A BIAS in the Pensieve: A Batty Idea About Snape

[Lyn J. Mangiameli]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> I don't believe that Snape is a vampire.  We're two books away from
> the end and it's a little late in the game to suddenly spring a major
> revelation like this about a character who's been on the main stage
> since Book 1.  Especially since this particular character has a lot
> of backstory/Harry history to come out at the same time.

Lyn here:
I saw these comments on that big group and personally find them to raise quite legitimate 
obstacles to the vampire theories. Indeed, most of my time as a HP reader, I too have 
discounted Snape as a vampire. Still, that line of Jame's did haunt me until I considered a 
vampire association (see, I still remain unwilling to consider Snape an out and out 
vampire). But that said, I don't know that I can agree with you that that Rowling would be 
springing on us any revelation about such an association, nor that if she did, it would be  
totally out of the character of her writing style (after all, at least within books she has 
sprung much on us). There are actually quite a few who subscribe to some sort of vampire 
theory, and I suspect even those who are not sympathetic can admit that their are a lot of 
individual descriptions and allusions that could raise such speculations. There are many 
revelations that have occured over time, for example, we didn't learn of Snapes DE status 
until the fourth book, we did not have James' bullying behavior revealed until the fifth 
book, and we had the prophecy not revealed until the fifth book. I for one fully expect 
additional revelations to be made, some of which may not seem all that discordant in the 
context of clues that have already been planted.
> 
> The other issue is: what's the point - plotwise - of Snape being a
> vampire?  Lupin's werewolfishness is integral to the plot in POA and
> to his character throughout the book.  What would Snape's
> vampirishness contribute to our knowledge of him?

I think my theory may offer that point (of course you may not agree). It explains why the 
Prank was not made public, and it gives a reason why James and Snape could never reach 
a resolution (James always has something on Snape that Snape did not have on James).It 
also explains why Lupin was first considered the spy and may be again, and this may 
become quite relevant to the overall plot. It places Lupin mid way between Snape and 
Sirius. It continues with an underlying theme of people being tormented for differences 
they have no control over (Lupin as a werewolf, Harry as a wizard, Snape with his 
association to vampires). Sure things can be read differently, but much can also be 
understood as well by some form of vampire association.
> 
> Also: Lupin had his head buried in the book because he was torn
> between doing his duty as a prefect (and what was morally right) and
> not going against his friends.  He was wavering, just like he wavered
> in POA about telling Dumbledore about Sirius being an animagus and
> about the Marauder's map.  Lupin thinks himself into a state where
> he's paralyzed.  That's what he's doing here.

A very fair and conservative reading that I think is most defensible. However, 
something similar might have been said in book one about Snape as the evil doer. 
Obviously JKR has entertained us with story lines that have been based on something other 
than the most obvious interpretation of the text. I toss mine out as a logically and 
canonically consistent alternative. It may be wrong, but it certainly would not be the first 
time that a less obvious interpretation of the text turned out to be the one most consistent 
with JKRs underlying story.
> 
> Nor do I see any evidence that Snape and Lupin had any kind of
> friendship at any time.  Certainly not during POA.

Charme offers her sense of one instance in an earlier post in this thread. I suggest that 
there are several hints to this in my thread. If all were obvious, there would be no mystery. 
Sometimes JKR is quite overt in the information she withholds from us (events at GH for 
instance, hardly any information on Lilly), other times she is more subtle, only time will 
tell. 

Regardless, I think it is great that you are skeptical. If we jumped en mass on every new 
speculation, there would be chaos. Still, it might not be so bad to take the time to probe 
and digest some less mainstream ideas. Afterall, few discoveries have been made by those 
in the mainstream.

Lyn