CHAPDISC: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 19: The Silver Doe

[Blair]

No: HPFGUIDX 182740

> Oryomai:
> > I had no idea where the silver doe had come from.  It never crossed my
> > mind that it was Severus.  I still had hope that he was on the side of
> > good, but I imagined him having a "darker" Patronus...actually, I
> > didn't believe he had any happy memories from which to make one.  On a
> > personal note, I have to say that Lily being represented by the doe
> > because James was a stag is offensive to me -- I don't think she
> > should be defined by her relationship to James alone.  But I  
> > digress...
> 
LauraW:
> Is there any reason to believe that Lily modeled her Patronus after
> James?  What if she learned to do the Patronus charm first and
> James chose the stag to woo her?  In several scenes that we see,
> James is trying to get Lily's attention while she seems uninterested.

Oryomai:
Nothing says it couldn't have happened that way.  The way I personally
interpret it is tying Lily to James.  Also, I don't think that you can
"pick" your Patronus -- it's whatever happens.  We've heard  about
James as a stag since PoA and suddenly Severus' love of Lily is
represented by a doe.  The reader has a connection of Stag=James for
years before the Lily part comes along.  James is a much more
developed character than Lily in the series...with the exception of DH
the only thing we really know about her is that she died for Harry.  I
feel that it fits more to have the representation establish Lily to
James.  This is just my personal interpretation of it of course.

Oryomai