Two quick pimps, before I forget
Pimp the first: I did finally manage to finish off the first installment in a drabble series that I've started, inspired by the Nine Levels of Hell prompt at grangersnape100. It's here: Cocytus. Be warned that it is angsty, although not without hope, and future installments will eventually be lighter in tone. Still, as the title might suggest, Snape is in
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There are always nominations every round that do make me want to pull my hair out by the roots. You just don't know how people might nominate--so I figure the best strategy is to vote for *everything* I like I could see on the nomination list wherever it could fit and not want to scream--particularly at the thought of it winning. But that means a very, very long list of noms.
Very true! As Dicky pointed out (and I think she's absolutely right), he yearns for love. It isn't all going to fall into place for him at once, but he does have an inkling now that it's something he wants and needs.
I have faith! And really, that's straight out of canon after all--for pity's sake the man cries over a picture. This isn't a Voldemort--he was capable of love. He did love. And every one else capable of loving Rowling killed off at least had someone who loved them back--who mourned him or her. So yeah, Rowling did leave Snape in the lowest circle of hell--he does have no where else to go but up once your Hermione rescued him ;-)
(and I take hope from you being in the Order and not an evil heart-breaking DE)
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And really, that's straight out of canon after all--for pity's sake the man cries over a picture. This isn't a Voldemort--he was capable of love. He did love. And every one else capable of loving Rowling killed off at least had someone who loved them back--who mourned him or her.
~nods fervently~ Yes, yes and yes! I think his yearning for love is very much canon, which is why he attaches himself to Lily (the first person to show him affection) with such desperate devotion. Boy!Severus is certainly starved for love, and I think that adult!Severus is, too; he's just learned to hide that need under sarcasm and defense mechanisms and other perverse distancing behaviors.
And you've put your finger on one of the things that makes him such a poignant character to me, one of the reasons why his death, in particular, feels so unfair and cruel: he wants to be loved, he's capable of love, and yet he's been denied the experience of reciprocal, requited love. As you say, the rest who died will be genuinely mourned. Even Remus got to know the fulfillment of marriage and fatherhood before he died. Severus? He gets... um, some pale, guilt-fueled gratitude from people who never admired or respected him or told him anything encouraging while he was alive. That is a bitter pill to swallow. It is the lowest circle of hell.
Luckily, he has nowhere to go but up. And I'm not a Death Eater... or J.K. Rowling. *g*
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While I, being ruder, shake my head violently, wail, and wonder WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. But hey, my philosophy is that if I don't nominate/vote, I don't get to bitch. And I want my bitchin' rights!
And you've put your finger on one of the things that makes him such a poignant character to me, one of the reasons why his death, in particular, feels so unfair and cruel: he wants to be loved, he's capable of love, and yet he's been denied the experience of reciprocal, requited love.
Same here. I mean, I was pretty sure of Snape's ultimate fate ever since I put down HBP after reading it--and I greatly suspected the Lily aspect. Nothing in DH surprised or disappointed me really--and I thought "The Prince's Tale" a gift to the ship. I think if anything did surprise and disappoint me, it was Dumbledore's attitude towards Snape--there went much illusion there was anyone out there who cared about Snape. (Minerva's "coward" being her last word on him didn't help)
And then there's the author's ultimate attitude toward Snape--which did surprise and disappoint me. No hero? And as far as I know, Rowling's never walked back from her statements that Snape is "worst than Voldemort" and a "deeply horrible person." That's like an itch I can't scratch--except through fanfic.
Luckily, he has nowhere to go but up. And I'm not a Death Eater... or J.K. Rowling. *g*
*G*
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Same here. No complaints if you didn't even participate! (But I feel that way about everything, not just fanfic awards. *g*)
think if anything did surprise and disappoint me, it was Dumbledore's attitude towards Snape--there went much illusion there was anyone out there who cared about Snape. (Minerva's "coward" being her last word on him didn't help)
Again, me too. I was feeling rock-solid about Snape's general direction and had even already come to the conclusion that he was the "awful boy" Petunia mentioned in OotP. The only things that truly shocked me were Dumbledore's behavior and the unrelenting awfulness surrounding Snape's death. I mean, the Sacking chapter was just PAINFUL to read for all of us who were already assured of Snape's loyalties. To see Snape be driven from the castle and abused and reviled by his colleagues and former teachers... that's cold. It's like hurt/comfort fanfic without the comfort. And yeah, as much as I like to think of a warm-if-competitive friendship between Minerva and Snape, I recall that after HBP, she had that line about never really trusting him, about only trusting him because Dumbledore said he had a reason to do so. I think there's canonical evidence that Snape respects and even has fondness for Minerva, but HBP and DH make me wonder if it was reciprocated. Perhaps she's motivated by extreme disappointment in him, that she thought he was one sort of man and he (seemingly) isn't.
But now that I'm thinking about it, it's only Slughorn who seems to find it truly unthinkable. He says something to the effect that Snape couldn't have done it because Slughorn knows him and taught him.
