The Best Protector (was Snape and moral courage WAS: Re: The Houses, Finally

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 184714

 
> Potioncat:
>  But, at any rate, if Snape wasn't the best choice, who was?
> 
> Alla:> 
> Quite frankly, as far as I am concerned, just about anybody. Again, 
>I am looking from within the story, not how the events would have 
> changed had Snape not been in the story.

 

Potioncat:
I asked earlier who would have been a better choice to protect Harry 
than Snape. Alla thinks "almost anyone" would have been better. I 
disagree. I think there was only one other contender for the role of 
protector.

JKR wrote a lot of twists into Harry's story. She wrote many 
characters who would have taken Harry and loved him; then she made it 
so that the least agreeable characters would be the ones with the 
best ability to protect him. The Weasleys, Diggorys or Boneses could 
have raised Harry--just to name a few. But they didn't have the 
important ancient magic of the blood protection that Harry really 
needed. So Harry went to the Dursleys.

At the same time DD was placing Harry with a family, he was looking 
for someone to protect the boy from a returning LV. DD seemed to see 
the protector role as very different from the role of guardian. The 
protector wasn't going to raise Harry. DD may have been thinking of 
this even before Lily and James died, or it may have been an outcome 
he hadn't foreseen.  Whether he had been thinking about it, or had to 
make a quick decision, he had 2 choices. (IMHO)

JKR gave Harry a loving godfather; a friend of James who would have 
laid down his life for any of the Potters. When he knew the Potters 
were in danger, he did everything he could to protect them. JKR also 
gave Lily a childhood friend who loved her. When he found out Lily 
was in danger, he went to DD and promised "anything" in exchange for 
her protection. 

Again, JKR chose the more disagreeable character. Sirius would have 
been a loving, caring protector. He is brave and constant. But in his 
distress over his guilt (choosing Peter as SK, then being duped by 
Peter) he allowed himself to be taken away. JKR puts him in prison 
and completely ruins his good name. She has made him unavailable. 

Severus is equally distressed that Lily has died. But JKR gives him 
Mentor!DD who makes the young man pull himself together and agree to 
protect Lily's son. Severus will never like the boy and seems to 
protect Lily's son while only seeing James's son.

It has been suggested that Sirius's experience represents the 
devastation of depression. It can take a person away from loved ones. 
It can make a person incapable of meeting responsibilities. If that's 
the case, I'm not sure what Severus's experience represents. I do 
wonder if someone JKR didn't like in her younger days turned out to 
be a truer friend than she had expected.

JKR is a wicked Creatrix. No wonder she once said that if she could 
speak to Harry, she would apologize for all the things she put him 
through.