Why DD did not ask Snape to kill him. (extremely long)

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 166084

Dana:
> The Snape theories out there are about the most difficult answer 
one can possibly think of. It calls for disregarding everything we've 
been told, it calls for a lying and puppetmaster DD, a stupid Harry 
and a plot so difficult to understand it makes you even wonder if JKR 
is able to keep track of it.  It is not logical, not by any means.

<snip, snip, snippety snip> 

Dana: 
> The question is not did he kill DD but why did he let it come to 
that?  The simple answer because he *thought* he could control the 
situation and he could not and as a result he chose his own life over 
that of DD and betrayed the man who put so much faith in him.  He
> made a choice for what was easy instead of what was right and if he 
never intended it to go this far, then he paid with the ultimate 
price; -a split soul and a dead friend.

zgirnius:
OK, I just decided I *have* to dive in to this Snape debate. Enough 
lurking...

I disagree that DDM!Snape requires "disregarding everything we've 
been told, it calls for a lying and puppetmaster DD, a stupid Harry 
and a plot so difficult to understand it makes you even wonder if JKR 
is able to keep track of it."

My view on what happened is quite simple.

I share your opinion (roughly) of the Unbreakable Vow, in that "he 
(Snape) *thought* he could control the situation" when he took the 
Vow. Where, if I have understood your position correctly, we part 
ways, is *how* he tried to control it.

It is my view that Snape fully apprised Dumbledore of the events of 
Spinner's End and the fact that Draco's task was to kill Dumbledore. 
This is neither confirmed nor negated in the text, but there are 
passages that can be intrepreted to support my position. Dumbledore 
claims he knew all about Draco's task on the Tower (this would be 
from Snape, as I see it), repeatedly suggests to Harry that Draco is 
not Harry's problem to solve, and when Harry tells him about Snape's 
Vow, Dumbledore says both that the information does not worry him, 
and implies that he understands better than Harry about the Vow, 
which again could be because Snape did tell him all about it.

In my view, then, Dumbledore and Snape *together* were attempting to 
manage the situation. The security precautions at the school would 
have been part of this, Dumbledore's order to Snape to keep an eye on 
Draco would be as well, as might the presence of Order members 
anytime Dumbledore left the school. And on the Tower, the solution 
Dumbledore devised is made plain: to get Draco to give up his task 
and go into hiding under Dumbledore's protection with his family. 

*BUT* the plan went haywire. As Dumbledore admits to Draco, he did 
not believe it was possible to get Death Eaters into the school. I 
believe that for this reason, he and Snape did not plan for this 
eventuality. 

When Snape showed up on the Tower, Dumbledore knew that their plan to 
control the situation had failed. It was the moment Snape would have 
to kill him, or die himself, a fact Dumbledore knew because he knew 
all about the Vow. To me, the only thing that explains Dumbledore's 
*immediate* pleading, alarming reaction to the appearance of Snape, 
whom he "trusts completely", is that Dumbledore wanted Snape to save 
himself, and feared that Snape would not. 

So, he made a mysterious, unstated request to Snape. It is my opinion 
that this was for Snape to kill him, not according to any plan, but 
because it was Dumbledore's assessment of the tactical situation on 
the Tower that Snape's death would be wasted - he (Dumbledore) would 
still die. Snape could have understood the request better than Harry 
and the DEs, because Snape is a Legilimens. (The text includes a 
reference to Snape approching Dumbledore and 'gazing' at him. It is 
my opinion htis indicates Snaep was using Legilimency to divine 
Dumbledore's wishes.)

This is not suggesting either I or Dumbledore believe Snape to have a 
deathwish. Snape thought he could control the situation when he took 
the Vow, and he worked to keep the situation under control during the 
year, both actions suggesting he places some value on his life. 
However, it is one thing to try and preserve one's life by taking 
various precautions, and another to do so by killing an innocent 
bystander. I believe that it was Dumbledore's opinion that Snape is 
not a person who would kill an innocent to save himself.

Snape's hesitatiom until Dumbledore said please and the way his 
expression mirrors Harry's feelings in the Cave, suggest to me that 
he complied unwillingly, as do his emotions in FLight of the Prince. 
(Though, except for the mirror with Harry, I can see how your 
interpretation fits these indicators as well.)