Snape really was a Good Guy - Canon in the House

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 174359

Katie wrote:

On my 
> first few reads, I really didn't get anything more than: Snape 
loves 
> Lily, Snape hates Harry, Snape fears both Dumbledore and Voldy, 
Snape 
> does what he's told. This reduced him to a big stinker in my eyes, 
> but I felt like there was more...I felt like there must have been a 
> sea change at some point along the way that turned Snape into a 
real 
> good guy. Maybe I'm grasping at straws because I hated seeing him 
> reduced to what he was reduced to, but...

Julie:
While I agree that Snape loved Lily and hated Harry (at least
through HBP), and agree that he reasonably feared Voldemort's
power and his unpredictable moods, I don't think he feared 
Dumbledore *at all.* He did Dumbledore's bidding because he
made a promise, and because that promise effectively fed
into his goal (to redeem himself to Lily by protecting her
son). Snape could have walked away at any time, if he'd
lost interest in that goal (if his love for Lily faded),
or if he believed that Dumbledore had lost sight of that
goal. (And it was a close call when he felt Dumbledore had
used him to help prepare Harry like a "pig for slaughter,"
though he was ultimately stymied by the fact that *his*
goal had changed over the years from merely protecting
Harry for Lily's sake to doing what was ultimately right
for the survival of the WW.)

Katie:
> I do have some canon to back me up.
> 
>   DH, US version, page 681: After Snape has trapped the curse 
of      
> Gaunt's ring in DD's hand...
> "I am fortunate, extremely fortunate, that I have you, Severus."
> "If only you had summoned me a little earlier, i might have been 
able 
> to do more, buy you more time!" said Snape furiously.
> 
> ***To me, this reaction speaks of true caring, not of a servant, 
but 
> of a friend, knowing that a good man is now dying. This reaction 
was 
> that of the Snape that I thought I knew through 6 books.***

Julie:
Agreed. And Dumbledore was initially much harsher with Snape
than I had come to expect from the kind-hearted "everyone
deserves a second chance" Dumbledore we got in the earlier
books. But by the end of their long association with each
other I do believe there was genuine caring between Snape
and Dumbledore. That was evidenced also in Dumbledore's
teary eyes when Snape reveals that he still loves Lily.

Katie:
> DH, US version, page 687: After Dumbledore has told him Harry will 
> probably die defeating Voldy...
>   Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.
> "You have kept him alive so he can die at the right moment?"
> "Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched 
> die?"
> "Lately, only those whom I could not save," said Snape. He stood 
> up, "You have used me."
> 
> ***Snape is not horrified because of anything having to do with 
Lily. 
> He is horrified because a teenaged boy is about to be sacrificed 
> without his knowledge or intent and Snape feels like he has had a 
> hand in that. He is horrified that Dumbledore could plan such a 
> thing. This is a person, at this point, who has morality not based 
on 
> obsessive love of a dead woman, but based on a sense of what is 
right 
> and wrong. 

Julie:
I totally agree with this also. Snape is horrified here on
principle. Dumbledore is in fact revealing that he's doing
just the *opposite* of what Snape has always thought they
were doing--raising Harry to face Voldemort and survive--
yet Snape does not refuse to continue once he learns the
truth. If it was all about Lily and saving her son for 
her, then Snape would have balked. But it has become more
about doing what is right, what will destroy the evil that
is Voldemort, and what will ensure the survival of the WW.

Katie:
> 
> Also, saving people? He hasn't been saving people for Lily - he's 
> been saving people because it's right. He has changed into a 
> different person - the Snape I believed him to be - not a "nice" 
man, 
> certainly, but a good man. 

Julie:
As Snape said, he's watched people die, but "lately only those
I cannot save." And those people have nothing to do with Lily,
as saving Remus has nothing to do with Lily. It now has to do
with who Snape has become, a man who may still be consumed 
with bitterness and who acts too often out of spite, but who
also has adopted a set of principles.

Katie:
> I realize that a few lines after this exchange, he claims he 
doesn't 
> care for Harry at all and that he has only been a good guy because 
of 
> Lily...and I know JKR herself says and believes this. But her own 
> words, coming from Snape's mouth, belie this interpretation. If all 
> Snape wanted to do was keep Lily's son safe, he wold not be saving 
> other people and possibly putting his cover and his life in danger. 
> Whether Snape and JKR believe it or not, the guy has changed.***

Julie:
And we agree again. How Snape feels about Harry is irrelevant.
He expresses horror at the *principle* of raising a child just
to send him out to be slaughtered. That the child is someone
he loathes makes it even clearer that his horror is based on 
that principle rather than on his own feeling about the person 
involved. After all, if he had no principles, he'd either 
be pleased about Harry's fate, or he'd refuse to take part
because doing so would go against his promise to keep Lily's
son safe. Snape may still love Lily sixteen years after her
death, but he's no longer acting solely for her benefit. It's
become about more than her, or Harry. 

<snip>

Katie:
> 
> There's the end of my canon-based argument about Snape's moral and 
> emotional maturation. But I really think, while it certainly 
started 
> with Lily, it did not end there. He became a different, and better, 
> person...whether his creator believes that or not.
> 
> (BTW, not flaming on Jo - I love the book and have been a big 
> defender of it - I just  think she didn't understand Snape all that 
> well. She created him, and he stole the show. But still lovin' on 
JK!)

Julie:
I'm not sure JKR does believe that Snape never changed. She
makes sure we know he is still mean and spiteful, but she
doesn't ever say he didn't change from that young man who
was only interested in saving Lily and no one else to a
man who adopted some principles along the way. I suspect
she does think he changed *some*, just not *enough* to 
make him a good person in the fullest sense (one who can
let go of their bitterness and thirst for vengeance). I 
bet she even realizes that the person who truly suffered
from Snape's unwillingness to release the past and move
on is not Harry, or Neville, or any other student, but 
Snape himself. Which is the true tragedy of Severus Snape,
after all.

Julie