[HPforGrownups] Justice to Snape WAS: Re: Werewolves? There Wolves!

[Maeg]

No: HPFGUIDX 170633


>> Alla:
>>
>> His home life was horrible? Again, maybe, maybe not IMO. We do not
>> know who the people in that memory were and I will not be surprised
>> if none of them was Snape.
>>
>> His DE life was not fun and games? Okay. Am I supposed to feel sorry
>> for Snape choosing it then?
>
>
> Toonmili: That is why I think it is important we understand why he
> joined the death eaters.  We don't know if joined on his own accord,
> if he was tricked, if he was forced, we just don't know.
>
> And the memories form Occlumency are his, unless you are suggesting  
> that Snape has someone else's memories in his head and finds tham  
> so personal that he wants to hide it from Harry.

Exactly. It doesn't ring true that the pensieve memories are a red  
herring. Of course, I prefer a morally ambiguous Snape with a  
tortured background (why yes, I do like my boys to suffer a bit) --  
it is such a nice parallel to Harry's fairly awful upbringing.

I've got a bit of a fantasy about why Snape became a death-eater:  
seduction. Not sex, mind you (though that does have possibilities...  
see below), but rather an offer he couldn't refuse: revenge for his  
brutal upbringing. If LV offered Snape a way to get back at his  
father, maybe that would be enough to bring him over to the dark side.

A slightly more horrible idea is that LV offered Snape a different  
person: Lily Potter (Evans? not sure of the timeline here). There  
have been hints of this, and JKR responded very coyly to the question  
"Will Snape fall in love?" -- specifically mentioning book 7:

http://www.crusaders.no/%7Eafhp/interviews/connection/13.%20Snape.mp3

Maeg, hoping the list-elves approve my first post here

My mind isn't always in the gutter -- sometimes it comes out to feed.