Snape Survey, Snapeity, Dumbledore's sacrifice

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 149093

Me:
> >when Book 7 comes out, the Snape-lovers and the
> > Snape-haters will come together upon this neutral ground, and they
> > will say unto one another:  "See?!  It's just as I was saying all
> > along!!"  
> > 
Lupinlore:
> I doubt it.  I think you may be right that the MAJORITY of people 
> will be able to accept this kind of outcome, with reservations here 
> and there.  But there are a lot of people -- not the majority, but a 
> lot -- who are deeply invested in the idea of some kind of final 
> BANGS that will reveal much of what we've been told as being 
> smokescreen or misdirection -- that is, Snape didn't REALLY kill 
> Dumbledore, Snape doesn't REALLY hate Harry it's all an act, Snape 
> isn't REALLY an unfair teacher its just Harry's POV, Dumbledore 
> didn't REALLY make mistakes it's all part of his brilliant master 
> plan,  Dumbledore and Snape don't REALLY disagree about love it's 
> just good cop/bad cop, etc.  Those people probably would not find 
> this solution congenial.

Most bizarrely, I tend to think the louder and more outraged howls
will come from those who expect Snape to have simply killed Dumbledore
because he's the Bad Guy, and that he's not simply going to be killed,
imprisoned, or run out of town and good riddance.  Because pretty much
all your other points would require a booming authorial voice to come
from On High like a badly adjusted Pensive, declaring that "Snape
hates Harry and it's as simple as that.  Yes you're right, Snape was a
Bad Teacher.  This is exactly how you're supposed to feel about
everything."  Whether Snape is a good or a bad teacher or even a good
or a bad person is never, ever, ever, never going to be a settled
question, because it simply isn't a settleable question, it's a matter
of opinion of what you value in teachers or people.  Vive la
difference, says I.

Just on a general note for the Snape survey-- I have to say, when I
finshed HBP, I said to myself, "Wow, that was AWESOME, I'm sorry that
JKR made it a wee bit too obvious that Snape is a good guy, but it
still works."  I'm really in a bit of shock that that many people
didn't see it coming.  Personally I spent the whole last half of the
book with my hands pressed to mouth going "I can't BELIEVE she's going
to FORCE SNAPE TO KILL DUMBLEDORE.  I can't BELIEVE it!!"  I know it's
ambiguous, in the sense that there are two clear and contradictory
interpretations, but I mean, COME ON.  Well, let me try to phrase that
more respectfully.  No, I just can't.  I honestly have no idea how the
tower scene can be read in any other way (after, I suppose, the
initial shock if you didn't expect it) than that Dumbledore is
pleading with Snape to follow through with some plan and kill him. 
The only argument against it I've heard-- the only argument that deals
with the fact that the FIRST BLOODY THING DUMBLEDORE DOES WHEN SNAPE
ENTERS THE SCENE IS START PLEADING-- is that JKR didn't think it was
important what Dumbledore was feeling here.  I can't come up with any
response to that but.. wha...?!  No, really, what?!?  Rowling.. didn't
care.. what Dumbledore was feeling.. when Snape betrayed and killed
him.  What?!?  

Anyways, I think I have enough clues to pinpoint the REAL killer of
Dumbledore.  Only ONE person could have created a magical barrier to
the scene of the crime that allowed Snape and no one else up at the
critical moment.  Only ONE person could have arranged for a pack of
Death Eaters to show up at Hogwarts, something previously thought
impossible, and not only that, on the VERY NIGHT and at the VERY HOUR
that Dumbledore was severly incapacitated!  Incapacitated, I say, by a
hideous poison that he simply HAD to drink-- FORCED to drink, by the
very same villanous person!!  And I sense the hand of this heartless
fiend, controlling events, back to that Fatal Night, when Snape
stumbled haplessly into the web spun by none other than...

*Sydney spins, accusing finger pointing steadily at....*  

Joanne K. Rowling!!!    http://www.answers.com/topic/j-k-rowling

Looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, doesn't she?  DON'T BE
FOOLED!

Wow, I really DID have the energy to argue against Evil!Snape!

 
> > *Sydney is downright concerned for poor innocent Lupinlore, so
> > defenseless against the patently sane, intelligent, and
> > all-too-motivated villains she comes across in daily life!*
> 
> Why thank you, :-).  But I don't come across any villains most days -
> - and as I've worked for the Dept of Defense for quite some time, 
> and for academia before that, that's saying a lot.


-- Sydney, unsurprised to discover those of us working in the
entertainment industry are more experienced with villany than the
department of defense