[HPforGrownups] Dark Magic and Snape (was:Re: CHAPDISC: HBP24, Sectumsempra)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 161399

 Jen:  Here's my take on the three main paths to Voldemort, the way I
> glean JKR's presentation of characters who are his followers:
>
> 1)  Wizards like Lucius who place the pure blood issue above all
> else,
> who think Voldemort's goal is to rid the WW of muggleborns.
> 2)  Those who are coopted into service out of fear like Peter.
> 3)  Those who have immersed themselves in the study of the Dark Arts
> and view Voldemort as a path to magical knowledge.  My assumption is
> Snape fits here.

Magpie:
I am a little hesitatant about saying for sure how Snape was recruited, 
because I think sometimes the idea of Snape being drawn by knowledge is 
separated from Voldemort's Pureblood agenda when it's not.

Voldemort's Dark Knowledge is, imo, linked to immortality, which is also 
connected to his Pureblood agenda.  Genocide is an expression of a 
narcissistic desire for immortality: the group is strong and will endure 
forever if the foreign, weaker element is removed like a sickness.  That's 
why the group being "cleansed" is often talked about in terms of filth or 
disease, one that's attacking the host from within. (The Black Family Motto 
nicely pairs the two: toujours pur.)

I think that's more the two things that are set against each other: 
mortality and true connections to other people (love) vs. the search for 
personal immortality which destroys love.

I think teen!Snape and teen!Draco are both attracted to that in different 
ways, as is Barty Crouch.  Voldemort for some, I think, offers an 
alternative to messier human relations, one that promises something like 
them while really being the antithesis.  It also seems to me more Rowling's 
style to make evil a bit more simple, if that makes sense.

-m