Excusing Snape of any responsibility ( was Re: Nitwit? - Remus John Lupin)

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 168241


> 
> >JKR: Well, okay, I'm obviously – Harry-Snape is now as personal, if 
> not more so, than Harry-Voldemort. I can't answer that question 
> because it's a spoiler, isn't it, whatever I say, and obviously, it 
> has such a huge impact on what will happen when they meet again that 
> I can't. And let's face it, it's going to launch 10,000 theories and 
> I'm going to get a big kick out of reading them so [laughs] I'm evil 
> but I just like the theories, I love the theories.
> 
> zgirnius:
> I conclude from this first, that Rowling does consider Snape's 
> loyalties at the end of Book 6 to be one of the mysteries she has put 
> into the books. Both because she refuses to answer the question, and 
> because she states that the answer is a spoiler.
> 
> My other conclusion is that Snape will play an important role in Book 
> 7, he's not going to be dropped, with his role ended. Because Harry 
> cares about him now, perhaps even more than he cares about Voldemort. 
> And they will meet in person in the book, in a scene that is bound to 
> be dramatic, interesting, and important to the story.
>

wynnleaf
What do we know that JKR is planning to address about Snape in DH?

Well, let's think of everything JKR has remarked upon that we have yet
to find out about Snape.

zgirnius has already pointed out her quote above, so we *know* that
Harry and Snape will meet and it will be pretty important since she
considers anything that hints at that spoilers.  

She's said that Harry is "now ready to go out fighting. And he's after
revenge." The "revenge" part is more likely to be Snape than
Voldemort, especially since JKR has said that Harry's hatred of Snape
is more personal than toward Voldemort.  Harry's seen Voldemort as
Enemy #1 for years, but JKR's added the personal revenge in now and
that's more about Snape, who Harry blames for Dumbledore's death and
also indirectly for Sirius' death.

She said Snape's been loved by someone -- so she's probably going to
tell us who.

She implied strongly that we'd learn more about the werewolf prank,
and that obviously involves Snape.

She has pretty clearly set up the question of why Dumbledore trusted
Snape, so she's going to be revealing that.  Included in those
questions are mysteries that she's set up such as what the forest
conversation was about that Hagrid overheard - so naturally there will
have to be a revelation about that.  

She's set up questions about what happens to Draco, and we know that
Draco left with Snape, so there again, she'll need to answer questions
that involve Snape.

She wouldn't tell us what Snape's patronus or boggart is, as that
would give too much away. Therefore she'll probably be telling us one
or both of those in Book 7.  Obviously there will have to be some
scene where one or both are important in order for that revelation to
occur.  And it has to be of some import, or she would have revealed it
previously.

She has seemed to agree with at least Rushdie's assertion that
"everything follows" from whether or not Snape is good or bad.

So with all these comments, it certainly does sound like Snape will
figure prominently (on or off stage) in Deathly Hallows.

Another thing I believe is important. JKR has stated on a few
occasions that she rewrote the first chapter of PS/SS about 10-15
times. She re-wrote it over and over because each time she felt she
was revealing too much. She has said that if she put all of those
chapters together the "whole plot" would be revealed.

But what did she mean by the "whole plot?" Obviously she didn't mean
the whole story of Harry growing up, going to Hogwarts, learning to be
a wizard, multiple confrontations with Voldemort and other bad guys.
What she seems to have meant was the whole of what occurred prior to
placing Harry at the Dursleys. Yet JKR called that the "whole plot."

What I'm getting at is that it seems to me that JKR considers the
backstory -- in particular that time period of the Marauders up to the
Potter's deaths -- absolutely integral to the "whole story." It's not
just LV showing up and AKing James and Lily. There's a lot more to it,
and it is so important that it could be called the "whole story." Does
that include Snape? I'd suggest that it's very likely. Especially when
for some reason it appears to be important that we'll learn a bit more
about the werewolf prank and why Sirius and Snape loathed each other
so much. In other words, the backstory seems to be crucial, and we've
got a lot left to learn. And Snape is critical to that backstory.

So, yeah, based on all of the above, including zgirnius' comments, I
think we're guaranteed to find Snape fairly integral to DH.

wynnleaf