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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 161409

> Betsy Hp:
> Hmm, but werewolves are driven by a perverse sort of hunger.  
Sharks 
> kill to eat and to survive.  But werewolves kill or bite to cause 
> pain.  I don't get the sense that their urge to hunt is driven by 
> hunger or survival instincts.  <snip>

a_svirn:
Actually, from what we can see in canon werewolves attack because are 
rendered insane by their illness. They do not *consciously* want to 
cause pain; they simply have certain cravings and act on instinct, 
much like sharks. Maybe it's not exactly a *survival* instinct, but 
it's still an instinct, not an *intent*. 

> Betsy Hp:

> Well, both men are humans in each scene.  So neither could be 
called 
> a "Dark Creature".  Or, I suppose you could, but they aren't lost 
in 
> their bloodlust, a creature of dark instinct.  They're human and so 
> capable of darkness, but not dark by definition. So I'd say 
> Grayback, in his desire to eat Dumbledore as a human not a 
werewolf, 
> is actually the darker of the two.  (This presupposes a good Lupin.)
> 
> The interesting thing (IMO) is that I'd call Grayback darker than 
> your usual werewolf.  He positions himself so when he turns he's 
> most likely to attack a child.  

a_svirn:
But, in doing so, he acts in his human capacity. In his human 
incarnation he makes plans to use himself – in his monster 
incarnation – as a weapon. Rather like Sirius tried to use Lupin. So, 
I'd say he's darker than Lupin not as a werewolf, but as a human 
being.  

> Betsy Hp:
But it's the human, not the wolf 
> that feels the malice.

a_svirn:
My point exactly.