The Continuing Tragedy of Severus Snape: Reflections on Books 1-5

[Unspeakable]

No: HPFGUIDX 164539

Oryomai: I am not entirely sure what you are trying to do with this
post. To me, it
comes across as an attempt to blame Severus for things that he was not
a part
of. I am slightly aghast at your implication that Severus is
responsible for the
return of Voldemort and the death of Diggory. If there is something in
your post
that I am missing, I would be very happy if you could explain it to me.


Hi Oryomai - I must hasten to reassure you that I *don't* believe
Severus Snape to be strictly responsible for any of this (although I
do think that JKR has succeeded in creating marvelous ambiguity about
his actions in earlier books!) And I speak as someone who is 99.9%
behind Snape as the Tragic Hero of HBP. I don't blame Snape for
killing Dumbledore in accordance with a pre-arranged plan.

However, I do think that Snape is likely to blame *himself* for
various outcomes - in particular, his failure to prevent Harry (whom I
believe he is trying to protect) from coming so close to death. And I
am interested in such questions as: why * did* Snape give Malfoy the
spell to conjure the snake in COS11? (I don't believe in coincidences!
*cough* Mark Evans *cough*) Why was he *so* demented at the end of
POA? And what of Snape's (apparent) failure to report Moody-Crouch to
Dumbledore? This was a fatal error and though (of course) it doesn't
make Snape morally responsible for Cedric's death or Voldemort's
return, it is surely interesting as a character note? (The real
Alastor Moody might well have searched Snape's Office but he wouldn't
have lied IMHO and I am sure that Dumbledore (if he'd been told) would
have realized this and put it together with other suspicious
happenings at Hogwarts to form the right conclusion.)

In any case, it's diverting to look beyond what Red Hen calls 'the
Harry filter' and try to see events in the earlier books from Snape's
POV or Dumbledore's. And one of the reasons why I'm looking forward to
Book 7 so much is that (in supplying the crucial information re.
character & motivation) it will effectively rewrite Books 1-6. We'll
finally be able to see it all from JKR's perspective (I hope)!

To respond to some other points...

a) I agree, Oryomai, that we don't know for sure whether or not Snape
was acting on DD's orders in PS/SS. (However, I suspect that if the
two of them *had* been working together, then they would have been
rather more effective! For example: if Dumbledore had everything under
control then why the need for Snape to get bitten? Snape obviously had
no idea how to get past Fluffy!) It's also hard to know what
Dumbledore *knew* in COS, POA & GOF. This is one of the most
tantalizing/frustrating issues in the Potterverse, IHMO... somehow the
more omniscient we make Dumbledore, the more problematic his
deployment of that knowledge becomes, though I must protest your
characterization of him as 'an evil puppetmaster'! :-)

b) (How) did Snape know that Harry was a Parselmouth? Obviously, I
don't know for sure that he knew... though I do think it's interesting
that Snape encouraged Malfoy to set a snake on Harry at the dueling
club and delayed removing it until Harry had demonstrated his
knowledge of Parseltongue. 'Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down
and whispered something in his ear.' (COS11) After all, Snape told
Bellatrix of rumours circulating "that [Harry] was himself a great
Dark wizard, which was how he had survived the Dark Lord's attack."
(HBP2) As for whether Snape knew about Horcruxes... Hmm...

c) I don't *blame* Snape for his behaviour in the Shack but it did
seem to require more of an explanation than we received. It's Harry's
suggestion that does Snape the biggest disservice, IMHO: "YOU'RE
PATHETIC! JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T
EVEN LISTEN--" (POA19) Clearly, we haven't been told everything. And
isn't it interesting that Snape a) didn't know that Wormtail was the
Secret Keeper (unlike the DEs in Azkaban) and b) seems to have been
(the only one?) to suspect Sirius * before* the events at Godric's
Hollow? 'You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you
might be mistaken in Black –' (POA19). Now what was *that* about?

c) To answer, va32h: I think the significance of Harry not registering
that Snape had tried to *stop* Sirius from going to his death is that
Harry's feelings for Snape notably worsened during the summer after
Sirius's death (HBP8). Hence the quote: "He hated my dad like he hated
Sirius! Haven't you noticed, Professor [Dumbledore], how the people
Snape hates tend to end up dead?" (HBP25) This clearly bodes ill for
the future!

d) I really like your take on Snape's psychology, va32h! I would
suggest further that suggest that Snape has been unconsciously goading
Harry to treat him with the hated he thinks he deserves
 deliberately
provoking him from the beginning, as if in readiness for the day when
Harry found out about his betrayal.

e) Agree heartily with Finwitch that DD hasn't done enough to convince
Harry to trust Snape... but I have my own theory about that (see
below!)...

Cassy V. :-)

P.S. If anyone's interested, I put together the following
evidence-based 'synopsis' of Book 7 as a way of integrating various
theories. Here are the extracts relating to Snape – hope it helps!

Snape, Lily & Petunia:  http://book7.co.uk/three/

Snape & Regulus: http://book7.co.uk/seven/

Snape & Dumbledore: http://book7.co.uk/nine/

Snape's fate (& knowledge of Horcruxes): http://book7.co.uk/fourteen/

Repercussions for Harry: http://book7.co.uk/fifteen/

& the end of the series:  http://book7.co.uk/sixteen/