Snape and Marauders WAS :Draco and Intent

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 186925


Montavilla47:
<SNIP>
Obviously, Snape is more to blame than anyone else
(except, I think, Merope), because he did a deliberate
act of ill will, I think it's a bit much to give him primary
blame for the deaths of Lily and James, because the
primary cause was Voldemort. <SNIP>


Alla:

I just want to be sure, because I cannot exclude the possibility that you are joking before I am sure. You are seriously saying that Dumbledore choosing to interview Trelawney not in the castle can be considered first act in the chain?

If this is a serious argument, then I just disagree. I consider the first act to be the act of what you called the act of ill will and that was Snape's in my opinion.

HOWEVER, again, to be clear I do NOT give Snape's primary responsibility for James and Lily's deaths. Of course it lies with Voldemort. I hold Snape responsible for starting the chain of events that lead to their deaths, starting it with the act of ill will. So, sure, if we were to put a list of who is primary responsible for Potters' **deaths**, I would put Snape as number three, after Voldemort and Peter. But if we were to put a list of people who made Potters' deaths **possible**, on that list for me Snape is number one, or at the very least he shares this place with Voldemort and nobody else comes even close. IMO of course.


Julie:
There is an element that I haven't seen brought up yet in this discussion of culpability,
and that is the fact that Snape tried to *undo* his wrong. Yes, he did so primarily for Lily,
and showed no concern about the fate of James or even baby Harry, and Dumbledore
rightly took him to task for that attitude, but I'm sure Snape knew Dumbledore would try
to save them all, not only Lily. He didn't personally care about the Potters' fates outside
of Lily, but Snape had to know full well that his action was going to potentially save all
of three of them. 

For me, Snape's attempt to undo his wrong makes a very big difference in his culpability.
It doesn't erase it of course, but it does mitigate that culpability. Once Snape acted to 
protect the Potters, they were relatively safe from Voldemort, until that was undone by 
Peter. Even then Snape continued to work for Dumbledore for the next 16 years to protect
Harry and to bring about the end of Voldemort (eventually saving those he could along the
way), which also helps to mitigate his culpability (again, not erase or undo it).

I can also agree that Snape is "third" in responsibility (with, if you must apportion it all out,
leaves Dumbledore "fourth" for letting Snape leave with the Prophecy and keeping James'
invisibility cloak, James "fifth" for trusting Peter--and maybe for not letting Dumbledore
be the secretkeeper depending on the reason for that decision--Sirius "sixth" for trusting
Peter, and Lily I suppose would be "seventh" for trusting Peter). 

But I also think about 90% of the responsibility goes to Voldemort and Peter, who never
showed any hesitancy in targeting and killing (Voldemort) nor betraying without remorse 
(Peter) the Potters. Add another 8% to Snape for giving Voldemort the prophecy (which
might have originally been 25%) but then going to Dumbledore and helping him try to
save the Potters. 1% to Dumbledore for being an idiot who manipulates so much he
can't figure out which manipulations will bite him right back in the ass, and a shared
1% to James, Sirius and Lily for youthful stupidity and lack of perception regarding 
Peter. 

As for who made the Potter's death "possible" that is kind of a moot point, since as 
someone else noted, a long chain of events before Snape gave the Prophecy to 
Voldemort led to that point, including everything from Dumbledore bringing Tom to
Hogwarts and basically letting the little psycho do whatever he wanted, to the 
Marauders providing perhaps the final straw that led Snape to join the Death Eaters,
to the Wizarding World being too overpopulated with inbred idiots to deal effectively
with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, ad infintum. Every event, from tiny to large, 
had its effect on the eventual outcome. 

Most importantly IMO, responsibility and blame are two different things. Snape's 
action led directly to the Potters' being targeted.  But his subsequent actions to 
protect the Potters' mitigates his blame in their ultimate deaths. Which I think is
what Lily and James would recognize, the difference between Snape's responsibility
for setting events in motion, and Snape's actual blame for the final result (i.e., their
deaths, Harry's orphan status, and everything that followed from it). And it is what Harry
did recognize when he eventually not only forgave Snape but felt grateful enough 
to Snape to name his second son after him. (Ironically, it seems that Snape was
the only main player that *didn't* see the difference, as he blamed himself until
the end.)

Julie