"Bad Snapers," Karma, and the End of Snape (was Re: Of Sorting and Snape)

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 175490


> >
> 
> lizzyben:
> 
> Yes, I agree about the "karmic arcs" inherent in Snape's death. 
> Which is why I've earlier stated that he got a "villian's death", 
> not a hero's death. The "good guys" do die quite often, but they 
> don't get that ironic end that the bad guys get - essentially 
> hoisted on their own petard. Just as crucioing Carrow is crucioed, 
> cursing Crabbe is killed by his own curse, etc. Tragic irony or 
> poetic justice? You be the judge. It's the way Snape died, more 
than 
> anything else, that convinced me that JKR truly does loathe this 
> character. And I can see why that would satisfy people who really 
> disliked him too. 

Lanval:
*g* were you around after Ootp, when Sirius died?


lizzyben:
As someone who mostly pitied him, it seems a 
> little cruel to me, but that's how justice seems to be dispelled 
in 
> these novels.

Lanval:
Er, Sirius, dead by drapery, because he chose to taunt and 
underestimate his opponent? 

James, dead in part because he trusted Peter, whom he he probably 
never considered very smart or creative, or ambitious?

Snape got bit by a snake, James got blasted by a spell, the 
Longbottoms got far, far worse than anyone, they didn't even get to 
die. Nothing heroic there either; LV was already gone at that point.

Lupin? Killed unceremoniously in battle, just a short time after he 
has overcome (at least partially) one of his worst flaws, his 
weakness and shying away from any sort of responsibility. He choses 
to do the right thing and -- bang. Dead. Did not live to see his son 
grow up, the son he never wanted, but fell in love with the moment 
he was born. Is that not irony at its cruelest?

I agree that there's a streak of 'you get what you deserve' running 
through the books, but there are enough examples of characters 
either seemingly Getting Away With Things (Draco? Went bald.), or 
suffering far beyond what they could have ever deserved, to keep it 
from becoming the overwhelming message of the series. JMO.



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