The Fundamental Message of the HP books?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 175783

lealess:
> I'm just wondering if you think Dumbledore chose what was right over
> what was easy when he asked Snape to kill him, to spare him pain and
> humiliation.  Did Dumbledore turn his moment of temptation into a
> "right action" by asking Snape to compromise Snape's soul for 
> Draco's sake?  Snape agreed to do this, not for the sake of Lily's 
> child, but presumably to keep Draco's soul pure, to help the old 
> man, and to further the "plan" that Snape later found out 
> Dumbledore had lied to him about all along.
> 
> There was always a cost to Dumbledore's actions.  The cost was 
> Severus Snape. 

Jen:  My gut answer is yes, it was the right choice to ask Snape, but 
I want to look at all the variables Dumbledore and Snape knew at the 
time of his request and make sure that's my answer: 

1) DD's life - he had about a year to live.
2) Draco's life - a 'death sentence' on his head.
3) Draco's soul - if Dumbledore allows Draco to murder him.
4) Snape's soul - if Voldemort orders him to kill Dumbledore or 
Dumbledore orders/requests the killing instead.
5) Future of Hogwarts and the students after DD dies.
5) Factor X - Dumbledore knows Harry must be willing to sacrifice 
himself at some point and he's witholding that information from Snape.


This is what Dumbledore knows or suspects from the intelligence 
provided by Snape and his own knowledge of the Horcruxes. 

A) If Dumbledore chooses not to act and allows Voldemort to call the 
shots (because of factor X or a combination of factors), Draco is at 
risk to be killed by Voldemort before he succeeds.  Snape would then 
be ordered by LV to kill Dumbledore and DD would submit.  So Draco is 
dead and Snape's soul is ripped although still able to heal with 
remorse.  

The knowledge of Harry's willing sacrifice is also dead with 
Dumbledore unless he tells Snape at some point in the year, which is 
possible.  It only makes a difference to Snape if Snape's choice is 
to stop helping DD with his plan - he'll still be be ordered to kill 
DD, rip his soul and return to LV or he'll refuse to kill DD, DD will 
die anyway and Snape won't be able to take over the headmaster 
position to protect the students.   Presumably Snape would then be 
killed by LV or on LV's orders. 

B) If Dumbledore allows Draco to kill him, Draco's soul is ripped and 
he will be a Voldemort follower of some sort if LV wins or a wanted 
man if Voldemort is defeated. The weight on Dumbledore's head is not 
offering protection to an unqualified student under his care as 
headmaster.  This move does save Snape from being ordered by 
either wizard to kill Dumbledore so no soul ripping; however, Snape 
wouldn't return to Voldemort in any better position than he is at the 
beginning of HBP, when Peter is spying on him and the other DEs 
suspect him. 

Another possibility: Draco refuses to kill DD, he and his family are 
protected if they accept it and Snape is ordered by Voldemort to do 
the job instead.  Snape can refuse and announce his loyalty to 
Dumbledore, in which case he won't be made headmaster and be able to 
protect the students when Voldemort takes over the castle after 
Dumbledore's death.  Or, he can go along, rip his soul, etc.

******************************************************

I'm sure there are many ways the variables could be arranged.  That's 
enough for me to conclude none of Dumbledore's choices were easy, 
they all exacted a cost.  

DD asking for a 'quick, painless' exit wasn't the actual reason for 
making the request of Snape so much as a sort of hope for how he'd go 
out.  The reason is somewhere in the variables above.  

 
lealess: 
> Dumbledore tells the returning Death Eater Snape that, "You disgust
> me," "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and
> child?  They can die, as long as you have what you want?"  At the 
> end of his life, though, he does the same thing to Snape.  Snape 
> can go to hell, for all Dumbledore cares, as long as he agrees to
> follow theplan.  So I wonder, was asking this of Snape right, or 
> easy?

Jen: He's not in the same situation with Snape.  Besides the above 
complications, he expects Snape will become Master of the Elder 
Wand.  I have no idea what benefit that confers and wish someone 
would explain it to me.  It does sound beneficial from the way 
Dumbledore and Harry discuss it in the King's Cross chapter.