Was “The Prince’s Tale” the “real” story?
At the end of book 6, HP fans were left with some significant unanswered questions and unresolved mysteries. We were still missing a lot of important back-story. In the two years between when HBP and DH were published, there was a lot of discussion about what that back-story was, and some fans developed very well-reasoned and plausible theories about what was actually going on. For many of these readers, it seems, DH was a disappointment. It seemed to be riddled with plot-holes, contradictions, and dues ex machine, and the back-story we were given appeared to be much less complicated than what had been expected. A common reaction to this was that Rowling was apparently not nearly as clever as everyone had thought she was; many of the unanswered questions and unresolved mysteries from the previous books must have been simply due to poor writing rather than anything meaningful. professor_mum, for instance, wrote:
I had presumed this series to be a solvable mystery, and it was just not. JKR laid out her clues, and we dutifully chased the leads down and theorized. Fans looked up names, places, mythology, astronomy...you name it. As far as I was concerned, prior to 7/21/07, we had 6/7th's of the puzzle and book 7 would tie those pesky loose ends up in a box with a pretty bow. http://community.livejournal.com/hp_essays/239017.html?page=2#comments
But I have been wondering if some of these perceived problems are due to the fact that Rowling intentionally didn’t give us the whole story. Traditionally, in fiction, there is something of a "contract" between the author and reader that the author will provide us with most of the truth about what's going on by the end of the story (there’s probably some fancy terminology to describe this). Perhaps Rowling broke that contract with us on purpose.
A major theme throughout the entire series is that Harry has no source of objective truth. The history books on the wizarding world misinterpret events and leave out important information. The Daily Prophet twists facts or outright lies in its reports. Other characters lie or make guesses that turn out to be wrong. Harry never has the whole story. By book 7, it becomes quite clear that we can’t even depend upon Dumbledore to be open and honest with us. Although there are many hints of this in the earlier books, it is a major point in DH that Dumbledore is not necessarily a reliable source of information. Given the pervasiveness of this theme, can we really take anything we are told in the series at face value?
With a few exceptions, we are strictly limited to Harry’s perspective for the entire story. We only see what Harry sees, and we only know what Harry knows. But we have no guarantee that Harry knows and understands everything by the end of the story; we have no guarantee that the information that Harry has been given is accurate, and we have no guarantee that what Harry believes to be true is actually true. If we approach DH from this angle, it potentially affects how we interpret parts of the story. I see this as being especially true for “The Prince’s Tale.”
HPHPHPHPHP
As Snape bleeds to death on the floor of the shrieking shack, numerous memories gush from his face. It appears that this is a spontaneous, last-ditch effort to give Harry the necessary information to defeat Voldemort, but appearances can be deceiving.
It is important to note that, unless Harry sees additional memories that we as the readers don’t see, every single memory that Snape shares is relevant to Harry. There aren’t, for instance, any extraneous memories of Snape supervising a random detention or attending a party. Additionally, Snape releases those memories all at once, using a method we’ve never seen before, while he’s dying. How likely is it that he would manage to spontaneously release such a specific set of memories all at once at the last minute before he died?
In other words, those memories were already prepared! Snape had that set of memories ready to give to Harry at a moment’s notice. He also, apparently, had anticipated the possibility of having to quickly release those memories in an emergency situation-such as a snake bite-so that there was still some chance that Harry would be able to view them, even if Snape had lapsed in unconsciousness or had died. And Harry absolutely had to see those memories. Even if there had been time for the two to discuss the matter over tea, Snape would still most likely have needed to show Harry the memories in order to convince Harry of what needed to happen. Remember, Harry totally hated Snape by this point, so there’s no way that he would have just taken Snape at his word that he needed to sacrifice himself to Voldemort.
The memories serve two important purposes. For one, they, obviously, communicate the message that Harry needs to die. Moreover, they give a set of reasons for why Harry should trust that Snape is telling the truth: Snape has always loved Lily; he is deeply remorseful for betraying her; he has spent the rest of his life atoning for his mistakes by protecting Harry; he never betrayed Dumbledore or the Order, even when killing the headmaster, etc. Harry should trust Snape.
But wait! If the memories were likely prepared ahead of time, then how do we know that they’re “true?” Even if he didn’t actually falsify any of the memories (though he may have), Snape still would have had the time to present a carefully constructed story designed to win Harry over. While I do believe that he and Lily were close friends, and I do believe that he felt guilty about his role in her death, I have strong suspicions that those memories don’t give the whole story.
