For months now I have been obsessed by one single thought: finding enough time between the end of the bloody mémoire and the sale of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, last book in the J.K Rowling's epic, to record all my thoughts and speculations on the book. Is Snape evil? Is Dumbledore gone? Who is R.A.B ? These are some of the questions I think I may have the answers to, and would like to put in writing before the book comes out. I'm currently re-reading all books, so I will be adding stuff as I go along.
On Snape. Ok, so Snape was a death eater who did an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy. Ok, so Snape hates Harry. Ok, so Snape killed Dumbledore. I still think that Snape, despite everything is, if not good, at least not on Voldemort's side. The most obvious justification for this is that Dumbledore trusted Snape and, as Lupin says in one of the books, it all comes down whether you trust Dumbledore or not. Other than this strong but rather faith driven statement, careful readings of the books show that Snape's nature is more subtle than would seem at first glance.
Let's start with a hypothesis, that Snape is, has been for years, a spy for Dumbledore, and has for years been tricking the dark side in to believing that he was a spy of theirs, as he explains to Bellatrix at the beginning of book VI. We can speculate for the time being that Snape's allegiance to Dumbledore is down to an episode in his personal life, we can worry about that later. Snape's duty in this case, first and foremost, is loyalty to Dumbledore (if not the Order of the Phoenix), and this loyalty, we can suppose, involves protecting Harry and gathering information about Voldemort. In this scenario, we can imagine the worst possible outcome for Snape, when Narcissa suggests saying an Unbreakable Vow, would be to fluster and flounder and basically give the game away. In fact, I think that Snape, very smoothly, bluffs his way through the whole situation, pretending to know about Draco's mission (actually he uses Legimency to read what is in his mother's thoughts) and then, with amazing presence of mind, realises that he must agree to the Vow. His one solution is then to help Draco as much he can while warning Dumbledore, which is what he tries to do. Unfortunately, Malfoy's lack of trust in Snape means that this hypothesis is not tested, and we never find out whether Snape helps Draco to kill Dumbledore. Smart J.K.
But! I hear you cry. Snape Avada Kedavra'd Dumbledore on the tower, while Harry was petrified under the cloak. Indeed, but Snape is smart, and Snape saw two broomsticks (that Dumbledore & Harry had just flow in on), and Snape knew that if he didn't kill Dumbledore there & then, he would drop dead, and Dumbledore would die anyway at the hands of someone else. When Harry hears with horro that Dumbledore for the first time is pleading with Snape, he goes cold, but Dumbledore, and Snape, know Dumbledore has to die, and Dumbledore is pleading to Snape to continue and help Harry. One can argue that is what he does as he then runs off with Draco and other Death Eaters. By sacrificing Dumbledore, the spy is perfect.
Flashback to book IV, the graveyard scene when Voldemort is reborn. He counts those missing, six in all, three dead, one who is my most faithful servant (Bartie Crouch Jr), one too cowardly to return (Karkaroff), one who I believe has left me forever: Snape. The doubt is total, on both sides, and apparently only Dumbledore actually knows (knew) what side Snape was on and why. Something to do with Harry's mum? Something to do with Aunt Petunia (mystery shrouds Aunt Petunia with her letters from Dumbledore) ?
On Snape. Ok, so Snape was a death eater who did an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy. Ok, so Snape hates Harry. Ok, so Snape killed Dumbledore. I still think that Snape, despite everything is, if not good, at least not on Voldemort's side. The most obvious justification for this is that Dumbledore trusted Snape and, as Lupin says in one of the books, it all comes down whether you trust Dumbledore or not. Other than this strong but rather faith driven statement, careful readings of the books show that Snape's nature is more subtle than would seem at first glance.
Let's start with a hypothesis, that Snape is, has been for years, a spy for Dumbledore, and has for years been tricking the dark side in to believing that he was a spy of theirs, as he explains to Bellatrix at the beginning of book VI. We can speculate for the time being that Snape's allegiance to Dumbledore is down to an episode in his personal life, we can worry about that later. Snape's duty in this case, first and foremost, is loyalty to Dumbledore (if not the Order of the Phoenix), and this loyalty, we can suppose, involves protecting Harry and gathering information about Voldemort. In this scenario, we can imagine the worst possible outcome for Snape, when Narcissa suggests saying an Unbreakable Vow, would be to fluster and flounder and basically give the game away. In fact, I think that Snape, very smoothly, bluffs his way through the whole situation, pretending to know about Draco's mission (actually he uses Legimency to read what is in his mother's thoughts) and then, with amazing presence of mind, realises that he must agree to the Vow. His one solution is then to help Draco as much he can while warning Dumbledore, which is what he tries to do. Unfortunately, Malfoy's lack of trust in Snape means that this hypothesis is not tested, and we never find out whether Snape helps Draco to kill Dumbledore. Smart J.K.
But! I hear you cry. Snape Avada Kedavra'd Dumbledore on the tower, while Harry was petrified under the cloak. Indeed, but Snape is smart, and Snape saw two broomsticks (that Dumbledore & Harry had just flow in on), and Snape knew that if he didn't kill Dumbledore there & then, he would drop dead, and Dumbledore would die anyway at the hands of someone else. When Harry hears with horro that Dumbledore for the first time is pleading with Snape, he goes cold, but Dumbledore, and Snape, know Dumbledore has to die, and Dumbledore is pleading to Snape to continue and help Harry. One can argue that is what he does as he then runs off with Draco and other Death Eaters. By sacrificing Dumbledore, the spy is perfect.
Flashback to book IV, the graveyard scene when Voldemort is reborn. He counts those missing, six in all, three dead, one who is my most faithful servant (Bartie Crouch Jr), one too cowardly to return (Karkaroff), one who I believe has left me forever: Snape. The doubt is total, on both sides, and apparently only Dumbledore actually knows (knew) what side Snape was on and why. Something to do with Harry's mum? Something to do with Aunt Petunia (mystery shrouds Aunt Petunia with her letters from Dumbledore) ?
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