I'll have one greasy git, please *spoilers abound*
Having finished reading Stardust, which I will review later on, I resumed my second read of Deathly Hallows (so please expect to be spoiled). This is all I have to say:
Oh Severus! All that angst!
Snape is definitely the best character Jo came up with. He’s so… human with all his layers. He was both victim and oppressor and he never truly lived his life for himself. There was never any happiness for him, except when he was with Lily, and even that didn’t was a tragedy in the end.
Even if it’s just a fairly straightforward sequence of flashbacks, The Prince’s Tale is really my favorite chapter in Deathly Hallows (well, it’s tied with The Silver Doe which I adore because of my Ron-love). The chapter reduces me to tears! It explains Snape so well that it makes me want to empathize, but it doesn’t excuse his past mistakes.
I’ve lost all coherent thought because of this chapter! Lily and Snape's childhood was sweet and adorable. Their friendship was guh, against all odds. And his love for her transcended his Death Eater sympathies, his hatred for James Potter, her death, and his derision for her son! Imagine the pain it caused him to look at Harry, to see the eyes of the only person he loved framed in the face of the man he most hated.
And gah! That scene with him crying over that letter with Lily’s signature almost killed me! This is so tragic, Jo!
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It seems I have yet to outgrow my predilection for Dark Heroes. I hope this doesn't still extend to real life or I'll be looking for my own dungeon bat to redeem! And then I'd need a lot of help.