It's That Man Again: issues of trust (was: Re: My HBP Review )

[eloise_herisson]

I'M
TOO
DEPRESSED
TO 
THINK
OF 
A 
SPOILER
WARNING
SOMEONE
AK
ME
NOW
PLEASE

>SSSusan:
> This concerns me, too, Jim.  The *only* thing I can see preventing 
Harry from icing Snape the second he encounters him is if he somehow 
comes to understand the role (Good!)Snape presumably played in 6th year 
& DD's death.  Given Harry's total unwillingness to listen to Snape 
["Wait, Harry!  Don't AK me yet! I can explain!"  (Yeah, right.)], the 
*only* way I can see Harry stopping to listen... and actually 
potentially believing in Good!Snape... is if DD's portrait in the 
Headmaster's office has a good long talk with Harry.



Eloise:
Just a thought from one furiously grasping at straws (part 2 of the 
Leaky interview has done nothing to raise my spirits)....

*Two* "characters" supposedly loyal to DD have just disappeared from 
Hogwarts, Snape and Fawkes. I'm linking Pippin's excellent speculation 
(it was yours wasn't it? Apologies if I'm misattributing) that it was 
his ability to summon Fawkes that was the proof of his loyalty to 
Harry's highlighted notice of the fact that he'd disappeared.

Even if the portrait in the office talked to Harry, he'd still think 
that Dumbledore was mistaken to trust him.

One of the things I find most disturbing about all this is what she 
said herself about DD being too willing to trust in the Leaky interview.

Part of my reasoning for thinking that Snape *must* be on the right 
side was precisely the fact that Dumbledore has emphasised his trust in 
him so much (and note, he *didn't* trust TR, so it's not an 
indiscriminate trust). Now I know JKR isn't primarily writing a series 
invested with deliberate messages addressed to young people, but there 
*are* issues she directly addresses. To go through an entire series 
depicting someone as incredibly wise and then to say in the end that 
through *trust* he made this gigantic error which nearly cost the 
entire WW just seems to be such a negative message. There is far too 
little trust in this world already. Is Mad Eye Moody's policy of 
trusting no-one really the model we she thinks we should adopt?

And another thing, having Snape agree to an unbreakable bond to do LV's 
will and then have him do it, having paved the way with various other 
ambiguous incidents and only DD's "I trust Snape"s to counterbalance 
it, just doesn't seem the way things are done. It *assumes* that the 
reader believes Snape is on the right side to begin with and isn't 
going to expect him to betray DD. Certainly my eldest daughter (13) 
reading Ch 2 immediately said "I can't believe that Snape did that", 
meaning that she immediately believed the presented picture, that Snape 
was on LV's side.

On the other hand, maybe it's as unsubtle as the shipping thing and she 
was just making things crystal clear. She hasn't quite got around to 
calling us Snapefans delusional, at least. ;-)

I did think it was an interesting contrast the way she spoke about the 
way she felt she had to intervene with the Draco fans, though (and 
until I read on, I though, yes, that's an indication that we *aren't* 
delusional). But perhaps that's just because she thinks they're young.

Now I wonder if Spinner's End means just what it says: the place where 
Snape stops spinning and his true loyalties show. "It's over". There's 
still a lot I can't fit in with Evil!Snape, though.

And who the hell is the Hanged Man if it's not Snape?

~Eloise