Harry, Keep the Change

Okay, I mentioned a big Harry Potter post, but now that I think about it, I should probably parse them out a bit, or this’ll be too huge. Plus, I’m writing at work and am going to try to do it quickly, just to get this party started, as it were. Here’s the book, once again (yes, I look at Harry Potter websites when I’m bored—shut up).

The discussions in the book are all very thoughtful—often presenting both sides of an argument before stating the theory they think is correct—without being too horribly fan-geeked out and over the top. You can imagine that the authors had their discussions WIHTOUT the need to brandish wands or dress in Hogwarts regalia, for example.

So . . . Let’s start with one of my favorite topics:

The authors come up with some pretty convincing arguments that Snape is . . . good. This makes me happy, because there are a lot of reasons I want Snape to be okay. I want Dumbledore to have been right in trusting him. I want to not have misinterpreted Dumbledore’s, “Severus, please,” at the end of HBP—I maintain that he wasn’t pleading for his life, but for Snape to make good on a promise he’d made to Dumbledore earlier. I want Alan Rickman’s jolly little moment of smacking together Harry’s and Ron’s heads in the Goblet of Fire movie to not have been bogus (which I think it would be if he ended up evil). Most of all, though, I want Rowling to have created a disagreeable character who is not bad, because I think it’s the whip when people who write for kids acknowledge that characters can be complex.

MN argues that Snape only became a Death Eater because he was in Slytherin and super-talented, and found that his skill gave him a measure of approval and protection from his Slytherin peers and elders—the future Death Eaters. He sort of absorbed their doctrine and followed along. Not anything to be proud of, but understandable.

Also, the MN authors argue that Snape was indeed in love with Lily Potter, and that his “filthy mudblood” outburst at her when she told James & Co. to leave him alone was generated from embarrassment and plain adolescent behavior than from hatred. So if he loved Lily (because he was an outcast and she was popular and pretty and kind to him—why wouldn’t he love her?), he would have felt terrible upon realizing that he was responsible for her death. Add to that the fact that James had saved Snape from being attacked by Lupin-as-a-werewolf (remember that?) and thus incurred a life-debt to him . . . And he’d want to make up for the whole passing on the part of the prophecy he heard and getting the Potters killed thing—so much so that he probably made an unbreakable vow with Dumbledore. And thus, when he made the vow with Narcissa in HBP (in front of that raving bitch, Bellatrix), he knew he was essentially dooming himself, but did it anyway.

One of the MN arguments I like best is that in OotP, when Snape is giving Occlumency lessons to Harry and realizes that Harry can indeed get inside his mind, he (Snape) removes only three memories into storage in the Pensieve to keep Harry from seeing them. Wouldn’t the scenario be different if he had something REAL to hide? You’re going to say something about hiding things from Voldemort, aren’t you? How could he keep Voldemort out of his mind if Harry can get in? I don’t know, but like Chekov’s rifle, those thoughts are removed from Snape’s mind and Harry’s view for a reason.

Okay, finally, think of the end of HBP, when Snape is running away and Harry is in hot pursuit. Snape is shouting things at Harry, about things like not using Unforgivable Spells, learning to keep one’s mouth shut, and keeping emotions in check. He’s STILL TRYING TO TEACH HARRY. I like this very much.

The whole thing leads the MN people (and me) to believe that Snape is going to be killed in Book 7, in service to the Order of the Phoenix, and that his death will redeem him.

Okay, I know this is a jumbled mess, but at least it’s something. What do you guys think?