Somnia_Veritas
23-09-2005, 18:18
Maybe we're making the whole "Snape is good/evil" argument too black-and-white.
Sure, he's not nice. He's a spy. He (used to?) listens at doors and really, really likes recognition. None of that makes a person evil OR good.
I was thinking a bit more last night while working on (what I consider to be) a REALLY KICK ARSE piece of fanart/illustration for HBP (pity I can't post it or a link to it here) and what came to my mind as my brain started to fry from lack of sleep, was Phineas Nigellus' observation that Slytherins will always save their own skins given the choice.
So...
Perhaps Snape didn't tell Dumbledore. He might have been terrified to. Or perhaps he did, and was advised that well, there was no way out of it and he'd have to make this decision on his own but that he should do the "brave thing", and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it.
And when the moment came, the look of loathing was still for himself, not because Dumbledore WANTED to be killed and he didn't want to do it, but merely because he just hated doing it, hated feeling like he needed to do it and hated himself for being that weak. He knew he WAS doing the cowardly thing, but his fear of death due to the UV (or plain will to survive), possibly coupled with perhaps some sense of willing protection for Draco, was stronger than the devotion he had toward Dumbledore. He still may not have wanted to do it, is going to hate himself forever for it, and had no "grand designs" for world domination.
Not noble. Not brave. Not "nice". But not evil; no more so than a woman being raped would be in the wrong for letting her attacker do as he pleases rather than trying to fight him and risking that he might kill her. It's a very human reaction.
Imagine... maybe he really might have preferred to just be left alone... so he could hate James' memory in peace. The simplest explanation is often the best.
If this were the case, I imagine that in the next book we would have (yet another) dissatisfied Death Eater, with a young accomplice, who would probably want to do anything (within reason) to take down the man for whose sake he was forced into that position.
If this is just dumb... well, chalk it up to lack of sleep.
Sure, he's not nice. He's a spy. He (used to?) listens at doors and really, really likes recognition. None of that makes a person evil OR good.
I was thinking a bit more last night while working on (what I consider to be) a REALLY KICK ARSE piece of fanart/illustration for HBP (pity I can't post it or a link to it here) and what came to my mind as my brain started to fry from lack of sleep, was Phineas Nigellus' observation that Slytherins will always save their own skins given the choice.
So...
Perhaps Snape didn't tell Dumbledore. He might have been terrified to. Or perhaps he did, and was advised that well, there was no way out of it and he'd have to make this decision on his own but that he should do the "brave thing", and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it.
And when the moment came, the look of loathing was still for himself, not because Dumbledore WANTED to be killed and he didn't want to do it, but merely because he just hated doing it, hated feeling like he needed to do it and hated himself for being that weak. He knew he WAS doing the cowardly thing, but his fear of death due to the UV (or plain will to survive), possibly coupled with perhaps some sense of willing protection for Draco, was stronger than the devotion he had toward Dumbledore. He still may not have wanted to do it, is going to hate himself forever for it, and had no "grand designs" for world domination.
Not noble. Not brave. Not "nice". But not evil; no more so than a woman being raped would be in the wrong for letting her attacker do as he pleases rather than trying to fight him and risking that he might kill her. It's a very human reaction.
Imagine... maybe he really might have preferred to just be left alone... so he could hate James' memory in peace. The simplest explanation is often the best.
If this were the case, I imagine that in the next book we would have (yet another) dissatisfied Death Eater, with a young accomplice, who would probably want to do anything (within reason) to take down the man for whose sake he was forced into that position.
If this is just dumb... well, chalk it up to lack of sleep.