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

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 161420

> Betsy Hp:
> Are you getting all this from the Sectumsempra curse?  It seems like
> a bit of a leap, IMO.  Young!Snape came up with a curse for his 
> enemies.  A gruesome one, yes.  But I don't recall anything in the 
> books suggesting young!Snape was frustrated by a lack of knowledge.  
> That he was trying to learn something Dumbledore had forbidden him.

Jen:  All theories about Snape's motivation require a leap! Take you 
own theory.  Maybe Snape's anger led him to Voldemort, but surely not 
all angry young men join Voldemort, so how did one lead to the other 
in his case?  

Then there's the one we might call the 'pureblood claptrap' theory 
(hehe, thanks a_svirn): Snape called Lily a Mudblood, he was ashamed 
of his parentage and called himself the Half-Blood Prince much like 
Tom Riddle called himself Lord Voldemort (speculates Harry). The leap 
here is explaining why Voldemort accepted a half-blood into the inner 
circle.  Did Snape offer something others could not or did Voldemort 
and the DE's decide he was a really cool guy so they could overlook 
the little parentage problem?  Or did they not know his parentage and 
if so, how did he manage to hide it without the charm, magical power 
and manipulative powers of Tom Riddle?

Seduction by Dark Arts suffers from the same problem of incomplete 
information.  There's the Sectumsempra, but Hermione may be right the 
HBP had a 'nasty sense of humour' and that's the end of it.  There's 
the statement by Dumbledore that magical people can be seduced by the 
Dark Arts and are tempted to join Voldemort.  We haven't actually 
*met* an example of such a person, so maybe one is to come or maybe 
the old guy is talking in generalities.  Then JKR tells us Dumbledore 
doesn't give Snape the DADA job because it might bring out the worst 
in him and, yes indeedy, he gets the job and almost immediately gets 
enmeshed in what appears to be a darkish spell with devastating 
outcomes.  Was Snape's 'worst' getting trapped in the spell or 
something else entirely?  So yeah, there are leaps all over the place 
on this one.


Betsy Hp: 
> And I really don't get the sense that Voldemort is the 
> representative of Dark Magic, or the Dark Arts.  I agree with Magpie 
> that the magic of Potterverse just hasn't been laid out that way.  
> Magic is a tool.  You shape it, it doesn't shape you. If that makes 
> sense.


Jen: Dark magic can shape a person, it shapes Voldemort into a snake-
like creature with red eyes and that's only the outward manifestation 
of the process going on inside him.  He *believes* he is only 'pushing 
the boundaries of magic' but they seem to be pushing back.  Crouch Jr. 
was certainly changed from the boy screaming for his mother in Azkaban 
to the man Harry met in GOF.  I'm guessing years under the Imperius 
curse augmented whatever his natural inclinations were.  

JKR doesn't lay this out like the dark side of the force because she 
doesn't need to.  She isn't concerning herself with why people become 
DE's with the same clinical precision Lucas tracked Anakin's fall to 
the Dark Side because that's not the story she is trying to tell. 
Wizards join Voldemort, there are reasons why...what, we aren't 
satisfied by that? <g>


Carol:
> I agree that Severus Snape was motivated primarily by intellectual
> concerns, but I think he was looking for recognition and acceptance
> more than power. IMO, he either approached Lucius Malfoy or was
> approached by him ("The Dark Lord will reward your talents,
> Severus, and provide you with the recognition you deserve"). I 
> don't think that Voldemort knew about him unless Malfoy informed 
> him that he had a young friend with prodigious talents who should
> be recruited before he began working for the other side.

Jen R: Like wealth or political clout, intellect is a means to sway 
others and therefore is a type of power.  There's a responsibility 
attached to having a great intellect and choosing what to do with it;  
Snape could have chosen a much better outlet for his intellect than 
the DE's but something led him to put aside a promising career for 
service with Voldemort.  Re: recruitment, I don't think the how will 
prove to be as important as the why.  Your suggestions about Lucius 
are completely plausible.

Jen R.