On being Lucky (was On lying and cheating)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 166016

Ceridwen:
> The interesting question about Snape here is, which does he 
> prefer?  Who does he envy more: James, for dying a hero's death, brought 
> with laurels to his final bed?  Or, Dumbledore, who lived his long life out, providing 
> continuity and wisdom, and was honored on his funeral bier?  Is he cautionary, or epic?

Jen:  Very interesting question.  The first thought that popped into my head was whether 
Snape longed to play the hero on the tower?  (Presuming loyalty here).  Was there a 
moment when he wanted to reveal his true side, finally prove all the disbelievers wrong 
and perhaps pull off the most amazing victory in the battle against Voldemort by 
attempting to save Dumbledore, Draco and Harry at the expense of his life?  And 
Dumbledore, knowing Snape's heart's desire, was pleading, 'please Severus, the risk is too 
great, do what you must to salvage the situation.'  Without knowing exactly how the Vow 
works it could be a possibility.

Granted, I've never thought of Snape as wanting to play the hero and since he's such a 
logical person, he would have known the odds were almost nil for a good outcome.  I tend 
to view him as a survivalist and attached to no one.  But since I believe he is connected by 
loyalty to Dumbledore, perhaps DD is the one person Snape would want to save at the 
expense of his own life.  It would explain a few things to me, like that fact that he can't get 
past James and Sirius even after their deaths and especially given how both died 
attempting to save others.  Plus it could explain the look of hatred on Snape's face, 
knowing his last chance to be a hero was over once he AK'd Dumbledore.  (I prefer to 
believe he did cast an AK because I want to see how JKR deals with all the moral 
implications.) 

Lupinlore:
> That this means he is deeply conflicted is surely not unrealistic.  
> He envies James and Dumbledore for things that are mutually 
> exclusive, perhaps, in that James' glory is partially from an early 
> death and DD's veneration partly from a long life.  But that is the 
> way people are -- they yearn for opposed things, usually without 
> admitting such to themselves.  When you get down to it Snapey-poo 
> probably doesn't KNOW what he really wants.  But in that he isn't any 
> different than anybody else, including DD if his speech at the end of 
> OOTP is to be credited.

Jen: You've pretty much nailed my impression of Snape as conflicted about many things.  
My understanding from debates here is that he's meant to have almost no conflict in his 
particular literary role:  Snape cast his lot with Voldemort and when the proper motivation 
caused him to realize he was on the wrong side, he embraced Dumbledore's cause and 
never looked back.  To me he will always be an uneasy Dumbledore soldier, never seeing 
himself in the other Order members, preferring the likes of the Malfoys as companions 
and favoring what were meant to be the original values of Slytherin, i.e., heritage and 
family ties, over the values of the other houses and doesn't give a flying fig how Slytherin 
is viewed in the post-Voldemort age.