good and bad Slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 175253

Montavilla47:
The 
> reason I say that the pro-Snapists are more fanatical is because
they have to work a bit harder, as they need to fight against the
author's state opinion of the character to find him fundamentally
worthy of respect.

Carol responds:
If we're looking at JKR's opinions at all, it would seem that "deeply
horrible person" has been reduced to a "spiteful" man who was a bit of
a bully but also a kind of hero and "immensely brave." And we now have
canon on our side in the form of the objective Pensieve memories,
Harry's public vindication of Snape, and his naming of his second son.
So, i con't think fanaticism has anything to do with it.

Sirius Black's goodness, namely his love of Harry (as James-based as
Snape's dislike of him) has always been offset by his arrogance, his
vindictiveness, and his reckless streak. James we barely know. His
heroism in saving Severus turns out to be "cold feet," just as Snape
always said, or at best trying to keep his friends out of trouble and
not a change from the arrogant bully he's always been, and even his
heroic battle against Voldemort turns into a wandless murder. So all
we have for James is the Mirror of Erised, the "echoes" from LV's wand
in GoF, a glimpse of him playing with his baby son, the Resurrection
Stone scene in DH, and the word of other characters, all Gryffindor
and all prejudiced in his favor. On the other side, we have SWM,
Lily's opinion of him until he stopped hexing people in the hallways
around seventh year, and new revelations in DH. So, James was an
arrogant, bullying berk, a "toerage," to use Lily's term, for most of
his early life. For some reason, presumably a wish to impress Lily
with something other than his reflexes, he stopped being a bully and a
show off and presumably earned his status as head boy (promoted over
Lupin's head, since Lupin was the Prefect).

As for "the best in the school at all he did," no doubt he and Sirius
were the best in Transfiguration (McGonagall's subject), considering
how much effort they'd put into becoming Animagi, but we don't see
them writing book-length answers on their DADA exams like Severus or
being praised for the Potions prowess like Severus and Lily. James was
an excellent Quidditch player, but the team must have had a good
Seeker, too (either a girl or in a different year as neither Sirius
nor Remus nor Peter seems to have been on the team).

As for looks, I don't mean to be petty, but James looks just like
Harry except for his eyes, meaning he's, to quote Fred, "a scrawny,
specky git." To be kind, he's slightly built, has black hair that
sticks up in the back, and wears glasses. At age eleven, at least,
Harry has "knobbly knees." James's nose, we're told in OoP, is
slightly longer than Harry's. We're never told that Harry is handsome.
If he weren't a TWT champion and/or the Boy Who Lived, he'd have had
no easier time than Ron finding a date to the Yule Ball. It's Sirius
who's handsome, in an arrogant, Bellatrixesque way (he won't even look
at the girls who sigh over him). What James has is not good looks but
athletic skills and self-confidence born of his parents' fond
indulgence and a belief in his own superiority. He's an athlete who
also has some remarkable talents (shared with his friends--the
Marauders' Map is quite an achievement, but it was created for magical
mischief making), but he's also a show-off who hexes people who annoy
him "because he can." Somehow, off-page, this "arrogant little berk,"
who gets all the credit while the equally talented Half-blood Prince,
busy inventing spells and improving potions and memorizing textbooks,
a la Hermione, gets almost none because of his unpopular House, his
greasy hair, and his evil friends.

I don't know. I guess it's a personality thing. I identify far more
with Severus than with James, have much more sympathy for him. Maybe
it's because I was never a popular athlete and was definitely a nerd
(though I certainly didn't have evil friends who performed Dark
Magic). It can't be argued, can it? Either you like the Marauders,
empathizing with Sirius, who went after Peter Pettigrew to avenge
James and ended up spending twelve years in Azkaban and later rattled
around his parents' hated house drinking and feeling depressed, or it
turns your stomach every time he calls Snape Snivellus while snape
(who returns his animosity with cool sarcasm) is out risking his life
for Harry and DD (and, as it turns out, Lily), atoning for his past
mistakes while receiving little praise or gratitude and no affection
(except, occasionally, from DD).

It can't be argued because it's feeling-based. I'll take the immensely
brave Severus Snape, who died giving Harry the memories that enabled
him to sacrifice himself, over any of the Marauders. But that's my
choice and my preference, and it's based on canon, not on JKR's
inconsistent and manipulative remarks, intended (like much of what DD
says) to conceal as much as they reveal about future books. The
"immensely brave" remark at least relates to the completed series and
can therefore be taken with a little less salt than "deeply horrible
person," which is simply not borne out by the books. Spiteful, yes.
Unable to let go of the past, yes (along with Sirius Black). Deeply
flawed, yes. Unfair, yes. But brilliant, highly talented, powerful,
brave, and unappreciated. And while Harry could have defeated
Voldemort without Sirius Black's help, he could not have done it
without Snape's.

Carol, who thinks that Harry's choice to name his second son Albus
Severus tells us that in *his* view Snape is, indeed, fundamentally
worthy of respect