"Bad Snapers," Karma, and the End of Snape

[Judy]

No: HPFGUIDX 175858

I thought I had posted this response to Lupinlore days ago, but I 
just searched for the post and it doesn't seem to be here.  So, I'm 
trying again.

Lupinlore:
> the venomous, bile-filled
> man was killed by literal venom, thus ending his physical life in 
> much the same way he had ended his emotional life.  The potions 
> master, and presumably master of poisons, was killed by poison. 
> The man who spent so much time showing favoritism to the House of
> the Snake was killed by a snake.  The spinner of webs was caught 
> in a trap that he evidently did not see coming (i.e. he seemed to 
> know nothing about the Elder Wand).  The sarcastic, cruel voice he 
> used to torment his students is silenced by the symbol of his own 
> house.  The man who loved the Dark Arts was slain by the Dark Arts. 
> The man who has abused Harry for years must rely on Harry for one 
> last glimpse of the woman he "loved."  And Severus Snape, who 
brooded
> and nursed his bitterness about the Prank for twenty years, ends up 
> dead on the floor of the Shrieking Shack after all.

This post strikes me as very strange because on the one hand it seems 
to be saying that Snape is an awful person because he was vengeful 
and vindictive, yet it also seems to say that revenge against Snape 
is a good thing. Lupinlore, do you think revenge is bad, or don't you?

I don't think Snape was killed by poison.  His death scene repeatedly 
refers to his losing blood; there's nothing about poison. (Nagini may 
have poison that causes anti-coagulation, but it would be pretty hard 
to survive huge fang wounds to the neck even without that, and anti-
coagulation poisons don't usually kill so fast.) 

As for Snape not knowing about the Elder Wand, I actually think he 
DID know about the Elder Wand. It would be strange if Dumbledore 
intended for him to take possession of it, and yet never told him 
about it. 

I didn't find it the least bit ironic or surprising that it was 
Voldemort, symbol of the Dark Arts, who killed Snape. As a believer 
in DDM!Snape, I felt all along that Snape was in great danger from 
Voldemort. Snape is written as knowing that he was constantly risking 
danger from Voldemort, too -- he mentions this at least twice to 
Dumbledore. 

I would also say that Snape was only killed by Voldemort because 
Snape was loyal to Dumbledore. True, Voldemort didn't know Snape was 
Dumbledore's Man; Voldemort killed Snape because Snape had killed 
Dumbledore, making Voldemort think Snape was master of the Elder 
Wand. But, if Snape hadn't been Dumbledore's man, Snape *wouldn't* 
have killed Dumbledore; Snapefan thought I am, I don't think Snape 
had the ability to kill Dumbledore unless Dumbledore wanted him to. 
It was Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore that resulted in Dumbledore's 
death, and therefore Snape's own death at the hands – er, fangs – of 
Nagini. So, I don't see Snape's death by Voldemort, by the Dark Arts, 
by a snake as being some sort of karmic justice at all.  I see it as 
a willing sacrifice by Snape, as something he's knowingly risked ever 
since he tried to save Lily. 

As for Snape's dying in the Shrieking Shack, I do think JKR was 
deliberately echoing the Prank. She even had Snape die by an animal 
bite, the same as if James hadn't saved him. But Snape never wanted 
to have a life debt to James. This way, he dies trying to help James' 
son, and he dies the same way that he would have died if James had 
never intervened. I think Snape would have liked that: Debt Paid in 
Full.  

As a reader, I wish Snape's death had been "bangier," more dramatic, 
and that we were shown more of his motivations (and what become of 
his body.)  But if I were Snape, bleeding to death in that shack, I 
think I would have been pleased, knowing that all was going according 
to plan (Nagini was under protection), I had just completed my 
mission and given the information to Harry, and I had gotten to be 
DADA professor, and Hogwarts Headmaster to boot. Frankly, I think 
that ever since Lily died, Snape had felt that life was a burden. He 
meant it when he told Dumbledore that he wished he were dead. He only 
hung around to complete his mission.  I don't think he minded dying.  

-- JudySerenity, who sees a bunch of other posts she would like to 
repond to, but is out of both posts for the day, and time.