[the_old_crowd] What If He Didn't Tell All? (very LONG)

[ewe2]

On Mon, Aug 01, 2005 at 01:07:06PM -0000, severelysigune wrote:
> Dear masterminds,
> 
> I have the audacity of offering up an essay in defence of a theory 
> (my own, *ahem*) that I haven't encountered anywhere else yet - that 
> Snape was loyal, but not entirely truthful. Features lots of canon in 
> support. By all means tear it apart.

<snip excellent setup, and much of part 2 which I mostly agree with>

> There is no way he can extricate himself from this mess. From now on, 
> it is either his life or Dumbledore's. This is the point at which my 
> conjectures differ from those I have read so far. The Snape 
> apologists whose theories I have read assume that after the 
> catastrophic Vow he hastens to Dumbledore in order to inform him of 
> what happened. I don't. I think Snape did not tell Dumbledore the 
> whole truth of what happened that night  because he doesn't dare to. 
> He is ashamed of having been tricked like a novice. He has made an 
> elementary mistake; and where in canon have we ever caught Snape 
> admitting a mistake? Dumbledore, yes. Sirius, yes. Remus, yes. Snape? 
> No way. He makes errors and he is aware of them, but he does not 
> admit them. He tries to solve his problems on his own, in silence. So 
> he does what he is good at: the telling of partial truths. He informs 
> Dumbledore of the assassination plot and of the fact that he has made 
> a Vow to protect Draco, but he never mentions the full pledge. Only 
> he, Narcissa and Bellatrix (and Peter?) know of that.

One question I would ask here, although I can't see how it can be
substantiated from current canon, is whether Dumbledore is a better Legilimens
than Snape's Occulumens. It is doubtful that Snape would be unaware of such an
attempt (even Draco's training affords him that ability, and isn't it
interesting that Bella trained him?), but it is an outside possibility. JKR
has made much of DD's trust (and therefore the likelihood of DD not making an
attempt at Legilimency), but I cannot think that Snape could entirely fool
him, whether he wanted to believe Snape's story or not. He would not have to
guess too hard about a Snape particularly stressed and protective of his
thoughts, for example. I think rather that DD's fault is assuming that others
come to similar conclusions as he does, and explainations are unnecessary.

> What is Snape to do? He didn't know about the Death Eaters, who now 
> make four very unwanted witnesses. There is neither the time nor the 
> occasion to heal Dumbledore, and there is that infernal nuisance, the 
> Unbreakable Vow. Snape does some quick thinking and sees that there 
> are two options. 

If we accept that DD has guessed Snape's real predicament your analysis is
still correct, if even more tragic. Note that Harry sees it all and knows that
the Vow is in effect, and knows that Dumbledore knows it also. But Snape does
_not_ know what Harry and Dumbledore know. Dumbledore is effectively teaching
Harry the burden of a wider POV than his peers (as if that lesson hasn't been
obvious from book one), and the caution of judgement on Snape.

> Dumbledore's death is the lamentable outcome of a number of 
> circumstances  Draco's efforts certainly helped cause it, but 
> Snape's foolishly accepted Unbreakable Vow is at least equally 
> important. There was, for once, no malicious intent on Snape's side, 
> and yet he has, one could say, committed what is possibly his worst 
> crime. Both he and Dumbledore have become victims of his human 
> weakness, of character flaws combined with the vulnerabilities 
> connected to his social and intellectual background, childhood events 
> and poor choices made in the past. Dumbledore's trust has been 
> justified, but he has overestimated Snape's capacities.

But if DD knew, then he has created a Weapon!Snape. Because trust is a
double-edged sword, it can force the trusted one into a corner, and you are
usually not the only victim of the fallout. Dumbledore has been forcing people
into making decisions all the way through canon and despite his apparent blind
spots in Harry and Snape, the effects have generally been what he desired. And
there's still too much that DD knew that we are not yet privy to, far too much
to judge at this point that if he was wrong, _how_ wrong he was. And there's
my knut or so.

ewe2 the naughty penguin having a wonderful, wish you were her.

-- 
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" - Adam Savage