Snape's test

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186381

I've been informed by another poster offlist that she disagrees with my "assumption" that Snape's delivery to of the sword of Gryffindor to Harry constitutes a "test."

Of course, my fellow poster is free to disagree with my view, and probably will continue to do so, but to me it seems like a valid inference. So, for my own satisfaction and with no intent to persuade her or anyone else on the list, I want to explain why I consider Snape's plan a "test."

Here's what we know about the Sword of Gryffindor (which, BTW, Phineas Nigellus informs us belongs to Hogwarts, not to any one person):

It can present itself to any "worthy Gryffindor" (Scrimgeour in "The Will of Albus Dumbledore"). We see it do exactly that with Harry in CoS and with Neville in DH.

It must be "taken under conditions of need and valor" (Portrait!DD in "the Prince's Tale"). 

Snape tells DD that he knows about the "conditions of need and valor" and that he already has a plan.

This plan, as we later see, involves placing the sword in a deep, icy pool, to which he leads Harry (and, inadvertently, Ron) using the doe Patronus. He does not just leave the sword on the ground where Harry can easily pick it up. Why not? Because, much as he may *need* it to destroy the Horcrux, no "valor" is involved.

Harry himself, IMO, understands that he's being tested and must prove himself to be a "worthy Gryffindor" (Scrimgeour's phrase). He first tries to summon the Sword using Accio, but realizes that "if it had been that easy, the sword would have lain on the ground for him to pick up" (368). Trying to recall what had happened "the last time that the sword had delivered itself to him" (which echoes Scrimgeour's words about the sword "present[ing] itself to a "worthy Gryffindor"), he remembers that he had been in terrible danger then and had called for help. He murmuring "Help," but, of course, that doesn't work, either.

He asks himself what Dumbledore had told him last time he retrieved the sword and remembers his saying, "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that sword out of the hat." "True Gryffindor"; "worthy Gryffindor"--it's essentially the same thing. He asks himself which qualities define a Gryffindor and remembers the words of the Sorting Hat: "Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindor apart."

He sighs. Obviously, he is going to have to demonstrate daring and nerve by diving into that frozen pool. "He knew what he had to do. . . . [H]e had thought that it might come to this from the moment he had spotted the sword through the ice." He's not sure where "chivalry" comes in, but  he has no question that diving in will require "daring" and "nerve" (pretty much the same thing as "valor" except that valor also implies worthiness). 

(As an aside, I suppose we can call this an instance of "right vs. easy." Harry can take the easy way out and choose not to dive in, but, of course, he can't retrieve it that way because he won't have earned it. He's already proven that the sword isn't going to come to him this time. He has to place himself in peril by diving in. Obviously, he needs the Sword of Gryffindor, which he now knows can be used to destroy the locket Horcrux. He can't afford to fail the test through cowardice or failure of nerve.

Whether Harry would have passed this test--and surely it *is* a test of his worthiness as a "true Gryffindor" or Harry would not have gone over the qualities of a Gryffindor in his head--is unclear because he doesn't get the chance. The Horcrux, sensing the presence of the sword, tries to kill him.

What *is* clear, at least to me, is that Ron *does* pass the test. Not only does he dive in, as Harry did, he saves Harry's life, demonstrating not only "daring" and "nerve" but "valor" and "chivalry" and a greater "need" than Harry's. And, of course, he successfully retrieves the sword.

In Harry's view, having done so gives Ron the right to use the sword. "You should do it," he tells Ron. And when Ron protests, "Me? Why?" he responds, "Because you got the sword out of the pool. I think it's supposed to be you."

Harry has learned from Dumbledore about "certain kinds of magic, . . . the incalculable power of certain acts" (368-374).

Clearly, the magic relating to the Sword of Gryffindor is this type of mysterious, incalculably powerful magic. Clearly, Ron has proved himself a "worthy Gryffindor."

To return to Snape. Dumbledore has told him that "the Sword must be taken under conditions of need and valor." He cannot, of course, simply hand it to Harry since he can't be seen, but he can't just leave it on the ground, either. (Harry himself recognizes that it can't be that easy; he has to earn the sword.) So Snape must make a plan that involves taking the sword under "conditions of need and valor." He must, that is, make retrieving the sword as difficult and dangerous as possible so that Harry must demonstrate "valor" in order to retrieve it.

Snape, who knows quite well what the qualities of a Gryffindor are surely understands that he's setting up a test of Harry's worthiness as a "true Gryffindor." But whether he know so or not, that's exactly what his plan entails. (Harry knows it, as his thoughts reveal.) And the test, through no intention of Snape's, becomes even more difficult when the Horcrux starts to choke Harry. He can no longer pass the test himself, but Ron can and does.

Carol, wondering whether Snape would have proven himself "a true Gryffindor" by jumping in and saving Harry had Ron not shown up