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

[latha279]

No: HPFGUIDX 147117

 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?<<< 
 
bboyminn:

>>><HUGE SNIP>
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.<<<



brady:

I agree with Steve here. Snape is less guilty of the Potters murder 
than Peter. I am not saying he is not guilty at all. He knew that 
something nasty would happen after this. But if he didn't want the 
Potters to die (in particular), then there was no way he could have 
stopped it AFTER having given the information.

However intelligent Snape is (or might have been), AND assuming that 
he also KNEW that Lily was pregnant at the time the prophecy was 
made, there is NO WAY what-so-ever to have known at the time of 
passing on the information to LV, that the Potters' child would 
definitely be born as July fades!! Assuming that the WW witnesses a 
lot more normal deliveries than ceasarians, there is still no way 
Snape could have known that the Potters' AND the Longbottoms' child 
WOULD be definitely be born as July fades. and as pregnancy rules go, 
even the attendant gynac cannot say exactly when the baby will come. 
they always say + or - a week to 10 days! So, Harry might have been 
born in the middle of July or as August began, instead of as July 
faded!

Also, what proof do we have that LV chose ONLY HP for murder? He 
might have gone on a killing spree to try and finish off ALL children 
who were born that year in the last week of July, no? Also, we do 
KNOW that he got only half the prophesy and the complete version. 
(Now, come to think of it, WAS THAT DELIBERATE ON PART OF SNAPE? Did 
he by any chance withhold information about "mark him as equal"?) At 
least, logically speaking, ANYBODY who is afraid of death AND has 
heard of such a prophecy would do that. Why else did it take him 1 
year to reach the Potters? He could have landed at their doorstep on 
1st August to finish off their child. And they did not even have a 
secret keeper at that time. 

In Hindu mythology, we hear of the story of Lord Krisna's birth. On 
the day of His parents' wedding a prophecy is made that their eight 
born will be his maternal uncle's murderer. The maternal uncle, 
Kamsa, was a terrible demon who had imprisoned his own father too. 
And somebody told this uncle that if 8 children are born and are 
alive, any of them could turn out to be his nemesis depending upon 
whom you start counting as first!! And the fool murdered each child 
the moment it was born! My point here is that -- what stopped LV from 
doing something similar? SNAPE DID NOT TELL LV THAT IT IS THE 
POTTERS! He merely said "Dark Lord! I have news for you. I have heard 
a Prophecy being made about you. Your Highness is in danger as your 
nemesis is going to be born soon. I heard '......'". He DID NOT 
say :"Dark Lord! Kill the Potters child as this child is your 
nemesis!". (quotes are mine, not JKR's)

Peter, on the other hand, said :"Dark Lord! My greatest moment as a 
DE has come. I offer you the Potters!"(quote is mine, not JKR's). 
Assuming that by this time, LV has info that their child was born at 
the end of July. He also knew that the Longbottoms too have a child. 
(Assuming that he does his research as meticulously as Hermione which 
I myself doubt very much. LV is impulsive to say the least.)

Therefore, I hold Peter as more responsible of the Potters death than 
Snape. If it is true that Snape regrets their death, it only proves 
that he is more human than Peter! 

JMO,
Brady.