Before DH was released, Red Hen, among others, gave some compelling arguments for why Snape was working for Dumbledore even before the prophecy was given. http://www.redhen-publications.com/Loyaulte.html (It’s worth reading her whole “Man on a Tightrope” series for an understanding of Snape’s character and his role in the war.) She also believed that Dumbledore had intentionally leaked the first part of the prophecy. She writes: Dumbledore knows the prophecy was overheard, knows who overheard it; he and Aberforth had the youngster in their custody, and they let him go without Obliviating the information from him, despite the fact that he knows this is in violation with Ministry policy regarding Prophecies. And also in spite of the fact that we have seen Albus permit an inconvenient witness to be Obliviated in his own office to keep sensitive information from getting out. Marietta Edgecombe could have contradicted his cover-up had he not permitted it. http://www.redhen-publications.com/ChildForetold.html
The memory in “The Prince’s Tale” of Snape and Dumbledore meeting on the windy hilltop seems to hose those theories. But, again, appearances can be deceiving. I believe Red Hen is correct that Snape was already working for Dumbledore when Trelawney gave the prophecy, despite what we see in the pensieve.
Recall that Snape started teaching at Hogwarts before the attack on the Potters. Red Hen points out that it is highly doubtful that Snape would have applied for this position without Voldemort’s permission: Snape was ordered to take a post at the school. I think we can probably take that point as a given. Snape tells us as much. Even if he hadn’t told us so, Snape cannot have taken any position at the school before Voldemort’s fall without his knowledge, and it is far easier to assume it was by his orders, than to float the theory that it was Snape’s own bright idea presented after the fact as a sort of “Master, guess what!” moment. Voldemort isn’t the sort of leader who much appreciates that level of initiative on the part of his followers.http://www.redhen-publications.com/DADA.html
I propose that Snape did ask Voldemort to spare Lily, and Voldemort, for whatever reason, agreed to do so. In exchange, Snape “agreed” to spy on Dumbledore in order to locate where the Potters were hiding. From Voldemort’s perspective, Snape needed a good cover story for why he was leaving the death eaters and applying for a job with at Hogwarts. Voldemort would have expected Dumbledore to be wary of a death eater’s motives for switching sides. He probably figured that a sob story about wanting to save an old girlfriend would pull on the old fool’s heartstrings.
In other words, the scene on the windy hilltop very likely took place when Snape applied for a position at Hogwarts. But didn’t I just say that Snape was already working for Dumbledore? Yes! Which means that the scene on the windy hilltop was staged! Why did Snape and Dumbledore stage this meeting? Remember, Voldemort is a Master Legilimens, and he would therefore have searched for and expected to see a memory of the meeting in Snape’s mind when debriefing him. The memory absolutely had to appear real, or Snape was a dead man.
So that explains how and why the scene on the hilltop could be a “false” memory, but why did Snape choose to share it with Harry? I think it’s because it protected Dumbledore; it kept secret the role that Dumbledore played in the Potters’ deaths. Snape and Dumbledore probably believed that it was absolutely essential that they preserve Harry's trust in the headmaster as much as possible. After all, it was ultimately Dumbledore who decreed that Harry had to die. If, while viewing the memories, Harry had learned that Dumbledore had intentionally leaked the prophecy and was thereby partially responsible for his parents’ deaths, would Harry have still trusted him enough to believe that he needed to sacrifice himself? Would Harry have taken that walk into the forest?
HPHPHPHPHP
If we study the subsequent scenes from the angle that Dumbledore, in fact, played a major role in the deaths of Harry’s parents, it casts a rather “interesting” light on the memories, especially on the one from directly after the attack.
“I thought…you were going…to keep her…safe…”
“She and James put their faith in the wrong person,” said Dumbledore. “Rather like you, Severus. Weren’t you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?”
Note how Dumbledore blames everybody but himself here.
“Is this remorse, Severus?”
From what we were shown in the previous memory, Snape was supposedly already remorseful. So, really, Dumbledore could be asking if Snape regrets their mutual decision to share the prophecy with Voldemort, despite the fact that the decision has saved wizarding Britain.
“You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily’s son.”
“He does not need protection. The Dark Lord has gone - ”
“The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does.”
Read this passage carefully. Dumbledore could be saying, “Lily died in order to save Harry. Make sure her sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Help me to keep her son alive.” But he could also be saying, “Lily died because we shared the prophecy with Voldemort. We chose this course of action in order to save the world. Make sure our decision wasn’t in vain. Help me to protect Harry so that he survives until it’s time for him to defeat Voldemort once again.”
If you dig beneath the surface, the “Prince’s Tale” turns out to reveal as much about Dumbledore’s role in the Voldemort Wars and Harry’s life as it does about Snape’s. Perhaps, then, it isn’t so strange that Rowling spends so much of DH exploring Dumbledore’s background. It helps us to ask the right questions about what is really going on in those memories.