A scene I dearly wish had been written: the reactions of the faculty to discovering the truth about Snape. How would Minerva's "coward" remark have sat on her conscience, I wonder? And how would she feel about the presence of his portrait in her office?
But no, it was Dumbledore who disappointed me more. He instantly become one of my least favorite characters. Hell, I even like Sirius more than I like Dumbledore now, and for a long time, I would have thought that impossible. Dumbledore uses and abuses Snape like his own shadow, a projection of his own ugly, guilty feelings and self-loathing. And Snape just takes it, probably because Dumbledore's nasty barbs feed right into Snape's ongoing internal monologue of shame, guilt and self-loathing. It just disgusted me to see the way that Dumbledore was happy to let Snape do his dirty work and yet treated him not only without affection, but by seesawing between blatant manipulation and cold contempt.
Which, yes, leaves the reader with the impression that Snape was, essentially, without a soul who cared for him. That's made all the more painful by the fact that he obviously does care for at least some others. (Nasty as Dumbledore is, Severus' respect and even affection for him is genuine; witness the password he chooses, and the fact that he can't even bring himself to badmouth Dumbledore when speaking with Bella and Narcissa.)
Rowling, I must say, disappointed me most. She committed a lot of literary sins, especially in DH, but the thing that offended me most was her attitude towards Snape. She needn't love him as we do, but it's baffling that, although she created him and gave him a consistent psychology and a sympathetic history, she doesn't seem to understand him at all. Why does she give him worries about the wholeness of his soul or a line like "Only those whom I could not save," and yet persist in her "deeply horrible" tripe? I mean, it's right there in the text. She wrote it.
Then again, she also thinks she wrote about the Slytherins coming back to fight with Slughorn, so maybe we ought to be taking these interviews with many grains of salt. And a lot of tequila. ;-)
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I'd love to see you write that.
Hell, I even like Sirius more than I like Dumbledore now, and for a long time, I would have thought that impossible.
Dumbledore, pre-HBP was my favorite HP character. I would dog ear my favorite speeches by him. I've always been fascinated by the themes of leadership, ruthlessness and sacrifice. I tended before DH to see Dumbledore as someone with terrible choices to make w/o a lot of good options--and someone who after all didn't just move others as pawns but left himself off the board--he was willing to sacrifice himself.
Also, as you mention, Snape's password suggests volumes about how he felt toward Dumbledore. I don't like to see Snape as this patsy who was manipulated by Dumbledore as opposed to someone who choose to follow him because he saw Dumbledore as his leader in a common cause he had a stake in.
So given that and that I cut my teeth in the ship on stories that had Dumbledore in a rather fatherly relation to Snape, part of me still wants to find a way where I can see Dumbledore as caring about Snape--especially since the picture has to be so bleak otherwise--as you say, the hurt without the comfort. And I'm not one of those people who sees a bigot and thug like Lucius as a plausible, soul-nurturing friend. I'd forgotten that comment of Minerva's too.
I like to think Snape's Slytherins cared--mourned him. They cheered for him when he dueled and when he finally got the DADA position, asked Minerva about him--but even so, they can't stand as friends and peers or defenders. That leaves Snape scarily, bleakly, heart-breakingly alone.
I also hate the way Rowling has in a sense undermined Harry's expressed admiration in the epilogue with numerous comments. Snape doesn't have a portrait because he ran away and was AWOL as a headmaster! But Harry is going to make sure Snape gets one? But Harry avoids the portrait--because, well, who would want to actually spend time with such a horrible person! And Harry forgives Snape not cuz he deserves it but because it's evidence of how good Harry is?
As you said, Snape in the end gets a rather pale, watery form of affection or respect from any of the characters.
it's baffling that, although she created him and gave him a consistent psychology and a sympathetic history, she doesn't seem to understand him at all.
I've come to believe that the difference between us Snapefen and Rowling is a very basic clash of worldviews that goes beyond easy religious or political divisions, and I'm not sure what it is exactly. Black and white versus shades of grey? Because she's coding this character in ways that she believes means "deeply horrible" and to me at least reads "deeply decent." I also think sometimes Rowling is a bit like Dante is accused of being (putting all his enemies in hell). Famously Snape is modeled after a hated Chemistry teacher. So, maybe despite her muse slipping in admirable qualities and sympathetic circumstances, all she can see is her loathed teacher?
It baffles me too. I don't think I've ever read a bigger disconnect between how I see a fictional character and the author's own views. And I think it's one major reason I'm all the more attached to the character--and why I still gobble up the stories that feed my yearning to see Snape well done by and why I find it hard to break with and wean myself off the ship. Because course correction? God, nothing TPTB ever did in Trek (or any other show, film or book) has irritated and made me feel more aggrieved for a character the way Rowling's dealings with Snape has. It cries out for fanfic.
Then again, she also thinks she wrote about the Slytherins coming back to fight with Slughorn, so maybe we ought to be taking these interviews with many grains of salt. And a lot of tequila. ;-)
*facepalm*
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