Amph Harry Potter: The Headmaster and the Half-Blood Prince (MAJOR Book 6 Spoilers)

2 more points came to me. Not from my beliefs, just trying to see all angles.

1. Snape may have just been trying to taunt not teach with all his comments on keeping mouth and mind closed. Rubbing it in that Harry has trouble mastering these abilities and is therefor weak.

2. DD may have given Snape the DADA job to get rid of the curse. He may have believed that Voldemort would have wanted to keep his spy at Hogwarts and would therefor lift the curse to alloow this to happen.

 

Snape is not evil. He is not good. He's an amoral force that threw his lot in with Tom after the gig was up. Snape tries to play both sides for his own advantage. That's all Snape has ever been about: himself. He's no friends and he's not liked by many people at all. Hence, he sided with Tom initially and then once Tom was defeated he sided again with the forces of good.

Once he heard Tom returned he went back as a "spy." However, he admits that he gave information to Tom and to DD. He was biding his time until it became clear which side would prevail. I don't think he would have killed DD under any other circumstances than those in HBP. His hand had to be forced. He was in a position to solidify his place at Tom's side and in his opinion, guarantee Tom's ultimate victory. He believes that Harry is not really that great of a wizard and is not special at all. He believes that if DD is dead then Tom will win.

In other words, Snape is an opportunistic individual who saw a chance to "guarantee" his glory and increased power. He rode the fence until the "tipping point" where he had to make a choice and ally himself with one side or another. Unfortunately, the tipping point was killing DD in book six.

Snape is not evil; instead, he's thoroughly amoral who allied himself with evil only because it furthered his own lust for power.

 

Snape is the archetype of the evil figure with a good heart. Every story has one. A bad guy that turns good. Just like Star Wars, the villain is not Darth Vader, its the emperor. DV is the same archetype as Snape.

 

Actually, isn't that more like Wormtail? I can see him doing the Vader/Gollum thing at the end more than Snape.

 

I'm rereading HBP as we speak and even though I'm not yet at the end, I'm convinced more than ever that Snape's hand was forced into doing what he did at the end of the book.

The first chapter has him being visited by an angry Bella and sobbing Narcissia. Both would've been too distraught to try to cast magic on Snape to discover if he was lying to them or not. Snape states that the Dark Lord "filled him in on everything" and that he was his closest confident.

What do we know from Harry's lessons w/ Dumbledore? Voldermort HAS no close confidents. Even if (and very likely he did) Snape brought back info to Voldermort about Dumbledore's doings, Voldermort wouldn't have filled him in on all of his own plotting and scheming - it would've given away his own power, needlessly.

You'll note that when Narcissia starts to mention what's going on with Draco, Snape puts on a huge air that he knows all and for several moments, he hesitates before agreeing to the Unbreakable Vow.

If he was going to further "prove" his loyalty to Voldermort, making the vow was the best way to do it - even blindly.

At Slughorn's party, Snape confronts Draco and asks to be let in on his secret plans...he doesn't know what Draco is up to. In the forest when Hagrid overhears Snape and Dumbledore arguing it's about Snape's inability to uncover what Draco is up to.

Finally at the end of the book, the look of revulsion comes over Snapes face when he realizes completely what he has to do in order to complete the unbreakable vow. He's disgusted at himself for not realizing what he'd gotten himself into in the first place. I'm not yet at the end, but in hindsight, that's how I'm seeing things now.

 

I won't believe that Snape will turn out to be on Voldemort's side until I read a definitive confirmation in book 7 for one reason that to me is crucial:

Harry Potter (much like Star Wars) is a mythological tale, and it's primary target audience are children and young adolescents. And as such, the messages conveyed are the decisive issue. Now what would these messages be if Snape turned out to be on Voldemort's side?

It would mean that Dumbledore was a fool for trusting a former death eater, and it cost him his life. And the messages implied would be:
- Don't give someone who once fell for the dark side and tells you he will change his life a second chance.
- Never trust anyone who's taken the wrong path before ever again.
- Evil once, evil forever.

These shouldn't and cannot be the implications conveyed in one of the most popular contemporary mythological tales, when it comes to me.

 

"I never think in terms of What am I going to teach them? Or, What would it be good for them to find out here?" -- J.K. Rowling



More quotes by her can be found here if you want them.

 

I thought it was painfully obvious that Snape had made an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore years ago to do whatever it took to not break his cover, hence he basically had no choice but to kill Dumbledore or he would have broken both Unbreakable Vows.

But either way, as long as Allan Rickman keeps playing him in the movies he'll be my fave HP character.

 

Dumbledore was pleading for Snape to kill him, it took all of Snapes courage to kill his leader, and the look of hatred and utter revulsion was quite fitting... how would you feel if he forced you to do something so horrible? It's no wonder Snape doesn't want to be called a coward and he fled from the scene with a look of pain and agony.

 

I don't believe Dumbledore had Snape make an unbreakable vow at any stage. It just isn't his style. If Dumbledore believes someone, he believes them. He's not going to make them take a magical vow to be sure.

 

I think it happens easily that this quote is misinterpreted if it is quoted out of context. If you watch the interview on disk II of the COS DVD (where she talks about that topic) it is made very clear that she doesn't want to tell people what to think literally ("that's today's lesson") but she is also very clear that she does have messages and opinions she wants to convey through her story, like, as she mentions explicitly there, her views on racism (the pure blood issue). So while she doesn't intend to teach people I don't think that implies there are no messages to it.

 

I've re-read HBP. My opinion has not changed: Snape must be EVIL.

 

I do not think Snape is all evil at all. I think he was a spy for the Order and I think it will come out somehow that Lily was helping, hence their connection.

 

Snape is under the imperius spell. He is not acting willingly.

 

Snape is neither good nor evil, he's out fir himself IMHO and this is why i think it. it concerns The Prophecy.

Look at this article and you can see what we may have missed in reading HBP.


There is of course, the chance Dumbledore tampered with the memory so he could show Harry to Prophecy in its entirity. He may be better at this than Slughorn as well.

 

Fascinating article, Katana.

 

I know, she writes very good stuff Maline does but she doesn't write it often.

 

You know what I don't understand? How did Snape know to listen in on the conversation in order to overhear the prophecy? The meeting was just about a teacher opening at Hogwarts.