Snape Survey, Snapeity, Dumbledore's sacrifice

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 149145

Magpie wrote:
<snip>
> If she thinks Voldemort is so central why does she make Snape more
central to the story?  If she doesn't get why Snape and Draco are
popular why does she, too, seem to give them more important stories
than the other characters?  <snip> Meanwhile for all her claims that
she doesn't get why people want to see stuff about Snape and Draco she
seems to be writing the same type stories herself. Snape's got the
most mysterious, juicy past--he is a gift of a character. <snip> Ron
and Hermione are given things to keep them busy, but it's Snape and
then Draco's storylines that are plugged into the main plot and
Harry's fight.
><snip> And then with Snape, well, there's her goldmine of a
character.  Voldemort's  whole story can be just told flat out in a
couple of Pensieve trips--<snip> There's no conflict for him in his
story, he just grew worse and worse.
> 
> Snape's story on the other hand--whoa.  He's far more central than
Voldemort.  And every book he becomes more so.  First he's Harry's
hated teacher--then he's also his protector!  And he's his father's
nemesis--wait, he's Harry's father's victim!  Then he's an actual
Death Eater--but he's a reformed Death Eater!  Under mysterious
circumstances!  Then there's the scene in the Pensieve where Harry's
actually siding with him. And he's a child in an unhappy household. 
Then he's Harry's new best friend possibly leading him down the
primrose path to evil.  Oh, and it turns out he's the very one
personally responsible for Harry's being an orphan and being the Boy
Who Lived.  Then he kills Dumbledore, who trusts him completely.
> 
> It's Voldemort (the monster--thanks, Sydney!) who hovers around the
edge of the story.  It's Snape who's right there in the center.

Carol responds:
And, of course, in HBP, Snape is doubly central as the Half-Blood
Prince and as the man Harry thinks is aiding Draco in his
Voldemort-assigned mission. There's the irony of Harry identifying
with and learning from the HBP even as his hatred of Snape intensifies
(in part because he's scapegoating Snape for Sirius Black's death and
in part because he learns, at the worst possible moment, that Snape
was the eavesdropper). We see double-agent Snape dealing with Death
Eaters, including the newly recruited Draco, but we also hear about,
and in one instance, actually see, Healer!Snape saving DD from the
ring Horcrux, Katie Bell from the cursed necklace, Draco from Harry's
Sectum Sempra, and even, indirectly, Ron from the poisoned mead since
if it hadn't been for the HBP's Potions book and Snape's initial
lesson on bezoars in SS/PS, Ron would be dead. We have DD's increased
(and even defiant) trust in Snape--based at least in part in his
knowledge of the Dark Arts (which is surely why DD at last gave Snape
the DADA post--he needed Snape and only Snape in that position). 

A sidenote about DD and Snape on the tower: DD has been trying to get
Harry to run to Snape both in Hogsmeade and on the tower. When Snape
shows up, having done nothing more than look around to assess the
situation, DD speaks his name. Snape has not raised his wand or even
looked closely at Dumbledore at this point, and yet there's a pleading
note in Dumbledore's voice. It can have nothing to do with begging
Snape not to kill him, as Snape has made no move to do so. Almost
certainly he's reminding him of the UV, which is about to kick in.
Whatever DD wants Snape to do must be done now. Time is running out.

So, yes, Snape is at the center of the story, much more so than
Voldemort. And the complexities and apparent contradictions that we've
seen throughout the books intensify in what amounts to Snape's book,
HBP. Healer and Dark Arts expert, the perfect person to teach DADA in
this critical year, curse or no curse--Death Eater and Dumbledore's
most trusted man.

As Sydney so usefully points out, Snape is not the villain but Harry's
chief antagonist, and his destruction, unlike Voldemort's, is not
necessary to the plot. JKR has something very important up her sleeve
for him, and I for one interpret the interview in which she claimed to
be "stunned" (by what I take to be a reader's question partially read
by the interviewer) to mean that what's in store for Snape in Book 7
is redemption. 

Carol, who can't wait to hear Rickman!Snape chanting a healing spell
over Draco in the HBP movie