specific intent.

Not saying any of this cast of characters is blameless, just trying to
keep their degree and nature of blame in prespective.

Steve/bboyminn