The Coward and Deserter

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 167960

Toonmili wrote: 
>  
> > > > Besides when Voldemort returned he said: "one has left me 
forever and he will be killed..." Everyone agrees he was talking 
about Snape. :-?
> 
Goddlefrood responded:
  
> > > Do they, now? <snip>

Carol responds:
Well, not everyone, obviously. But many people (including me) believe
with good reason that Karkaroff, who has fled in fear of retaliation
by his fellow DEs, is the coward and that Snape, who has saved Harry's
life and thwarted Quirrell, is the one Voldemort believes has left him
forever. 

JKR herself refused to answer the question directly, but she said that
many fan sites had it right:

"HarriFreak: Who is the 'one that never will return' deatheater?

"JK Rowling replies: You have to work it out, but a lot of fansites
have got it right."

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm

As there are hundreds if not thousands of Snape sites and few if any
Igor Karkaroff fansites, and no Snape site that I'm aware of considers
Snape to be a coward, it seems likely that the one Voldemort believes
to have left him forever is Snape. But that's before Snape's return on
DD's orders at the end of GoF. Clearly, Voldemort holds a different
view in HBP. The mere fact that Snape is still alive in books 5 and 6
suggests that Snape convinced Voldemort otherwise on his return. 

The only evidence I can think of to support your view is that
Karkaroff is killed (as you mention in a snipped portion of your post)
and Snape isn't. However, we don't know that Karkaroff was killed by
LV himself. More likely, he was killed by angry Death Eaters avenging
the colleagues that Karkaroff betrayed. As for Snape, Voldemort says,
"One, who *I believe* has left me forever...he will be killed, of
course." But once LV ceases to believe that Snape has left him forever
(or realizes that Snape is more useful alive than dead), he decides
not to kill him. (It's possible, of course, that he will do so in DH,
but I hope not.)

Goddlefrood: 
> In Spinner's End in HBP Snape tells Bella that he returned later
than the graveyard scene. LV was making assumptions in his loyalty,
IMO, LV believed Snape was a coward, and possibly repeated that to
Severus during their little tete-a-tete when Snape proferred his
explanation for not answering the Dark Mark call.

Carol:
Where is your evidence for the assumption that LV was a coward? All we
have is Snape's own words, "the Dark Lord thought that I had left him
forever" (supplied by Toonmili upthread), which are virtually
identical to Voldemort's words in the graveyard (also supplied by
Toonmili): 
> 
Goddlefrood:
> It would also be interesting if this were true and explain somewhat
Snape's reaction to being called a coward by Harry during the Flight
of the Prince, n'est ce pas?

Carol responds:
Snape's reaction to being called a coward has nothing to do with what
Voldemort thinks of him. Voldie has Snape'e actions in SS/PS as
evidence of his disloyalty, not of cowardice, and Snape has to find
explanations for those actions that Voldie will accept.
> 
Goddlefrood:
> The duplicitous one is far more likely to be the coward referred
> by LV than is Karkaroff IMNSVHO ;)

Carol:
I can't think of a single scene in books one through four (the only
ones that can be considered in determining LV's view of Snape as of
the graveyard scene) that would make LV think that Snape was a coward.
Karkaroff, OTOH, testified against his fellow DEs to secure his own
release from Azkaban and has good reason to fear retaliation.
Crouch!Moody is at Hogwarts watching them both and may well be
reporting on their behavior to LV, but even if he isn't, LV has heard
for himself Snape talking to Quirrell in a threatening tone about
where his loyalties lie and he knows that Snape cast the countercurse
to save Harry from Quirrell's broom jinx. 

We readers know that Karkaroff is a coward and Snape isn't: "Flee,
then! Flee!" Snape says to Karkaroff. "I will remain at Hogwarts."
(Quoted from memory from GoF) Is Voldemort so bad a judge of character
that he would not know which man opposed him on principle and which
had fled in fear? It's only his own view of himself as the world's
greatest Legilimens, along with Snape's superb Occlumency, that
enables Snape to lie to him later without detection. But he's not
lying about cowardice. He's lying about his reasons for saving Harry,
thwarting Quirrell, and not showing up in the graveyard, some of which
he has prepared in advance: "If you are ready, if you are prepared." I
am." His cover stories provide plausible explanations for his
disloyalty, not for cowardice of any kind.

Goddlefrood:
> 
> Ah, but Igor WAS in Azkaban and made the equivalent of a bargain
> with the MoM to give evidence against other DEs in exhchange for
> either a reduction in his sentence or an immediate release.
> Karkaroff is the coward.

Carol:
Exactly. Karkaroff is the coward. It seems that you're arguing against
yourself here. 
 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> Confirmation of what I say above, IMO, Snape was the coward, but 
Karkaroff was the deserter to be killed.

Carol responds:
Actually, you say above that Karkaroff was the coward. And, in fact,
all of his behavior throughout the books shows him to be a coward. He
keeps showing Snape his Dark Mark, fearful of what will happen when LV
returns. And when the Dark Mark burns at the end of the Third Task, he
flees in terror. Snape, true to his word, remains with Dumbledore and
helps to "out" the DE in disguise, Barty Crouch, Jr. He reveals his
Dark Mark to Fudge and then faces Voldemort on DD's instructions,
hardly the actions of a coward. (True, Voldie doesn't know this is
happening, but surely he has some idea of the general character traits
of these two men and knows which one is more likely to flee in terror
and which would stay away for other reasons.)

Toonmili:
> 
> > So there you have it, proof that Snape is the one he believes to
have left him forever and not Karkaroff.
> 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> If that's proof then I'll retire tomorrow ;) <snip>

Carol:
Snape's words in "Spinner's End" aren't proof, of course, but they're
pretty solid *evidence.* My reaction on reading that portion of the
chapter was that JKR had purposely placed the words "the Dark Lord
thought that I had left him forever" in Snape's mouth to parallel LV's
words in GoF, "one who I believe has left me forever." The similarity
can't be accidental, and yet Snape wasn't present at the graveyard
scene and Harry didn't repeat those specific words when he told his
story to DD in front of Snape. Snape has to have heard the words from
Voldemort himself.

Carol, who thinks that Voldie was right in the first place when he
labeled Karkaroff a coward and Snape as the one who had left him
forever and that he'll live to regret not killing Snape