Why did Voldemort offer to spare Lily? (was: Reactions to Snape)

[Judy]

No: HPFGUIDX 175786

Here is a question that I haven't seen discussed here lately.  We 
know that Voldemort offered Lily the chance to live; it was her 
willingness to die when she had the option to live that gave Harry 
his protection from the Killing Curse. But, why did Voldemort give 
Lily that option?

Before I suggest some possibilities, let me give some background.  I 
am interested in this question because so much of Snape's story hangs 
on this question. I used to be an very active poster here, years ago. 
I was always an ardent supporter of the theory that Snape loved Lily. 
In fact, "Fantastic Posts and where to Find Them" gives me credit for 
the theory known as "Too Eww to be Treeww" although I certainly 
didn't originate all the parts of the theory. (A lot of it came from 
Tabouli, the "Captain of the Good Ship LOLLIPOPS.") This theory 
involves Snape knowing that Voldemort was after the Potters, and his 
love for Lily being the reason that he decided to work for 
Dumbledore. 

"Too Eww to be Treeww" was proposed back in February 2002, after GoF 
came out but before OoP. Basically, here are the parts of the theory 
that turned out right:
1) Snape was in love with Lily 
2) Snape was the one who told Dumbledore that Voldemort was after the 
Potters
3) Snape asked Dumbledore to protect the Potters, and this was the 
point at which Snape started working for Dumbledore
1) Snape really was Dumbledore's man throughout the books
5) Dumbledore promised Snape that he would not tell Harry of Snape's 
love for Lily 

Most of this I discussed in Message 34857.  The last point, about 
Dumbledore keeping the secret, I proposed in Message 34875.  The 
Prophecy isn't mentioned in these messages, because OoP wasn't out 
yet. 

There was one BIG point that I got wrong, though. In Teeew Ewww, I 
proposed that Voldemort told Snape that he would spare Lily (and even 
Imperio her or give her a love potion so that she would want to be 
with Snape), but that this wasn't good enough for Snape. I thought 
that Snape wanted Harry & James spared, too; that this was why he 
went to Dumbledore even though Voldemort offered to spare Lily. 
Clearly, now that Book 7 is out, we see that this part of Teww Ewww 
was wrong:  Snape didn't give a hoot whether James lived, and he also 
didn't give a hoot, at least at first, whether Harry lived.

But why did I think that Snape cared if James & Harry lived? 
Basically, because of the combination of two factors: 1) There had to 
be some reason why Voldemort was willing to let Lily live, and I 
figured that reason was Snape's love for Lily; 2) Snape went to 
Dumbledore for help even though Voldemort knew Snape loved Lily, and 
was willing to let her live. 

But if Voldemort knew Snape loved Lily, and was willing to let Lily 
live, why would Snape have to go to Dumbledore at all?  The answer I 
came up with was that Snape wanted to save Lily's husband and child, 
too, rather than have Lily grieve for them or (as Voldemort would 
probably suggest), use magic to make her forget about them. Well, 
that part didn't turn out.  Snape went to Dumbledore intending just 
to save Lily, not James or Harry. 

But, this raises the question again: If Voldemort wasn't willing to 
spare Lily for Snape's sake, then why, when Voldemort showed up at 
Godric's Hollow, did he give her a chance to "step aside"?  Or, if 
Voldemort did tell Snape that he would spare Lily, then why did Snape 
show up, desperate, frantic, begging Dumbledore to save her?

Really, this seems like a plot hole to me.  The books never explain 
whether Voldemort said he would spare Lily, and if so, why Snape 
still went to Dumbledore. I know I was wrong about Snape hoping to 
save James & Harry, and that Snape was therefore not as good a person 
as I expected, but I think JKR was misleading on this point – she 
said in interviews there was an important reason why Voldemort 
offered to spare Lily.  So, I believed that Voldemort told Snape that 
he would spare Lily, and that, since Snape knew that Voldemort would 
spare Lily, Snape must have gone to Dumbledore in the hopes of saving 
James and/or Harry as well.

Here's what I can come up with to plug this potential plothole:
1) Maybe Voldemort told Snape no, he would not spare Lily, but then 
changed his mind.
2) Maybe Voldemort intended to spare Lily all along, but told Snape 
he would not just to be cruel.
3) Maybe Voldemort DID tell Snape he would spare Lily, but Snape was 
worried (quite rightly) that Voldemort wouldn't keep his word.

Any thoughts?

Oh, and here are a couple of reflections on Tew Eww, since this is my 
first time posting about it since Book 7 came out.

Way back in early 2002 (Message #34801), Cindy Sphinx said:
>> The Snape-Loves-Lily theory, on the other hand, says that Snape
>> performs all of these heroic tasks and puts himself in harm's way
>> for the stale memory of a relationship with a woman Snape never 
had.
>> If that's true, then that makes Snape, well, kinda pitiful, no? <g>

And I responded:
> I prefer to think of it as a tragic and touching, not pitiful.

Now that Snape "putting himself in harm's way for a relationship he 
never had" is actually canon, I still see it as tragic and touching.  
But boy, is it sad!  I cried when Snape died looking into Harry's 
eyes.  In fact, the only thing that made me feel better was imagining 
(as several others did here), that Snape "woke up" in the afterlife 
(in his equivalent of King's Cross station, perhaps) looking into 
Lily's eyes. We see that in the afterlife, everyone (except 
Voldemort) has at least some degree of physical healing.  I'd like to 
think that Snape is healed emotionally, as well. (Who knows, maybe 
his hair is even clean.) 

Alla said, back in message:
> I hope the author of **TOO EWWW TO BE TRUEEEEE** would stand
> up and take a round of applauds from me. Bravo.

{bowing} Thank you! 

-- JudySerenity, inveterate Snapefan (as opposed to invertebrate 
Snapefan, which would be maybe the Giant Squid)